A/N:

The next arc of the story is based of Johnny Cash's Hurt. I know it was originally performed by NIN, but I like Cash's version. I like everything Johnny Cash. He did a cover of You Are My Sunshine, too. How many people knew that lol?

I would change the name of the story, but I'm afraid people would get confused haha.

Thanks to Miyanoai for being an awesome beta. Her turnover is amazing, and she always sees things that I don't!

***Hurt***

Chapter One: What Have I Become?

Living with two Asamis was worse than Akihito had ever imagined. They were an obstinate breed, nearly identical in personality and their violent tempers surged liked tsunamis. Usually Asami was in sync with Hisana, but when they clashed, heads rolled. The photographer felt like a piece of bait on the end of the hook, caught between the fish and the fisherman. Both sides pulled on him, and no matter what, he would be ripped apart.

For the moment, life was calm. Hisana was released from physical therapy the week before, and though it was arduous, painstaking and prolonged, it was worth it. She was walking as if the accident had never happened, and in heels to boot. They had moved into a new penthouse on the river, because Hisana refused to return to the old condo. Akihito had been willing to give her his room (easily forgetting that it had always been hers), and bunk with Asami. Still immature, she refused to sleep in the same room where they had fucked, even if there was a new bed.

Asami had not wanted to return to the condo either. Five months had passed, and he had yet to ferret out Matsuhara's backer. The S.O.B. had not kept any record of his dealings, which was unusual for the meticulous man. Not only was it off the books, he must have had several untraceable cell phones that he used to communicate with the backer. Money had not exchanged hands, there were no banks trails or suspicious emails.

His daughter had turned up no leads, either. She had been a student at Tokyo University and had stopped going to class in the middle of the semester. That had been two years ago. They discreetly inquired about her, but her professors and the administration knew nothing. Her friends admitted that she had met a man at bar, and they were casually seeing each other. His name had been Chouj. Asami suspected that the man used an alias, and most likely worked for Matsuhara's backer. They took the daughter to ensure Matsuhara's cooperation, though that would not have been necessary. The bartenders did not remember the girl at all. Nor had any police report been filed.

She was just gone.

December 1st came to Tokyo quietly. The cold came in mid-November, burying into the cracks of homes, through the window panes, and under doors. His breath fogged in front as Akihito walked, hands shoved in his pockets. It was Hisana's birthday soon, and he had hunted high and low for the perfect gift. Unsurprisingly, the girl who wanted for nothing was hard to shop for. The only present he could think of was getting something for the dogs, who she loved like they were her children.

She kept looking at YouTube videos of a corgi running on a giant hamster wheel and giggling. Some brainiac thought it was a good idea to make exercise wheels for dogs who were cooped up inside, and he knew that Hisana thought it was a good idea. The dogs walked to class with her sometimes, and the guards frequently took them out. Dog parks were few and far between in the urban city, so he knew that she would appreciate the wheel. Now all he had to do was pay for it, and they were ridiculously expensive.

Luckily, his editor had called with a job. Hitachori Naoyuki was a smarmy politician who had a thing for underage girls. Ironically, he was the same politician that Akihito was supposed to snag on the day of his attempted kidnapping six months ago. Mitarai had not been able to get the job done, so the bastard escaped justice and kept fucking fifteen year olds. Akihito was going to get him off the streets, and make a few yen in the process. It was a win-win.

Pulling his hood down so that the club bouncer could get a good look at his face, Akihito handed the guy his fake license. Thankfully, he looked enough like Takato to pass at the IT tech. The wall of muscle ushered him inside as he returned his license. Akihito quickly ducked into the throbbing heat, letting the bouncer frisk the next person in line. Shoving Takato's license in his pocket, Aki zipped up his jacket despite the heat and switched the spy camera in his glasses on. A video recording was even better than a few grainy pictures.

He tried to look confident as he walked over to the bar. It was the perfect place for a stakeout. He could pretend to drink while he waited. It would let him observe everyone at the club while looking inconspicuous. Hitachori would not arrive for a few hours. Akihito only knew that he was coming because Club Devisee was a low-end knock of Sion. The poor man's black market happened in its basement, and nothing was too depraved.

The lower levels were reserved for premium members, who paid a large sum of money. Anything could happen in the lower levels of Devisee, as well as the surrounding clubs that were rumored to link together by a series of tunnels. Hitachori was actually tame compared to some of the other patrons. Looking around, Akihito was sick to his stomach. His glasses recorded everything. He had come for one man and a dog wheel, but when he left, he would cripple the sex trade if he could get to the basement.

That presented the challenge.

"Come with me," a deep voice said from beside him.

The reporter startled and whipped around. It was a club bouncer. The tall muscled man in a black shirt that was too tight; he could see the outline of the guy's nipples. The man glowered down at him, his bulging biceps twitching as he waited to see if Akihito was going to run or not. "What do you want?" the blond tried to sound confident. That was the key. If he sounded like he was supposed to be there, then people wouldn't question him. No one wanted to look stupid by asking dumb questions. He had learned that off Tumblr.

"The owner wants a word," the bouncer replied.

Dread rolled like a lead ball in his gut. How had they figured him out? He hadn't gone overboard with the disguise, and he used a valid license. He looked a lot like Takato. Even a background check would have said that yes, Ito Takato was a real person. It would pull up Rinka, but this was Japan. It wasn't like he was the first married guy to be secretly gay. It shouldn't raise too much suspicion! Not that he was Takato––that Takato was gay––that––that…Okay, he was getting too deep into his character. He couldn't confuse the real Takato with him pretending to be Takato. That would only cause trouble down the road.

Or maybe…he was attractive, Akihito was vain enough to admit that he was good looking. This owner would not be the first to call him up to his office for a quickie. Hell, that was a roundabout description of how he got together with Asami in the beginning of the relationship. That would be better. He could pretend to put out until Asami could come save him or he could escape. Yeah, the fixer would be super pissed that Akihito had lost his guards and wandered into the lion's den, but eventually he would understand. It was his daughter's birthday, and she was hard to shop for!

Every thought flickered across the photographer's face as he debated internally. The bouncer soon became uncomfortable, watching his face scrunch up and relax as he thought through all the possibilities. Eventually, Akihito realized what he was doing and flushed. "Hehe, oops," he grunted.

The muscled guy rolled up his eyes. "Get up," he grabbed the boy's arm. "You don't want to keep Sakazaki waiting."

Sakazaki! "Oh fuck no!" Akihito tried to wrench his arm free but the bouncer's grip was like steel. "Hey man, let me go!" he struggled. "I don't wanna go! Lemme go!"

The bouncer totally disregarded Akihito's wishes and drug him up some rickety stairs behind the stage. "Here he is," the guy tossed Akihito into an office. It was full of leather couches, lots of booze, and a plasma screen. It felt more like a sleazy lounge than a place of business.

Sakazaki sat in the middle of a couch, his arm slung over the back. His beady eyes raked up and down Akihito's body, undressing him in front of the bouncer. "That will be all," he waved his man away. "Good evening, Akihito."

The photographer felt vulnerable, as exposed as if he was naked while the smalltime yakuza peered at him like a predator before its meal. He flashed back to over a year ago, when he traded his body for the information that he thought would save Asami's life. Sakazaki had played Akihito like a fiddle, and by the looks of it, was going to do it again. "Asami knows where I am," the photographer said before he had even thought about it.

Sakazaki ignored him entirely. "I'd ask you to sit, but we both remember how our last meeting went. I don't want to get you on your back too quickly."

Akihito walked backwards until his back pressed against the door. "I'm not going to fall for your tricks again."

"No tricks, kid," Sakazaki pushed himself up. Walking over to the far side of the bar, he grabbed two glasses. Pouring copious amounts of caramel liquor into them, he continued on, "I'm not looking for a repeat of last time."

"Good," Akihito clutched his jacket tightly. His hand was pinned behind his back, but it palmed for the doorknob. The second he found it, he was bolting out the front doors.

"I'm surprised that Asami let you come into my club after last year," the yakuza returned to the couch. He drank from one glass, and left the other on the table. "Drink," he nodded to the booze.

Akihito quickly shook his head, "No thanks."

"Hmm," Sakazaki swirled his brandy. "Asami doesn't know you're here, does he? Especially after that terrible business a few months ago."

Akihito stopped moving. He felt the heat in his cheeks rise as anger bloomed in his blood. There was no way Sakazaki knew about Hisana. They had been too careful. No, the slimy git was fishing for information, and Akihito would be damned if he was played again. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said with surprising force. He sounded convincing, even to his own ears.

Sakazaki did not appear convinced, but he went along with the conversation for some unknown reason. "Maybe you don't. Well, that would be even worse for you, now wouldn't it?"

"What do you mean?" the photographer glowered at Asami's enemy and his molester. "I'm not listening to a word you're saying. You are gonna try to get in my head, make me think things that aren't real. And yes, Asami does know I'm here." That was a total lie, but Aki did not credit Sakazaki with an abundance of brains. The fool might believe him.

"I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you aren't the only piece of ass he's tapping," the greasy haired man stood up again. His shirt had mysteriously fallen open, as it was prone to do, and it now revealed his muscular but hairy chest. "Back in the summer, rumor has it that some girl of his was taken. And we both know that couldn't be you."

He loomed over the boy, his hip pressing into Akihito's abdomen. The photographer's back was pressed flat against the door, crushing his back against his hand, pinning it. "You've still got this, don't you?" Sakazaki roughly rubbed the front of Akihito's jeans. "You are still Asami's kitten, aren't you pretty thing?"

"Get off me!" Akihito used all of his strength to push the yakuza away. He glared daggers at the laughing man who danced back, not because of Akihito's shove but because he wanted to toy with his dinner before he ate it. "I was there this summer. Nothing happened."

"Don't lie to me, Akihito," Sakazaki shook his head, sneering malignantly. "We both know that Asami killed a hundred people in one night because something was taken. And he would not gut Matsuhara Saburo's entire staff over nothing."

Akihito swallowed dryly, but kept his chin held high. Sakazaki kept throwing out scenarios and reading Akihito's expressions. He was counting on the photographer to let something slip if he guessed close to the truth. "It was because of me."

"I thought so, at first," Sakazaki walked towards the photographer. Akihito's hand finally managed to grip the doorknob. One twist and he was home free. "Then rumors of a child started to crawl in the streets, passing between the whores. Whores and druggies always know everything."

"Daughter?" Akihito's voice was hoarse. "Asami hates kids."

"Not according to Kawaguchi Akina. He remembers Asami doting on the thing."

Kawaguchi. The lose end had come around to bite them in the ass. Of course he would tell. He owed Asami doubly after the night at the prison. Selling that information to Asami's enemies was a step towards retribution. How many other people knew?

Sakazaki opened his mouth to say something else, but the investigative photographer could not risk lingering in the same room as the man. Sooner or later, he would try to get Aki's pants off. Just because Asami did not know about a year ago did not mean that Akihito wanted to repeat the experience. In fact, if he never saw Sakazaki again, it would be too soon.

With a quick twist of his wrist, the door flew open. The twenty-four year old was out the door and running down the stairs as quickly as he could. No one pursued him, nor did Sakazaki cry out. Still, Akihito shoved his way past seedy men and scantily dressed women, barely registering their shouts as he pushed to the door. Stumbling into the dark night, he did not look over his shoulder to see if he was being followed.

He ran to Sion and Asami as quickly as he could. Just like Sakazaki wanted him to. Let Asami suffocate on the impending doom. Sooner or later, the attack would come. And it would shake his empire.

***Hurt***

I hope that you all enjoyed it. I want to thank everyone who supported the first arc of this story: Kulotte, Nikkie23534, Sarv, SageSapis, Shane, xDarklightx, finderlov, Capricorn898, dragonfairy16, dark blue princess, fanfic3112, itachisgurl193, Mika Sun802, FireFox Vixen, MaximunXXcorruption, Chaozsama, Xxsakurachan97, rion-rion, Kunoichi of the Moonlit Night, The Yaoi Pimpette, Richou, Suspicious Crow, Belle'Masque, ChaosCrusader, vanillamyeolchi, steph89, TheRagnaBuck, reni86, aishy, Christabel_Rose, Ayaomi, backtofive, WhiteWinds, eelynn, MixBerkaan, JumpingRainbow, Chestnutcrown, Kathimus, alexa87, vidoxd, Zabirel, Olja, Ayusixth, Shay7767, KariNeko282, Bumblebee_01, candytt, Uma, segna77, logfile, Xarimaki, May_Colfer, PrussiaMafia, Serpentariuss, ggeejj, Mayu41, akishima_naruren, Setsuna24, Nylia, Galaxiel_AXA, bone38, Lanyre, hikaru_itsuko, Miyanoai, blueutopiah, alphadick, Santuv592, Darkyoaifox, randomname98, Emma_Harris, MayAvalon, blackrosewitch1996, sexyfantasy, Sanela, Sara_matta, serenyty82, vivist70, Ryukei, Ashida, Sarin888, Mukiiami, Kimmyko97, stayinmydreams13 (darkreverie13), Tatsumaa (Elicia_chan), Yaoifav456, spoiled_fashionista, Amelita, moonshadow4, maeylee, HamanoEmichan, Suzaku24, existinnon, jonna594, wi2n3lyana, kitty9852, Rekishichizu, Miss_Bunny7, elly96, BlackHound14, ff_f4ng, BitterRose95, cavanacgh, mumbled_talks, naomizuki, Aveira, lovefinder, lola1201, Lazenshia, mssh, mssh, mssh, StarXNite, ninjahikari, Jambee, as well as 44 guests (both AO3 and )!

It might a little bit before the next up date. The muse is with me on this story but I feel like I should up date HB and AIP first haha