AN: Here is a short chapter to get the story going and fill in some of the gaps as well as answer some questions.
Thanks to all that read, faved, followed, reviewed, PMed etc.
Special thanks to Ashida for betaing.
I do not own Finder Series.
************VF**********
- Flashback - One Month before the Confrontation…
"Do what you please but one of you two has to make it happen you understand. Our company is on the line here and merging with his would be the best way to secure financial success for the rest of our lives. He is a powerful man, handsome and a bachelor so it's not like you will have to make a great sacrifice. Get it done, by any means necessary, I will introduce you tomorrow."
The man walked away leaving the two women to sort out a plan. Tomorrow, if they succeed, one of them will be the official heiress to the company.
"Asami-san, about my daughters Miko and Kaoruko." Said Honjio Yamato the CEO of Yamato Enterprises. "I was hoping you could get acquainted with each other since one of them will be taking over my business when I retire."
"I certainly hope you are not planning on retiring soon Honjio-san" said Asami
"Oh certainly not Asami-san, business is too good right now to throw in the towel." The man chuckled and Asami knew what business he was referring to. It was the kind of business he was into himself.
"Indeed business is too good for you to quit now, especially in the middle of our contract. You wouldn't do that to me now would you?" Asami lit a cigarette while piercing Honjio with his cold golden eyes.
Honjio swallowed audibly and sweat began to form on his balding head.
"Of course not Asami-san, I would never dare."
"Good" he said "I'd rather not have to collect 'compensation' for the breach of contract." The way he said the word compensation had the other man trembling slightly.
"Oh, there they are." Said Honjio visibly relaxing at the approach of the two women.
They were both dressed in traditional kimonos, their dark hair gathered tastefully on their heads. Asami had to admit they were both beautiful in their own right. Miko was the oldest and looked to be in her early thirties, while Kaoruko looked to be in the late twenties. At some point, Honjio had disappeared and the women had begun talking to him, but his mind had wandered off and he barely registered what they said. His body was on auto-pilot while his mind wandered about, supplying polite smiles, noises of approval or agreement and, short responses to the two.
All day he had been looking for a distraction from those three words Akihito told him last night. He had hoped this gala provided a distraction, but these sorts of events were hardly ever amusing, much less distracting, that is unless a certain blond photographer was pretending to be a waiter.
A certain photographer who spoke words that made something in his chest clench every time he thought about it. There he was again… thinking about such things… and there was that strange clenching in his chest coupled with that strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. 'This is useless; this event is not helping me keep my mind occupied. Maybe I am actually sick and should see a doctor. Now, when was the last time I saw a doctor?'
One of them must have said something funny, because the other was laughing, pulling him out of his reverie. It was Kaoruko who laughed with her hand over her mouth. They had hazel eyes, he noticed. Someone else had hazel eyes, someone who had said three words that had him confused. That feeling in his chest, the one on the pit of his stomach, what were they? He tried to put a finger on it, but came up short. He had never felt that before, what was it? How do you categorize the tugging in his chest? Surely it wasn't… it couldn't be, right? The sole idea was preposterous; Asami Ryuichi was not one to fall so low. That kind of thing, it was a cage, a very dangerous cage that weakened you and could cost you your life. Surely it was not that, but how to prove it?
The two women flirted with him and he began to wonder where their father had run off to. How close were these two sisters really? What they were implying was definitely not something people who don't trust each other completely suggest. Are they not aware of what they are offering?
A waiter passed by and he reached for another drink, hoping it would aid to keep his mind away from his predicament. 'Although' he thought 'there are two distractions standing in front of me. It would also serve to get the doubts out of my head. After all, they are drooling over me so obviously, they are easy prey.'
Asami smirked his trademark smirk to the women and suggested they take the conversation somewhere else. The women smiled at him and followed him to his suite, it was so convenient, the gala took place at a hotel. In the privacy of the luxurious suite, it took no coercing on his part before they were rolling around on the bed. They were more than willing to see to his needs all night and even seemed insatiable. He looked at the clock at some point and thought 'It's too late to go home now.' While Miko's and Kaoruko's mouth fought over his hardness.
- End of flashback -
****VF****
At Sion, after visiting Akihito's apartment…
He remembered that day as if it was yesterday, the memory of it will surely haunt him for the rest of his days. It was the day he made the biggest mistake of his life. The day he ruined everything.
Asami sat on the couch in his office, the clear bottle containing golden liquid was almost empty and so was the tumbler in his hand. The clock on the wall read four in the morning as he downed the rest of the tumbler's contents. He didn't want to go home, that place was not home anymore. Home, he thought about that word as he filled the tumbler once more, whatever home was, Akihito had taken it with him when he left.
In retrospective, he should have known it was a trap. He should have seen the signs, they were both too willing, too eager. They insisted on placing the condom themselves, one had distracted him while the other placed the piece of rubber on, and he had been too distracted to see them tamper with it. That is what they must have done, broken a whole into it somehow, there was no other explanation. 'The oldest trick in the book and I fell for it. The most powerful man in Japan is apparently no match for a cunning woman.'
At least it had been only one of the two who delivered the dreadful news; he did not even want to contemplate having to deal with the two of them in the same condition. Still, that doesn't redeem him from his actions and their father's demand that he take responsibility.
"Fuck!" He said out loud.
"If it didn't interfere with my business I would have killed them both before Akihito found out."
He found himself saying this quite often these days. Truth was, he was not as heartless as to kill his own child.
****VF****
That same night…
In a penthouse in Shinjuku a woman spoke to her father on the phone.
"Is he there?"
"No, I don't think he will be coming home today either. You must put more pressure on him father, or this will all be for nothing."
"Patience, patience my daughter. He will have to comply to my demands, after all you are going to be the mother of his child."
"Right, I will be the mother of his child. Did you take care of the loose ends?"
"I did, he is dead. Pity too, he was a great bodyguard, but we can't have him ruining our plan can we?"
"Fufufu, no we can't father. All loose ends need to be tied."
"I will see you tomorrow Miko, we need to talk about giving the news to the board."
*********VF********
So, what do you think? Leave a review before you go and tell me your opinion.
Also, no more chapter updates to any of my fics until Thursday, my daughter's first birthday is on Tuesday and my family and I will be at my husband's parents from Monday to Wednesday night which means I won't be able to work on anything.
Have a great week,
Setsuna