Hello - here we are, the next one!
I spotted some mistakes in the last two chapters! : / Sorry about that! I'll go back and fix them when I get a chance.
Hope you like it, sorry for any mistakes in this one! I don't own the series.
Warnings: Drug use, swearing.
}xXx{
There's a long silence following Suoh's stern three knocks on Kirishima's apartment door where he lives alone, around an hour after the man had finally left Sion with the booty hidden safety in his car, unconscious. He knocks again anxiously, a little impatient to see whether Kirishima has managed the task of getting the boy to talk and cleaned up, already anticipating the possibility of presenting him to Asami - Suoh hopeful that they actually have Takaba in their grasp.
He hears finally the tell tale signs of activity, muffled footsteps before the slide of a lock and the door opens to reveal a very disheveled looking Kirishima. Sleeves rolled up and no tie. He peeks blearily up at Suoh to greet him.
"That bad huh?"
Kirishima only nods, waving his partner in and walking ahead to the lounge to where the boy is and much to Suoh's surprise, he's gagged and tied tightly to a dining chair whilst around him the rest of the room sits in a desperate state of disarray, some struggle having clearly happened when Kirishima had brought the boy indoors as he came around from the sedative. He takes off his own jacket and sets it down on the couch, also rolling up his sleeves and settling in for a long night.
He had picked up some cheap, fast acting sedatives from an acquaintance on the way to Kirishima's flat upon realising that yes obviously, this kid won't make any kind of sense if they keep him hyped up on whatever party drug he was hooked on, that he's clearly not going to cooperate either upon waking up being manhandled through a doorway into some unknown residence by a stranger. Said stranger lets Suoh take the lead with the interrogation from here on out, the only words Kirishima has managed to get out of the scared kid after the struggle is 'fuck you' and 'let me go.' Not getting off to the best of starts. The man decides to go and make himself and Suoh a coffee, the boy not getting anything until he tells them what they want to know.
Suoh takes the seat opposite the pitiful captive, The filthy kid trying to see him through the glare of the lamp shining in his face. It's a good few moments of silence before Suoh removes the balled up gag serving to keep the kid quiet.
The newly freed mouth takes a deep breath, preparing for a barrage of expletives shot in the huge blonde guy's direction.
"You! Fuck you- let me go! What do you want from me?! What did I do?! Wha-!"
He doesn't get to finish that line of accusatory abuse before the fabric is shoved back in his mouth, the boy almost gagging as the dry fabric pushes against his tongue. Suoh sits back in his chair, Arms crossed and sternly observing the struggling kid. Fresh tears spilling down his cheeks as he gags and almost chokes on the fabric pressing deep into his mouth, pushing his tongue back painfully.
"We are going to talk. Quietly. You tell me everything you remember about the last two years."
Amidst the silence of the living room as the one tied down processes the nonsense being said to him, Kirishima arrives with two mugs of steaming hot South American coffee, the smell seeming to warm the room, filling it with a comforting aroma that the boy recognises. The guard sets the mugs down on the coffee table near Suoh and takes a seat nearest him on the sofa, turning his head to the side and watching closely, the lamp glare allowing him to observe without being seen by the boy.
After a few more long moments, Suoh removes the gag again. The enraged young man immediately launching into another tirade.
"W-who are you guys?! What are you talking ab-!"
The gag goes roughly back into his mouth without further ado, the huge blond guard silencing anything other than the answers he wants. He settles back in his seat and crosses his arms again, this time leaving it a moment longer before he talks, letting the kid calm down from his renewed bout of gagging and coughing.
"We can keep going all night, as long as it takes. You are going to tell me what you have been doing for the past two years, why you left Sion that day without a word…."
He pauses, leaning forward a little with the light catching his face and highlighting the harsh lines of concern and hope and the silence drags on after that, deafening to the boy who had been listening with wide, searching eyes, ones that are fixed on the huge blonde guy's face. uncomprehending but stricken. He feels like he knows that face, that he knows one of these words. Sion. Sion, the place he had been looking for, the place he spent so long trying to get to and walking for days and days, miles, begging for people to tell him but they only looked at him with disgust and walked away, him learning quickly not to talk to people at all. He searched and searched, feeling like he was searching for years until one day, not so long ago he had seen it - Sion. He knew he knew it, somehow.
Suoh seems to read the hint of recognition in the boy's eyes and removes the gag. The room silent still while no one dares disturb the tension charged air, Kirishima had seen it too. That this boy seems to remember - something.
"Sion…I need to go to Sion….Asami…"
Fuck, now it's the guards time to stare in realisation. Who would have thought that name would be uttered so quickly? They exchange looks, Suoh pressing the boy a little more gently, urgently.
"Yes, what does this name, Asami. Mean to you?"
There's silence, the boy scowling and thinking hard, knowing his ticket to freedom lies with this word, this word that he cannot place.
"Asami…..? I, I don't know….I need to go to Sion, to Asami….."
The men look at each other, the kid squinting through his hair and the harsh light at them but they share a mutual look of exasperation and relief. It's not perfect by any means, but it's a start. He knows that he has to see Asami and that's enough for now. They decide the next phase of the plan is in order, Kirishima nodding to Suoh and he sips his coffee and stands. Suoh nodding gruffly and doing the same.
"Kid, you want some candy?"
He perks up at that, candy being his favourite thing in the world. The only thing that calms hims down, lets him think. Makes him fly.
"If you're good, we'll give you some candy….you just need to do what we say."
The boy nods eagerly, eyes wide and hands wringing and gripping each other where they're tied behind the back of the chair. He doesn't know what they'll ask him to do, not that it matters - he's done almost everything in exchange for his candy in the past and as long as he gets it he will do anything. These men though just sigh in relief and watch him for a few more moments. The larger one of the two approaching his chair and blocking out the blinding light.
"I'm going to unite you, you're going to come with me to the bathroom, shower and dress yourself and then we're going to cut your hair. You will then sit and tell us everything you know about Sion, about Asami. Only then you will get your candy. Do you understand?"
He remains silent, nodding again and eyes on that little baggie in the mans huge hand. His precious pills inside. Pink this time, not that he really cares about the colour as it's what they do to him that has him craving them. He needs them now, needs to take them or he thinks he'll die otherwise. His mouth watering already just at the thought of having them again, the satisfaction as they slide down his throat and he waits for them to take effect. While he waits to dream of those arms, those lips lingering at his forehead. While he waits to feel safe again.
}xXx{
The glass clinks down gently on the counter top, Asami leaving it for the cleaning lady in the morning to take care of, no pots, pans or dishes being used tonight or any other night since Akihito disappeared. Asami slipping back into his pre-Takaba routine quite seamlessly after that day two years ago. He walks through the polished, sleek halls of his luxury apartment and thinks back on the day - his best men hopelessly distracted and strained, already resolving to get to the bottom of their strange behaviour tomorrow. One slip up is alright, the two having been placed on extra duties of late after all but if it happens again he'll have to consider other options. Distractions and lapses of focus from them would cost dearly after all.
The man pauses at the end of the hall, realising with perhaps just a little surprise on his part that he had bypassed completely his bedroom door, instead ending up and the next one along. Akihito's room. The one he hasn't allowed himself to step foot in for months. As is stands only the house keeper has access, coupled with strict instructions to only clean around items and not to disrupt them and to change the boy's bed every week as he would have. He had given those instructions a few weeks after it had happened, his belief that the boy would somehow come flying back to him still strong but now - now he just can't bring himself to tell her to stop.
But.
What's the point in keeping a room for him, when Akihito is in all probability dead?
He sighs and places a hand on the door knob, feeling foolish even as he takes a breath upon opening up the door. The place sat for so long that it no longer smells like his lover. The place so lifeless it makes him feel a little more empty. Isn't he just fooling himself now? What is he doing keeping Akihito's room all made up like a disillusioned parent waiting for their runaway child to come home. Two years. That boy living for two years on the cold and unforgiving streets. Realistically he knows that Akihito is probably dead. Though the pain he feels upon even hinting at the thought to himself is disturbingly - too much to bear.
He drives that thought back down, ruthlessly. He's Asami Ryuichi. Again, he shouldn't be feeling this way.
As he pulls the door shut again with another breath he thinks he might see how he feels tomorrow, maybe finally making the decision to have the room cleared out. Like all these things were never even here, like he never had made such an imprint on Asami's life.
Asami reaches his room and strolls through the dark to his bedside lamp, switching it on and leaving his watch beside it. Now contemplating the other matter from today, perhaps more alarming than his men's uncharacteristic behaviour as this has to do with the small yet relentless itch that's been steadily growing, the possibility of a mole within his own organisation.
He had investigated every one of his employees when Akihito had disappeared - not foolish enough to assume one person could make it in and out of the building either unchecked or without being detected. It had to be someone with inside knowledge. They had each of them come up clean, though again Asami being who he is not one to take that at face value. A good mole could spend years on building their cover. It's what he had done with Yoh. But, since Akihito Asami has been watching closely, his servers set to flag any suspicious mail or visits to any suspicious web addresses but again everyone has come up clean. Even the anonymous E-mail Mikhail Arbatov had received today promising inside information on Asami's organisation had been followed to an untraceable IP address, scrambled and unreadable. Routed through servers all over the globe.
To think this new threat could be linked to his missing lover, to the attempt on his life two years ago when explosive ordinance had been discovered by Kirishima by chance in his office is a strong possibility. The fact though that the person contacted Mikhail of all people doesn't support that theory. Asami and Mikhail's business relationship is as strong as ever now. Though, of course there is the possibility that this person doesn't know that. Just like Albrecht Dürer hadn't.
He sneers slightly at the rage the mere memory of that man evokes within him and turns away to the bathroom. Hoping to wash away the sheer sense of impotent anger and frustration he just can't shake, no matter who he tortures, shoots, or fucks.
His mood doesn't improve by the next morning, especially when he's rudely awoken by an early phone call.
"Asami…"
"Asami-sama-"
Kirishima says, sounding more like himself which in a way is music to Asami's ears, making him cheer somewhat. The man sounds like his usual reliable, unflappable self again. Good. That means that today should go much more smooth-
"I apologise, but I am sick. I would like to request to take a day's leave please. I apologise for any inconvenience caused. I shall have Suoh cover all my duties."
Asami says nothing, just lays there and blinks for a few moments. He checks the caller ID up on the screen quickly, noting that it'd definitely Kirishima. It's definitely his guard and secretary that has not taken even one day off sick or otherwise in the past four years. Yeah. It's really that Kirishima. The man brings his other arm up from beneath the covers and rubs his tired eyes, somewhere in the back of his mind noting that it's rare for him to have slept the night through but he's got more pressing matters to attend to, like why the hell his best man wants a sick day when he sounds genki as hell.
"What's the ailment?"
"Mm?"
"What's wrong with you…"
Kirishima swats his nosey little houseguests hand away again, the boy curious as to who's low, rumbling voice he can hear coming through the speaker and wanting to listen in on it too. The man shakes his head and covers the receiver with a hand until the kid gives up, shrugging and turning away to continue munching happily on his buttered toast. A full stomach helping some of his colour return after a night of more sleep than he's had in months. The candy he was given helping him to relax and the sofa he had slept on so much more comfortable than his usual cardboard and soiled, sodden blankets.
"I've got a pain Asami-sama, in my neck. A big one."
He says with a wry smirk in the boy's direction, who is now poking a prodding his carefully arranged artefacts and antique book collection. The explanation not being entirely false. The boy certainly is proving to be quite the pain, so much so that he's growing increasingly sure that this is Takaba. But they should know for sure today, If Suoh is successful later on with his mission. A pensive sounding breath from his boss over the line draws his attention back, the man probably seeing right through him so he thinks it best to end the call quickly, offering more apologies before complaining of pain and hanging up with an audible 'phew.' Just as the boy comes back with the last mouthful of toast being swallowed down.
"Who are you?"
He says, cocking his head to the side slightly and realising that he probably should have demanded names from these guys a little more forcefully last night, especially as it doesn't look like he'll be going home to Sion any time soon. Sion though, he needs to get back to Sion.
"Oh…" The man says, pocketing his phone one more time and regarding the kid with curious eyes. "…I'm Kirishima, we already know each other. Do you remember?"
The kid shakes his shaggy black hair back and forth, his mop looking so much better now the matts have all been cut out. He mumbles a 'no' and goes back to the dining table, taking up his next slice of by now cold toast and munching it with equal fervour, Kirishima daring to push it even further.
"Kid, can you tell me your name?"
The boy casts his eyes upward, 'hmming' long and hard as he wracks his brains, coming up annoyingly short.
"Nope."
He takes another bite, noting to himself that there are only really two words that he needs to remember after all. There was a time, he's sure, that he had been chanting them to himself like a prayer. Over and over again and praying desperately as unspeakable things happened to him, as they had made him take all these pills and needles until eventually they are the only two words that had stuck. Sion, Asami. He needs to get back to Sion and to Asami.
"Are you going to take me back to Sion? I need to go."
He says, setting down his half eaten slice of bread, suddenly wary and unsure. Jittery like a rabbit before a fox.
The man just stares at him though, steeping his fingers together to observe him sharply. Reading the cloak of fear being swept over the boy's delicate features.
"Not unless you can explain to me why. Why must you go back to Sion? What does the name Asami, mean to you?"
He shakes his shaggy black head of hair again, hands coming up to clutch his ears in frustration as the voices all tell him why, each one buzzing and talking so loudly that he just can't understand. The only words ringing through as always, unchanged. Are Sion, Asami. I need to go back. I need to go back!
His eyes shut sharply against it and he feels himself crying out, falling, wishing it would all stop but before he knows it he's laying on that soft sofa again. The nice man, Kirishima pressing a piece of candy into his mouth and a glass to his lips. He swallows the pill greedily, eagerly seeking all the comfort the little pink pill has to offer and his vision clears for just a few moments before it starts to slip again, the boy falling into comforting sleep. Warmth.
}xXx{
Suoh practically collapses into the drivers seat of the limo, the man just having survived sneaking into his employers office and extracting the valuable complete file on Takaba Akihito, the most comprehensive and in depth version they have and the one that both he and Kirishima knows Asami likes to keep in his desk, not that he's looked at it for months. Asami is currently in one of the private rooms in Sion, in a private meeting with the head of a large real estate mogul, the man discussing plans for a new club which will be Asami's largest to date. Right in the heart of Shibuya.
Suoh had known that this would be his only chance, casually strolling into the mans office to raid his draws and tuck the folder into his jacket before leaving the building quickly, having to do other errands anyway. He takes a shaky breath, knowing that there is definitely no going back now. This folder in his hands could hold the answers to everything. For better or worse.
Suoh just hopes that Asami doesn't get the urge to look at it after all this time, at least not until tomorrow when Kirishima can slip it back into the drawer.
He lights a rare cigarette. Needing all the muscle relaxants he can get after seemingly developing a nervous twitch. Too much evading of questions and avoiding Asami's eyes over the last twenty four hours are having a negative toll on his body already.
His phone rings, the signal from his boss that the meeting is over. He stubs his cigarette out and sighs, hoping it's not long before they can fix this two year old mess.