Title: Amaryllis - Chapter 18 - Crossed the line
Author: Anae
Beta: Tegthe (Thanks a bunch again!)
Fandom: Uragiri wa boku no namae wo shitteiru - Betrayal knows my name
Characters/pairing: Shusei/Hotsuma
Rating: eventual M/NC-17 (because it's gonna take while - boys need to grow up, plus well, manga wasn't too helpful for hot scenes)
Spoilers: overall thorough the manga/anime
Disclaimer: After finishing and re-working with this, I would deserve the boys, but no. Not mine. The song used belongs to Shinedown.
Summary: Both Shusei and Hotsuma struggled with their fates, with themselves ever since they were kids. This is how it happened - how two children grew up to be Zweilts, partners, and eventually, grew to understand and love each other.
A/N: I promise to try keep LJ updated as well - that is, if I have readers here. So please let me know if you're reading this here and now. :)
Ps. Do you know the symbolic meaning of Amaryllis? "Success won after a struggle."
Chapter 18 - Crossed the line
Seems I’ve crossed the line again
For being nothing more than who I am
When Takashiro brought Shusei for the first time to the police station, the faces of the carefully chosen policemen were unhappy - the men pretended not to stare at what the Giou clan leader brought with him - a child. And the important case files, the ones they had collected, would be given to the hands of said child. Needless to say, the men were far from thrilled.
It was also the first thing they were told when the policemen finally left them - the director of the branch, Takashiro and Shusei - alone in a small, plain room.
“Here are the files.” The director, wearing a black suit and tie, hair combed backwards with a huge amount of gel, shoved them roughly to Takashiro. His eyes shifted to Shusei who was standing behind the Giou clan’s leader. “I have to admit, when you mentioned bringing the expert in looking for lost things, I didn’t expect you to bring a child.”
The director’s dislike towards Takashiro was obvious - he worked with Takashiro because it was the only way to get the ‘unknown’ cases solved. He didn’t fully trust the Giou leader, but his eyes spoke of distrust towards Shusei.
“It doesn’t matter as long as you get the results, does it?” Takashiro stated, not backing down a step. He didn’t fancy working with these men either, but it was the easiest way to get information on the Duras’ movements.
The two politically powerful men stared into each other’s eyes for a while. Then the director grunted, looking away from the long-haired man, eyes shifting to Shusei and back to Takashiro before speaking. “Fine.” The word was spat out like a curse - he wasn’t allowed to show his dislike and distrust through words, but he was allowed to work his way around them.
With that, the director left the room, just to go and stand behind the glass window that showed everything to the outside, but nothing to the inside - he could see the Giou, but neither Takashiro nor Shusei could see him.
Without wasting more time, Shusei sat down, taking the papers Takashiro gave him, quickly reading through the main points. If it were another place and time, he would’ve read them through with care - but for now, the most important thing was to prove to the police that Takashiro knew what he was doing. That it was alright to give the files to a kid.
After a brief read, Shusei placed his crystal ball on the small, wooden table in front of him, hands coming above it.
“You can do it”, Takashiro told him, moving a bit further away from the boy to give him space, but not leaving the room. The police had demanded that he would stay with Shusei as the youngster did his job - the police force didn’t trust the Giou clan any more than what was necessary, and definitely didn’t take it well at the fact that Takashiro brought another weirdo along with him.
Shusei let out a breath before setting his eyes upon the crystal ball, calling forth his powers. The transparent crystal ball became light blue - it was like thousands and thousands of small light seeds, much like stars, came alive within the ball. They moved in unexpected patterns, every now and then one dying, but another being born as the cold blue glow filled the room. It was beautiful, but that’s all it was - it didn’t make any sense.
Not to an outsider, that is - but to Shusei, in the midst of the blue light seeds, there were pictures. The pictures weren’t clear images like photographs, they were more like memories, passing moments. But as combined, they would make a clear story - if he could see everything there was to it.
Shusei watched as long as there was something to see, but soon it became no more than regular light seeds with nothing to tell.
The brunette boy pulled backwards, letting his hands come to rest on his legs as the glow disappeared. Carefully he explained to Takashiro what there was to tell - it wasn’t all that much, they had been given a limited amount of information after all, thanks to the distrust of the police, but it was clear that there was a Duras involved.
Takashiro nodded as an answer. “Good work”, he told the boy before leaving the room to tell the results to the police and to get more files, leaving the boy alone in the room.
That was how the day passed by - first reading the files, then looking at the crystal ball. It was tiring, but in the end, they got results. They knew where to look for the Duras. It was everything they needed to know, and the police force could breathe at ease as well. Soon the unsolved case would turn into a solved one, and they wouldn’t need to see the Giou clan for a while again.
While Shusei waited outside as Takashiro gave the full explanations to the director, one of the director’s most trusted subordinates passed by Shusei. Or that was what he was supposed to do, but after passing the boy, he halted his steps, looking at the youth. He eyed the boy from head to toe, as if valuating Shusei’s worth.
“You should know one thing, kid.” He paused, looking at the young boy. “These cases are only given to you because we can’t solve them.” He paused again, icy gaze trying to find Shusei’s. “You’re not our colleagues. You’re monsters that we’re using to catch monsters. You better keep that in mind.”
When Shusei showed no reaction or interest in the police’s words, the man sneered, turned his back to the boy and walked away.
A monster?
That was when Takashiro came out of the room, brushing past Shusei and walking down the narrow corridor. “We’re leaving.”
Shusei didn’t say anything, didn’t even nod as an answer - he didn’t need to, Takashiro knew he would follow anyway. The brunette boy wasn’t too affected by the police man’s words, but it was the first time he’d been called a monster. Hotsuma had been hearing that all his life.
It wasn’t before now that he understood how deep one word could cut.