This chapter is dedicated to all the hardworking people going through tough times at home. Especially the ones who fill their free time with Jrock fanfiction.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
CHAPTER 5
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
A week had passed.
Sho's condition did not improve, although the nightmares seemed to have leveled off somewhat. Kei was practically going out of his mind with worry. His (once) little Sho was suffering nightly with nothing to be done about the situation. Before Sho's Incident (as it was referred to now), the gang raids hadn't been bringing in quite enough cash, which meant that they'd had slimmer monetary pickings, but now things were serious.
It had been weeks since Kei had pulled a raid. The rent hadn't been paid in a long while, as much of their recent funds had gone toward Sho's hospital bills. Medical supplies were absurdly priced in dirty, run down places like the Mallepan Barracks, where doctors could do as they wished without interference from the government. The hospital had taken them for everything they had.
Son and Toshi were feeling it too; Chan had been stationing his groups of thugs strategically and carefully around the inner parts of the city. Too many of his men had been ambushed and obliterated by this new mystery pair, so extra precautions were taken. It had become much harder to surprise the gangs, and even harder to escape without being caught or seen; Son had nearly gotten his nose shaved off by a barrage of bullets. Both pizza boy and gunman had taken to stealing money from gang members much like they had as children: simple smash-and-grab jobs. It was humiliating but necessary; two men couldn't take on an entire army of henchmen by themselves.
Kei felt terrible about leaving his friends in the lurch like this, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Sho alone in the apartment; he'd probably wake up, find him gone and have an aneurism or meltdown.
The morning sun rose higher, and Kei lowered the shades (newly installed with the drapes) just in time to miss the pink shafts of light hitting the windowsill. He peered at the couch where Sho lay fast asleep, making sure he hadn't seen; any mention of Kei with the word 'sun' and he went back into panicked fits.
Kei found that he was hungry again, but not starving. Sho's contribution had sated him for a long while, but healing had depleted much of it to the point that he was back at his normal level of want. Fortunately hunger was something he'd learned to ignore, given he was strong enough, and there were some beverages in existence that helped soothe the ache in his belly.
Beer was most definitely one of them.
Reaching into the fridge and pulling out a bottle of Kirin, the vampire popped the lid with his fangs and spat the metal top expertly into the garbage. Kei dropped down with a contented sigh onto the soft leather couch, letting himself sink into it and taking a mouthful of the heavy drink. It felt good on his throat and tongue, the richness of it distracting him. The living room was pleasantly warm; he purposefully kept it that way for Sho, but it really did feel good.
The vampire was relaxed, for the first time in weeks. He felt his eyelids pulled shut by a pleasant drowsiness as warmth and darkness took him in...
Sleep.
Relief was short-lived.
BRRRRRRING BRING BRINGGGGGG!!
"AH!!" Kei yelped aloud, almost spilling his beer as the doorbell was repeatedly and violently abused. Who in the--?
He was only clad in a tank top and pants, hardly good enough for answering the door, but the banging and ringing said that whoever was outside meant business. Bewildered, the man set his bottle down and made his way carefully down the hallway, still shaking from the adrenaline rush.
What now?!
The lock clicked open and there in the doorway, looking extremely upset-- and possibly homicidal-- was Mr. Park, the landlord.
Kei's blood ran cold.
Mr. Park was a balding, pot-bellied Korean who barely spoke Cantonese well enough to communicate with his tenants. He had no love for Japanese street-rats who paid almost yearly, and certainly not for the ones who had been waking him nightly with Sho's uncontrollable screaming.
He was also close to six-and-a-half feet tall.
The man was intimidating, to say the least, and they'd been dealing with him and his shouting about the rent for months. Now he stood eyeing Kei with a very pissed-off look on his face, his greasy white undershirt bulging with his girth.
"You're still late wi' rent, and dat fackin' boy's still keep me up ol night!!" Park's guttural Chinese forced its way up out of smoke-tattered lungs. "You pay now or I send you oudt!!"
Kei wasn't sure what to do.
"Uh, I'm-- sorry Mr. Park, I don't have anything to pay with now-- and I keep trying to make him stop," he stammered, looking up uncertainly at the taller man. "He can't help it; he has nightmares--"
"It's no' my business what you do wi' da' boy aftar hours! You gag him up from now on!" Park thundered, eyes watering and veins popping on his neck from the force of his shouting. "If you no pay up right now, Jap, I'll give you nightmares from here to next week! Now giv' me my money!!"
Kei flinched, eyes fixed on the dirty concrete floor, suddenly looking rather small and beaten down. Park had never liked the attention they'd gotten because of their looks and automatically assumed the worst about two Japanese men living together. He probably thought they were prostitutes or something similarly unsavoury. At any other time the man's ranting would have been deemed ludicrous, and he'd simply have yelled at Park to back off and get out of his face. It might even have been funny.
But with the stress of the past few weeks and the hard truth of their penniless state upon him, Kei found it impossible to take the man's threats lightly.
"I, uh-- right," he mumbled. "Just a moment--"
The blond rushed back inside, slamming the door in Park's face and searching frantically for something to use as collateral so the man wouldn't start making good on his promises. If he threw them out now, neither of them would get very far; it was bright and sunny out and Sho was still too weak to be going outside, especially in the current chill. More banging ensued with threats of boiling oil and other strange torture devices.
"Coming!" Kei called, frantically combing the drawers for something, anything. The pounding grew louder and Kei felt fear building in his gut. He may have been a vampire, but Park was an extremely volatile man and he was getting angrier:
"You're not make me wait no more for dis! You're alreddy six mont' late! You're pay now or I beat it oudda you!!"
There was a thump and his hand bumped something heavy deep inside the drawer. His heart stopped as a glimmer of silver shone up at him.
Sho's pistols.
Oh God... not that, anything but--
Kei jumped as the banging finished with one last cement-shattering hit and the landlord lost it completely, trying to shoulder his way into the apartment. Sho was beginning to stir on the sleep-couch and the bolt was two splinters away from falling off entirely. He had no choice; it was either this or they were homeless.
The vampire drew both guns from their holsters, removed the clips and ran back to the door. Park was still screaming:
"YOU GE' BACK HERE RIGHT NOW, YOU LITTLE RUNT!! I'M GONNA--"
Kei flung the door open, panting. "Will these do for now?" he asked, his eyes desperate.
Park did a double-take at the sight of the shiny, expensive weapons. He could see the wheels in the man's brain coming to a grinding halt. Perhaps a little more persuation would be necessary until he comprehended the payment. Kei swallowed, trying not to let his voice waiver as he spoke.
"I can pay you back the rest in a few weeks; if you can give me a little--"
The blond man cringed as Park snatched the guns from him and examined them thoroughly. His landlord was still fuming, but on slow-burn.
"This is good for start, but I won't take dis from you no more, kid," he growled, pocketing the pistols. "If you no' pay me my money I can allays get new tentands--"
"Please, Mr. Park, it isn't that much; the guns should cover--"
Park went off.
"YOU THINK YOU CAN CHEAT ME OU' MY RENT?!" he bellowed, slamming his hand on the door frame at Kei's diminutive eye level, startling him back into the cement. "YOU COME DOWN TO DA OFFICE WI' ME AND I'LL SHOW YOU HOW MUCH YOU STILL OWE ME! YOU FACKIN' JAPANESE BUMS, ALLAYS CHEATING ME--"
As he spoke, the Korean grabbed Kei's arm in his beefy hand and dragged him out of the apartment, toward the stairs. He was taking him outside.
Kei freaked.
"No! No! Let me go, you don't under--! Let me go!" he yelled, attempting to ward him off, but the landlord wasn't listening, ranting on and on--
"I HAVE ALL YOUR BILLS! I CAN SHOW YOU--"
Kei exploded, vibrating with the force of his shrill protest:
"Let GO OF ME!!"
Bright eyes flashed red; the blond ripped himself out of Park's grasp just in time to see the shaft of sunlight shooting out from the direction of the open air staircase, searing the skin of his hand straight through to the bone. A shriek vaulted from deep in his gut and he stumbled away from the man, out of range of the light.
Kei rocked backward into the wall, cradling his arm and shivering wildly as Park stood gaping in confusion.
"Wha-- wha' was...?" the Korean muttered, glancing back and forth from Kei to the stairs.
"Please," the blond gasped. "I can pay-- I'll pay, just-- give me a little more time-- a week, just one week--"
Mr. Park seemed to be taken aback at what he wasn't even sure he'd seen, and his tenant was literally begging. A few pregnant moments flitted by, then finally the man backed away down the hall, giving Kei one last uncertain look as he disappeared to his own floor.
"One week," Park muttered. "You godt more problems dan I thought, kid."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Outside the apartment complex, two men in a dingy old Camaro were sprawled belligerently in their seats, waiting for their targets to move. Cameras were set and waiting for the latest glimpse of the pair rumoured to be hitting their boss's turf. A total of five cigarettes were scattered wantonly across the gravel parking lot from each of the open windows, crushed and spent.
"Is he sure these bozos are responsible?" one complained, jamming his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. "This can't be legit; the dude can't even keep his apartment guy from comin' after him."
"Shut your trap and gimme the damn camera," the second yawned, shaking a head of colorful hair that spiked in several directions. "Sooner we get the photos, 'sooner the boss lets us get outta here. I ain't getting up at the crack a' dawn again for nobody."
The leather-clad man raised a pair of old-fashioned binoculars to where Kei was getting reamed by his landlord.
"Damn. Wouldn't wanna be in his shoes. Last guy I knew that lived there, didn't make it to two months' rent. Dude wound up splattered all over the pavement from his window. Cops said it was suicide-- yeah, right, and I'm a fairy," he muttered sarcastically.
"You know some messed-up people, if you ask me."
"Shh, the landy's leavin'."
The huge Korean was still screaming, but now he was heading downstairs. At first Spikey-Haired Man thought that he was just ranting to himself to vent, but then Kei's arm came into view, along with the rest of him, and he started screaming at the top of his lungs. He thought he could make out some of it, stuff like 'no, let me go''.
"Hey-- somethin's up."
"Hm?"
"The landlord's taking him downstairs, but-- damn, he must really owe a lotta cash; he's acting like the guy's gonna kill him or som--"
Kei's next yell could be heard clearly by both of them:
"LetGO OF ME!!"
There was a high-pitched scream of pain and Spikey-Haired Man's eyes went wide. His binoculars lowered in shock. Did he just see what he thought he saw? Putting the lenses back against his eyes, the gangster stared in disbelief as smoke drifted into his line of vision from the direction of the small man. It was still rising in a thin white line, and the landlord's expression was about as befuddled as he was.
"So what happened?" Leather Man prodded. "Dude, let me use those things-- Come on, spill it!"
A hard shove from beside him brought the man to his senses enough for an explanation.
"He... he burned," he said confusedly.
"What, the guy burned him with a lighter?" His partner was starting another cigarette as he talked.
"No, he just... burned. Like he stuck his hand in a fire, only..."
Leather Man growled, exasperated. "What?! Tell me somethin', man! What happened?!"
Spikey-Haired Man dropped the binoculars into his lap, his eyes dark and troubled. Maybe the bosses had been right. "...Sun," the man muttered incredulously. "He burned from being in the sun."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Kei slid down the wall with a sigh of relief as the landlord's footsteps faded away. Looking down with half-lidded eyes, he saw that smoke was still rising from the triangular burn on the back of his hand.
That had been way too close.
Guilt made him choke on his own breath as his head fell forward onto his hands. He couldn't believe it; how could he have let that happen? Thinking of what he'd just done nearly made him cry. Those were Sho's pistols. Sho's! Never before had they needed to give up their possessions to keep their heads above water, and now he'd just given the man Sho's most prized possessions. With any luck he'd find them at a local pawn shop, but still...
"Kei?" Sho's voice called weakly from inside the open door. "Kei..."
Kei shut his eyes in despair.
A lone tear dropped onto his hand, and he wiped his face as he rose, going inside. "Coming," the vampire murmured, shutting the door behind him and trying to still his shuddering body. He didn't want Sho to see how upset he'd become; he didn't need that in his condition.
You can do this. For Sho, you can do this...
Forcing his eyes to stay dry, Kei smiled softly as Sho's blue-green orbs peeked out at him from under the blanket. He sat down gently on the sleep-couch, taking advantage of the space Sho had given him. "Hey," he nudged his fuzzy-headed patient. "How are you feeling?"
"A little better," Sho admitted, stretching a little and experimentally flexing his arm. "What was that all about? I heard yelling... It wasn't Park, was it?" The young man's nose wrinkled in disgust.
"You bet," he joked, trying to sound nonchalant. "The bastard was still screeching about his rent. I got us a little more time."
"Good," Sho snorted. "Jerk needs to be taught a lesson anyway."
Kei kept his hand carefully concealed beneath the edge of the blanket. He felt his throat tightening.
"...Do you mind if I nap with you for a little while?" he said hoarsely.
"Huh? No, 'course not," Sho replied, confused. "You okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, 'm fine."
Scooting backwards, Sho let Kei onto the couch and covered him with the blanket, letting his back rest against the wall and Kei's back rest against him. Feeling Sho's warmth and light fingers resting on his shoulder, Kei exhaled deeply and let himself sink into the younger man's presence. He needed some reassurance after Park's stunt, even if Sho didn't realize what he was doing for him.
"'M glad... you're feeling better," Kei murmured, sleep already sweeping over him.
"Me too," Sho replied, resting his forehead against Kei's lengthy hair. He toyed with it a little, brushing a few strands aside that were tickling his nose. Sho chuckled. "You need a haircut, Kei. Either that or you should get some braids like mine going; this mess is gonna be one giant knot soon."
Kei smiled with closed eyes, oblivious.
"Mm-hm... sounds good."
Sho snickered as Kei dozed off beside him, watching the blond's frail figure go still and his breath even out.
Probably doesn't even realize what he agreed to, he thought wickedly. His mirth diminished at the feel of something warm and wet on the skin of his arm under Kei's head. He was puzzled for a moment, then it hit him and a sharp sympathy pain went through his gut. Kei was crying again.
"Oh, Kei," Sho whispered guiltily.
I'm so sorry. You've been through hell with this shit, haven't you? Taking care of me... The smaller man was already asleep. Sho stroked the hair over his friend's ear, caressing the skin of his cheek with his thumb, trying to be soothing.
"It's okay," he said softly, half to himself. "I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you, Kei, ever. Not ever."
Outside the day dawned, and the apartment stayed dim and quiet until nightfall.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Kei organized a mini dinner-party with his friends the next night.
Toshi had brought pizza, Son had brought some rice and a salad, (which sat untouched on the counter), while Kei had supplied the beer. They had agreed to meet around ten, and it was well past midnight before any real talking started. The lamps were lit and half the hues of the rainbow crept in a curved line across the walls, just touching Toshi's feet where they rested on the end table. Kei wanted to tell him to stop putting his feet on their furniture, but that required argumentative energy that he just didn't have in him at the moment.
"So how is Yi-Che doing?" Kei inquired of Son instead, settling in beside him on the couch.
"Fine. She wants to come visit at some point. I told her she should wait until Sho is feeling up to having guests, but she just pouted when I said that. I think the indication was 'well, you're going over!" Son replied, amused at the memory. "She's gotten real testy lately. Can't imagine why." The last phrase was utterly sardonic.
"Glad to hear she's doing well," Kei said thoughtfully. "I figured I had freaked her out pretty badly after our last-- whatever that was."
"Nah, she's been through worse," Son dismissed him, sipping his beer. "Yi-Che is a strong woman. Toshi, throw me a cigarette, would you?"
"What'll ya give me for it?"
"Your perfect, unbruised face."
"Fair trade. Catch," Toshi threw the tiny cylinder across the room from where he was sprawled out over the rug, his hat over his eyes.
Son had to lean forward a little, but he caught it and sighed.
"Lighter?"
"That'll be extra."
With a slight plip! Son splattered a large dollop of beer onto the pizza boy's hat, smirking as he did so.
"There. More than fair. Now cough up that lighter before I tip you. Literally."
Toshi was still sputtering from the liquid that had seeped into the holes in his cap, trying to get up off the floor.
"All right, all right, gimme a sec--"
Kei was leaning back in his seat, watching with a tired half-smile. His hair was unkempt and his eyes were dark. Son noticed from the moment they entered that Kei was completely drained, but he chose not to say anything until the vampire decided to speak for himself. Sho was asleep for the moment; he'd been up long enough to say hi and bye before dropping off the face of the earth under his covers again.
Kei seemed to be relaxing for the time being. Son couldn't bring himself ruin it with questions.
Lighting his cigarette, the Taiwanese looked up at Kei and exhaled a lungful of smoke.
"So, you mentioned you wanted in on our next job?" Son ventured.
Kei nodded. "I need to get the rent going and fast. The landlord is getting, shall we say, adamant about his dues."
Son merely looked at him, his expression shuttered. Around here, angry landlords could mean gutters, hospitals and even bodybags if alcohol was involved in the coercion. Kei had chosen his words carefully and he noticed a bandage around the blond's wrist, but if Kei wasn't going to say anything, then fine; he'd leave the man to his own business.
"How much we talking?" Son asked casually.
"At least twice as much as last time. Sho's bills wiped me out," he admitted, a little shamefaced.
Son grunted in sympathy. "Gotcha. Luckily for all of us, I think I have a sizable job coming, one that should work for you... might even be able to pull it off by yourself. There's a shipment of tobacco, medicines, illegal drugs-- you name it-- arriving at the western dock in about two days. Got it on the highest authority that it's illegitimate, meaning you can take all you want and it won't be missed by honest people," Son added. "Plus there's a good chance they'll be low on staff. We'll be taking the east side holds where most of the gangs will be waiting to receive the shipment, so if you're quiet until your job's done, the ruckus at the end will get rid of most of our guys as well."
"Any chance of police involvement? Chan?"
"Not a chance. They don't even know the ship is coming. It's a new group, some hot new gang from Hong Kong. Not Triads, but something of similar standing. Don't worry; the money's good, but something like this probably won't attract too much attention," Son shrugged. "Small fish, but big enough to fill our stomachs."
Kei considered.
"I can make it in and out without being noticed. I should be able to wreak some havoc too, if it's like any other delivery ship; good distractions available. Guns?"
"The usual. Not that you need to know that," the man said wistfully. "Wish I could dodge bullets. Damn yakuza nearly took off my--"
"What do we tell Sho?" Toshi piped up, concern dominating his flippant face as he took a drag from his cigarette. "Will he be cool here by himself?"
Kei tried to appear matter-of-fact while his stomach roiled with apprehension.
"He won't like it if I leave, but I have to. We can't just live off cigarettes and booze," he said carefully.
"Oh!" Son was nodding as if agreeing with him, then froze in mid-nod, as if he'd just remembered something, nearly dropping his bottle. "Wait-- Yi-Che!" he exclaimed suddenly. "Kei, do you want me to bring Yi-Che here? She could watch Sho until you get back, keep him busy, make sure he's got everything he needs-- she wouldn't mind, I know she wouldn't!"
Kei paled at the thought of her coming, but calmed quickly, trying to rationlize the suggestion.
Yi-Che was very capable, and Sho trusted her as much as he trusted him. It would be easy to say that he'd just been hanging out with the guys that night to get out of the house, and it wasn't as if Yi-Che could tell Sho where they'd gone; she wouldn't know either...
Son was staring at him for some sort of acknowledgment, hopeful and apprehensive. After some thought, Kei gave in. "Fine," he sighed. "Bring her here that afternoon and ask her to watch him for me. Let her know he might have nightmares and that he gets violent on occasion, but if she wakes him he'll come out of it."
Son hooted and threw an arm around Kei's neck, exultant. "Great! You won't regret it, buddy; Yi-Che will take care of everything."
"So we're going back out?" Toshi couldn't contain himself. "We're finally doing a full-blown raid?"
"Looks like," Son confirmed. Laughing, the younger man slapped Kei on the back, giddy from booze and lucrative prospects. "It'll be like starting from square one-- I can't remember the last raid I did with you. We started splitting into pairs right before this, didn't we? It's been weeks, months!
"I know. It'll be good to be back," Kei smiled, shrugging Son's hand away and following up with a playful smack of his own. His words turned sincere, saturated with gratitude. "Thanks, you guys. Really. I needed this."
The Taiwanese smiled knowingly, giving him their trademark finger-to-nose V signal.
"Straight up. We'll always help you out, Kei; don't worry 'bout it."
"Yeah, of course we will," Toshi chirped. "This just means you're buying dinner from here until doomsday, so we're good with it."
Son poured the rest of his beer directly onto Toshi's head.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Midnight. How corny is that?
Kei wrapped himself tighter in his thick red coat.
It was drizzling, the smell of wet asphalt and inner-city smog saturating the scene. The ship had arrived on time (for once) and the docking time had been scheduled for twelve. Darkness was sliced into four by the bright white signal lights glowing from the deck, and five people were uncoiling ropes to throw onto the pier. The unloading process would begin any moment.
Three more men called to the gangsters on the boat, giving them the all-clear as boxes were thrown haphazardly onto the deck, marked with red dragons and the kanji for seven. Kei poked his head out from behind the wall, casting a streetlight shadow onto the road beside him, observing their actions.
No sign of guns... There are more inside; I can hear them. No sign of large groups though... Hope Son can deal with the rest of them.
The symbols on the sides of the boxes stuck out in Kei's mind. He would remember such a gaudy symbol if previous gangs had used it, but nothing was coming to mind.
I wish Toshi were here, Kei thought grouchily. He and Sho know all the gang symbols, tattoos... They practically research 'em. Probably so they don't make one similar to the other guys' when they think up theirs.
More boxes were coming and now plank boards were being lowered to distribute the shipment. Kei smelled strong herbs coming from the crates, but nothing remotely like the usual drugs. Two armed thugs who should have been guarding their comrades were helping them prep the dock and two more were idly sitting on the boxes. Another pair of men came from below deck and the two groups started shouting in Chinese.
Unsettling sickness took root in Kei's gut. Something didn't smell right.
"I'm not turning this shit over to you without clearance from the boss!" one man yelled from the boat. "How do we know you're our clients?"
Clients?
"I already told you, jackass, we've got the goods!" someone answered. "Take a minute to check the boxes and you'll know if it's us!"
Kei was really spooked now.
The dialogue sounded forced, as if it'd been rehearsed and they were trying to carry the sound as far as it would go. The boxes were brilliantly and blatantly marked, and the spotlights from the ship itself were far too bright for a group carrying out an underground op.
Why were there only twenty or so men unloading a giant boatload of illegal imports?
This isn't right...
"Here! Here!!"
Kei jumped. Someone had seen him in the alley and was alerting the others. Shit, why hadn't he heard them?
A group of twelve men armed with uzis came barreling from around the corner, shouting inane insults and calling for backup. Kei picked up the sound of a radio behind him, telling someone that the target had arrived. Kei's heart leapt into his throat. The whole thing had been one giant setup. Damn it, he had always said they wouldn't be able to operate like this without someone taking notice!
Three of the thugs opened fire but Kei was already gone, leaping the height of the building and landing on the roof. He hit the ground running.
I've got to get to Son and Toshi, the blond man mused with dawning horror. Below him, shouts and angry orders came from everywhere; at least thirty more men had come out of the woodwork and were locking the place down:
"He's on the roof!"
"Get up there! You three, come with me--"
"Don't let him leave the building!"
"Hold your positions--"
Then suddenly, another voice, much closer this time: "Freeze, asshole!"
Kei skidded in the gravel beneath his feet, whipping around to see a giant, gas-powered rifle pointed at his forehead (1). The skin-headed yakuza holding it looked ready to waste him, shaking but intense and focused, not wavering for a moment.
"Don't move! Put your hands on your head!"
He hasn't pulled the trigger; that means they want me alive. Good, makes things easier.
Kei raised his hands slowly, keeping them at ear level, close to his body.
"Now get down on the ground-- Down on the ground!" (2)
Kei leaned forward, as if to comply-- then slammed the gun with the sides of his hands, twisting it away from his head and out of the man's grasp just as he pulled the trigger. The recoil popped the henchman in the jaw and sent him reeling, spittle flying from his mouth as he hit the ground. Strands of blond hair floated through the air where the bullet had singed his hair.
"Gunfire!"
"Did we get him?!"
"What happened?! Is he alive?!"
Silently, Kei swung himself over the side of the roof just as searchlights flared to life as slid down the drainpipe to the street below.
Goddamn yakuza.
More were coming from both directions, tapping weaponry resounding on concrete. He took off in the direction of the warehouse, a red blur to any who saw him pass, practically swinging around the corner with one hand gripping the edge of the building as he rushed to Son's aid.
"Kei! KEI!!"
Toshi was screaming, and he heard the singing of butterfly blades in his sharp ears.
Bastards--!
Gunshots resounded from inside as Kei simultaneously smashed through the window, sending sheets of shattered glass pouring over the thugs as he toppled inside and rushed the man closest to him.
He was silent after three seconds.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
A spotless hotel in the business district held one lone figure in the bowels of its lobby.
Long was perched on the arm of a chair in the waiting room, watching the closed doors for when the seven most powerful men in the territory would emerge from their private discourse. The scarred man looked was though contemplating ways to torture the doors into submission and hear them beg for mercy.
Someday he'd be the only one behind those walls.
That thought always made him smile.
A pulsing electronic tone came from somewhere on his person and a sleek black cell phone was drawn from his jacket pocket.
"Yes."
A few moments of low buzzing from the device and Long's chapped lips pursed in displeasure. Only his personal guards knew how dangerous that look was. The last time that face had been made, half of Long's men had disappeared and weeks later the news had mentioned a finger having been found in a trash compactor-- three countries to the west. When asked, it was said that the men had been given an indefinite vacation.
"Fine. I'll be back after the meeting. Get my clothes ready. And-- deal with them, please. No ship, no witnesses."
A quiet, frightened affirmative.
The cell phone snapped shut and slid out of sight beneath a patch of dark cloth at his breast. Onyx eyes were cool and contemplative as he drew in a breath from his cigarette, pulling in more and more until the glowing ash was burning his fingers.
He didn't bother to extinguish it.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Yi-Che had both hands to her mouth when the boys came through the door in a hurricane of raised, rapid voices:
"Goddammit! Why is it always my leg?!" Son raged, leaning on Kei for support. "Bastards!"
"Toshi, get the door--"
Toshi was none the worse for wear save for a few scrapes and bruises, but he was shaken; Two men had been about to jam a knife into his throat and stomach when Kei had come bursting in like a whirlwind, taking out man after man until there were only a handful left. He'd even taken a bullet in the forearm and shoulder for the two of them, shoving the yakuza aside and disabling the guns with one shot.
The blond man was pale and trembling, but bright-eyed. Kei was like a beast protecting it's pack, and now that he had Son and Toshi under his care, he'd suddenly snapped into the mode of protector.
Yi-Che was hesitant to approach him at the look in his eyes.
"Get me some gauze please, Yi-Chi," Kei requested, his voice surprisingly gentler than his hardened stare.
The girl nodded heistantly and went to fetch the medical kit. Kei helped Son sit stiffly on the coffee table, stretching his bad leg out before him. "Sorry for the mess," Son offered pitifully. "You can't get blood out of carpets without a miracle. I'll pay for them later--"
Kei cut him off with a shake of his head. "No way on this rock are you ever going to pay me for bloodied carpets," Kei stated firmly, eyeing the wound with both distaste and interest. "Once we get the money back that we should have gotten from this failed gig, you and I will have more than enough to buy our own carpets. Here."
Son took Kei's proffered hand towel and pressed it firmly against the wound to stop the bleeding. The man's leg twitched in more than just discomfort. "Urgh-- yeah, well, at any rate-- why were those guys waiting for us?" Son griped. "They can't have loaded that entire boat just to ambush us, I saw all those drugs--"
"But they did," Toshi barged in, white as a sheet. Terrified brown eyes met Kei's own. "They did, didn't they, Kei? That whole thing was a setup for us."
"Yes," Kei said slowly. "I don't know if they were looking for us specifically; We're usually pretty random with our choice of raids. But they definitely knew someone was coming."
Toshi's face drained, and he sank slowly down onto the couch, his baseball cap grasped tightly between both hands.
"What if-- what if they've been watching us all this time?" Toshi stammered, wide eyes beginning to glaze with fear. "What if they know about you, Kei? What if they know where we live? If they decide to scratch us off their hit list in broad daylight, we'll be history!" His voice was uncharacteristically shrill. "What if they send an assassin after us?!"
Kei rolled his eyes.
"Toshi--"
It was no use; the pizza boy was freaking out: "Nuh-uh, man, this is too weird! They're willing to stage a whole boatload of drugs to lure us in, now they could be anywhere! Shit-- what if they followed us home?! They could be out there just waiting to take a piece out of us! Oh man, you guys, we gotta get outta here!"
"Toshi!" Kei admonished him, motioning toward the bedroom door.
The younger man had the decency to look ashamed at his outburst, remembering that Sho was still asleep in the back room. Yi-Che had already fled to the bedroom to check on her patient when Toshi had begun his little fit. Son was too busy with his leg to care about the man's shouting, but he half-winced in gratitude at the sudden lack of noise; his head was hurting him.
"I don't think we were followed," Kei reassured him, making calming motions with his hands. "I didn't see anyone and no one from the warehouse got away. They would have been visible if they'd trailed us. Don't you think at least I would have heard something?"
That did make sense, Toshi supposed.
He opened his mouth to agree with the vampire, but was interrupted by a blood-curdling cry from the next room:
"No! DON'T--!"
Toshi and Son exchanged startled looks.
"Sho," Kei murmured, alarmed.
The blond man shot up off the couch, dropping the roll of white bandages to race into the back room. Yi-Che's hair went up in a cloud from the wind he created, and she cringed away from Kei as he shoved the door open and practically fell inside, hitting the foot of the bed with a jolt.
"Sho?!"
Blindly thrashing to escape the sheets, Sho was screaming as if he were being tortured, terror written all over his face, flipping this way and that in his struggle to fend off his attackers. Kei knew from the sound of his cries that this time, it wasn't his death Sho was dreaming of.
Sho shouted out incoherently and Kei was broken from his trancelike state, rushing to still the young Japanese' flailing limbs.
"Sho!" he cried. "Sho, wake up! It isn't real Sho, it's not real! Wake up!!"
"Get away--! Get AWAY--"
"SHO!!"
Toshi and Son listened uncomfortably from the living room as Kei attempted to soothe Sho back into some semblance of calm. Their comrade was clearly and quite painfully terrified, and the childlike screams of fear gave them heavy, nauseating pangs of sympathy in both of their stomachs.
"Whoa," Son muttered.
"Yeah," Toshi agreed, disbelieving.
The two men sat in uncomfortable silence, listening to the struggle going on behind them with eyes fixed on the floor. After an eternity of racket and empty words, Kei emerged from the back room sporting a black eye and the most exhausted, defeated expression Son had ever seen.
"Sedative," Kei croaked.
Yi-che helped lead him to the sofa, where he collapsed into the seat as if his legs had disappeared from under him. The woman looked disturbed but thoroughly concerned as Kei rubbed his face with both hands. They were silent awhile.
"Is-- is it always like this?" Son asked, stunned.
"Not always," Kei muttered breathily, as if he couldn't catch enough air. "Often, though. Very often..."
Son watched helplessly as Kei's defenses crumbled into dust.
"I try-- I try so hard not to let him see," Kei hiccuped, tears beginning to accumulate at the corners of his scrunched eyes. "I don't want to make him worry or be unhappy but-- It's no good-- I-- I had to sell his guns to keep us from losing the apartment today--" The blond leaned forward onto his knees, clutching his head in both hands. "I can't care for him anymore, Son-- I can't help-- God, I can't even--"
The Taiwanese couldn't sit and listen without doing something.
Dragging himself over toward Kei's end of the couch, Son put a hand on the man's shaking back, giving him a sense of warmth and comfort. "Hey," he murmured. "Come on, Kei, you've done great with him. You took care of him for years, it's just gotten a little more difficult for now--"
"Because of what I did to him!" Kei ground out, droplets spattering the coffee table. "It's my fault that he's like this--"
"HEY!" Son shouted abruptly, cutting the vampire off before he had a chance to condemn himself further. Kei went silent, but was obviously continuing to brood as the injured man spoke:
"This gift-- this thing Sho did for you was to keep you alive because he thought you were worth it," Son insisted, tugging at Kei's sleeve until he faced him. "You are his friend, guardian, parent, confidant-- you name it, that's what you are to him. Sho doesn't want you to beat yourself up like this, Kei, it isn't healthy! Nobody's proud of all the things they've done, but dammit, some of us learn to appreciate the good things! from what I heard, Sho and Toshi would still be living in the street if you hadn't come along!"
Toshi's eyes lowered.
Son's words were coming harshly now, as he built up a head of righteous steam: "You," Son growled, glaring at Kei with all the conviction of an evangelist, "need to give Sho a little more credit than that."
Kei started in surprise, staring.
"If Sho was willing to do something like that, and you love him as much as you claim you do, don't you think you should take his feelings to heart?"
The blond was gaping now, streaks of tears rolling down his face, forgotten as he stared at Son. The tension was palpable as Kei gathered his wits about him, eyes locked with Son's. He regained his voice just enough to speak up for himself, a tiny spark of anger flaring:
"I... haven't been thinking about Sho? Is that what you're saying?" Kei asked softly. His hands were wrapped reflexively around his knees, clawlike. "You think you know everything already just because of a little explanation, don't you? Things have happened, Son, things that you really don't want to know about. I've been reasoning with myself, praying for a way to keep all of us going, and even now, I still--" He couldn't finish, choosing instead to rephrase the rebuttal:
"If you want the truth, then here, take this to heart..."
Kei's voice was as dead and heavy as a piece of granite:
"...If anything ever happened to Sho, I will tell you right now that I would no longer be here."
Son started to refute him, but then he saw Kei's eyes. He was silent. Yi-Che glanced from her brother to Kei, waiting for someone to speak.
As if timed by some unseen force, the doorbell chose that exact moment to ring.
All three of them jumped. "Dammit, what do they want now?!" Son griped, ready to swing his bad leg off the couch and beat whoever it was to a bloody pulp with it. "The guy just said you had a week, didn't he?!"
"It's not Park," Kei interrupted, eyes going yellow and focusing in on the door. "It's too small."
Son shuddered at Kei's detached choice of words, as if the intruder were a piece of meat. Toshi's paranoia was rising; he had risen from his seat and backed up almost to the wall, searching for a pistol somewhere in the room. "Who is it?" the pizza boy called in a strangled, wavering voice. "Who's there?!"
Kei heard a moan from just outside the door and a thin scratching as something or someone slid down to the floor. Yanking it open, totally prepared for a fight, the blond was shocked by a bundle of old rags tumbling into his arms, dripping blood from an arm and leg wound and wheezing for breath.
"Son?!" Kei asked, a little panicked, "Is he with you?!"
Son shook his head frantically: "I've never seen him before--"
"Please," the man gasped. "Help..." His head lifted convulsively and then the man collapsed, falling in a dead faint into Kei's waiting grasp.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Hmm, a new character?! Who could this be??
(Announcer voice) "Find out on the next installment of BEST KEPT SECRET!" XD
I really appreciate everyone's comments and reviews; yall rawk my sawks off to de MAX. I am having more and more time available to me, so don't worry, we'll have updates much quicker from now on... I think... Anyway, see you next time! Suggestions ARE taken into account (coffcoff).
--Em
(1)
This is a direct reference to the time when my friend Greg got held up by the police at gunpoint for trying to film a video with extremely realistic-looking airsoft guns. LOLZ. I had to do a storytelling oral history performance on it for my Intro to Performance Class, which rocked and totally killed me. Cops just should not be allowed to say "asshole" at random...
Plus then the cop started trying to scare them with his gun: "Y'all be careful now, or this won't be the last time you're looking down the barrel of a 99 millimeter, gas-powered, phonetic-barreled, water-purifying, free DSL cable receiving, slice 'em 'n dice 'em--" yeah.
(2)
I know some of you out there have seen the video Gackt recorded of him and the GacktJob scaring the crap out of poor Ren on his birthday. If you haven't, do. It is SO unbelievably hilarious. He hires a man to hide in the guy's closet and stage a hold-up in bad English, and OOH is it hilarious. Watch Gackt signalling the guy's move from the couch: "Ah, man, am I tired--" and then giving a little freaked-out yell and hitting the floor the minute the guy yells "Freeze" XD XD XD.
Enjoy!