Akihito was curled up in bed, covers pulled up over his head, arms hugging the pillow his face was buried in. He had thrown himself into a cold shower as soon as he got home but even that couldn't erase his reaction to the memories of that evening. It was just a kiss dammit. Well, that wasn't quite right, there was more than one kiss. No, it was more of a full blown make out session on the balcony and then again in the limo on the way home. Akihito was now rather convinced that the entire reason that man got driven around in a limo was so that he could have his hands free for other things. Like molesting little photographers. Not that he had done anything entirely inappropriate although he was pretty sure those hands had wandered under his clothes at some point as there was no way his shirt got like that on its own. He had been fully sitting in Asami's lap, arms around his neck, very eager with the activities that were occurring when they had been interrupted by Asami's ring tone. And Asami had growled. A deep, rumbling growl from the back of his throat that sent a flash of heat straight to his groin. Turns out that was a special line they called to get hold of him only in emergencies. Golden eyes flashed and suddenly Akihito had been pulled in for one last kiss, leaving him with lips tingling and gasping for breath. They had arrived at his apartment a few minutes later, Asami still on the phone and Akihito had all but dashed inside. His feelings were torn over the call. If that hadn't interrupted he knew what they would be doing right now, those molten eyes had been filled with desire and dark promise. And that man was good. He knew what he was doing and Akihito had been like putty in his hands. Having had a taste of what was offered left Akihito breathless for more but at the same time it was too much, too soon and he needed to clear his head.

Soulmate.

He groaned into the pillow. He couldn't get it out of his head. The feeling of warm hands tracing his skin, lips moving against his own. He had fought for control of the kiss at the beginning, a fight for dominance that seemed it could go either way until Asami apparently decided that he had indulged him enough and quickly took absolute control leaving Akihito weak kneed and reeling in response. In all fairness, his inexperience was probably partly to blame, he had never really been interested in such things before, much preferring to spend his time with his friends or doing stake out work. But from what he had experienced, Asami was on a whole other level.

He was going to catch up with Takato and Kou tomorrow and he knew that they would ask him about this. About him. Akihito knew he would blush at the barest mention of Asami right now and he was in for a long afternoon. With another groan, he curled up and tried to calm his thoughts enough to sleep. He wasn't successful for quite some time.

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Akihito took a deep breath before he entered the quiet little coffee shop. It was early afternoon on a Tuesday, just after the office lunch time rush and the perfect time to have a catch up over some coffee without it being so noisy that you needed to almost shout to be heard. He spotted his friends sitting over in the corner and waved when they spotted him. He ordered a coffee, needing the caffeine after his thoughts kept him awake the night before, and made his way over to his friends table.

"Aki-chan!" He rolled his eyes at the greeting.

"Hey guys."

"You haven't been replying to our messages," Kou mock-pouted at him. "We weren't sure if you were even going to show for our weekly catch up. Takato thought that you got a girlfriend or something," He snorted, showing what he thought of that idea. "But I figured you'd just gotten carried away on stake outs."

Akihito could feel the blush forming immediately. Turns out someone didn't need to explicitly mention Asami, his brain was quite capable of conjuring thoughts about the man on its own accord. He saw Kou's eyes widen in surprise and Takato suddenly grin and he knew he was doomed.

"Not quite…" His name was called and he quickly jumped up to grab his coffee before returning to the table. Both of his friends were now smirking and had very predatory glints in their eyes. Akihito groaned internally.

"So Aki-chan. What is this 'not quite' that causes you to blush instantly and without prompting?"

"I found my soulmate." He spoke softly, not quite meeting his friend's eyes, desperately trying to will away the increasing heat in his cheeks.

"Oh wow! Congrats dude!"

"Nice work, Aki-chan!" Akihito glared at Kou for the nickname. He got a wider grin in return. "Now you have to tell us all the details!"

Akihito sighed and took a sip of his coffee to buy some time. "So, it's a man, his name is Asami Ryuichi. He's a lot older than me," He ignored Kou who pulled out his phone. "Umm, he's a businessman. Pretty successful. We are… Uh… Very different."

"And a romantic soulmate too if that blush was anything to go by." Takato's words just made the heat in Akihito's face flare up more. Takato's grin widened. "I'm guessing something happened between you two? You can't have known each other very long either." Akihito didn't get a chance to reply and Kou interrupted them with a low whistle.

"Dude! I thought I recognised the name; 'Asami Ryuichi, CEO of multi-billion dollar Sion Corporation and investor in numerous other companies and ventures. A notoriously private person, Asami's personal wealth is not known but the man is rumoured to be personally worth almost as much as his company.' It goes on to list a whole bunch of other companies and things he's done. Holy shit man. How did you meet someone like this?" Takato wacked Kou playfully over the head.

"Idiot! Soulmates don't take wealth into consideration."

"He still needs to tell us how they met."

Akihito proceeded to explain the day once again. He idly wondered how many times he was going to have to recount this. He could feel the exasperation as he got to the camera part. It still irked him even now, a few days later.

"Man! Takato, why couldn't you have been super rich? I could do with a sugar daddy right now too."

Akihito, who had taken a sip of his coffee, choked at that. He was still coughing as Kou nearly fell off his chair with laughter.

"You're too easy, Aki-chan!"

Akihito groaned. "Stop with the Aki-chan. And it's not funny guys. He took me out to Annisa last night. You know that fancy restaurant that all the celebrities try to get into? He picked me up in a freaking limo. He knows the owner apparently and she organised a table for us and it was set up as some romantic dinner for two with candles and flowers. It was so embarrassing! The bastard just smirked at me and said that he hadn't asked for that, Anita did it on her own. And she gave us a bottle of champagne as congratulations for the whole soulmate thing and it was worth like 6 weeks of my rent. I was drinking 6 weeks' worth of rent! Then the smug bastard just ordered for me so I wouldn't freak out over the prices and distracted me with the food once it arrived!"

They were both laughing at him now.

"Sounds like he has a pretty good handle on you if he's distracting you with food."

"Guys this isn't funny!"

"No, it really is. You are the last person to ever care about money and that's who you get as a soulmate? It's freaking hilarious!"

Akihito's head hit the table with a soft thud.

"I hate you two."

"Nah, you love us really." Kou wiped the tears from his eyes.

"The food at a place like that must have been pretty good."

"Yeah," Akihito gave a wistful sigh as he remembered all the delicious smells and flavours. "It was amazing."

It sent his two friends back into fits of laughter after they had barely begun to calm down.

"He's got you by the stomach Aki, you're a goner."

Akihito glared at his two best friends, tears of laughter running down their faces.

"I don't see what's so funny."

"Only you would get so angry and flustered over being taken out for dinner Aki. You should see you face right now."

Akihito decided that he needed better friends.

"But I seriously don't know what to make of him. I mean he's just so… so…"

"I wonder if there is a picture of him," Kou had his phone in hand again. "There is! Oh wow, he's pretty hot in an intimidating kind of way."

Takato leaned over to take a look; "Sure, if you swing that way." Kou just shrugged.

Akihito was biting his lip and staring down at his finger drawing random patterns across the table. "He's dangerous." They both turned to look at him. "I had heard his name before as well but at the police station when getting info for scoops. No one could ever pin anything on him but I was always warned to stay away from anything to do with him because he was that dangerous. They always treat me like a kid but they've had informants just vanish into thin air and others suddenly refuse to talk. And I've glimpsed it, it's like he keeps it toned down normally but turns on this aura of intimidation and power when he feels like not keeping it under wraps. He got angry about the refusing the camera thing and I saw it then." He gave an involuntary shiver remembering that intense gaze staring into him, seeming to strip him bare.

"Maybe he'll be good for you." Akihito looked up at Takato in surprise. "I mean, you're an adrenaline junkie Aki, always getting yourself into dangerous situations with your camera. Maybe being with such a dangerous man will calm you down. Or at least if you really get into trouble, sounds like he might be able to step in and save your ass."

"I just don't know what to make of it all." Akihito sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"He is a romantic soulmate right?" Akihito's instant blush gave it away. "That's pretty interesting. A man like that huh. What happened to give that reaction anyway? It's only been what, a few days?"

"Geez Aki, did you sleep with him on the first date?"

"What?!" Akihito waved his hands in front of his face in denial. "No, no! It was just a kiss."

Both of his friends were giving him a sceptical look.

"He's just… Really good, is all." And now they were giving him rather evil grins. Akihito groaned. "I really hate you guys."

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It had been just over a week since Akihito fateful encounter with Asami. The businessman had taken him out for lunch twice more since but something was apparently going on as they had been interrupted both times and Asami called away. Akihito wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing with him having to leave hurriedly. He enjoyed spending the time with Asami which had surprised him somewhat but each time the businessman had cornered him and kissed him senseless only to have the interruption occur as his hands were starting to move under clothing. And that growl. Oh god. A deep, rumbling growl of displeasure greeted the interruptions and the sound sent shivers down his spine. Akihito was torn. He desperately wanted to know what the dark promise was that lurked in those golden eyes. With all the skill Asami had shown with a few kisses and touches, Akihito was breathless to know more. And yet he was hesitant. He knew that whatever happened he would be swept away and all he would be able to do is hold on for the ride. Did he trust this man enough to just let go? He assumed he did because every time Asami got hold of him he would just melt into him and be left aching for more. Yet every time he could clear his head of the intoxicating presence of his soulmate he started to doubt.

"Argh, he messes me up!" Akihito groaned, that statement was true in more than one sense. He was sprawled out on his couch at home, attempting to watch TV but getting distracted again and again by thoughts and memories of that man. He wondered if it was always going to be like this. A beep from his phone indicated a new message and he picked it up, glad for the distraction.

Remember it's your father's birthday this weekend! You have to invite your handsome new soulmate down to meet us as well!

Oh no. It had only been two weeks and already his mother was wanting to meet Asami. Akihito was hoping to put that meeting off for a bit longer. But he could never manage to lie to his mother, she would know straight away if he hadn't actually asked. Asami had been very busy lately, he probably wouldn't be able to come down for a whole weekend. They could just reschedule for another time. Hopefully. Akihito took a deep breath and found Asami's number on his phone. It would be the first time he called him.

"Akihito."

"Hi! Um, sorry if I'm calling at a bad time?"

"It's fine."

"Okay, good. Um, it's my father's birthday this weekend and I'm going to stay back home for it and my mother wanted to let you know that you are invited to come down too. But I know you've been busy lately…"

"I should be able to manage that." Akihito winced. After a short pause, Asami spoke again; "I feel like that wasn't the right answer?"

"No, it's fine. It's just that Okaasan is… Nosy? And… Well, you'll see anyway. Oh, and um, I normally just train down to Yokohama but I figured that you wouldn't want to do that?" A deep laugh met his words.

"I'll drive."

"We are not going down in the limo!"

"Relax, I said I'd drive. I have other cars."

"… Are they just as flashy as the limo?"

"Possibly." He could damn well hear the smirk.

"I'm not going to win this one am I? Fine. I'll message you with the details."

"I look forward to it, Akihito." The line disconnected and he felt heat pool in his belly at the way his name rolled off Asami's tongue. He so was screwed.

AN: OMG, I am so excited for the next chapter guys! I'm mentally referring to it as 'Nariko strikes back' buahahaha