Chapter Seventeen

Beauty and Bullets

The feel of the gun against Sousuke's cheek felt cold where it was pressed harshly into his skin but that feeling lessened when the other man walked down the final few steps. The gun was no longer pointed as Sousuke – instead it was pointed at the man at the bottom of the stairs. The man who was haloed by the light from the main area of the house, his blond hair bright in the relatively dim light.

Sousuke hadn't met the man who had hired him, who was paying for this job but it was often the case he didn't know who the hell was signing his cheque. Or transferring the cash to one of his accounts. But he knew who it was. He knew from the grey suit with the thin pinkish pinstripe and the bright tie that this - this was Nagisa Hazuki, joint founder of Iwatobi Corp. - the young business protégé who had made his fortune in his teens. Despite his relatively diminutive size, Nagisa seemed to radiate power in the slick suit and with the calm expression on his face. Sousuke guessed that's what came from running one of the wealthiest companies in the world.

"I didn't want it to come to any of this," Nagisa said, an apologetic glance towards Sousuke and Makoto as he walked slowly across the room. "I had just wanted proof of my suspicions... I didn't think it would lead to any of this. But then, Rei, you always were too fast."

Sousuke heard the splutter and suddenly the cool calm demeanour of the man who had shot him, who had ruthlessly kidnapped Makoto, was gone. Completely vanished as while Rei had his back turned to them, Sousuke could still see the blush that had reached his ears and he saw the hand that had gone to fidget at his glasses. He wasn't sure but it seemed very much like an innuendo on Nagisa's part and the reaction confirmed as much - hadn't they been lovers? Didn't Rin explain that? Sousuke narrowed his eyes as the two men's attention was on each other so he began to subtlety move closer to Makoto so he could undo the bindings.

"If you'd just come to me...rather than this...it would've been different."

Nagisa's voice almost sounded sad but Sousuke didn't focus too much on the conversation, rather on getting Makoto's hands free without attracting any attention, his fingers fumbling and some of his usual cool lost.

"Come to you?" Rei laughed then, the sound ringing around the small basement. "Beg you for my money."

"It was the businesses money. And it was only when you became obsessed with beautiful things did you want more," Nagisa retorted, the word "beautiful" almost spat out scathingly. "When you became too obsessed with making this damn house perfect that you lost what was in front of you."

Shaking, Rei turned back towards Sousuke and Makoto, the gun raised and pointing at them. As despite Sousuke's attempt to do everything silently, it still seemed that he had been heard. "Don't move either of you or I'll blow your brains out."

With the threat issued he turned back to Nagisa and Sousuke moved back as he sensed the tension, thick in the air - the tension of betrayal and failed relationships making the air static. That tension made him cautious and Sousuke didn't want to do anything that would risk Makoto's life.

"Nagisa...I -" Rei began, pleadingly.

"No," the blond man interrupted firmly, "you went too far, Rei. The man I loved is gone."

"You left me..."

Sousuke heard the words of a broken man, Rei's voice cracking and he glanced towards Makoto, whose green eyes were widened in something akin to sympathy.

"You pushed me away... You leave me no choice. I have to report you... If I don't, I could lose the business... The one good thing that's left of us."

"No!" Rei shouted, his voice still cracked. His shook his head forcefully, the glasses nearly sliding off his face. "I won't lose everything again..."

The gun, shaking in his hands, was raised and Sousuke couldn't watch. He wasn't sure if Rei had the guts to do it - to kill someone he clearly loved to save his own skin but Sousuke couldn't stand back and watch, couldn't see Nagisa gunned down, couldn't be helpless as someone else died. The shaking hands on the weapon made Sousuke fear more than if Rei had been cool, calm, collected as the bullet could ricochet… the bullet could end up anywhere. Sousuke couldn't let that happen.

Sousuke had to stop Rei. As if he stopped Rei, if Nagisa was alive… then Makoto was safe... And Sousuke would've done his job. Protected him. That was all he needed to do. Not just because it was his job… but because Makoto was the first person that made him feel, who had looked at him like that and Sousuke was pretty sure he was the first person he'd loved. So he acted.

The actions were a blur - images in Sousuke's head, feelings just under his skin and he reached for Makoto one last time, feeling his jaw, stubble covered but soft before the deafening sounds of bullets reverberated.

He launched himself at Rei moments before the gun fired for the first time. He was unsure what had happened to the bullet but Sousuke didn't care as he tried to stop him, tried to prevent him from doing anything else. No one else would get shot. No one else would feel that pain that Sousuke knew so well. They rolled, wrestled, the gun poised between them and Sousuke tried to grab it off him, throw it out of reach but it didn't happen.

Another shot fired and Sousuke felt a heat in his stomach that was like an intense burn and he heard screaming and shouting and echoes. He felt pain and the weird sensation of bleeding, his body sinking into some state of weightlessness and he saw Makoto's green eyes, bright and beautiful, a small sparkle in the corner.

"I had to protect you..." he whispered as his body felt light and drunk and then blackness consumed Sousuke, the image of Makoto hovering above him on his closed eyelids.