Dangerous Love
Day Eighteen: Device
"Tell me where they took him!" Aomine growled out as he tightened his grip on the smaller man's shirt. In his other hand, the assassin was holding a marred picture of the teenager he had been tasked to protect, Kasamatsu Yukio.
The twenty-four year old had been searching tirelessly for the high school student but had no luck in finding him. That is, until a few hours ago when he finally dug up a lead. That lead led Aomine to Los Angeles – to his current predicament.
The quivering man swallowed hard as sweat trickled down his head. "I- I don't know what y- you're talking about, man!" He squabbled as he attempted to get out of Aomine's grasp.
Aomine gave the American a shake, stopping only a moment for the whimpering man to collect himself. "Tell me," Aomine hissed. He continued speaking, his grip tightening on the man's shirt. "There was a teenage boy here just the other night. He was unconscious and would have been with some guys in suits."
As Aomine explained darkly, he held up the photo of Kasamatsu. His anger swelling, Aomine continued, "I know you saw them. I know that you were working at the time, Mr. Hotel Manager."
The pathetic man stared up at Aomine with wide eyes. "Ho- How do you even know that, man!?" The hotel manager babbled out, flinching when Aomine slammed him against the wall once more.
Aomine gave the shorter man a crooked smirk. A chill ran down the man's spine, spreading through his veins, turning them to ice. What Aomine said next made him quiver. "I've been watching."
The man's heart thudded in his chest, the sweat burning his eyes as it mixed with the tears that formed. His shoulders and back ached from being bashed into the brick wall of the alleyway they occupied. He swallowed thickly. "M- Maybe you're right - I did see someone like that... But I don't have a clue as to where they were going." He shook his head hastily as he explained to Aomine.
"The kid... The one in the picture was with them and he was with a with a particular guy I've seen a couple times before." As he explained, Aomine narrowed his eyes.
"Tell me the name," The assassin demanded. The blue haired man wrapped the guy's tie around his hand, pushing him against the bricks behind him.
The manager coughed and struggled to suck in air as his throat was squeezed. He could feel Aomine's knuckles digging into his neck painfully, bruising him. "Hi- His name-" The man choked out, fingers gripping at Aomine's arm, trying to balance himself on the tips of his toes. "His name is Luca."
Aomine dropped the guy. He flexed his sore fingers, ignoring the sound of the man coughing loudly. He rubbed his knuckles, glancing up at the moon high in the sky. "Luca..." He mumbled, deep in thought. He wondered where he heard that name before...
Once the man regained his breath, he craned his neck to look up to Aomine. "Luca... Valentino," He wheezed as he rubbed at his bruised throat. "I- I'm sure he's a hitman."
Aomine let the information sink in. He mulled it over before glancing at the hotel manager. "Tell me which way they drove off in."
xXx
Kasamatsu came crashing to the ground, grunting in pain. It was early morning, the light shining in through the windows. It was warm on his skin but the pleasant feeling did not last for he was in pain from hitting the ground. The teenager threw a glare at Luca as he straightened himself out. Kasamatsu wiped a bead of sweat from his head and opened his mouth, "You know, when you said "come at me", I didn't expect to be thrown halfway across the room..." The noirette admitted, hands on his hips.
"Sorry," Luca apologized. "I'll try to hold back a little." The green eyed man smirked at the teen as he motioned for Kasamatsu to charge him again.
Kasamatsu glared at the Italian. He squeezed his fingers into tight fists and ran to Luca once again. And much like the first time, the hitman blocked him with ease and sent him flying to the side. The teenager rolled into the wall, his side blooming with pain. Kasamatsu groaned.
Once he was back on two feet, Kasamatsu asked Luca, "Is all this really necessary?" He wanted to know.
The brunette watched the teen wipe the sweat from his head. He nodded, "Of course it is." Luca scoffed, as if it were the most dumb question of all time.
"But I thought you would be teaching me how to use a gun or something." The raven head mumbled.
"While that is important," Luca began. "It is also important for you to know how to fight using your body. You can end up in close-combat situation and get into some serious danger, Yukio..." The hitman shared his concerns.
Kasamatsu rolled his eyes but understood what Luca was saying. "Fine, fine..."
"Although you seem to have fight in you. So I guess I shouldn't be too worried." Luca offered, smiling at the teenager.
The steel-blue eyed teen scoffed. "Of course I do. Especially if it involves my family..." Kasamatsu said with his arms crossed.
After a small break, Kasamatsu was standing by the wall. He rolled his shoulders to ease the strain and vaguely wondered if he should have stretched before they began. Kasamatsu looked at Luca, noticing that the man was staring off into space with a hand to his chin. Kasamatsu cleared his throat, pulling Luca from his thoughts. "What is it?"
Luca blinked, suddenly back in reality. "It's nothing," He murmured, lowering his hand. "I was just thinking you had a strong punch."
"Oh," Kasamatsu raised a brow. "I- I'm not sorry for that..." He huffed out.
Luca just nodded his head. "Don't be," He told the younger man. "I know I lied to you and I'm sorry for that. Just... Don't forget the feeling of needing to fight, to protect your family. You're going to need it."
Kasamatsu smirked. "You know you're speaking to the captain of a basketball team, right?" He scoffed.
Luca arched his brow. "Captain, huh?" He mused. "Then I shouldn't be worried."
"Okay, now I feel like you're mocking me." Kasamatsu glared. The young man cracked his knuckles as he thought about what Luca just said about not forgetting the feelings of desperation and determination. The teen ventured away from the wall and got into the stance which Luca showed him, saying, "I'm ready."
Luca copied his movements, "Very well."
xXx
Aomine lay back in the cushy swivel chair as he stared at the plethora of screens in front of him. His royal blue eyes carefully scanned each and every screen, searching for any hint of the man he was looking for.
After a few minutes, he moved back and rubbed at his sore eyes. The assassin grabbed the coffee-flavoured energy drink on the desk and downed the last of it. He scrubbed his face, fighting his tiredness.
The tanned man sighed deeply as he leaned back into the chair. He propped his feet on the desk and scanned the footage he stolen during the night. At first, Aomine was searching for a group of men but he realized that maybe they would not travel in a group, especially with an unconscious kid. So he narrowed down his search to just Kasamatsu.
He found nothing and after a couple more hours, Aomine decided that it could not hurt to close his eyes for at least five minutes. After all, what was the harm in that?
xXx
The loud ringtone of his cell phone startled him awake.
Aomine shot up from the comfy chair and wildly looked around the room. He grabbed his phone and realized that it was well past midnight. The room was dark, only lit up by the multitude of recordings from the other day.
The assassin flipped his phone open and put it to his ear. "Hello?" His voice was quiet, still laced with sleep.
"Aominecchi!"
The boisterous voice on the other end of the line had Aomine wincing. "Shut the hell up, Kise." Aomine grumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "What do you want?"
"Listen to me, Aominecchi! I think we found that guy you were looking for? Luca Valentino, right?!" The blond haired assassin's voice was ecstatic, it made Aomine's brain falter for a mere second.
"Wha- er, yeah," Aomine stuttered out, suddenly more awake and on his feet. He ran a hand through his hair, pulling it slightly from the sudden burst of energy he felt. "How did you find him? I mean, where is he? I- Is he with Yukio?" The questions flew out from his mouth, speaking to fast for Kise to keep up.
On the other end of the call, the golden eyed man laughed. "Calm down, Aominecchi! Kurokocchi isn't a master hacker for nothing!"
Aomine rolled his eyes. "So it wasn't you that found him?"
"Eh? Erm..." The blond faltered. He suddenly laughed sheepishly and Aomine could imagine him rubbed his head where he was. "I mean, not entirely... But I helped a little!" He huffed out.
In the background, Aomine could hear Kuroko mumbling, "Kise-kun, if you count sleeping and texting girls as 'helping', then yes – you helped a bunch." Aomine rolled his eyes at his friends' antics.
"Just give me the details, you idiot." Aomine demanded.
Kise whined over the phone, "Ehh! I don't want to be called an idiot by the likes of you, Aominecchi! I- ahh! Kurokocchi-!" Aomine pulled the phone away from his ear, glaring at it as Kise whined loudly. It grated on his nerves but he told himself to stay calm. He put it back and was about to confront Kise but instead he heard Kuroko's voice. "Tetsu?" He questioned.
"Yes," Kuroko replied.
Aomine sighed in relief. "Tell me what you found out about this guy."
"As you already know, Luca Valentino is a hitman." Kuroko confirmed. "He was born and raised in Italy and recently started working with one of the mafia families there. They went to Japan to deal with a traitor who was apart of the allies there."
Aomine hummed, deep in thought. "You must be talking about-"
"Yes," The light blue haired man confirmed. "The man who hired you, Kasamatsu Takeru." After a moment, Kuroko added, "You know, Akashi-kun is really annoyed that you went against his orders."
Aomine shook his head. "Yeah, I know. You don't need to remind, Tetsu." The assassin sighed softly. "Going back to the guy who has my charge..." Aomine pressed, obviously not caring about how in trouble he was with Akashi. He figured that he will just face the music when all this is over and done with.
"I'll email you the location, Aomine-kun. I need to go now."
"Wait, Tetsu-!" The phone clicked, ending their call. Aomine growled. He was positive that Kuroko was going against Akashi, as well, by helping him with his case. Aomine would be sure to properly thank Kuroko, as well as Kise, properly when he returned.
The assassin pulled out his laptop and signed into his email. Aomine waited a couple minutes for the email. When it arrived, the dark skinned male clicked on it and read over the information Kuroko sent him. Aomine's lips pulled into a grin, "I can't believe it..." He whispered.
'I'm so close to getting you back, Yukio.'
xXx
Kasamatsu pulled the damp towel off his head, droplets of water falling from the strands of his hair. He ignored the feeling of the water getting his clean t-shirt wet in favour of staring at the device in front of him. His steel-blue gaze turned to Luca, staring him down. "Is this a bomb?"
"You better believe it." Luca smirked. "It may look small and non-threatening but it packs a pretty big blast."
Kasamatsu nodded slowly. "I'm sure it'll be quite the distraction." He surmised, unable to help the giddy feeling of finally being able to do something about helping his mother and brothers. He rubbed his arm idly, eyes still glued to the small bomb.
Kasamatsu's body was sore from all the training he was doing with Luca. The hot shower he just took at least helped a bit but now that he was cooling down, the aches were more prominent. The high school student drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. His eyes flicked to meet Luca's emerald orbs. "So what's going on tomorrow?" The raven head asked, curious.
Luca stared at Kasamatsu. The hitman turned his back to the teenager, hiding his mischievous expression. "How about I show you how to use a gun?" He wondered aloud.
Kasamatsu raised his eyebrows in surprise. He was just about to ask Luca if he were serious or not but before he could even get the first word out, the hitman added, "If,"
"If?" The noirette repeated, shoulders drooping in dismay.
There was always an if.
"If you can beat me in a one on one. A close-combat battle." The brunette faced Kasamatsu, barring his teeth.
Kasamatsu looked away from Luca's gaze, scoffing. "Fine." He agreed, determination flaring.
I love Kasamatsu... Haha xD
~WinterAssassin~
