STORY WARNINGS:
– This is Yaoi – Male/Male.
– Rating: Mature. ADULTS ONLY. Contains graphic violence, some coarse language, explicit sexual content both consensual/non-consensual, forced/willing submission, light bondage.
A/N: In case anyone was thinking Yeah right about Akihito having to crawl under Asami's desk, it happens! I've seen it multiple times. My office has the silly set up of having to crawl under desks and meeting tables for anything, not just connector cables but power sockets for laptops too. It's hilarious. I've seen enough butts in suits to last me a lifetime but I tell you, none of them are anywhere near as fine as Akihito. And don't even get me started on Asami... Ahem! :D
Time to turn the heat up on these two, don't you think? Just a little bit. O:-)
~ Nyx ~
DISCLAIMER: The Finder series and all recognisable characters belong to Yamane Ayano sensei.
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Chapter 4
The sense of foreboding only grew with the passing scenery. "Where are we going?"
"Where do you think we're going?"
Akihito didn't reply, hoping and praying with every turn that they'd go in a different direction. But every second only took them closer and closer...
By the time they were two minutes away, he couldn't deny it any longer. "We're going to my place?" He couldn't hide the touch of panic that crept into his voice.
"Why are you surprised? You said you can pull it apart and access the hard drive at home."
"I said I could try. If you want whatever's on there that badly then you'd be better off finding a data recovery specialist –"
Asami shook his head firmly. "I'm not involving anyone else. You'll just have to do what you can."
"Oh, lucky me," Akihito mumbled, leaning his forehead against the cool window. "I didn't expect you to... You know, actually come to my flat..." It was surreal, the idea of Asami in his run-down apartment. He sat up. "How do you know where I live, anyway?"
"I know everything about you."
"E-everything?" Akihito stammered.
"Everything in your employee records."
"Right, employee records, yes." His relief was considerable. There was no reference to his community service sentence in his personnel file at Sion, his court records having been redacted and withheld for his safety in case of backlash from those he'd targeted as Z4m4 M1r0. Asami could not find out about Spotlight.
Akihito glanced over. "Can you at least untie this?" He held up his wrists. The moment they were in the limo Asami had bound them with his tie – a super expensive, super smooth silk tie, by the feel of it.
"Not until we're there and I know you won't try to run on me again."
"I told you, I wasn't! I only said you didn't have to trouble yourself about giving me a lift home!"
"I'd given you my last warning, Akihito. I don't make idle threats. Besides," the golden gaze glimmered, "that look suits you."
Akihito scowled as his face heated up. "Don't get any ideas, Asami. I'll help you with the laptop but that's it." Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the flash of familiar red doors. "Wait! Stop here! Stop!"
Asami gave him a curious glance. "Pull over," he ordered the driver. "Why?"
Akihito checked out the windows as they drew up at the side of the road. "It's just around the corner. I don't want anyone I know seeing me coming out of a limo."
"That's one I haven't heard before. Most people tend to show off that kind of thing."
"I'm not most people."
"So I've noticed."
The was something about Asami's tone, quiet, almost thoughtful, that caught Akihito's attention, but the chance to ask passed him by as Asami sent his men off, one to stay on guard and the other to scout ahead. As the latter disappeared around the corner past the shabby but tasty ramen shop, Akihito held up his hands and tried again.
"Seriously?"
Asami's response was a lazy, heated stare down his body.
"Ugh." Akihito gave up.
The door opened on Asami's side. "All clear, boss."
Luckily for Akihito, they didn't bump into anyone as they entered the run-down apartment block and took the elevator up to the third floor. At his door the guards repeated the earlier pattern of one staying on watch and the other checking ahead, before declaring the all clear and Asami pushed him in.
They all toed off their shoes in the genkan [front entrance] and stepped straight into Akihito's living room. There wasn't much to the place. A small TV in the corner, a low MDF table with five faded zabuton [floor cushions] around it. There was a small kitchenette off to one side and the bathroom next to it, and the bedroom was parted from the living room by a thin wall. It was a small flat to begin with, but all the tools and computer parts and stacked plastic drawers containing more of the same pushed against the walls made it even more crowded. As well as a good scattering of empty Pocky boxes...
Akihito was just glad that he never printed any of his research, a lesson he'd learned early on never to leave incriminating material lying around in case of unexpected visitors. There wasn't a hint of Spotlight anywhere.
Asami took it all in with a sweeping glance. "Balcony?" he checked, taking Akihito's rucksack off the guard who'd carried it up and setting it down by the table.
Akihito barked a laugh.
"None, sir," replied the guard.
Nope. No balcony here. Akihito was lucky just to have a window in the bedroom, offering the concrete panorama of the neighbouring wall and the rain that fell between the buildings on wet days.
"Wait outside," Asami ordered.
"Yes, sir."
"Do they have to?" They all looked at Akihito at his outburst. "Oh, c'mon, look at them! I can't have goons loitering outside my door, my neighbours –"
"Are none of my concern. Out," Asami repeated to his men.
They immediately bowed and headed back to the genkan. Akihito watched as they stepped back into their shoes, his expression troubled.
Asami sighed in obvious annoyance. "Sagano, wait down the hall. Nakatani, return to the limo but stay in contact."
If they were surprised at their boss' concession, they didn't show it. They left with another bow, leaving Akihito alone in his surprise and grudgingly muttering his thanks, then scowling at himself for letting the words slip out.
Asami took another look around the tired old flat, this time poking his head into the bedroom and bathroom as well. Akihito watched him scope the place out, noting such vigilance as another facet of the man embroiled in shady business. It took all of ten seconds, the place being so tiny, before Asami returned to the table.
"So...?" Akihito held up his wrists again.
Asami deposited his briefcase and came up to Akihito. He proceeded to undo the silk tie, his movements sensuously slow, stroking his fingertips against Akihito's hands and wrists far more than was necessary, his eyes locked onto Akihito's all the while.
Akihito glowered, fighting the heat on his face. "Would you get a move on?"
Asami smirked, finally tugging the tie free. Akihito yanked his hands away and put some distance between them, rubbing away the phantom whispers across his suddenly sensitive skin.
The playful air about Asami morphed to something distinctly darker as he pulled out the damaged laptop from his briefcase and set it on the table.
Akihito eyed it warily before heading to the kitchenette. He filled up the kettle and switched it on. "I don't know the protocol for being kidnapped and brought to your own home," came his muffled words as he rummaged about. "Am I supposed to offer you tea? Dinner?"
He would have offered neither but Asami's concession with the guards made him feel just the teeniest bit more lenient.
"Tea's fine." Akihito could hear the amusement in Asami's voice. "Or bourbon if you have it."
"Sure, let me just crack open my wet bar," Akihito snarked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He held up two cans. "Cheap beer?"
Asami grimaced and shook his head.
"Didn't think so." Returning them to the fridge, he plonked two cup noodle pots on the kitchen counter. "I'm having noodles, do you want any?"
The horrified look on Asami's face said it all. Akihito couldn't help his laughter. "Yeah, welcome to how the other half live."
Asami pulled out his phone. "Do you eat sushi?"
"Do. I. Eat. Sushi?" Akihito repeated as though Asami had asked if the sun would rise again in the morning. "I can eat a banquet for ten easily with my hands tied behind my back –" He paled and hurriedly flapped his hands. "Not that I'm suggesting you do that!"
Asami smirked as he spoke into his phone. "Nakatani, go and buy sushi. Enough for ten. You have thirty minutes." He hung up without waiting for a reply.
Akihito perked up. "Is that for me too?"
"If you start on this." Asami indicated the laptop.
Akihito's face clouded over again. "I will, I will, just give me a minute." He started the green tea brewing and grabbed a well-used bundle of tools off the top of one of the stacks of plastic drawers on the way back. He couldn't help staring as Asami slipped off his jacket and draped it over his briefcase, revealing the dreaded gun again. He remained frozen as Asami grabbed a zabuton and sat down beside and slightly behind him, leaning against a stack of plastic drawers, the offending weapon right there, strapped to Asami's side closest to Akihito.
"Are you going to shoot me?" It was a quiet, haggard question.
Cool eyes drifted over him. "Why would I order sushi if I was going to shoot you?"
"I don't know. Why would you carry a gun?"
Asami didn't reply, not that Akihito expected him to. But the heavier question was why Asami didn't feel the need to keep it concealed around him. To threaten him? Or because he wasn't enough of a threat? So many polar possibilities, it wasn't a question Akihito wanted to dwell on.
It was strange to see Asami sitting on his floor, one leg stretched out, the other one bent with an arm resting on top. Asami looked just as imperious sitting on a tired old floor mat in a tired old apartment as he did anywhere else.
"I'd offer you a chair but I don't have any," Akihito said.
"It's fine," Asami dismissed. He sounded impatient. Whatever was on the laptop must have been important.
Switching on the TV for background noise like he always did, Akihito unrolled his tool kit and set to work.
It was usually straightforward pulling a laptop apart, but Akihito was extra careful of the internal damage and keeping things as intact as possible. Even when he'd unscrewed a part, sometimes it was broken into pieces and required delicate handling. There was a tray he always kept under the table and he dropped screws into it as he went, laying the parts out on the small table. Similar to when he had hacked the flash drive, Asami stayed close and observed everything. The flat filled with the low drone of the TV, occasionally punctured by the clack of a screw landing in the tray.
After a while Asami rose to pour the tea. Akihito stole furtive glances at the surprising sight of this foreboding man performing such a domestic act, and muttered his thanks as a cup was placed in a bit of clear space on the table and Asami resettled beside him. It was all weirdly... harmonious. Sure the threat was still in the back of his mind, but usually when Akihito was working he hated anyone looking over his shoulder or even sitting too close. It completely distracted him. It was strange to find that not only did Asami's presence not bother him, he'd almost totally tuned him out.
So much so, that he jumped a little when Asami stopped him with a hand on his arm when he came across the first compacted bullet, crushed out of shape against the smashed up circuitry.
"No fingerprints."
Akihito blinked several times at the warning, a chilling reminder of the stark difference in the kinds of issues that concerned them. "What about the rest of the laptop?"
"That'll get disposed of. This is evidence."
Akihito almost asked. Almost. But then he decided he didn't want to know. He used pliers to drop the crushed bullet into a small clear resealable bag and wordlessly handed it to Asami. They shared a look – Akihito's guarded and questioning, Asami's unreadable – before he resumed disassembling the laptop.
Akihito was so absorbed that the guard's knocking totally passed him by. He only noticed that the sushi had arrived when Asami handed him a pair of disposable chopsticks and settled the large platter on the floor beside him. Despite the bizarre circumstances, he still tucked in with gusto and hummed at the serious quality of the sushi. Of course, it would be nothing but the best for the billionaire.
Three of the bullets had merely hit some wires in the laptop but the hard drive had two holes. He opened it up to find that they had gone straight through the platters holding all the data, two thirds of all the discs and the actuator arm smashed to pieces.
"That doesn't look good." Asami was close, leaning in over his shoulder.
"Yeah, it's pretty fucked up." Akihito tried to ignore how he could feel Asami's warmth by his cheek and had a mouthful of sushi instead.
"Is it all gone?"
"The data?" He chewed some more. "Well, no. I mean, you've got all the pieces here, so technically you could reassemble it again like a gigantic-pain-in-the-butt jigsaw and get a hold of the manufacturer-specific encoding and access the whole thing, but I can't do that kind of reverse engineering here."
"Can you read any of it?"
Akihito pinched the bridge of his nose, scrunching up his face. "Erm... no?" He didn't need to look to feel Asami's sharp eyes. "It's more that I don't want to," he admitted, honest to the core even in a situation like this. "A bog-standard file could take up less than a square millimeter and it'll be a massive headache and there's no guarantee it'll even work..."
"Do what you can."
Akihito groaned, his head slumping back momentarily. But he still dragged himself to his feet and went to dig some things out of the plastic drawers from around the room. One was a home-made acrylic clean air container, basically a transparent box with latex gloves taped to the two holes for handling whatever was inside. He also grabbed a customized platter scanner and a spare external hard drive.
Once he'd installed the scanner and shattered pieces inside the clean air box and sucked out all the dust particles, then it was a matter of mounting one fragmented piece at a time, setting the needle to scan from nanometres above the surface, and controlling from his laptop to comb and re-comb every millimetre to get any kind of reading before starting all over again with the next shard. It was meticulous and intricate and mind-numbingly repetitive work.
Asami's phone rang regularly, so much so that Akihito soon completely ignored the regular updates from his underlings and Asami dispatching orders full of insinuations. In fact, Akihito had managed to block out the sound of the phone so successfully and was so absorbed in what he was doing, that he didn't realise that his own phone had rung until he heard in that deep, smooth voice –
"This is Takaba's phone."
"What? Hey! Give that here!" Akihito hurriedly pulled his hands out of the latex gloves and launched for the phone, having to plaster himself against Asami in order to grab it out of the man's hands.
"Hello?" he answered hastily, pressing it to his ear.
"... Aki-kun?" The caller was clearly confused.
"Uh..." Akihito glanced at Asami before ducking into his bedroom, closing the door. "Risa-san," he whispered.
"Who was that?"
"Uh, just someone from work. I'm still working."
"Oh. Why are you whispering?"
"I'm just... trying not to disturb him."
"Oka-ay," Risa said, dragging out the word. "It sounds like you're busy. But I needed to talk to you about tomorrow –"
"Risa-san, I have to go. I'm working late tonight so don't come over, ok? I'll see you tomorrow."
"Aki–"
"I'm sorry, I really have to go. I'll call you tomorrow." Akihito hung up before Risa could reply, praying that she really wouldn't come over.
When he returned to the living room, Asami was nonchalantly nosing through some of his boxes, peering under the lid before moving on to the next. "Who was that?"
Akihito scowled. "None of your business." He resolutely returned to the smashed up platters to make his point. Conversation over.
In the end he hoovered his way through three-quarters of the sushi by himself. Asami only had a few bites. Akihito ate and drank as he worked, mostly focused on his task but still appreciating the sushi. He loved sushi. Adored it. He wasn't aware of the groan of appreciation he made when the negi toro [fatty tuna with spring onion] melted in his mouth, or Asami's blistering stare in return. But the older man never once interrupted Akihito as he hunched over the scan output on his laptop and frowned and muttered to himself. He'd finally found a hefty data dump only to find he couldn't access it.
"You've hashed it, have you?" he mumbled at the sketchy data he was getting. "Fine, I'll just set up a rainbow table..." He was frowning as the encryption thwarted several attempts. "...Why is it... Ooh, you added salt! As if that could stop me."
He was interrupted by a commotion outside, raised voices coming from the external walkway. Raised drunken voices. But Akihito recognised it immediately and rushed out of the door, Asami fast on his heels.
Half stumbling as he struggled to put his shoes on, Akihito came upon Asami's guard wrestling with Kou down the walkway.
"It's ok! Let him go, he's my friend!"
The guard only released the man when he saw Asami's subtle nod.
"Aki-chaaaaan!" Kou threw himself at Akihito, falling into him, hanging onto his shoulders and swaying dangerously.
"Kou? How much have you had to drink? It's –" Akihito awkwardly checked his watch around his armful of a best friend, "not even eleven."
"The nigh' is shtill young!" Kou announced with a painful struggle to enunciate properly. "We need to go pick up some cute girls!"
"What are you talking about?"
Kou hiccupped, and his shoulders and whole body slumped. "Megu-chan dumped me..."
The words were muttered to the floor and Akihito had to lean in to hear it. "Oh." It wasn't entirely a surprise, Kou tended to flit from one girl to another. He tended to bounce back quite quickly but he always took the break-ups hard.
Just as Akihito was wondering how to cheer his friend up, Kou's head popped back up.
"So we need to pick up some giiiirls! You're done with Risa-san, right?"
For some reason, Akihito's eyes flew to the foreboding man behind them. Asami's expression was unreadable.
Akihito didn't want to be having this conversation in front of Asami, although he couldn't have explained why. He tried to steer his friend away from that subject. And away from Asami. "Come on, Kou, you can't stay here."
"But you said you'd break up with her!" Kou was stubborn when drunk.
"You're going home. I'll call you a taxi." Akihito was stubborn too, drunk or sober.
"You're not happy. Even if the sex is good –"
"Kou!" Akihito's eyes flew over his friend's head. There was something about Asami's gaze that made Akihito squirm.
"Last night! You were going to break up last night. Why didn't you break up?" Kou implored dramatically. Still clinging to Akihito's shoulders, Kou peered up at him from where his cheek was pressed to Akihito's chest, his face full of drunken distress.
Akihito scrunched up his face. He really didn't want to be saying this in front of Asami when he was the cause of it all, but Kou didn't seem to be letting this one go. "I just had a rough day at work and I didn't have the energy, ok? We'll talk about it this weekend, but let's get you home first."
"She's not right for you." They were the last words Kou said before abruptly slumping to the ground, leaving Akihito struggling with his dead weight.
"Kou? Kou!"
Asami sighed behind them. "Take him inside."
Akihito didn't realise he'd been addressing his guard until the man in the black suit scooped Kou up like he weighed nothing and headed back to his flat. Akihito didn't want to risk having Kou around Asami like this, but with him being out cold, Akihito couldn't see how there was any other choice.
"Put him on my bed!" he called after the guard before he grabbed Asami's arm, just as the taller man was turning to follow. "Don't hurt him. Please."
A dark cloud passed over Asami's face. Akihito had the nagging feeling that he'd said something to offend the dangerous man, but he had no idea what.
Asami grabbed him roughly by the scruff of his shirt and shoved him towards his flat. "That's down to you, isn't it?"
It was another three hours later when Akihito finally handed Asami the spare external hard drive.
"That's everything?"
Akihito shrugged wearily. "You'd probably get more if you took it somewhere with specialist equipment, but I've done what I can. I'm beat."
"What did you find?"
Akihito rolled out his aching shoulders. "Mostly spreadsheets. Lots of spreadsheets."
Asami carried on staring at him.
"...What?" Akihito bristled.
Asami was silent for another moment. "Any images? Or videos?"
Akihito frowned. "No... Why, were you expecting something in particular?"
Asami gave a single shake of the head and that was that. Apparently it wasn't up for discussion.
Eager to be left alone, Akihito was mightily relieved to see Asami reaching for his jacket and hiding the holster and gun from view. It was a practiced motion, fluid and efficient. Sliding his arms into the sleeves, just the slightest snap of the arms to sit the jacket on the shoulders, straightening the collars and down the lapels. Akihito had never once thought anything remarkable of seeing something as ordinary as putting on a suit jacket, but Asami somehow pulled it off like a demonstration manual on How To Be Effortlessly and Ridiculously Hot and Manly Doing Anything.
Akihito put the blame squarely on his exhausted brain that he stood there staring, long enough for Asami to notice. The responding smirk snapped him right out of it, however.
He waved at all the laptop parts spread out everywhere. "I take it you don't need this put back together?"
"No, just put it all in the case. But bag up the hard drive pieces separately."
Akihito weighed up the merits of objecting to being ordered around like one of his goons and decided he just wanted Asami gone. "Do you ever say please?" he muttered as he found another bag and swept the bits of the hard drive into it, and then everything into the laptop case.
Asami took it to the door and handed it to the guard outside.
Akihito fully expected him to leave. His tired grey cells struggled to compute why the front door closed but Asami was still there. Still inside his flat. Still not gone.
The golden gaze turned, focusing entirely on him.
Akihito stared back with mounting fear. "What –?"
Asami advanced.
There was nowhere to run to. Akihito tried anyway. He managed to skitter around the low table but the room was so small that Asami simply reached over and snagged Akihito about the torso. He found himself hauled right over the table, dragged a short distance and slammed into the wall.
"What are you doing?!" Even with all of Akihito's struggling, his wrists were caught and pinned together in a harsh grip above his head. He kicked out in panic. Asami deflected the first one, the second he absorbed with his thigh with barely a grunt.
"Enough."
"Get off me!" Akihito buckled, kneeing up, hoping to catch the bastard between the legs. No such luck. He found only air, and his hair was caught in a tight fist for his efforts, yanking his head back harshly.
"You should stop before you make me hurt you," Asami warned.
Only then did it sink in how completely Asami had overpowered him, even having the latitude to avoid all the stacked-up boxes and go for the only metre of clear wall to push him against, restraining him without once striking back. It was terrifying. And exhilarating... He had no idea what a distinct bolt of thrill was doing anywhere near his terror, fizzling through every cell in his body.
Akihito hung there panting, glaring belligerently even with his face forced up at such a harsh angle. "Why are you doing this? I did what you wanted!"
Asami, by contrast, was entirely unruffled. "None of that happened, do you understand?" he rumbled. "There was no laptop. No bullets. No data."
Akihito tried to yank his arms free to no avail. "Yeah, I get it already. So get the hell out and leave me the hell alone!"
"Leave you the hell alone?" Asami smirked. Ruthless. Predatory. Scintillating. "Now, how can I do that when you came on to me?"
Akihito gaped in utter disbelief. "... When?!"
"You threw yourself into my arms. Don't tell me you've already forgotten?"
He took a moment to catch on. "I ran into you! Completely by accident!"
Asami's grip slid from the blond hair to the jaw. He drew closer, the heat of his torso searing Akihito through his clothes. "You were turned on."
"I was not!" Concentrating was becoming harder. There was something about being so thoroughly overpowered, at being so helpless, the arrogant gleam of gold so close... Too close... At such proximity Akihito could see the flecks of ebony in the golden irises, the pupils dilating...
"There's no use denying it, I see it all the time. It's practically a law of nature."
"It's practically...?" Akihito jerked his head free. "You're unbelievable. How the hell do you manage to carry around a head that size?"
Unfortunately freeing his jaw also freed the large hand to travel, and it trailed over his shoulder and up his exposed arm. It was just the barest of contact, making Akihito's skin crazy sensitive and his breath tremble.
The golden eyes ate it all up, uncompromising, absolute, backed by plenty of dark hunger. "You were aroused, but so determined not to be attracted to me." His hand continued up, feathering Akihito's inner arm, until he took hold, one slim wrist in each hand, keeping Akihito firmly stretched against the wall.
Akihito had never reacted like this before. Sex was usually a slow burn, driven more by plain old biology than any burning desire. Sure Risa-san was cute and fun, but this? This was a charged current sizzling down his spine, electrified by some new kink he only just seemed to be discovering about himself. All Asami had done was pin him to the wall and looked at him with that oh-so-infuriating arrogance...
Lust grabbed him by the balls and sparked a bonfire in his gut.
Golden eyes zeroed in on the hazel eyes darkening with heady confusion and fear... And heat, so much heat...
Asami's lips curved. "Oh, you're in so much trouble."
Akihito glared belligerently. "Go screw yourself."
"Such fiery impudence," Asami growled rapaciously. "What an invitation."
"It's the exact opposite!"
Asami leaned in close to every tremulous breath. "How can I take it as anything but a challenge?"
A muscular thigh forced itself between Akihito's legs and pressed. A strangled shudder of breath escaped his lips and he found himself groaning involuntarily before he could choke it back.
Asami's grin was distinctly wolfish. "See?"
Akihito squeezed his eyes shut, fighting, fighting, failing. "I hate you."
The returning chuckle was entirely unexpectedly. "I'm sure you do... Akihito."
The sensuous baritone caressed his first name, entirely inappropriate, way too intimate. Akihito opened his mouth, about to protest, when Asami nipped along the shell of his ear and his breath hitched noisily instead.
A half-hearted struggle was discouraged with an extra squeeze of the slender wrists. Asami dipped his head and explored lower, brushing his lips against the smooth skin of the neck –
Akihito had no idea what was going on. None whatsoever. There was nothing erotic about his ears. They were instruments for listening and enabled his balance. End of. Except when Asami lightly scraped his teeth along the outside it suddenly seemed to create a direct bolt of fierce arousal down his spine to his groin.
He stifled any more unpredictable hitching of his breath and tried again to squirm free, which was met with the grip on his wrists tightening again, either in warning or to keep him secure or both. But then Asami's lips found a spot below his ear and there was just no holding back the embarrassing moan. The soft lips caressed his neck where the teeth had scraped, and the hot tongue lathered the goose pimples raised by a cool inhale of breath...
It was his own lusty groan that brought him back to the moment – and how he was pressing his rock-hard erection against the corded thigh –
Flooded with mortification, he tried to draw away, snatch his arms free, but Asami gave no quarter, keeping him trapped. The golden gaze was intense, mesmerising, all consuming.
"Look at you all flushed and hard," Asami provoked deliberately.
Hazel eyes flashed predictably. "Screw you." It would have been more convincing if it hadn't come out so breathy and with his pupils blown as he said it.
Asami's smirked. "Pretending you don't want it, when only now you were grinding –"
"Stop saying embarrassing things!"
The darkly amused chuckle was interrupted by the blare of Asami's phone. They both froze, jarred out of the little bubble they'd been lost in.
There as a flash of something in Asami's eyes – something darker, harder – before he transferred both of Akihito's wrists into one hand again and slid his phone out of his jacket pocket.
"Asami."
Akihito shivered. It wasn't just the name, although it was that too. It was the tone, the devastating and effortless authority that made Akihito wonder if anyone had ever come simply by Asami answering the phone.
Akihito wriggled and tugged experimentally on his wrists as the caller started talking. But Asami only restrained him all the more – by pressing his ripped body flush against Akihito. A choked rush of breath escaped Akihito at the abrupt contact, and the realisation that Asami was hard... Heat rushed up his face.
Asami's grin could have been at Akihito's reaction, or to whatever he was hearing over the phone. Either way it was mildly terrifying. "And you have them ready for me." It wasn't a question.
Akihito froze at what the bastard seemed to be suggesting. Asami's eyes glinted, knowing exactly the kind of thoughts were running amok through Akihito's mind.
Asami positively purred. "Very thoughtful of you, Suoh. Just what I would have ordered. Alert Sagano and Nakatani, I'm on my way." He hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket. "Business calls."
Akihito swore to himself that he wasn't frustrated. Really. Truly. Honest. "Great," he chirped. "Go, go, go." He pulled at his wrists again but Asami smirked, still keeping them secure overhead.
"I hate to disappoint you so I'll give you a choice. You can spend the night with me, or you can come by my office tomorrow."
Akihito gaped, flushing. "Hell no!"
With his free hand Asami caught his chin, tipping his face up, crowding him. "You won't often find me so generous, you should take advantage of it."
"Your generosity is crappy," Akihito informed him matter-of-factly.
"Last chance before I choose for you. What do you say? Once I've taken care of business, shall we continue this until morning?"
Hazel eyes searched gold, seeking some reprieve, but there was none.
Asami arched a brow.
"I – I – I'll come by your office," Akihito stammered. No way would the bastard not carry through his threats.
"Will you really, or are you intending to skip out on me?"
"I said I'd go to your stupid office, didn't I? So I will! I don't go back on my word."
"Very well," Asami smirked, making Akihito think he'd just been baited hook, line and sinker. The grip on his chin suddenly tightened, the golden gleam dangerous. "Remember, Akihito, not a word."
Akihito scowled, trying to wrench his face free but to no avail. "Of course I remember. Don't mistake me for a senile old man like you."
Just the slightest curve of the lips, and in a heartbeat Asami's presence morphed from pure menace to scintillating darkness that left Akihito in thrall. How did the bastard do it?
Asami leaned closer, to all appearances going for a kiss. What the hell? Closer still, enough for his soft breath to tickle Akihito's lips. Wide hazel eyes stared in frightful anticipation...
Asami cast a meaningful glance downwards. "Think of me when you take care of that, Akihito." With an infuriatingly smug smirk, Asami released him.
Akihito sagged against the wall at the sudden lack of support and vacuum of tension. It took precious moments to recover his voice, the outrageous suggestion and the intimate purr of his name stunning him speechless.
"Like hell I would!" he yelled, just as the front door closed behind Asami. Then, belatedly, "And there's nothing to take care of!"
Akihito's furious shout was met with only the low done of a late-night film on the TV, but he could still imagine the bastard laughing at his expense...
He sank to his knees, bracing himself with locked arms, simply waiting, waiting, as though time could magic away his flaming arousal...
Because damn it, he wasn't going to touch himself now of all times. Not while Asami's cologne and smoke and Asami-ness still coiled the air about him, not while that freakishly hot face smirked at him in his mind, all knowing and so infuriatingly arrogant, seeing every shiver and wide-eyed surprise at his own body's reactions, the sheer strength trapping him and holding him helpless and holy bananas but that delicious pressure against Asami's thigh...
"Ah, fuck," Akihito swore as he practically tore open his fly. His dripping length sprang free, angry and proud. He furiously fisted himself as he imagined long fingers wrapped about him instead, the brush of lips and scrape of teeth just below his ear –
He almost fell on his face as he came hard and fast all over the floor, splashing on his jeans, his whole frame wracked with shudders as his groan stretched and hitched...
Panting, he flopped onto his side, slowly regaining his breath. His hazy eyes drifted to the front door, then he found himself groaning for an altogether different reason. Because there was, amazingly, one thing he agreed with Asami on.
He was in trouble, alright. And a catastrophic one at that.
Kou was still snoring soundly, much to Akihito's relief. He quietly closed the bedroom door again and padded back to the living room.
Running on auto-pilot, he moseyed around tidying up, wiping up the mess on the floor, putting the leftover sushi and cups in the kitchen, bundling up his tools. He needed to put the clean air container away as well, it wasn't something he usually had lying around in his living room. Opening the acrylic lid, he lifted out the platter scanner –
He blinked as he slowly registered what he was looking at. Sitting on the bottom of the container, hidden under the scanner all this time, was a fragment. A shard like a jagged needle, from the bullet-laden hard drive...
Akihito hesitated. Of course he hesitated. But in the end what choice was there?
Besides, he probably wouldn't get any data off it anyway, right? And even if he did, it was just going to be another useless spreadsheet, right?
Right.
Shaking his head at why he was putting himself through more of the tedious headache, he set up the scanner and fragment again in the clean air box and started scanning.
Akihito recovered a file. One last file, from one last fragment.
It was a video. Even with it shot from some twenty metres away, even with the image unsteady and grainy, even with the man's back turned, there was no mistaking Asami's commanding stance, his imposing figure. Standing beside him was Kirishima in profile, and opposite was the same blond giant from their middle-of-the-night encounter.
"B-But I told you everything!" High pitched and stuttering, it was the fourth man in the middle.
On his knees, his suit tattered and filthy, desperation palpable on his bloody, bruised face. But what was chilling was that it was a face Akihito had seen two months ago on the news – Kondo Tetsuya, an influential member of the National Diet [the legislative branch of the Japanese government], who was reported to have been found at his home having taken his own life.
"Your fate was sealed the moment you agreed the deal. You know the price for betrayal." Asami, colder than Akihito had ever heard that baritone.
Akihito stared in morbid fascination, the shock of seeing Asami being involved in such a violent scene making him slow to react. Even after the way Asami had handled him just now, there was a stark difference in the how. Asami had been totally domineering but Akihito hadn't actually been hurt. The man in the video, though, had clearly been put through the wringer. The video wasn't clear enough to show who might have affected such injuries, it was impossible to make out any bruised knuckles or blood splatter.
"But you said...! You said you'd forgive me when I atoned..."
"And I will. This is your final atonement."
Without ceremony or any further warning, Asami drew his gun, aimed, fired.
The abrupt blast momentarily cut out the sound. The video image flew, showing a flash of a large deserted dockyard and stacks of cargo crates, before it hastily refocused on the men.
Kondo had frozen, a dark hole materialising dead centre of his forehead, a trickle of blood slowly trailing down from it. He was motionless for long moments before he crumpled to the ground.
"Now, you're forgiven."
Kirishima turned to take the gun from Asami when his gaze darted straight at the camera.
"Fuck!" A hiss right by the mike, impossible to distinguish gender let alone identity, before the video died.
Heart in his mouth, ice in his veins, Akihito stared horror-stricken long after his screen had gone black.
Fifteen, maybe twenty seconds. And everything had changed.
The means to bring down Asami Ryuichi was in the palm of his hands.
