Title: Taking care of you.
Chapter: #03
Anime/ Manga Kingdom: You're my Love prize in Viewfinder
Characters: Asami x Takaba
Timeframe: Post Naked Truth
A/N: Again, this is unbeta. So if there is any grammar or spelling mistakes, forgive me for that. Once again, thank you for all your kind reviews. I really appreciate them, so keep them coming!
With his back turned away from the boy in bed, he waited for his call to be connected. He glanced out of the window and then back at the reflection on the window. Takaba was still asleep or knocked out from yesterday episode. Reflecting upon yesterday's events, Asami nearly flinched. For perhaps the first time in his life, he was afraid. Not for himself but rather for someone that he actually cared for.
"I'm Dr. Hiroshi Usui. Who am I speaking to?" The voice at the other end of the phone asked politely.
"Asami Ryuchi," he replied firmly.
There was a brief hesitation on the receiver end upon learning who the caller was. "To what do I owe the pleasure of receiving your personal call, Mr Asami?" The man spoke warily.
Asami smirked as he heard the slight trepidation from the other man. "I believe I've a personal matter which I need your help in handling. Of course, you'll be rewarded greatly if you manage to deal with it."
"Mr Asami, as I've told you before, I'm not into doing illegal business or-" The man attempted to turn down the offer quickly, only to be cut off by Asami.
He tapped his fingers against the window as he explained the situation to the psychologist. "It's not an illegal situation, I'm afraid."
"Pardon?" The other man asked suspiciously.
"Dr. Hiroshi. As I've mentioned earlier, this is a personal matter. It's not regarding my business or according to you, an illegal business. I need you to come down to club Sion later this afternoon. You'd receive the details from my men," Asami answered the enquiry in his usual no-shit tone, "Do you understand me?"
The man stuttered, "I… I understand. Is there anything else that-"
"It's confidential. I'd expect you to share the details and our encounter with no one else," Asami clarified.
"I understand, Mr Asami."
With that, Asami ended the call and shoved the phone back into his pocket. He turned around and walked back to the bed. All he had to do now was to convince the boy to see the psychologist. He knew that it was not going to be easy or pretty to get the stubborn young man to agree to get help, but he was going to make him do it anyway. If he did not receive any help now, he was afraid that not only Takaba, but he was going to go mad soon. He did not want to feel restless the whole day worrying about the boy. His work was piling up on his desk and even he could see that he needed to stop. His men probably noticed too. Perhaps, the most important reason would be that he wanted Takaba to return to being himself, being who he was before the whole Hong Kong incident.
"Akihito," he spoke as he bent down and cupped one side of Takaba's face with his hand, "I know you're awake."
Takaba opened his eyes to stare up at him questioningly. His own fingers moved to Asami's hand on his face. Pulling the hand away from his face, he clasped it in his hands instead as he sat up in the bed to face the older man. His eyes studied Asami closely. His instincts told him something was up and that it had to do with the earlier call he made just now. He had caught snippets of what Asami said, but he could not figure out what it was about. Staring hard at Asami now, he waited for the truth.
"Yesterday, you lost it again." Asami stated, looking straight into Takaba's eyes.
Shifting his glance away, Takaba felt uneasy. He did not really want to touch on the sensitive subject now. Although he could not really remember clearly what happened yesterday, he did know that he lost control of himself and the visions were back to haunt him. He stayed still as he bit down on his lips nervously.
"Akihito, I…" Asami continued but stopped when he noticed tears rolling down Takaba's cheeks, falling down onto his hands, "It's okay. We'll face the problem together. I've made a call to a psychologist, he'll help you-"
Pulling his hands away from Asami's, he glared up at the older man. He shook his head furiously at Asami. He did not need a psychologist, he was fine. All he needed was time. Time heals all wound, don't they? Scrambling backwards, he kicked the blanket out of the way and picked up the pillows and began throwing them at the taller man angrily. Now, Asami thought he was crazy? Was he going to leave him to the psychologist and forget all about him because he thought that he was nuts?
Frightened and upset, he ran out of the room towards the kitchen with Asami close behind his heels. He inched to a corner, with his back pressed against the stove. His heart pounded harder and faster as he watched Asami near him. Frantic, he began to look around him for something, anything to stop Asami from grabbing him to visit the crazy psychologist. His eyes caught sight of the sharp object in one of the wooden racks and before Asami could stop him, he pulled out the knife and raised it in front of him, forcing the older man to keep a distance away from him. Maybe now… maybe Asami would use his gun and shoot him dead, he thought as he stood unstably with his legs shaking because of the fear he felt.
"Ah…Ah Argh uh," he tried to speak, to stop Asami from hurting him. He wanted to plead with the man to just let him off, let him go if he found him a burden, "Ush ah uh argh ah."
Frustrated with himself for not being able to express himself properly, he waved the knife around wildly. Closing his mouth, he clenched his teeth. What good was he if he could not even speak? He raised the knife to his throat. Perhaps if he carved the knife down his throat, his voice might come back. Didn't Kou always told him that miracles do exist? If this was one, he would do it. Before he could run the knife down his throat, Asami's hand flashed before him and wrapped around his tightly to pull the knife out of his grasp. When Asami realised that Akihito was not going to let go of the dangerous object, he moved his other hand to curl around the sharp, pointy blade. Upon seeing the blood oozed out of Asami's flesh, Takaba's eyes widened in fear and his fingers released the knife. Then, his legs gave up on him and he fell to the floor in a daze.
Asami heaved a sigh of relief as he dropped the knife into the washing basin. Holding Takaba gently with his other hand, he knelt down in front of the man. "Akihito, look. I'm fine. I just need you to agree to let this man see you and treat you."
Takaba looked up at him with his hair stuck down to his face by his sweat. Taking in shallow breaths, he gazed at Asami's injured hand then back at his face. He was surprised by what he saw. Asami seemed worried and concerned for him. It was as if he felt the pain he was experiencing. Closing his eyes, he sobbed uncontrollably.
"Akihito," Asami called for his attention again and he glanced at the man with a frown, "Please."
Asami never begged anyone. But he just did so. Takaba stared at him for a minute before giving in with a nod. Asami smiled at him and placed his uninjured arm around his shoulder and hugged him, "Thank you."
Takaba nodded silently, his tears seeping into Asami's shirt. If this was before the Hong Kong incident, he would never believe that Asami would ever say the words 'please' or 'thank you'. Now, he finally understood. Asami wanted him to be fine. Asami wanted him to be freed from agony. Asami cared for him.
For the rest of the afternoon, Takaba had sat on the sofa and played video games with the new console Asami had bought for him in the living room. Asami had cleared up the mess in the kitchen and prepared food for the both of them before the visit by the psychologist in the evening. Then, he had Takaba lying with his head on his lap for a short afternoon nap, which was disrupted by the psychologist's visit.
"Good evening, I'm Dr. Hiroshi Usui. Could I address you as Takaba?" The psychologist had asked when they were all seated down in the living room.
Takaba glanced at Asami, who gave him an encouraging nod, and then he nodded at Dr. Hiroshi. Giving the patient a small smile, he continued with his questions.
He watched the patient carefully as he prodded around the sensitive issue, "I learnt from Mr Asami that you've been having nightmares and that you've lost your voice after a rather violent incident. Am I right?"
Not missing the slight flinch that Takaba gave, the man nodded and jotted something down in his folder. "Takaba, I'm here to help you deal with the incident and get your voice back. I need you to relax, there is nothing dangerous here. You're safe and Mr Asami is going to help you along the way as well."
Asami squeezed Takaba's shoulder gently to give him his affirmation he would be there. The young man nodded and looked back at the psychologist. "Firstly, I need you to face the incident. Only by facing it and not escaping from what happened, you would be able to get over your fears. Now, could you revisit what you went through that day… on the ship?"
His eyes shot up to the man. Flashes of a blond man running after him with a gun and then firing a bullet at him shot through his mind. He jerked against the firm hold that Asami had on him. Sweat began dropping down the side of his head as he struggled to breathe in and out evenly.
"You're doing fine, Takaba san. It's normal for you to feel fear and nervousness when you first learn to deal with such an incident. Now, I need you to try to recall the events slowly and understand that they are the past. It's over. There is no need to be afraid or be fearful of anything."
Asami glared at the psychologist. Is this what they called a treatment? It seemed to aggravate his lover further rather than help him out of it. Noticing the glare from the yakuza, Dr Hiroshi looked at him straight in his eyes. He nodded at the man to assure him that he knew what he was doing and to just give him some time.
"Mr Asami, could you tell me the sequence of events that happened?"
Asami nearly took his gun out and shot the man dead. What the hell was all these bullshit about reminiscing about the past? Sparing a glance at the boy at his side, he clenched his jaws and began to speak.
"You were standing at the deck of the ship with the contract in your hands," Asami watched Takaba cautiously, recalling what he witnessed, "You shouted for me. Asami, you called out."
The boy buried his face in his hands as the scenes replayed in his head. He wanted them to stop but they kept coming at him like a series of waves.
"I saw you from the top of the ship and I shouted your name. You turned around and saw me, I guessed you were glad and you shouted my name again. Only that the blond idiot sneaked up behind you when you're unaware and fired at you," he paused to see Takaba grimacing but still listening.
"I rushed down and shot him before he could shoot you again," he continued as his fingers brushed Takaba's shoulders comfortingly. "For a moment, I thought you died."
Takaba stopped shaking and he risked a peek at Asami to see his eyes closed and a grimace on his face instead.
"You didn't, of course. I was glad. You lost your voice when we left the ship. It was sudden but I'm still relieved that you're alive," he finished and gave Takaba a meaningful look.
Dr Hiroshi nodded and jotted down some more details. "Takaba san, do you know why you lost your voice?"
Takaba shook his head and then nodded but shook his head again. The psychologist tore a piece of paper out from his notebook and handed it to Takaba with a pen. "If you don't mind, you could write your thoughts down. It would be easier for us to communicate."
Taking the pen into his hand, he thought about it for a while before writing his thoughts down in words: 'I am not sure, but it might be the fear of losing myself or maybe seeing someone else die. Yoh almost died. But I really do not know why exactly. I just could not speak, I feel like I am strangled. It is painful.'
The man picked up the paper and shoved it into his book. "One last question before our one hour session ends. You mentioned about feeling strangled. Did you get strangled? If so, I want you to think of his face and know that you're not in danger anymore."
Not able to look at Asami, Takaba nodded. He remembered vividly who strangled him. The fingers around his neck had applied such strong pressure that he struggled to breathe. The man did release him in the end but every time he thought about it, he felt as if he was being strangled all over again. Taking in huge gulps of breath now, he tried to breathe properly.
"Takaba san, it's all right now. No one is strangling you. Look, your neck is perfectly fine. Now, take in a deep breath. Right, you're doing great and release. Now, do that a few more times," Dr Hiroshi advised in a calm tone as his eyes watched Asami sooth the younger man. He could not actually believe his eyes. Asami Ryuchi was known to most as a ruthless man yet what he was witnessing now was the love and concern he had for the younger man, who he assumed was his lover.
"Now, that's good. Takaba san, I need you to practice breathing in and out evenly and slowly whenever you panicked. It'll definitely help you in calming your nerves and aid you in recovering. I'll see you again in another three days."
Asami stood up from the sofa and led the psychologist to the door. "You've signed the contract. If he recovered from this fully, you'll get the rewards as stated in it but if anything about the situation is leaked out, you should know what would happen to you."
The man nodded hurriedly and exited the apartment. Asami Ryuchi really did cared for the young man, he thought, but the man was still as threatening as he could be at all other times. He sighed. He guessed he would try his best to cure his lover since he always did that for all his patients.
A/N: Special thanks to the reviewers to chapter 2 - radcat38, Serinji, aimaru, joesangkrah, Pyon and Guest.
PS Suoh will be coming in the next chapter! Hold your horses, people!