Once again, thank you to Setsuna for letting me use her OC, Jun.
One chapter and an epilogue left, you guys.
Kirishima could hardly believe he was back here, waiting.
He knew this place like the back of his hand, and everything in it. All the apartment's possessions had since been brought back from the penthouse, and it was made the way it used to be.
It really wasn't the outcome he was hoping for, but he'd expected it nonetheless, and Suoh's insistence on making Takaba feel at ease at his old place had won over.
They brought all his things back.
And now the pair were standing wait.
For the first time in many years; he was nervous. Suoh next to him was a mixture of that and eager. It was the longest length of time both of them had been without seeing Takaba.
Tokyo had been much too quiet without him, work became boring without someone to chase, without someone bringing them lunch or taunting their boss into doing something amusingly irrational.
It became too much like the way it was before he was in their life.
He was nervous because they both wanted that person back, but they had no idea what they would be getting. If their last impression was anything to go by; it wouldn't even be close.
The memory alone made him want to be sick. Akihito going out and getting himself beat up hoping Asami would come to his rescue, that empty shell of a person who would sit all day staring at the white paint on the ceiling of his apartment. The person who broke down and cried in his very house with nowhere to go but far away from home to escape.
Sure, they'd been given updates from Feilong and Yoh, but until he saw Akihito with his own eyes, he would remain uneasy.
If it weren't for the fact Asami had thrown himself in jail to get to this point, he would have laughed, because next to him the normally statuesque Suoh was shifting from foot to foot, he would pace around and make sure everything was in place, Suoh wanted it to be perfect.
Kirishima felt the urge to do the same, just to do something to curb the anticipation in his gut, but he knew it was a futile action.
He settled on cleaning his glasses, more like he was trying to convince himself it was his dirty spectacles that dulled the colors of the world rather than the lack of his boss and his lively other half.
For how long would it be like this, he wondered as he placed his glasses back on his face with a sigh.
It all depended on Takaba.
And, like everything to do with the disgraced photographer, he couldn't even begin to guess what move he would make.
They both knew for Sion's sake, they should try to convince him to make a decision sooner rather than later, to get their boss out and go from there, but they would do the exact opposite.
Asami had put measures in place, Feilong would give any assistance needed, even front the underground business if need be, everything had been done that was needed to give Akihito all the time he needed.
Plus, it wasn't like Suoh and Kirishima were powerless either, if people thought they could encroach just because the big wig had intentionally put himself in the lock up, they would be in for a nasty surprise.
Suoh had been itching for a fight ever since this all started, and it'd nearly been Asami that he'd come to blows with.
Kirishima didn't even know who'd win that one, but he felt sorry for the poor soul that would be stupid enough to cross Suoh's path still, especially when it came to anything to do with Asami or Akihito for that matter.
His mind went back to the argument the pair of them had over visiting Takaba senior's house. Suoh wanted desperately to go there, to reason with the family at Akihito's worth, but Kirishima had known Suoh would only end up angry, because what Suoh really wanted to do was blow up at someone, and who better to blow up at than the very family that deserted him when he needed someone the most.
Kirishima looked at his watch, they should be here any moment now, and he was grateful there was no annoying clock in this apartment that told him how slow time was actually going.
On cue, a sharp rap on the thin wooden door from their man outside told him a vehicle was approaching, that brought a curl of a smile to Kirishima's lip, because when word got out that Takaba was coming back, most of the men that'd previously been on Takaba duty had all wanted to be here too.
But it wouldn't do to have a horde of black suited men standing outside the apartment at attention. Media was still lurking after all. So they settled for one other; Jun had dragged himself out of his hospital bed and taken the post outside.
After being shot by Asami he'd recovered slowly, a bullet to the abdomen was always a long healing process, but nothing would keep Jun away, because if Akihito was coming back then so was he, apparently – even if he still despised Asami for what he'd done.
Their organization had become much like a family in that matter, Asami was the typical bad guy who would sometimes upset the men with unreasonable demands, but when Takaba got one whiff of Asami 'being an asshole'; then the blonde would put his foot down and make their boss lighten up.
Obviously this situation was a little more extreme than what the others had ever been, in fact it'd nearly ripped them all apart, but that one mention of Takaba coming back, of Asami trying to make amends had pulled everyone together.
Really, weren't they meant to be a group of ruthless criminals who weren't supposed to rely on anything like that?
Nope. And Kirishima wouldn't have it any other way, this was the closest to a real family most of them had ever been gifted with.
From inside the extremely non sound proof apartment, he heard the soft opening and closing of car doors, and the memories faded back into now.
Akihito was coming home.
Akihito couldn't help but think it was unusually quiet outside his apartment, even when he used to live here it never used to be like this. There was always a tail or two skulking around.
There was none. No media. Only a black BMW that he knew to be Suoh's.
The sun seemed to shine a little brighter as a tiny shred of excitement drew his eyes up to his old front door to see who was waiting.
"Jun!" he exclaimed, as his eyes found his friend and former personal guard.
"Yo, Akihito!" Jun called with a smile down from the balcony.
Akihito's feet trampled the creaky steps with peeling paint two at a time, and as he got closer he really saw Jun, and skidded to a halt as the realization hit him full force.
Jun was thinner, his suit didn't fit as well, and he was definitely a little more pale in the face.
I shot people I shouldn't have.
He remembered what Asami said and suddenly he didn't think he was going to make it all the way up the steps to his front door.
How many fucking times was he going to be put through the wringer in one day? The steps swam in front of him as his vision blurred, the colors all distorted into a big ugly mess of uncertainty without clear lines to define the world about him.
"Akihito?" Feilong questioned softly behind him, he hadn't even registered the Baishe leader was following him.
"Oi, hey, Akihito! I'm fine it's just a scratch." His friend padded over, the clack of his dress shoes loud in his ears.
"But… he fucking shot you, Jun." Akihito heard himself say.
"It's fine, it's fine!" Jun waved it off, a little gingerly Akihito noticed, "I overstepped my bounds fighting for your honor." The cheeky wink he got then was typical, sarcastic Jun, only then did Akihito start to feel a little better.
And then he realized how much he's missed this part of his life. They might have been Asami's subordinates, but that didn't have anything to do with it. He was still friends with all of them regardless.
"You promise me you're okay?" he said with a hint of doubt still in his mind, being shot was pretty damn serious after all.
"Absolutely, Takaba san." Jun said, oozing formality and reassurance, with just a hue of playfulness.
"Don't start that with me." He felt the pout make its way to his face before he could stop it.
Behind him, Feilong's musical laughter chimed in the breeze, and Jun just smiled at him again.
"Come on, the others are itching to see you, though you wont get them to admit it." Just like that Jun brushed off the reality of the situation, the fact that Asami was in jail of all things, the fact that this entire thing was a disaster and that the last time they saw each other Akihito was too out of it to even acknowledge him.
It brought things back a little closer to normal, even if the feeling in his bones told him everything still felt incredibly wrong.
Taking the steps one at a time now, he followed Jun up, took a breath as he was bid to enter his old residence first, and pushed the door open.
Relief. That's what Kirishima felt at this moment when the blonde stepped through the threshold of his old, but hopefully not permanent home.
Akihito looked exponentially better compared to when they parted, sheepish still, but better than what he'd been expecting.
Thank god.
"Hey, brat, it's been a while."
Kirishima knew Suoh wouldn't be able to help himself, and sure enough the burly guard was moving before the door even finished opening.
With a rare smile, Suoh ruffled the straw colored mop affectionately with a hand that enveloped most of Akihito's head, and the resulting grin from Akihito was infectious.
"Quit it, I'm not a brat!" the protest was empty though.
"Could have fooled me." The behemoth teased.
Part of Kirishima's world shifted back into familiarity at watching them bicker like they always did, he was so glad.
"He's just an oversized brat, right Kei?" his friend called, including him because Suoh knew Kirishima hated that.
He did what Suoh hated and ignored him in favor of doing something he would never be able to do previously, it was the relief of it all that made him do it.
Kirishima stepped up to Akihito - who was looking at him with a smile full of thanks for what the secretary had done for him – and hugged him as part of his stress dissolved.
The young man stiffened in surprise, before Kirishima felt a pair of arms wrap around him tight and cling on soothingly.
"Thank you, Kei san." Was the muffled gratitude into his suit.
"Don't sweat it." The secretary pulled away after giving Akihito one last squeeze, noticing that Akihito had put most of his weight back on as well.
"Jeez, and you said I was bad." Suoh deadpanned next to them.
Around them, everyone laughed and an underlying tension finally seemed to dissipate.
"I take it I can leave him in your care while I acquaint myself with what I'm meant to be doing here?" Feilong put in with a fond look in his eye.
Kirishima, and Suoh too by the looks of it, had completely forgotten about that side of things, all they'd been focused on was Akihito.
"Oh, yes, let's get going, Jun will be staying here. Everything is under control for now." Kirishima reported.
With all this, he felt at ease leaving it as it was, they'd both seen with their own eyes that Akihito was okay, it was best to leave the young man to his thoughts for a while now.
Goodbyes were said, Feilong looked down at Akihito with pure adoration as they hugged good bye, though it wouldn't be the last time they saw each other the hug was full of emotion and understanding, as if Feilong was encouraging him, giving strength and support.
Truly, Takaba Akihito had everyone wrapped around his finger, even for all his stubborn flaws and constant bouts of getting himself in unnecessary trouble. He was far from perfect, but then again so was everyone else here, Asami included.
Yoh gave Akihito a friendly punch on the shoulder, and as soon as that, the four men were leaving Akihito and Jun to their own devices.
There was a look of confusion on Akihito's face as they left, as if he'd expected them to mention Asami, or something about it, about this entire situation.
But, like they'd all agreed, there were to be no expectations placed on him, Akihito would bring it up when he was ready.
And Akihito would, he wasn't one to shy away after all, he would face it head on when it was good for him.
They would know, sooner or later.
"Um…" Akihito stared at his apartment door as it shut behind Yoh, and scratched his head.
"What?" Jun called from his tiny kitchen, it sounded like he was raiding his fridge, "Oh they stocked it up good, yuss."
Jun was in fact raiding his fridge.
"I thought they might, you know. Say something?" he said blankly, he hardly knew what to do now he was back here.
"About what?" his friend came back with bread in his mouth and a pair of drinks tucked under one arm, Akihito still noticed how he sat on the couch with care though.
"Don't play dumb with me." He huffed, because he really was confused, no one seemed worried about the fact that Asami had intentionally got himself arrested, add in the fact that Asami had told Akihito to take his pick on charges – which still irked Akihito to no end.
"You mean about Asami then right? What about it?"
"What am I going to do about it!? That's the point. Fuck, Jun. It makes me sick knowing my name is on something that was set up-"
"Hey, don't wind yourself up over it." Came the interruption, full of sincerity, "Just like everything else, it's been done and you can't change it, even if it was a shitty move. Just think about what you're going to do about the rest. Oh, in your own time though."
Akihito fell silent as he dropped into his other couch opposite the one Jun was one, his brows pursed in irritation because how was any of this really okay?
He was still mad, still shaken, and still confused.
"Oi, chill man!" Jun barked at him from across the room, shortly after a can of drink came rocketing in his direction.
There was ever any point trying to reason with Jun, he was assigned to Takaba for the very reason that he was one of the only people that could handle him, so he let it go, and opened his drink.
The unease boiled still, though.
It was silent as the four of them made their way down to the car, unspoken words lingered – and Kirishima really supposed they needed to be voiced. They owed Feilong a lot, after all.
"I did it for Akihito, so don't thank me." Feilong spoke before anyone else could, it was curt, but the underlying 'you're welcome' was still there, it cut the awkwardness, and from then on; nothing needed to be said about it.
The ride to Sion was quiet, in their minds; everyone was trying to fathom what Akihito would do from here.
One day turned into two, for Akihito. Three into four, and before he knew it, a week of him brooding inside his apartment had passed.
He hadn't gone out, he couldn't bare to face any old work colleagues at this point, he could picture them floundering over the fact that someone had actually managed to put Asami Ryuichi away. The lie of it all made him sick, along with the actual fact that Asami had done it for him, as some sort of recompense for something that in Akihito's mind; could never be forgiven.
People came and went though, Jun came every day, sometimes bringing Kou and Takato as well, it was like a hazy distraction at best, to the pile of daily newspapers building up on his small dining table which Kirishima or Suoh brought them on their visits.
They sat stacked irritatingly neat, black and white parchment curled up and held fast by a pale rubber band.
It was like a permanent reminder in the room, a mockery, and still they called to him.
Every time he reached out though, his fingers stopped before he could touch the black ink. It was terrifying thinking about what might be in those papers.
Each time he found himself alone, it became a battle between him and the news lines on the table, a silent fight as the pile grew one by one.
He wanted to throw them out, shove them in the bottom of the trash where he could convince himself they weren't there.
What did it fucking matter to him what went on now? He wasn't in the game anymore, and he didn't even feel the urge to back, the ridicule was still fresh.
As far as he was concerned it had nothing to do with him anymore, so he wasn't going to let whatever lies that were printed tell him otherwise. There were probably a million articles about Asami in there, speculating about what a bad person he was, and all that bull shit.
It's not like he was going to give in, be guilted into just letting it all slide, because the papers would be telling the truth for once.
He deserved very article he fucking got, now that he thought about it, but at the same time he didn't because it'd all rippled out this way all from that piece of shit fake article with his name on it - conflicted didn't even begin to cover it.
No one ever mentioned it though, apart from Jun on that first day. Not one word. That he was grateful for, because he really didn't want the added weight.
Akihito literally had no idea what he was going to do. Nothing. Why was it up to him when he'd already made it clear to Asami?
There was no way in hell Asami Ryuichi would just sit there until Akihito told him to. He should just let himself out and be done with it. Surely he would soon. That would take one thing from his shoulders at least.
But what if Asami did actually just stay where he was? What the fuck was Akihito going to do then? He shouldn't care so much even if it were true, but he did, and that pissed him off even more.
Day after day he told himself Tokyo was better off with out Asami anyway.
Rather than feeling better each passing day though, he only felt worse, something displaced inside of him that made him feel permanently uncomfortable.
It was 15 days when in a fit of frustration he swiped the collection of newspapers off his table, which was a mistake.
Half of them weren't bound with rubber bands, and the result was a mass of pages scattered across the room all around him, and now there was no escape.
It all blurred into a sick mass of black and white blotches as he panicked, he didn't even want to touch him to pick them up.
Still the pages beckoned him, and the world about him seemed to mute itself as he sunk to his knees in the middle of his living room floor, and hesitantly reached out for the first thing in front of him.
Akihito spent hours and hours reading, from one paper to other, he'd unfurled them all in a giant paper flower with him at the center.
The shadows moved across the floor with the course of the sun, he devoured every last headline.
True, it wasn't what he was expecting, it was much worse if he was honest. With each article he grew more and more furious.
The man on the front page 10 days ago being praised for his charity work had just received an award, and Akihito roared inside because he knew for a fact that man was a dirty piece of shit that dealt in human trafficking. Akihito had been after him for years, and the fucker had taken some spotlight with Asami out of the picture.
Same with the dude on the front page a few days later who'd attended a summit about anti prostitution policies. Akihito knew that guy, he was a sleaze ball that creeped him out more than Sakazaki, a real piece of work that in no way deserved the shining comments about him.
There wasn't one article on Asami, Akihito guessed that Kirishima and Suoh were behind that.
But what it made way for made Akihito feel like throwing up every meal he'd ever eaten.
Bastards, perverts, rapists, murderers and pedophiles, Akihito could pin something ethically wrong on every one of the people in the headlines now. Granted, Asami was some of those things, but he still had standards.
Asami never dealt in the sex trade, ever, andAkihito knew that human trafficking disgusted him, he wasn't a sick creep, yeah, he was a criminal, the biggest one of all – but he had morals that he stuck too.
Really, the people getting attention now were real bottom of the barrel of rotten fish sort of types.
Was this what Tokyo had really come to, without Asami?
No. There must be something validating in this mess.
The more he looked, the more it became clear though, or more like smudged; in Asami's stead; this is what Tokyo had lowered itself to.
His own laugh, which probably sounded insane, echoed through his apartment. Oh, the irony. The irony.
How long had he loathed the fact that the person he cared for was a dirty felon in his mind? He'd lumped him in with all these others, thinking they went in the black pile, and everyone else went in the white pile.
By the time he was at the latest date, he was shaking, and like the rubber band pulled in haste off those fucking lying papers; he snapped as realization overwhelmed him.
He didn't even shut the door behind him as he ran as fast as his legs would carry him.