Hi all, once again thanks for comments and reviews so far, I have half of the next chapter down already, it's an Asami POV and should answer some more questions that people may have.
"Shit!" A very scary realization hit Suoh, hit like the lighting they were trying to desperately to avoid, to divert down another path, any other path but this one.
The lightening was capable of severing bonds, indiscriminate, just like the bullet, once it was fired it didn't matter who was in its path, it would hit no matter what, and it would send them deeper into the great divide.
"Let's go Kei. He still has the access key to the penthouse."
He didn't wait to see Kirishima's face, he just ran.
The burly giant shot out the door, as fast as he ever could. He hoped like hell it was fast enough to prevent the worst. He couldn't shake the thunder rattling his bones however, he knew it was almost futile.
Hope really was the worst emotion of all, it could trick you into thinking everything was going to be fine. When really under the surface what you thought was an unsightly nightmare, was reality in truth.
Still he hoped, hoped that he would somehow wake up from this fucking dream any second now, he hoped they would make it in time.
One of the reasons Sumewari was so good at his job was because he was the only person who could keep up with Akihito. Which meant that Kirishima and Souh didn't have a chance at catching up with him as all three men sprinted the two blocks to Asami's building. Sumewari was getting further and further away, and so was any hope they had of fixing this mess.
If Asami killed someone in their upper circle, oh he might have resigned, but he was still in the handful of people that could be trusted completely, if Asami killed Jun….. the domino effect would be unfathomable.
Suoh couldn't allow that to happen. Wouldn't allow that to happen.
His lungs pleaded for respite as he ran, but he would show them no mercy, he would make it in time even if it meant coughing his lungs up, a sacrifice to whatever god he prayed was watching.
It was the longest two blocks of Suoh's life. The pavement stretched out before him, infinite tunnel vision, the concrete endless. He could hear Kirishima's footsteps behind him, the pitter-patter of rain in the never-ending storm they had found themselves in.
A pitch-black storm, blocking out that golden sun, which they had all strived so hard to reach.
Jun felt weightless, fueled by thoughts of retaliation and the searing image of his hapless friend. His legs had never moved so fast, each muscle in his legs driven by emotions and the one vision of that lifeless smile, all ignited by that Sunday paper.
It was the smile of a puppet, fake and unfeeling, cold.
Akihito wasn't a puppet, Akihito was full of life and animation, he was warm, or he had been, until Asami threw him to the wolves.
Jun had never felt such rage, all encompassing, he understood what it felt like to 'see red'.
He finally understood that word, red.
He was so angry. His legs moved faster as he entered the bottom floor of the building.
The red haze blocked out everything as he stood in the elevator on the way up to the 31st floor.
Had the elevator always taken this long to reach the top?
He took 12 steps down the corridor like he had every other morning to that penthouse door, swished his access card and entered the threshold of the biggest wolf of all.
5 steps down the hall to the open living space, where he found Asami looking his usual self in his three-piece suit, reading the paper in his recliner with a bottle of whiskey and tumbler on the stand next to him.
Oh he was having a fucking good time of it like usual, while Akihito tried his hardest to put on a show for everyone else with that pathetic smile. It was sickening.
"Why are you here Sumewari?" Asami questioned coolly over the top of his paper.
He could feel Jun's murderous intent. Any one could feel it, he reeked of antagonism and ire. He permeated red, polluting the black shroud of the penthouse.
"You…. Do you have any idea what you've done to Akihito?"
Sumewari retorted with equal ice of his own.
If Sumewari wasn't so furious, he would have seen the way the crime lord stiffened, the way his hands crumpled the edges of the paper, he would have heard Asami's rampaging heartbeat at the mention of Akihito's name, trying to break its way out of the confines of Asami's ribcage.
"Why?" Sumewari questioned.
"Do not question me Sumewari." Asami warned, his eyes narrowed, the black shroud was getting darker.
"Oho, I will sure as hell question you when Akihito looks like a sickly ghost, pretending everything is ok! You have ruined him utterly and completely, and after all your talk of never letting him go."
"No more Sumewari." Asami's tone was final, packed with all the punch of the rightful crime lord that he was.
"No more or what? Are you that afraid of the truth? Are you such a coward to your own emotions? Or were you so disgusted to see his face in the paper that you shot the fucking secretary for bringing it to you? Speak Asami! Tell me!" Sumewari had already gone passed the point of no return, that color red had pushed him over the line, spitting the words out of his mouth.
"Stop now, Sumewari. Or you wont live to regret it." Asami snarled as he threw the paper down onto the adjacent couch and drew his gun from its holster to point it at the former guard.
The penthouse door opened again, Suoh and Kirishima came dashing in, their presence ignored as the crime lord and Sumewari locked gazes.
Kirishima paled as he saw the swirling mass of red and black attack each other.
Suoh silently cursed the moment he caught sight of the gun.
The words Sumewari spoke next struck too close to home for Asami, too close to his heart and too close to that dream.
That dream, among many others that kept him awake until the morning light.
"Do it, pull the trigger, blow my fucking brains out. It's a kinder fate then what you dealt Akihito."
And so Asami Ryuichi snapped, he pulled the trigger, the thunderous noise ricocheting off the stark walls of the penthouse.
He pulled that trigger, firing 4 shots in quick succession, each one of them a lighting strike, they ripped through various body parts.
First, the shoulder, the torso came next, followed by a shot in the upper thigh, the last one was going straight for his heart, straight for the kill, if it weren't for Suoh.
Suoh, who began to move the moment he took it all in, Suoh who pushed Jun out of the way and caught that last disastrous bullet in his upper arm. Sending a now bleeding Sumewari sprawling to the floor as the drips of red rained on the floor.
The silence that followed left a shell-shocked ringing in everyone's ears.
Suoh was already in action despite his arm, collecting Sumewari off the floor and heading for the door. He would be dead in soon if they didn't act fast enough, they could only hope. That stupid word again.
"Fuck!" Asami bellowed, standing, he dropped the gun from his trembling hand.
Kirishima looked at his friend, really looked at him, saw the pain travel across his face, he watched that black façade slip.
He saw the grey anguish underneath.
"Ryuichi?" Kirishima questioned, not as his subordinate, but as his friend for 30 years.
Asami stood there, his tensed body shaking with the tension, looking down at the paper he had thrown on the couch.
Kirishima's eyes followed Asami's, travelling to the paper on the couch.
The ringing in Kirishima's ears got louder as his eyes set on the crumpled headlines.
Deafening questions screamed at him as he looked at the photo on the front page.
It was the perfect photo, the photo that was released not two weeks ago, the photo that held heat and security, the photo that told the truth.
So why?
"Why?" Kirishima whispered.
"Get out Kirishima." Asami breathed, picking up the whiskey bottle on the stand.
He took long swig, craving the fire that the liquor would bring him, a short reprieve from the now permanent cold he felt.
"Why?" Kirishima questioned again.
"Just get out!" the boss tone was back.
Kirishima took one last look at the pair in the photo before rushing after Suoh, the golden pair, now apart, but trudging to the beat of the same indifferent drum in their own little hell, and dragging everyone along for the ride.
Kirishima heard his long time friend swear as he neared the door.
"FUCK!"
The last thing he heard was the sound of the bottle smashing against the penthouse wall as Asami hurled it with everything he could.
It was such a sad sound, the sound of glass breaking, the sound of his friend breaking.
Asami Ryuichi's impenetrable fortress had been breached by the storm, the storm that he himself had created.
And Kirishima still didn't know why.
Now though, now he was on damage control, they'd lost sight of the safety net and were falling further into the abyss.