Chapter

…oh, Asami!

He watched the Chinese covertly, using the "corner-of-the-eye" - technique they had practised in that psychology training camp, designed to help dealing with torture victims, who might panic when looked at directly.

Adjusting himself to Fei, timing his breathing to the Chinese' frequency, and also to elements of his posture, taking care not to rise above him, to exhibit no tension in his body lines, casual was the key word here…he waited. The Chinese' staring eyes blinked a few times. After ceasing to writhe he cowered, frozen, wide-eyed, not uttering a sound. When he started moving again, stretching tentatively, his face was very young, as it had been when he had spoken to Akihito in Japanese. He appeared to be in pain, whimpering a little. He did not try to curl in on himself this time, as if knowing in his bones that this would not help him, or was not possible.

Akihito knew he was in some danger here. How violent beautiful, girly Fei could become, at moment's notice, he had proven in the pub, and what he had heard about Liu Fei Long the Mafia leader, didn't exactly reassure him, either…

Excitement flooded him. This was a power trip of another kind, and he felt proud and thrilled, successfully charming a gorgeous wild beast, desperately alluring, but extremely dangerous in it's agony and fear …

And his magic was working. Fei was responding, was soothing, his features smoothing out, his body relaxing…

Aki had casually taken up the morning paper his neighbour, an engineering student sharing the bathroom with him, must have left. He positioned himself on the rim of the bathtub, using the headlines to divert himself, to remain calm himself. That was essential. Not really taking in what he was reading he saw a picture of the mass collision on the highway…all those scrunched up cars, thank goodness no pictures of the victims…hadn't that paramedic, that Kirishima, said he was on his own because of that? Well, he had certainly seemed more competent than some young doctors he knew…he browsed the paper, all the while paying attention to Fei, who had quieted, his face half buried in the red jumper. Casually, Akihito nodded at him, resuming to skim through the local part of the paper…aha, another one of those big, prestigious social science congresses, attracting international capacities of all kinds…sure! Asami was going to lecture there too. Let's see, surely there was something not quite aboveboard to be dug out about that congress, some illegal funding, or a personal scandal involving one of the stars…his reporter instincts kicked in automatically.

"Akihito?"

Oh, for a moment he had even forgotten Fei!

He turned his head.

The Mafia leader was still looking very young, but no longer like a small child. He raised a hopeful teenager's face, that of an exquisite, but rather shy young girl, to Akihito, who had straightened up on his perch, relieved he didn't have to cower any longer, now that the Chinese was not feeling threatened anymore.

The Triad Boss had uttered his unexpected, touching wish. As if he were a normal person, albeit a very young one. Akihito couldn't take his eyes off him. Yes, when stripped from body guards, weapons, cringing servants, representative mansions, bullet proof cars with chauffeurs and other props, the mighty and the famous of this world could be like that. Shit. Once again, he was being drawn into a power trip.

This time, it was a social thing. Whatever would be their later relationship - sighing, he realized there was no going back on that anymore - for the moment at least, Fei was deferring to him.

Uncanny, really, how these psychos could make a bee line for your innermost, supposedly deeply hidden most shameful weak spots….

It was impossible not to smile warmly and comfortingly at this person. He continued projecting calm and comfort, taking care not to touch, even though the urge was there again.

"Come after me, ok? Here, you can use that hairbrush, and here's some ribbon for your hair."

He was still adhering to these principles when exiting the bathroom, carefully avoiding any sudden, aggressive motions.

Hurrying back to his apartment, though, where he had to wake up the rest of them now, feeling as if about to burst from the pressure, he had known he would act out his stress on the first person to cross his path.

But not on this one, not today.

He had paused for a short moment before re-entering his apartment, pushing back a disconcerting thought, again.

Was something like this what had happened with Asami, all those years ago?

- to be continued -