A.N: Oh my GOD. I was 23 when I last wrote for this ark… and now, at 26, I'm finally updating. Well… three years never hurt anyone… fuck I had no idea it was that long of a gap. FORGIVE ME. Is… is anyone still interested?

OK, putting aside my devastatingly long absence, this will be the second last instalment in the Kiyoshi Ark (I have broken it up into two pieces, I'm very busy at the moment, which is to blame for my lack of updates in anything, and as I want to update SOMETHING, I'll update this half and get the rest up when I'm able, sex scenes take me ages to write…). I know I know; you all really like Kiyoshi (most of you) and while I do too, his own story with Artemis is a very long, complicated and garbled series of events that is just too hard to put into a story. Sorry darlings, I am.

Now before you go off and read, I must warn you that this MAY seem a little rushed, it may not flow well, but that is ONLY because this part in the RPG was about five MSN convo spaces long, the conversation Kiyoshi and Artemis have is also different as well, so it was difficult to write.

The explanation for my very long absence is up on my profile. Sorry you guys, I'm still writing.

Enjoy now!

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"Artemis, we need to talk. May I come in?"

::

There was no smile on Kiyoshi's face accompanying this request, no easy-going expression, instead the Japanese teenager looked quite solemn when Artemis greeted him at the door. This serious demeanour worried the genius somewhat; looking back, he couldn't think of anything that would've put the boy in this sort of mood. Kiyoshi was always cheerful, always smiling, that is, whenever he was around Artemis. His first thought was that he'd had another fight with Zack, which wouldn't surprise him; the two athletic rivals were constantly at loggerheads with one another. However as he did not know the reason to this morbid mood in the other boy, he felt that it would not be right to jump to conclusions just yet. So stepping to the side, Artemis allowed Kiyoshi to enter his room.

The Japanese transfer looked about the lush living quarters, as Artemis closed the door behind him.

"Is Zachary here?" the taller of the two asked, turning to face the Irish genius.

Artemis raised his eyebrows at the question, before shaking his head.

"No, he's with Oliver. Why do you ask?"

Kiyoshi shrugged hollowly.

"I would prefer to speak with you in privet, I was merely wondering if we would have to move our talk elsewhere."

This worried him further, but the genius was careful not to let it show, instead he just nodded in understanding.

"I see, well he isn't here and he won't be back for a good two hours, so there is no need to go somewhere else."

Kiyoshi nodded, turning away from him.

"Ah, well that's good."

"Yes it is, now what did you wish to talk about?" asked Artemis, direct as always.

Kiyoshi was silent for a few minutes, obviously gathering his thoughts before saying whatever it was he'd come to say. Artemis, who had never been a very patient individual, was steadily growing annoyed at the lack of conversation, and was about to tell Kiyoshi to kindly hurry up, when the boy finally turned to face him. Hazel eyes blank and an expression made of steel, he said:

"I know about you."

Artemis didn't really know how to take that, it was far too vague. Kiyoshi 'knew about him', whatever that meant. Seeing the genius' confusion, Kiyoshi elaborated.

"I know that you are not just the genius son of a wealthy businessman, I know that you lead a double life outside of the school walls. I know who you really are Artemis Fowl."

Artemis went rigid, his expression frosting over.

"And who might that be?" he asked cautiously. Though his voice was calm and steady, inside Artemis was panicking, his heart hammering in his chest, as if the very organ were possessed and was trying to break out of his body.

Kiyoshi didn't blink; the boy's face may as well have been carved out of stone for the lack of expression.

"A criminal and not just a petty shoplifter, you are one of the most wanted criminals in all of Europe and the United States."

Escape, he had to escape. Artemis wanted to turn and run to the door, but he knew Kiyoshi was much faster than he was. No wonder he wanted to speak in private.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He answered, while unconsciously backing towards the door. Kiyoshi followed him.

"There is no need to act ignorant; I know everything about you, about your family. I know your father has taken to legal activities since his return from Russia and I know you have secretly taken his place as the head of the Fowl criminal empire."

"You have no proof."

"I have files, criminal records."

Artemis continued backing up until he was flat against the door, his right hand feeling around behind him, searching for the handle. When his fingers brushed over it, Artemis spun around and grasped the gold knob, though Kiyoshi was faster. Lunging forward, the Japanese teenager put one hand on the door, preventing it from opening, the other grasped the hand Artemis had gripping the knob.

"Please, there is no need to be afraid." He said quietly, murmuring the words into Artemis' ear.

Artemis did not relax his hold on the door handle; however, he stopped trying to elbow Kiyoshi off himself. He stared at the door, feeling the other boys body press against him, preventing escape.

"Who are you?"

"My name is, as I have told you, Kiyoshi Yamaguchi. However what I haven't told you is that I am the last remaining member of the Yamaguchi crime family in Japan."

This revelation shocked the genius, it shouldn't have, Artemis knew of the Yamaguchi's, but he had assumed they were all dead. Obviously, this was not the case, as there was one pinning him to the door of his bedroom.

"You should be dead." He said quietly.

Behind him Kiyoshi smiled, it felt good to finally tell the truth, he had never been good at, nor did he enjoy lying.

"That's true, I should be dead. When the Yakuza massacred my family when I was small, I should have died along with them, but fortune shined on me and I was spared a very early death. I have been brought up away from the criminal underworld and thus, away from those who would kill me should they find out I were still alive."

Artemis listened, it made sense. He'd only been small when it had happened, just five years old, but he had heard his father and the Major talking about it one morning, about how the Yamaguchi's had been supposedly found out to be spies, betraying the Yakuza, who they had worked with for years. The information had been dodgy, but apparently the Yakuza weren't taking chances and had sent in a group to take out the family. It was a blood bath, as they had been ordered to kill everyone, even the children. However, word soon got around that the Yamaguchi's youngest son had survived, as his body had not been found at the house. It was soon forgotten, when the boy's remains hadn't turned up and the Yamaguchi's were presumed wiped out. Kiyoshi was obviously that missing child.*

"Why are you here?" he asked, "If you are indeed the last member of the Yamaguchi family, raised away from the criminal underworld, then why are you here? How do you know who I am?"

"I am not here to kill you if that is what you're asking." Replied the Japanese boy easily, "I would have killed you long ago if that were the case."

"Then why? If you know who I am, then you know it isn't wise to threaten me."

"I don't believe I'm threatening you, just asking to be heard."

Artemis reached up with his free hand, curling thin fingers around Kiyoshi's wrist and tugged, it was quite weak, though Artemis never claimed he was powerful physically.

"Well then, might you please remove yourself from me, do that and I will happily hear you out."

"Then you must promise not to run away." Was Kiyoshi's softly spoken, if frank, answer.

It was a fair request and Artemis knew he wasn't about to be released if he didn't agree.

"Alright, I promise not to try and run away, now would you kindly step back?"

There was a pause, before Kiyoshi, true to his word, retreated backwards a few steps, watching as Artemis pushed himself away from the door and straightened his dress, ironing out any creases to the slate grey materiel with his hands. Finally, after the imaginary dust and crumples were removed from his clothing, the Irish teenager turned to face the enigma that was Kiyoshi Yamaguchi. Though perhaps, after tonight, he wouldn't be such an enigma anymore.

"Alright, I am listening. Tell me whatever it is you have come to say."

"You are in danger." Kiyoshi said abruptly, hardly giving the genius time to finish talking, his face like carved granite.

There was an awkward silence that followed that statement, one that Artemis had heard many times, from many different people. As he was a wanted criminal, his life was almost constantly threatened; however, he wasn't expecting something quite so… dramatic. The revelation only strengthened Artemis' growing anxiety on why Kiyoshi was here. The boy claimed he posed no threat and seemed quite harmless, however Artemis had been fooled before, and wasn't one to trust people solely at face value. People had charmed him in the past with the hidden intent to kill.

Kiyoshi watched the changes in expression on Artemis' beautiful face. Curiosity turned to shock, shock to thoughtful, and finally thoughtful to suspicion. He had expected all of these, and had readied himself to deal with each; however, as prepared as he had assumed himself to be, he found it slightly difficult to deal with Artemis' sudden stoic expression. Since arriving at the school, the genius had been very expressive to his charm and flirting, that attractive and adorable blush ever present whenever he was in the genius' company. Now though, he could see that beautiful face frost over, mistrust and suspicion swirling around in his sapphire eyes, the unspoken question hanging heavily in the air between them.

Why are you really here?

Suddenly, it was as though nothing had ever happened, the walks they had taken, the long talks and of course, those delicious sessions of passionate kissing. It felt like none of it had happened, like Kiyoshi was a stranger again, and Artemis was the cold, stoic criminal he had heard so much about, none of the genius' earlier warmth and endearing shyness present. The boy standing opposite him now, while still girlishly beautiful, had a dark, almost dangerous aura around him. That slender and elegant figure, so small and fragile to look at, had turned rigid, as if Artemis' entire body had turned to stone. Large impossibly sapphire coloured eyes were half lidded, those uniquely coloured irises that so many admired, once a startling blue, were now cold, the window into Artemis' soul pulled shut, closed off from the outside world, his full, pink mouth drawn into a tight, straight line.

Standing in front of him, was not the shy and charming boy Kiyoshi known over the past two weeks, rather the ruthless and cold criminal genius himself, Artemis Fowl the Second. Kiyoshi felt oddly threatened, and even though he knew Artemis could never beat him in a fight, there was just something about the boy that screamed "danger".

The silence stretched on without either boy willing to break it first. Both lost in their own thoughts, the tension in the air steadily growing with each passing second they stayed silent. Finally, Artemis grew tired of the staring match and crossed his arms casually across his chest, watching Kiyoshi with cold, if not impossibly blue eyes.

"Are you going to tell me why I am in danger?" he asked; his androgynous voice cool, detached. As if Kiyoshi was nothing more than a lowly informant, someone not worthy of respect.

The question jolted the taller boy out of his musings, and Kiyoshi gathered himself quickly, steeling his expression. He had come here for a reason after all, it would do no good delaying what he had to say, why he'd travelled so far in the first place.

"There are groups in the criminal underworld that are meeting and planning to assassinate you." He said, watching for some sort of reaction from the Irish prodigy, there was none. Apparently threats to his life weren't that uncommon for Artemis. Kiyoshi took the genius' silence as a sign to continue and explain further. "Most are from the Russian Mafia and a group in America, led by one Jon Spiro."

This time there was a flicker of surprise from Artemis, a slight raise of those thin eyebrows, blue eyes more alert, before the stoic mask settled back into place. The change was minuscule, and Kiyoshi would have missed it if he wasn't so observant.

"Does the name mean anything to you?" he asked casually.

Artemis tilted his head a little and shrugged.

"It is… familiar, yes." He answered, the tone not betraying what was going on in the genius' complex mind. He looked at Kiyoshi for a moment thoughtfully, before speaking. "Why should I believe you? Did you not just tell me that you were raised away from the criminal world? How do you know there are people planning to kill me?"

"While it is true that I have been brought up away from the corrupted world of illegal activities, I have been keeping in contact with a few informants over the years, mainly to monitor those who still seek to kill me. It was through these informants that I heard a rumour of a gathering of different groups and families, groups that all shared the same goal."

"And that goal would be to murder me. Correct?" Artemis stated nonchalantly, and Kiyoshi nodded, somewhat impressed at how well the boy was taking all of this.

"That is correct."

"And why should you care?"

The question was blunt, the suspicious darkness not missed by the Japanese teenager. It was obvious that Artemis no longer trusted him, not that he blamed the genius, were he in the same situation, Kiyoshi supposed he would act the same way. However, he was not here to harm the Irish beauty, only to warn him, he just needed to make Artemis see that.

"You are young, and have not done anything that would stand out as evil, unlike most other criminals of your reputation and stature. I do not believe such an early death is fair and feel a need to protect you." He said, dropping his emotionless look to show the genius he was being honest. "I respect you Artemis, the way you dealt with the disappearance of your father, how you maintained the Fowl household in his absence at such a young age. The way you have grown to become one of the most feared and powerful figures in the criminal world at only fifteen. I respect and admire your almost unnatural intelligence; you are so gifted, so unique, that I feel it would be a waste to let you die at the hands of those thugs."

Artemis looked unconvinced and Kiyoshi frowned, not sure how to voice why he felt it so important to save the criminal genius' life. He honestly could not explain it; there was no solid reason as to why Kiyoshi wanted to protect the other boy; because by all accounts, he shouldn't care. After all, he hadn't known Artemis at all when he had organised his little trip to Ireland to warn the genius. He had no clue why he wanted to save Artemis, he just did.

"I understand that you no longer trust me, but please understand that I speak nothing but the truth."

Artemis saw the honesty in those hazel eyes, eyes that he had slowly become infatuated with over the weeks Kiyoshi had been a student at St Bartlebys. Kiyoshi was telling the truth, somehow he knew that, but still, the sudden revelations of Kiyoshi's life and the reasons for him transferring, were a little over-whelming, even for Artemis, who should be used to this sort of turn of events by now. They happened frequently enough.

"Why have you waited until now to tell me this? Is it not quite important to tell me sooner?"

Kiyoshi allowed a small smile to stretch his lips at the slight sarcasm tingeing Artemis' light voice. Artemis always asked difficult questions, ones which most of the time, did not hold an answer, at least not a good one.

"I am afraid that my plans had to be altered somewhat when I arrived at the school, I became side tracked." He admitted, looking at the genius fondly. "You see, I did not expect you to be so breathtakingly beautiful, I am afraid it distracted me."

Artemis blushed prettily at that, and he shifted from his position near the door in discomfort and embarrassment.

"Why must you always do that?" He muttered; directing his eyes to the thick cream carpet that covered the entire dormitory, save for the bathrooms and games room on the ground floor.

Kiyoshi, feeling a break in the genius' stoic shell, moved a step closer.

"What am I doing?" he inquired gently, the deep rumble of his voice soothing some of Artemis' inner worries.

"-…referring to me in such a way." Answered the effeminate boy; refusing to lift his eyes, even though he could feel Kiyoshi moving towards him. "Why must you always… make me feel like this?"

Two neat steps had Kiyoshi standing directly in front of the Irish beauty, close, but not too close for their bodies to touch. Lifting his arms, Kiyoshi placed his hands on either side of Artemis' head, leaning in a little to try and get a better look at the other's face. The position brought back the memory of their first kiss; that deliciously heated moment that had gotten Kiyoshi addicted to the genius all those weeks ago. His taste, the scent of his shampoo and the perfume Artemis favoured; the feel of his petal soft skin, everything.

Artemis meanwhile, was finding it difficult to keep his gaze directed at the floor, what with Kiyoshi standing so close to him, that dark, penetrating gaze burning holes into the top of his head.

"I'm sorry for forcing such unwanted feelings on you. To be honest, I had never intended to grow so fond of you as well."

The conversation had taken a sudden turn, the tension and mistrust that previously dominated the air around the two boys had lifted, replaced with something softer, still fragile, but it didn't seem as though Artemis wanted to run away anymore, so he was accepting of at least some of Kiyoshi's explanation. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Kiyoshi took full advantage of the sudden split in Artemis' icy barrier, before the genius could gather himself and repair it.

"I understand this may be very difficult to take in. And that I have violated the trust you have put in me, something I know you do not give out freely, but I promise you that all I want is to protect you."

Artemis still wouldn't look at him and he said nothing, the rise and fall of his chest was slow and steady, controlled, and his small hands were lax at his sides. Kiyoshi didn't find it all surprising that the Irish boy gave off nothing to say he was distressed, he predicted that Artemis had long ago perfected the art of schooling ones expression. It was very impressive and Kiyoshi expected nothing less from the other boy, being a criminal genius, but it did make it a little hard to tell what he was thinking.

"Artemis…?"

Smack!

Even with all of his quick reflexes and keen awareness, it took quite some time before Kiyoshi registered what had just happened. Only when the stinging needling on his skin became too hard to ignore in his shocked stupor did he come back to reality. Slowly, he raised a hand to his left cheek, the skin feeling hot underneath his touch. If he wasn't mistaken, Artemis had just slapped him, and quite hard too. Well, he hadn't been expecting that.

"That's for lying to me." Said Artemis, lowering his hand, where it had been poised in the air beside Kiyoshi's face.

Kiyoshi looked down at him slowly, hand still holding his throbbing cheek, his dark eyes wide. Artemis stared up at him, holding his shocked gaze unflinchingly, the hand that the genius had slapped him with now hanging at his side, balled in a fist. When the smaller boy did not say anything else, only continuing to stare him down, Kiyoshi took this as a hint to start apologizing again, but before he could, Artemis took a short step forward and raised his hands. Kiyoshi closed his eyes, ready to take whatever punishment Artemis was going to give him, he deserved it anyway, when instead of another slap, he found hands cupping his cheeks and soft, warm lips pressing against his own mouth.

Wanting so badly to return the affection, but knowing he had no right, Kiyoshi forced his arms to stay heavy at his sides and not tug Artemis closer when the Irish boy pulled away.

"I... Artemis..."

Artemis stared up at him, hands still holding either side of his face, thumbs gently stroking the skin there.

"And that is for everything else."

It wasn't often that Kiyoshi was confused, but it seemed Artemis was naturally gifted in giving him the unexpected. Moving his hands around to stroke the nape of Kiyoshi's neck, Artemis leaned in again, his unique blue eyes locking onto deep brown.

"Yes, you should have told me when we first met." he said, pulling the taller boy down so their faces were level, "But I love you, so I'll forgive you that little blunder. Just this once though."

Artemis had been expecting a number of reactions when he confessed, but none of them had been quite like the one Kiyoshi gave. The other boy had been very still for a moment, his beautiful dark eyes wide, staring at Artemis as if he'd just appeared suddenly in front of him. He didn't move, didn't blink, Artemis didn't even think he was breathing, and just when panic and regret started to bubble up inside him, Artemis found himself being crushed against Kiyoshi's hard body, his arms wrapping tightly around him, the other boys hungry mouth moving almost desperatly against his own.

::

* That's a big fat "I just made that up" background for Kiyoshi, his real one… DPD probably told me during the course of the RPG, though I've forgotten it. Forgive me DPD; I'm still trying very hard to do Kiyoshi justice.

It's so pathetic that my mood music for this chapter is a Twilight soundtrack. Hate that series, though the music is pretty good. No offence if you like it, I personally love it as much as I love the Epilouge in Harry Potter.

It's not long, but I wanted to let you all know I'm still writing. They're going to have nice sex in the next chapter, which I will try to get up later on in the week. Don't expect anything hot or magical, I am NOT GOOD at sex scenes.

Yes, that's the real reason Kiyoshi came to the school. Bet you didn't think it was that huh? (hopefully... DPD was better at hiding it than I was... *sigh*) If this sucks, it's beacause I'm half asleep and have a cold. There may be a normal St Bart's chapter in between the finale of this one, but I promise it won't take years this time, or months. Maybe a week.