Fic for ayuzak
Title: The only choice is this
By: zenfu
Pairing: Jin/Kame
Rating: R
Genre/Warnings: AU/alternate reality. Violence, mentions of torture, character death.
Notes: 8.501 words, written for ayuzak. Inspired by this fanvideo, repeated listens of SNSD's "Run Devil Run", and my slight obsession with Prison Break. Uhm. That sounds like it should be a warning in itself.
Summary: Kame gets into more trouble than he can handle. Jin... helps.
The only choice is this
Kame wonders how he ended up here, like this - it seems more like a scene from a particularly fucked up drama than real life.
"I would like to make an exchange. Her, for the money. Quite simple, wouldn't you say, Kamenashi?"
The words send a shiver down Kame's spine, and he nods because there's nothing else he can do. Even if he knows that he doesn't have the money, nor does he have any way of coming up with it. But it's either agreeing to it, or letting Ryoko get hurt, maybe even killed.
"Yeah. Simple," he replies, forcing himself to meet Sanada's eyes.
The older man offers him a cool smile, but Kame has a feeling that Sanada already knows. That he is fully aware that there's no way in hell Kame can come up with that amount of money, especially in a couple of weeks. "I'll be calling you next week. And just to make sure that you understand the seriousness of this..."
Kame blinks and opens his mouth to ask what Sanada means, but he doesn't get more than a couple words out before one of the men holding Ryoko yanks her hand out, draws up a pair of small garden shears from his pocket and cuts her little finger off. Ryoko screams, and even though it's muffled by the gag in her mouth, it seems loud in the nearly empty warehouse building.
Kame feels like he's going to throw up.
"I will speak to you in a week, then," Sanada says pleasantly and gives Kame's shoulder a pat before leaving, his lackeys dragging a nearly unconscious Ryoko with them, not allowing Kame to get anywhere near her.
"I don't know what to do," Kame says, looking down at his shoes as if they're the most interesting thing in the entire world. He doesn't dare to look up at Jin, doesn't know how Jin will take this, doesn't even know why he's telling Jin in the first place. It's been years since they were close enough to confide in each other and tell each other secrets; it's been months since they spent more than the required amount of time together.
But at times like these, Kame discovers that he doesn't have anyone else to turn to. It scares him, but he figures that he should consider himself lucky. One person is better than nobody at all.
"What the hell have you been doing in your spare time?" Jin asks. He sounds baffled, and Kame can't exactly blame him. "This is some heavy shit."
Kame forces a smile, finally glances up at Jin. "Tell me about it. I don't know where to get the money; I don't have access to anything like that and I don't think I can borrow it from anyone either. And imagine the scandal it would be if this got out."
"And I guess you're too much of a white knight to just leave the chick to fend for herself, right?"
"I don't think I can call myself a white knight anymore, but yeah. I can't just abandon Ryoko, not after everything she's done for me," Kame says. "It's my fault that she's in that situation, I have to do something."
Jin sighs. Kame straightens up and leans back in the chair and takes a small sip of the beer Jin gave him when he first walked in the door. It's lukewarm and doesn't taste very good, but Kame hardly cares. It's a beautiful day, he notices, but he isn't able to enjoy it. Hasn't been able to enjoy any beautiful days for longer than he cares to remember, and Kame wonders just how the hell his life ended up like this. Wonders when he got this off track, like a train derailing and never finding its way back to the everyday route again.
He would never have thought that he would long for the boredom of everyday chores and routines, the constant grind of a life he used to both love and hate. What he wouldn't give to go back to spending hours of working followed by hours of partying and never having to worry about anything more complicated than how to stay out of the tabloids.
"This is really fucked up, do you know that?" Jin asks.
Kame rolls his eyes and smacks Jin's shoulder, because being called fucked up isn't all that helpful. "Oh, right, like you've never done stupid things or found yourself in trouble before."
"Well, I've never owed money to the yakuza or dated a girl that turned out to be a prostitute and then got her finger cut off," Jin points out.
"She's not a prostitute," Kame says.
"That's clearly the most important part."
"Listen, are you going to be helpful or are you just going to make fun of me? Because that's not helping."
"Okay, give me a couple of hours," Jin says and gets up so abruptly that the chair clatters to the floor behind him.
Kame blinks and gets up as well, automatically. "For what?"
Jin pushes him back down and offers him a smile that makes it seem like he's not taking any of this seriously at all. "Don't worry, I'll figure this out and clear up your mess. Just like old times, huh?"
Without meaning to, Kame smiles, remembering the old times Jin's talking about, when Kame broke a window and Jin took the blame, or Kame had two girlfriends at the same time and then ran to Jin for help when the girls found out about each other, or when Kame was awake and chatting all night and Jin was the one drowsy and yawning the next day. He remembers moments of doubts and big secrets and not knowing what to do, and he remembers Jin being there when Kame needed him, every single time.
"Yeah, just like old times," Kame whispers, but Jin has already left.
--
"Here's the money you asked for. So now, will you let Ryoko go and leave both of us alone?" Kame hands the envelope of money over to Sanada, watching as the man opens it and then hands it over to one of his men, leaving him to count it.
Sanada smiles in a way that nearly makes Kame shudder. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Kamenashi-san."
"But--"
"You have to understand that this is a grown man's world. It's a world of business, of supply and demand. I have something you want. You have something I want. And if you don't have it, then you can acquire it," Sanada says. Kame wants to punch him, but the gun held to Ryoko's head keeps him from moving. She looks even worse for wear than last time, her long hair matted and filthy, her clothes ripped and torn.
Kame takes a few deep breaths, then meets Sanada's eyes. "What exactly do you want from me?"
"Money, Kamenashi-san. From now on, you owe me this amount every month, to be paid on the fifteenth. Every time you fail to deliver the money, Ryoko will lose a finger or a toe." Sanada's interrupted by Ryoko's whimpers, and this time, Kame really does lunge forwards and punches Sanada.
Only to be yanked off of his feet and thrown out of the warehouse.
It doesn't take long before Kame gets used to looking over his shoulder everywhere he goes. He's pretty sure that he's getting far too paranoid, but he figures that hey, it's not paranoia if there really is someone who's out to get you.
He's on his way home when Jin catches up to him, nudging his side. "You never told me how it went. You know, with the whore and the money."
Kame sighs. "She's not a who-- She's not a prostitute, okay?"
"Uh huh. So where is she? I expected you to whisk her out of there and then stay glued to her side for months afterwards," Jin says.
Kame doesn't have the chance to answer before a man steps in front of them; Kame recognizes him, he's one of Sanada's men. "Time to pay up," he says, and reaches out and grabs a hold of the front of Kame's shirt when Kame steps back.
"I... I don't..." Kame struggles and tries to free himself from the grip, but it's only when Jin hits the guy over the head that Kame's able to get free, and instead of sticking around for explanations, he grabs Jin's hand and runs. They sprint down the road, rounding a few corners and covering as much distance as possible between them and the guy - Kame flees because he's pretty sure the outcome would be bad if he stayed, and he figures Jin runs because it seems like the most logical thing to do.
Eventually, Kame slows down; his heart is beating painfully hard and his legs feel like jelly. "Okay, I think we're safe," he wheezes, stumbling on a few more steps before he stops.
"Who is that guy, anyway? He looks like a cross between an ox and a gay elf." Jin looks over his shoulder and then stops as well, leaning back against the nearest wall, trying to catch his breath.
Kame shakes his head; he's even more out of breath than Jin is. "One of Sanada-san's men. I guess he was sent to collect the debt or something."
"I thought you paid it already. I hope you didn't blow my money on more hookers and booze."
"I did pay it, everything he asked," Kame says. "But he keeps saying that it's not enough, that I have to pay him more, every month. And he won't let Ryoko go, either. I haven't even seen her in weeks. I don't know what--"
Jin scoffs. "I know what's going on. You're an easy target, Kamenashi. You're skinny and you're not good at defending yourself and as far as everyone else is concerned, you're loaded."
"I'm not loaded."
"Yeah, I know that and your friends know that, but the yakuza doesn't know that, especially when you paid what that guy, Sanada-san, asked," Jin says. He takes a couple more deep breaths before he starts walking again, closing his hand around Kame's wrist and dragging him along.
Kame curses and yanks his hand away, but catches up with Jin anyway. "So you're telling me it's my fault because I did what I was told? You were the one who gave me the money in the first place, Akanishi."
"I didn't tell you to take it."
"You're a bastard, do you know that? And I'm not helpless, I can take care of myself," Kame says. He's had more than enough of Jin's attitude, he's dealt with the idiot for far too many years already.
Jin stops and spins around, giving Kame a shove that sends him stumbling into the concrete wall of the building next to him. "Oh yeah? Even I could beat you up, Kamenashi. You'd better learn how to defend yourself a bit better if you're going to go up against someone like Sanada-san," Jin spits, glowering at Kame before he stalks off without looking back.
Kame sighs; a part of him wants to call Jin back, but he doesn't. Instead he stays where he is for a few more minutes before he changes direction and heads for Koki's place.
"Teach me how to defend myself," he says when Koki opens the door, ignoring how surprised he looks.
They start with fights and throwing punches, go on to how to handle a knife or a katana and finish with how to use a gun.
"Do I need to know this?" Kame asks when Koki pulls out a small case carrying two guns, and he's starting to wonder if he really knows any of his friends at all.
Koki shrugs awkwardly and picks up one of the guns, tossing it over to Kame and laughing when Kame yelps and drops it, half expecting it to go off and shoot him through the leg. "Don't worry, it's not loaded. And if you want to defend yourself, I'd say that knowing how to use a gun would come in real handy, don't you?"
Kame nods and picks the gun up again, just staring at it because really, a gun? And actual gun with actual bullets that would actually hurt people if he fired it? Or well, chances are that if he ever fired a gun, he'd only hurt himself or shoot out the tires of a nearby car or something equally moronic. "How do you even know this stuff?" Kame asks, a slight frown on his face, because really? Guns?
Koki pauses and then fidgets. "Uhm. Don't ask," is his only comment, and no matter how much Kame nags him, he won't elaborate.
But he's a pretty good teacher, and he shows Kame how to aim, how to shoot, how to load and reload a gun, how to take care of one, the importance of leaving the safety on and the importance of remembering to turn it off before attempting to shoot something - or someone.
The training comes in handy when Sanada's men come after him the next week. They corner him in his apartment building and Kame kicks one of them in the balls and punches the other in the nose as hard as he can, before he sprints down the hallway to escape.
"Yeah, you need more than your fists to protect yourself," Koki says, and brings Kame with him down narrow, dark alleys to buy a gun.
"This is crazy," Kame comments, but he pays for the gun anyway, and he has to admit that in some kind of insane way, he does feel safer when he carries it with him.
Too bad that owning a gun doesn't mean that Sanada will leave him alone; a message he understands loud and clear when the neighbor’s cat is left lifeless and drained of blood outside his front door.
--
The message becomes even clearer when Sanada's men grab him as he's on his way into his apartment late one night. Before he has a chance to react, there are hands around his arms, lifting him off his feet, and there's a hand over his mouth keeping him from screaming for help. When he tries to fight them, he gets a blow to the back to his head that makes everything go black.
When he comes to, he's in the all too familiar warehouse building, being held up. Kame squirms, struggles to get free, but Sanada's men hold him still, force him to stay in place. He curses and tries to kick them until one of them punches his stomach, making him double over and go almost limp.
"I suggest you stay still and watch what happens when you don't do as you're told, Kamenashi-san," Sanada says, and nods to the men holding Ryoko up.
They don't waste any time; one of them bends Ryoko's arms behind her back until she screams in pain while the other pulls up a knife and cuts her face, destroying the beauty Kame had once found in her. They go slow, making sure he sees everything. They stop when he doubles over and throw up, then keep going once he has caught his breath again.
And Kame watches. He watches as they slice Ryoko up, watches as they cut off her fingers, watches as she cries and screams and begs for mercy, watches as they pull her arms so far they dislocate her shoulders, watches as Ryoko loses consciousness and goes limp. He thinks they'll stop, thinks that it's over, but they pour a bucket of cold water over her head, wake her up again, and keep going.
"Please, stop," Kame whispers. He pleads with them, with Sanada, begs them to stop, promises to do anything and everything he's told as long as they stop, as long as they'll stop hurting Ryoko.
"The only one who can stop her pain is you," Sanada says, and grabs Kame's hand, placing a gun in it and making sure that the only one it's pointing at is Ryoko. "You have a choice, Kamenashi-san. You can do nothing, and we will make sure that Ryoko stays alive so that we can keep doing this to her, day after day after day until you've done everything we've told you to."
Kame clears his throat, has to try three times before he manages to find his voice again. "What's my other option?"
"You can shoot her," Sanada says. "You can kill her, right here and now, and she will not have to suffer anymore, not ever again."
Kame is sure that he's going to throw up again.
He looks at Ryoko, tries to look into her eyes to find out what she wants, because this is a choice he doesn't want to make. It's an impossible choice to make, and he finds himself shaking his head because he can't, he can't shoot her, not after spending several months trying to get Ryoko away from these people.
"Please," Ryoko whispers. Her lips are swollen and red because she's been biting down on them in an effort to stop screaming. There's blood pooling at her feet, her skin is covered in more bruises than Kame can count. "Please..."
"You have ten seconds to decide what to do," Sanada says. "This opportunity will not be offered to you again, Kamenashi-san. So I suggest you make your decision quickly."
Sanada counts down slowly. His voice and Ryoko's pained whimpers are the only thing Kame can hear in the whole room.
"One," Sanada says.
Kame closes his eyes, shudders. And pulls the trigger.
He has nightmares for the next three weeks, and not even spending the night at Jin's place helps.
"But she's gone! You don't have Ryoko anymore, there's no reason for me to do whatever it is that you want from me!" Kame can't remember having felt this angry, this unbelievably pissed off, in years.
And yet, Sanada just smiles. It seems like he smiles no matter what he does; counting money, ordering people's deaths, having a pleasant meal. Doesn't seem to make a difference. "That is where you are wrong, Kamenashi-san. Because of the choice that you made, I own you. For as long as I want, you will do whatever I tell you to."
"Or what?"
"I was hoping you would ask that," Sanada says, and turns around, hitting the Play button on the DVD.
Kame watches in horror as he sees an image of himself, a short video showing him shooting Ryoko and her collapsing. If doesn't show anything else, no context whatsoever, and Kame knows that if this got out, his entire life would be ruined.
Kame doesn't know why he's here.
But then Jin opens the door wearing nothing but a pair of old jeans and a worn t-shirt, and Kame takes one step forwards and falls against him. "Jin," he whispers, and it feels unfamiliar but right to call him that again. "Jin, please."
Jin doesn't ask questions, doesn't demand anything. He just pulls Kame inside and hugs him close, and he doesn't protest when Kame turns his head and seeks out Jin's lips, kissing him almost desperately. It doesn't make any sense, Kame knows that much, and he's pretty sure that Jin knows as well, but it doesn't seem to matter all that much.
Making sense is over-rated, anyway.
"Kame," Jin mutters, and it takes about five seconds before he responds and kisses Kame back, backing up and pulling Kame with him into the bedroom. "You've finally gone crazy, huh? I knew you couldn't keep resisting me forever."
"Shut up," Kame says and kisses Jin again, harder this time. He tugs at Jin's clothes, rasps his nails over Jin's stomach, and finally manages to smile when Jin groans.
It's been years, but it all seems so familiar. Jin's hands grasp Kame's hips, squeezing a little bit too hard, just like he used to do. Kame licks a path along Jin's collarbone and bites his shoulder, grinning over how Jin arches against him in response. "You haven't changed, Jin," he says and grinds down against Jin, only to be flipped around onto his back moments later, Jin pinning his hands above his head.
"Neither have you," Jin retorts. He's grinning, smiling in that kind of carefree way that Kame loves to see, but which he hardly ever gets to see these days. "I wonder if you still taste the same..."
Kame chokes out a laugh as Jin moves downwards, making short process of Kame's clothes in the process.
It's just like old times, and in between moans and rough kisses, Kame wonders why they ever let this go.
Jin takes him out for breakfast the next morning. They're a bit too awkward, Kame notices that, but he's not quite sure how to change it. You'd think that sleeping together would take care of any and all awkwardness, but apparently not. It takes him ten minutes to make eye-contact with Jin, but he's glad to see that Jin's just as nervous and tense as he is. At least they're in the same boat.
"So... What was that about?" Jin finally asks.
Kame merely shrugs in response, because he has no idea how to explain everything that's been going through his head these past few weeks. "I just needed to not think for a while."
"And being with me means you don't have to think?"
"Sort of, I guess. At least I don't have to think about Ryoko, and Sanada-san, and how I wish he was dead. You know Koki helped me buy a gun, right? I've been thinking that it should be easy to bring that with me the next time Sanada-san wants to see me, and I could just..." Kame trails off and shrugs again. He knows that he shouldn't be talking about this, shouldn't even be thinking about it.
Jin gets up from the table and walks out of the cafe; Kame knows him well enough to know that he's way past awkwardness by now."You could just what?"
"Pull the trigger," Kame says quietly. Maybe he shouldn't say it, but the thought has been popping up in his head more and more lately, and really, what other options does he have by now? Sanada owns him in a way that nobody else has, and Kame does not like it.
Not to mention that it wears on his sanity, having to constantly deal with Sanada and his men, having to deal with the memories of Ryoko, having to watch himself kill her over and over, every time he meets with Sanada.
"So you seem to think that trying to kill Sanada is a good idea?" Jin's voice is flat and void of emotion, something which tells Kame that he's annoyed beyond all belief.
"Don't start, Akanishi," Kame says tersely. He really doesn't want to talk about this, not when he has a gun in his bag and he has the memories of last night fresh in his mind.
Jin smirks. "Oh, so we're back to Akanishi again now? That's not what you were screaming last night."
"Don't be such an ass."
"If you'd let me near yours more often, I wouldn't be," Jin says, and by now, he's grinning openly. "Because honestly, that ass of yours is really--"
"Shut it, Akanishi," Kame says, and this time, he's struggling not to laugh.
Jin doesn't try to hold his laughter back, and he grabs Kame and spins him around before kissing his cheek and then running off before Kame can get a hold of him.
Which is probably a good thing, because if Kame could get his hands on Jin right now, he'd strangle him.
--
Kame shows up for their new PV shooting with a series of bruises after Sanada's men rough him up. Jin shakes his head when he sees Kame, but he doesn't comment.
He's the only one - the rest of them ask about what's going on, what has happened, and when Kame refuses to answer, they take turns coming up with theories about what's going on with him.
"My bet is on a crazy girlfriend," Junno says.
"Maybe he's been taking boxing lessons without telling us," Ueda says, tilting his head and looking Kame over again. "Which would be unfair, you know. You'd better take me with you if you're getting into fights."
"I think he just got drunk and fell down the stairs, and he's too embarrassed to admit it," Koki says.
Maru just comes over to Kame and hugs onto him. "You know that you can talk to us if there's anything going on, right? We're your friends, Kame, we'll help if there's something serious going on."
"Thanks," Kame says, and has no idea why he feels like crying.
"You're coming with me," Jin says and takes Kame's hand, pulling him into one of the small bathrooms in the building.
For a second or two, Kame thinks that Jin has some less than innocent things in mind, but then Jin just pulls him close and hugs him so hard that Kame's sure he's going to crack a rib. "This is getting stupid," Jin says. "You're going to get yourself killed, we have to do something to get you away from those people for good. 'Cause I'm not losing you."
Kame shakes his head and wraps his arms around Jin in return, rather tentatively. He's never been used to simply hugging Jin, that has never been a part of their relationship. Talking over beer and take-out to four in the morning, sure. Mindless sex that neither of them mention with a word the next day, sure. But hugs and concern? Not so much.
"I'll be fine," Kame says, but he knows just how hollow it sounds. Because he's not fine and he's not going to be fine, he knows that much.
"You're an idiot," Jin mutters and foregoes the hug for kissing Kame instead, hard and with a hint of something frantic. When his hands find their way underneath Kame's clothes, they're harsh and the touches are too rough, adding more bruises to the ones already marring Kame's skin.
Three weeks go by without anything happening, and Kame starts to think that maybe, maybe it's finally over. Maybe Sanada has realized that there isn't anything else that Kame can give him, that Kame has given everything he's got already.
Kame almost stops looking over his shoulders, stops checking every nearby car for someone with a gun, stops thinking about how to come up with more money, stops worrying about what tomorrow will bring and whether or not he's going to have to hide cuts and scrapes and bruises in the morning.
And then he opens the door to get the mail and finds himself face to face with two of Sanada's men, and Kame realizes that no, it's not over.
It might never be over.
They drag him along to the regular warehouse, and they relay the message from Sanada that he had better come up with some more money soon unless he wants to end up in the hospital. They bend his arms and his fingers until he groans in pain, they punch his stomach and kick his sides when he crashes down to the floor, they yank on his hair and step on his feet.
That is, until a gunshot rings through the empty building and one of the men falls down, landing half on top of Kame, blood pouring from a wound in his stomach. The man doesn't scream; he just whimpers for a few moments before he goes limp, lifeless.
Kame struggles to get up, struggles to figure out what the hell is going on, but there's another gunshot before he gets to his feet, and the second man falls to the floor as well. He screams, holding his leg, and Kame watches as his hands get covered in stark red blood. Then there's a third shot, tearing through the man's neck, and he falls to the floor with a soft thud. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that he's dead, and Kame inhales sharply and scrambles to his feet, looking around and half expecting to hear yet another shot, aimed for him this time.
He doesn't know what to say when he turns around to find Jin standing there, holding a gun in his hands.
Kame deals by calling Jin up late at night when he can't sleep, and he goes over to Jin's apartment even when he's not invited. Jin opens the door and lets Kame in without saying anything, but the way he looks at Kame and the way he tangles his fingers in Kame's hair and pulls him in for a kiss speaks volumes.
More often than not, they end up in bed together, because that seems to be their solution to practically everything.
Though every now and then, they never actually make it to the bed, and Kame wakes up on the floor in the morning, wondering where he is and lifting his head to find Jin looking at him with a strange little smile on his lips.
--
Eventually, Kame cracks. He shows up at one of their practice sessions with another black eye and a cut cheek, and Junno blinks and asks what the hell happened to him. At first, Kame just shakes his head and refuses to answer, but then Ueda asks as well, and then Maru, and Jin nods when Kame looks at him for support, and Kame cracks. He tells them everything; tells them about how he met Ryoko and about the night when Sanada's men grabbed her, tells them about the demands he made and the money Kame paid to free Ryoko again, tells them about the night she dies and about how he was the one to pull the trigger, tells them about how Sanada won't leave him alone and about how his oldest brother was attacked on his way home from work, tells them that he's terrified, that he doesn't know how to get out of this, that he's scared that someone else will get hurt.
And they listen. Kame doesn't look at any of them, but he hears the shocked gasps and the whispers and mutters, he feels it when one of them come to sit beside him and he sees it when Jin reaches out and takes a hold of his hand. He honestly didn't see it coming, but they're here for him when he needs it, and once he's done and looks up to meet their eyes, one by one, they all meet his eyes without flinching.
They're my friends, Kame thinks, and he wonders why it took him this long to figure out that no matter what, they will be friends through anything and everything.
"Don't worry, Kame, it'll be okay. We'll figure out a way to fix all of this, together. I'm glad you told us," Maru says as they're walking out of the building, and he offers Kame a smile.
When it's Maru who says it, Kame somehow finds it a lot easier to believe.
They all see the car screeching to a halt right outside the building, they all hear the shot, they all duck for cover.
It's not until the car has swerved around the nearest corner and disappeared out of sight that Kame turns his head and sees Maru on the ground, a pool of blood forming on the asphalt beside him.
The paramedics get there quickly, but they all know it's too late.
Jin's the one who falls to his knees, but Koki is the one who cries.
Kame lingers behind, sits on his knees and looks at Maru's picture, as if he can will Maru to come back to life if he focuses hard enough.
"This is your fault," Jin says behind him. His voice is barely even audible, and yet it's like an explosion in the quiet, empty room. "If it wasn't for you, he would still... Maru would still be..."
"I know," Kame says. Because what else can he say? He could argue that he didn't do this, that he's done anything to get these people off his back, that he's never dragged Maru into the whole mess, but the fact remains that if it hadn't been for Ryoko, then he wouldn't have owed Sanada the money in the first place. And if he hadn't owed the money, he would never have learned how to use a knife or a gun, he would never have ended up with actual enemies, Ryoko would never have died, he would never have developed a need to protect himself and look over his shoulder every other minute, and his friends would never have been in any kind of danger.
"I'm never forgiving you for this," Jin says. "You... He's dead because of you."
Kame doesn't know what to say, so he doesn't say anything at all, and just bends his head, looking down on his hands. He doesn't know how they can recover from this. He doesn't know if he wants them to recover.
He stays where he is even as the front door slams, only moves when Maru's parents come in later in the evening to collect Maru's portrait. Only then does he get up and walk out, but he doesn't go home. Instead he wanders the Tokyo streets until dawn, spending most of the time thinking about Maru.
It takes nearly two weeks before any of them speak to him again.
Kame doesn't blame them.
--
Somehow, life goes on. Kame doesn't quite know how that works, but it never stops to amaze him. He's lost people before; grand-parents and distant relatives and a friend of a friend, but nothing like this. First Ryoko, then Maru, and one of his brothers end up in the hospital after getting beat up on his way home from work, and Kame realizes that it's not over, his life isn't over, and it's not going to stop.
Sanada won't be satisfied until Kame is dead, he's convinced of it.
So maybe it'll stop if Kame isn't around anymore. He sits with the gun in his hand, thinking it over, when Jin barges into his apartment in a way that makes Kame flinch, throw himself around and point the gun at Jin.
"Whoa," Jin says, freezes. "I'm not armed, chill."
"Sorry," Kame mutters, and turns around again, going back to studying the gun.
Jin hmms and walks around the couch, flopping down next to Kame. Things are far from okay between them, but at least Jin's talking to him again. The two of them have always been good at burying their issues as far down as possible so that they can keep working together and talking to each other. "So why are you sitting here with a gun in your hands? I'm sure there's a dirty joke in there somewhere, but I'm a bit too tired to try to find it."
Kame smiles faintly. "I was thinking of killing myself," he states in a very matter-of-fact kind of way, because he figures that maybe Jin would be happy.
He's not right.
Jin sputters and spends the next ten minutes just yelling at him for even considering the idea, because how would that help anything and how fucking stupid is he, anyway? Once he runs out of breath and creative curses, he falls down onto his knees in front of Kame and pulls the gun away from him, placing it on the living room table. "It'll just be harder for the rest of us if you're gone too, don't you see that?"
Truth be told, Kame doesn't know how to react. "I thought you said you'd never forgive me for what happened."
"And I haven't forgiven you. That doesn't mean I want you dead," Jin says and reaches up, smacking Kame's forehead.
Kame chooses to take it as a good sign.
He takes it as a better sign when Jin comes over again, two nights later, slightly drunk and very talkative, and he pushes Kame against the wall and kisses him in one breath and curses him the next.
"You are not making it easy for yourself, are you, Kamenashi-san?" Sanada asks, circling around Kame once, twice, three times. He looks a bit paler than usual, a bit less controlled, and something about that fact makes Kame smirk and lash out, even if he knows that's not exactly the smartest idea in the world.
"Why would I make it easy for anyone, after everything you've done to me?"
Sanada shakes his head and gives two of his lackeys a sign, and Kame winces as they grab his arms, twisting them around onto his back - it gives him a sickening flashback of the night Ryoko died, but he tries to keep looking into Sanada's eyes to prove that he's not scared. Even if he's terrified. Sanada pulls up a series of pictures from his briefcase and shows them to Kame. First his family, then his friends, then his friends' families. "I believe this is most of the people in your life, Kamenashi-san. Right now, they are alive and well. Most of them, anyway. Such a shame about this friend of yours. Nakamaru, wasn't it?"
"Son of a bitch, you don't get to mention Maru's name," Kame hisses and he writhes in the harsh grip, wanting nothing more to get free in order to strangle the life out of Sanada with his own two hands.
He's not all that surprised to hear Sanada laugh at him - Kame would probably have done the same thing, if the roles were reversed. And if he was crazy, of course. "I think you will find that I can do whatever I want, Kamenashi-san. You took two good men from me. I will stop at no length to make you pay for what you did."
"Then kill me," Kame says. He might not be as suicidal anymore, but he'd rather sacrifice his own life than watch his family, friends, loved ones get hurt and killed all around him.
Sanada walks over to him and lights up a cigarette, blowing the smoke into Kame's face before pressing the glowing end into Kame's forearm. "No," Sanada says, repeating the action three more times until Kame's legs give out underneath him from the pain. "You do not get to die. I'm going to make you pay, you just wait for it. It might happen tomorrow or it might happen two years from now. But then, I'm going to capture you like I did with that little whore of yours, and I am going to make you suffer. That bastard friend of yours as well. Akanishi, right? You might wake up one of these days to find him at your door. In pieces."
Kame groans and falls to his knees, cradling his arm, when Sanada's men let go of him. He doesn't know how long he stays like that, but eventually he gets to his feet, starting on his way back home again. He only makes it about three blocks before he collapses.
It's Jin who comes to his rescue, nearly three hours later and after it's been raining for two.
"What the hell, Kame, why didn't you call me sooner?" Jin bends down and winds an arm around Kame, lifting him back onto his feet and half supporting him, half carrying him back to Jin's car.
Kame smiles bleakly. "Didn't want to worry you?"
"Yeah, good job with that. Koki and I went all over trying to find you. We were starting to think you were dead." Jin hands Kame his jacket before climbing into the driver's seat, heading back towards his own apartment instead of Kame's.
Sniffling and shivering from the cold, kame draws Jin's jacket around him and curls up, trying to not look as miserable as he feels. He's pretty sure he's failing. "Don't worry, it takes a whole lot more to kill me. Besides, Sanada doesn't want me dead just yet. Apparently it's you he wants to kill. He just wants to torture me."
"Kame, shut up," Jin says, then shuts up himself for the rest of the ride.
And Kame shuts up as well - it's easier that way. He manages to walk up to Jin's apartment without support, but crashes down onto Jin's couch within seconds. He's barely even aware of it when Jin pulls back the sleeve of Kame's shirt and cleans and bandages the burns on his arm.
By now, Jin has become pretty good at patching Kame up, dealing with his wounds and injuries without saying much about it.
Kame sits up eventually, scooting over so that he can lean against Jin, smiling when Jin wraps an arm around him and pulls him even closer. "This can't go on, Kame," he says, and turns his head to kiss Kame's temple.
"I know," Kame replies, but he doesn't know what they're supposed to do, how he's supposed to get out of this mess.
Jin shifts to lie down and pulls Kame with him, wrapping both arms around him to keep him close. "You know, we're in this together."
Kame shakes his head, wanting to protest because he doesn't know if he can bear the thought that he has ruined even more lives. "But this is my problem, it's not--"
"I killed two people, Kame," Jin says, and even if his voice doesn't waver, his hold tightens slightly. "I killed them. Me. Not you. As far as I know, you only killed one person."
"Maru's dead because of me."
"You didn't kill him," Jin says. "I know I said it was your fault, and I guess that in some ways, it is, but you didn't kill him. Sanada-san's men did. You killed Ryoko, because she begged you to. Because it was the only choice you had."
Kame stirs, shifting both to get closer and to get more comfortable. "And you killed those two guys because you thought they were killing me. I don't think either of us are evil because of the things we've done."
"Neither do I. But I think you're stupid for thinking that you're alone in this. I'm just as much a part of it as you are. Sanada-san wants me dead. I think that means I'm involved."
Even if he doesn't want to admit it, Kame sighs and nods, because he knows that Jin's right. Whether he likes it or not, Jin is a part of this now. "I'm sorry, Jin," Kame says, because he doesn't know what else to say. He doesn't think there is anything else he can say.
Jin laughs quietly and pulls Kame up, kissing him. "Don't worry," he says. "Don't worry, we'll figure it all out. Together. Deal?"
"Deal," Kame replies, and he smiles in spite of himself, in spite of the situation, in spite of the fact that they're backed up in a corner with no way out.
Because even if all else goes wrong, at least they will have each other.
--
"You have to get out of here," Junno says. "Since nobody else wants to say it, I'm going to. It's just not safe for either of you in Japan anymore, and you should get a plane or a boat and just run." The rest of them look at him like he's insane, even if they all know he's right. Junno looks back at them and waits, waits until first Ueda, then Kame, then Koki and finally Jin nod. "You should all know by now that I'm always right," Junno says with a pleasant smile before pulling an envelope up from his backpack, throwing it to Kame.
Kame frowns and takes a look, his eyes widening when he sees that it's filled with money, American dollar. "What," he says, because he can't begin to figure out what Junno is thinking.
"You'll need something to get you started," Junno says, and looks immensely proud of himself.
"I'd hit you, but I'm too impressed," Jin says and snatches the envelope away from Kame, flipping through the wad of cash. "How the hell did you get all this, anyway? Wait, do I want to know?"
"Probably not," Ueda comments.
Junno just beams at them. "I have contacts. I can get you plane tickets and fake passports too, if you think you need it."
Kame wonders if he suddenly wandered into an alternate reality where Junno is the king of the universe, before he remembers that Junno has always been like this - coming from the middle of nowhere and surprising the hell out of all of them by doing something completely crazy that nobody else would be able to pull off. "...you're kind of amazing."
"I know," Junno says, and ducks when they all throw pillows at him.
"But what are we supposed to say to people? You can't just disappear," Koki says. He looks the most upset at the thought of both Jin and Kame vanishing from his life; Junno's clearly okay with it and Ueda seems to have weighed the pros and cons in his mind in the span of three minutes and come to the conclusion that this is the best solution.
Kame feels like agreeing with Koki, and he scoots over. He doesn't want to abandon his entire life, not even if it means being alone with Jin and living the kind of life that neither of them have thought about for years. He still has ties to Tokyo, to Japan. "Yeah, are you sure we can't just stay here and be careful?"
Jin shakes his head, looks strangely calm and composed. "They're going to kill us, Kame, there's no escaping that if we stay here. How long do you think we can keep up doing public appearances and hiding from Sanada-san and his men at the same time, huh?"
"But--"
"And we're putting our families and our friends in danger. Maru's dead, your brothers were attacked, my mother got threatening letters in the mail, Pi was stalked and nearly hit by a car."
"The windows of my apartment were broken," Ueda adds. "Nobody was hurt, but it was freaky."
Koki nods. "Someone beat up a couple of my friends. I didn't connect the dots at the time, but... I think it was them. Would make sense."
"See what I mean?" Jin asks. He makes his way around the table and sits down next to Kame, puts an arm around his shoulders. "We have no choice. This isn't just about us. If it was, we could stay and fight. But right now? It's better if we disappear. And hey, good reason to take that epic road trip we talked about when we were teenagers, remember?"
Kame fights it for a while, but then he starts laughing and winds an arm around Jin in return. "You're the only one who could manage to see this as something positive."
Except he's not the only one who sees the positive in it. Junno helps them out and plans travel routes, Ueda pesters them about places they should visit and things they should do, Koki tells them that they had better buy him some presents. Pi promises that he'll come visit once they're settled somewhere safe, Ryo points out that there are good things about not having to wake up at the crack of dawn and do things they have no interest in doing all day. Jin shows up with red eyes after he talks to his mother, but he's smiling as well and tells Kame that he has the best mother in the entire world, because she understands.
Kame decides to not tell his own family, not until it's over. He'll send them a letter and explain everything instead. Jin calls him a coward and then clings to him all night and kisses his lips sore.
They spend the nights in run-down motels and love hotels in order to stay off the radar, they don't show up for appointments and they work less than they should. They nearly run into Sanada's men at a daily basis, but they've gotten used to living on their toes, they've gotten used to ducking and running for cover, fighting back, doing everything they need to stay alive. Kame wonders how things ended up this way, but he opts for not thinking about it, and he visits Maru's grave and talks about old memories and broken dreams, says goodbye because he knows he's not coming back.
They get ready to leave their lives behind for something new, something uncertain. Not because they want to, but because they have run out of options. They have no more choices, no more chances at a normal life.
And as the days go on, Kame finds himself strangely okay with the idea.
"So, road trip?" Kame asks over the phone, waiting for Jin. Since they are going no matter what, he might as well try to think of this as a good thing. They have money and fake passports, they have a bag each filled with clothing and ammunition, Kame has a gun fastened in his belt and Jin doesn't go anywhere without his knife. They have cell phones with the numbers of their friends and family, they have an unspoken promise that they'll see Junno, Koki and Ueda again, they have each other. As far as Kame is concerned, things could be worse.
Jin laughs, sounds ridiculously happy considering their situation. "Gimme a minute, I just need to get us something to actually drive on said road trip. Wait for me there, okay?"
"I thought it was supposed to be a white horse," Kame comments when he sees the bike. It's nice, sure, but it's far from a white horse.
Jin just snorts. "This is Tokyo, not the Wild West or a fairytale. Get on. We can still ride away into the sunset."
"How romantic."
"Yeah, well, it's the best I can do."
Kame grins and takes the helmet Jin hands him before climbing on behind him. He only hesitates for a fraction of a second before wrapping his arms around Jin's waist; it's been years since he's been on a motorcycle, and while he has no idea where they're going or what will happen on the way, at least he has someone to hold on to.
"Hold on tight," Jin says, leaning back against Kame for a couple of moments, then he revs the engine and takes off down the road, speeding up as if he can't get away from Tokyo fast enough.
Kame tightens his hold and leans his head against Jin's shoulder. "I'm not letting go," he says, and doesn't care that Jin can't hear him.
It doesn't matter; he already knows that Jin knows.
~fin~
By: zenfu
Pairing: Jin/Kame
Rating: R
Genre/Warnings: AU/alternate reality. Violence, mentions of torture, character death.
Notes: 8.501 words, written for ayuzak. Inspired by this fanvideo, repeated listens of SNSD's "Run Devil Run", and my slight obsession with Prison Break. Uhm. That sounds like it should be a warning in itself.
Summary: Kame gets into more trouble than he can handle. Jin... helps.
The only choice is this
Kame wonders how he ended up here, like this - it seems more like a scene from a particularly fucked up drama than real life.
"I would like to make an exchange. Her, for the money. Quite simple, wouldn't you say, Kamenashi?"
The words send a shiver down Kame's spine, and he nods because there's nothing else he can do. Even if he knows that he doesn't have the money, nor does he have any way of coming up with it. But it's either agreeing to it, or letting Ryoko get hurt, maybe even killed.
"Yeah. Simple," he replies, forcing himself to meet Sanada's eyes.
The older man offers him a cool smile, but Kame has a feeling that Sanada already knows. That he is fully aware that there's no way in hell Kame can come up with that amount of money, especially in a couple of weeks. "I'll be calling you next week. And just to make sure that you understand the seriousness of this..."
Kame blinks and opens his mouth to ask what Sanada means, but he doesn't get more than a couple words out before one of the men holding Ryoko yanks her hand out, draws up a pair of small garden shears from his pocket and cuts her little finger off. Ryoko screams, and even though it's muffled by the gag in her mouth, it seems loud in the nearly empty warehouse building.
Kame feels like he's going to throw up.
"I will speak to you in a week, then," Sanada says pleasantly and gives Kame's shoulder a pat before leaving, his lackeys dragging a nearly unconscious Ryoko with them, not allowing Kame to get anywhere near her.
"I don't know what to do," Kame says, looking down at his shoes as if they're the most interesting thing in the entire world. He doesn't dare to look up at Jin, doesn't know how Jin will take this, doesn't even know why he's telling Jin in the first place. It's been years since they were close enough to confide in each other and tell each other secrets; it's been months since they spent more than the required amount of time together.
But at times like these, Kame discovers that he doesn't have anyone else to turn to. It scares him, but he figures that he should consider himself lucky. One person is better than nobody at all.
"What the hell have you been doing in your spare time?" Jin asks. He sounds baffled, and Kame can't exactly blame him. "This is some heavy shit."
Kame forces a smile, finally glances up at Jin. "Tell me about it. I don't know where to get the money; I don't have access to anything like that and I don't think I can borrow it from anyone either. And imagine the scandal it would be if this got out."
"And I guess you're too much of a white knight to just leave the chick to fend for herself, right?"
"I don't think I can call myself a white knight anymore, but yeah. I can't just abandon Ryoko, not after everything she's done for me," Kame says. "It's my fault that she's in that situation, I have to do something."
Jin sighs. Kame straightens up and leans back in the chair and takes a small sip of the beer Jin gave him when he first walked in the door. It's lukewarm and doesn't taste very good, but Kame hardly cares. It's a beautiful day, he notices, but he isn't able to enjoy it. Hasn't been able to enjoy any beautiful days for longer than he cares to remember, and Kame wonders just how the hell his life ended up like this. Wonders when he got this off track, like a train derailing and never finding its way back to the everyday route again.
He would never have thought that he would long for the boredom of everyday chores and routines, the constant grind of a life he used to both love and hate. What he wouldn't give to go back to spending hours of working followed by hours of partying and never having to worry about anything more complicated than how to stay out of the tabloids.
"This is really fucked up, do you know that?" Jin asks.
Kame rolls his eyes and smacks Jin's shoulder, because being called fucked up isn't all that helpful. "Oh, right, like you've never done stupid things or found yourself in trouble before."
"Well, I've never owed money to the yakuza or dated a girl that turned out to be a prostitute and then got her finger cut off," Jin points out.
"She's not a prostitute," Kame says.
"That's clearly the most important part."
"Listen, are you going to be helpful or are you just going to make fun of me? Because that's not helping."
"Okay, give me a couple of hours," Jin says and gets up so abruptly that the chair clatters to the floor behind him.
Kame blinks and gets up as well, automatically. "For what?"
Jin pushes him back down and offers him a smile that makes it seem like he's not taking any of this seriously at all. "Don't worry, I'll figure this out and clear up your mess. Just like old times, huh?"
Without meaning to, Kame smiles, remembering the old times Jin's talking about, when Kame broke a window and Jin took the blame, or Kame had two girlfriends at the same time and then ran to Jin for help when the girls found out about each other, or when Kame was awake and chatting all night and Jin was the one drowsy and yawning the next day. He remembers moments of doubts and big secrets and not knowing what to do, and he remembers Jin being there when Kame needed him, every single time.
"Yeah, just like old times," Kame whispers, but Jin has already left.
--
"Here's the money you asked for. So now, will you let Ryoko go and leave both of us alone?" Kame hands the envelope of money over to Sanada, watching as the man opens it and then hands it over to one of his men, leaving him to count it.
Sanada smiles in a way that nearly makes Kame shudder. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Kamenashi-san."
"But--"
"You have to understand that this is a grown man's world. It's a world of business, of supply and demand. I have something you want. You have something I want. And if you don't have it, then you can acquire it," Sanada says. Kame wants to punch him, but the gun held to Ryoko's head keeps him from moving. She looks even worse for wear than last time, her long hair matted and filthy, her clothes ripped and torn.
Kame takes a few deep breaths, then meets Sanada's eyes. "What exactly do you want from me?"
"Money, Kamenashi-san. From now on, you owe me this amount every month, to be paid on the fifteenth. Every time you fail to deliver the money, Ryoko will lose a finger or a toe." Sanada's interrupted by Ryoko's whimpers, and this time, Kame really does lunge forwards and punches Sanada.
Only to be yanked off of his feet and thrown out of the warehouse.
It doesn't take long before Kame gets used to looking over his shoulder everywhere he goes. He's pretty sure that he's getting far too paranoid, but he figures that hey, it's not paranoia if there really is someone who's out to get you.
He's on his way home when Jin catches up to him, nudging his side. "You never told me how it went. You know, with the whore and the money."
Kame sighs. "She's not a who-- She's not a prostitute, okay?"
"Uh huh. So where is she? I expected you to whisk her out of there and then stay glued to her side for months afterwards," Jin says.
Kame doesn't have the chance to answer before a man steps in front of them; Kame recognizes him, he's one of Sanada's men. "Time to pay up," he says, and reaches out and grabs a hold of the front of Kame's shirt when Kame steps back.
"I... I don't..." Kame struggles and tries to free himself from the grip, but it's only when Jin hits the guy over the head that Kame's able to get free, and instead of sticking around for explanations, he grabs Jin's hand and runs. They sprint down the road, rounding a few corners and covering as much distance as possible between them and the guy - Kame flees because he's pretty sure the outcome would be bad if he stayed, and he figures Jin runs because it seems like the most logical thing to do.
Eventually, Kame slows down; his heart is beating painfully hard and his legs feel like jelly. "Okay, I think we're safe," he wheezes, stumbling on a few more steps before he stops.
"Who is that guy, anyway? He looks like a cross between an ox and a gay elf." Jin looks over his shoulder and then stops as well, leaning back against the nearest wall, trying to catch his breath.
Kame shakes his head; he's even more out of breath than Jin is. "One of Sanada-san's men. I guess he was sent to collect the debt or something."
"I thought you paid it already. I hope you didn't blow my money on more hookers and booze."
"I did pay it, everything he asked," Kame says. "But he keeps saying that it's not enough, that I have to pay him more, every month. And he won't let Ryoko go, either. I haven't even seen her in weeks. I don't know what--"
Jin scoffs. "I know what's going on. You're an easy target, Kamenashi. You're skinny and you're not good at defending yourself and as far as everyone else is concerned, you're loaded."
"I'm not loaded."
"Yeah, I know that and your friends know that, but the yakuza doesn't know that, especially when you paid what that guy, Sanada-san, asked," Jin says. He takes a couple more deep breaths before he starts walking again, closing his hand around Kame's wrist and dragging him along.
Kame curses and yanks his hand away, but catches up with Jin anyway. "So you're telling me it's my fault because I did what I was told? You were the one who gave me the money in the first place, Akanishi."
"I didn't tell you to take it."
"You're a bastard, do you know that? And I'm not helpless, I can take care of myself," Kame says. He's had more than enough of Jin's attitude, he's dealt with the idiot for far too many years already.
Jin stops and spins around, giving Kame a shove that sends him stumbling into the concrete wall of the building next to him. "Oh yeah? Even I could beat you up, Kamenashi. You'd better learn how to defend yourself a bit better if you're going to go up against someone like Sanada-san," Jin spits, glowering at Kame before he stalks off without looking back.
Kame sighs; a part of him wants to call Jin back, but he doesn't. Instead he stays where he is for a few more minutes before he changes direction and heads for Koki's place.
"Teach me how to defend myself," he says when Koki opens the door, ignoring how surprised he looks.
They start with fights and throwing punches, go on to how to handle a knife or a katana and finish with how to use a gun.
"Do I need to know this?" Kame asks when Koki pulls out a small case carrying two guns, and he's starting to wonder if he really knows any of his friends at all.
Koki shrugs awkwardly and picks up one of the guns, tossing it over to Kame and laughing when Kame yelps and drops it, half expecting it to go off and shoot him through the leg. "Don't worry, it's not loaded. And if you want to defend yourself, I'd say that knowing how to use a gun would come in real handy, don't you?"
Kame nods and picks the gun up again, just staring at it because really, a gun? And actual gun with actual bullets that would actually hurt people if he fired it? Or well, chances are that if he ever fired a gun, he'd only hurt himself or shoot out the tires of a nearby car or something equally moronic. "How do you even know this stuff?" Kame asks, a slight frown on his face, because really? Guns?
Koki pauses and then fidgets. "Uhm. Don't ask," is his only comment, and no matter how much Kame nags him, he won't elaborate.
But he's a pretty good teacher, and he shows Kame how to aim, how to shoot, how to load and reload a gun, how to take care of one, the importance of leaving the safety on and the importance of remembering to turn it off before attempting to shoot something - or someone.
The training comes in handy when Sanada's men come after him the next week. They corner him in his apartment building and Kame kicks one of them in the balls and punches the other in the nose as hard as he can, before he sprints down the hallway to escape.
"Yeah, you need more than your fists to protect yourself," Koki says, and brings Kame with him down narrow, dark alleys to buy a gun.
"This is crazy," Kame comments, but he pays for the gun anyway, and he has to admit that in some kind of insane way, he does feel safer when he carries it with him.
Too bad that owning a gun doesn't mean that Sanada will leave him alone; a message he understands loud and clear when the neighbor’s cat is left lifeless and drained of blood outside his front door.
--
The message becomes even clearer when Sanada's men grab him as he's on his way into his apartment late one night. Before he has a chance to react, there are hands around his arms, lifting him off his feet, and there's a hand over his mouth keeping him from screaming for help. When he tries to fight them, he gets a blow to the back to his head that makes everything go black.
When he comes to, he's in the all too familiar warehouse building, being held up. Kame squirms, struggles to get free, but Sanada's men hold him still, force him to stay in place. He curses and tries to kick them until one of them punches his stomach, making him double over and go almost limp.
"I suggest you stay still and watch what happens when you don't do as you're told, Kamenashi-san," Sanada says, and nods to the men holding Ryoko up.
They don't waste any time; one of them bends Ryoko's arms behind her back until she screams in pain while the other pulls up a knife and cuts her face, destroying the beauty Kame had once found in her. They go slow, making sure he sees everything. They stop when he doubles over and throw up, then keep going once he has caught his breath again.
And Kame watches. He watches as they slice Ryoko up, watches as they cut off her fingers, watches as she cries and screams and begs for mercy, watches as they pull her arms so far they dislocate her shoulders, watches as Ryoko loses consciousness and goes limp. He thinks they'll stop, thinks that it's over, but they pour a bucket of cold water over her head, wake her up again, and keep going.
"Please, stop," Kame whispers. He pleads with them, with Sanada, begs them to stop, promises to do anything and everything he's told as long as they stop, as long as they'll stop hurting Ryoko.
"The only one who can stop her pain is you," Sanada says, and grabs Kame's hand, placing a gun in it and making sure that the only one it's pointing at is Ryoko. "You have a choice, Kamenashi-san. You can do nothing, and we will make sure that Ryoko stays alive so that we can keep doing this to her, day after day after day until you've done everything we've told you to."
Kame clears his throat, has to try three times before he manages to find his voice again. "What's my other option?"
"You can shoot her," Sanada says. "You can kill her, right here and now, and she will not have to suffer anymore, not ever again."
Kame is sure that he's going to throw up again.
He looks at Ryoko, tries to look into her eyes to find out what she wants, because this is a choice he doesn't want to make. It's an impossible choice to make, and he finds himself shaking his head because he can't, he can't shoot her, not after spending several months trying to get Ryoko away from these people.
"Please," Ryoko whispers. Her lips are swollen and red because she's been biting down on them in an effort to stop screaming. There's blood pooling at her feet, her skin is covered in more bruises than Kame can count. "Please..."
"You have ten seconds to decide what to do," Sanada says. "This opportunity will not be offered to you again, Kamenashi-san. So I suggest you make your decision quickly."
Sanada counts down slowly. His voice and Ryoko's pained whimpers are the only thing Kame can hear in the whole room.
"One," Sanada says.
Kame closes his eyes, shudders. And pulls the trigger.
He has nightmares for the next three weeks, and not even spending the night at Jin's place helps.
"But she's gone! You don't have Ryoko anymore, there's no reason for me to do whatever it is that you want from me!" Kame can't remember having felt this angry, this unbelievably pissed off, in years.
And yet, Sanada just smiles. It seems like he smiles no matter what he does; counting money, ordering people's deaths, having a pleasant meal. Doesn't seem to make a difference. "That is where you are wrong, Kamenashi-san. Because of the choice that you made, I own you. For as long as I want, you will do whatever I tell you to."
"Or what?"
"I was hoping you would ask that," Sanada says, and turns around, hitting the Play button on the DVD.
Kame watches in horror as he sees an image of himself, a short video showing him shooting Ryoko and her collapsing. If doesn't show anything else, no context whatsoever, and Kame knows that if this got out, his entire life would be ruined.
Kame doesn't know why he's here.
But then Jin opens the door wearing nothing but a pair of old jeans and a worn t-shirt, and Kame takes one step forwards and falls against him. "Jin," he whispers, and it feels unfamiliar but right to call him that again. "Jin, please."
Jin doesn't ask questions, doesn't demand anything. He just pulls Kame inside and hugs him close, and he doesn't protest when Kame turns his head and seeks out Jin's lips, kissing him almost desperately. It doesn't make any sense, Kame knows that much, and he's pretty sure that Jin knows as well, but it doesn't seem to matter all that much.
Making sense is over-rated, anyway.
"Kame," Jin mutters, and it takes about five seconds before he responds and kisses Kame back, backing up and pulling Kame with him into the bedroom. "You've finally gone crazy, huh? I knew you couldn't keep resisting me forever."
"Shut up," Kame says and kisses Jin again, harder this time. He tugs at Jin's clothes, rasps his nails over Jin's stomach, and finally manages to smile when Jin groans.
It's been years, but it all seems so familiar. Jin's hands grasp Kame's hips, squeezing a little bit too hard, just like he used to do. Kame licks a path along Jin's collarbone and bites his shoulder, grinning over how Jin arches against him in response. "You haven't changed, Jin," he says and grinds down against Jin, only to be flipped around onto his back moments later, Jin pinning his hands above his head.
"Neither have you," Jin retorts. He's grinning, smiling in that kind of carefree way that Kame loves to see, but which he hardly ever gets to see these days. "I wonder if you still taste the same..."
Kame chokes out a laugh as Jin moves downwards, making short process of Kame's clothes in the process.
It's just like old times, and in between moans and rough kisses, Kame wonders why they ever let this go.
Jin takes him out for breakfast the next morning. They're a bit too awkward, Kame notices that, but he's not quite sure how to change it. You'd think that sleeping together would take care of any and all awkwardness, but apparently not. It takes him ten minutes to make eye-contact with Jin, but he's glad to see that Jin's just as nervous and tense as he is. At least they're in the same boat.
"So... What was that about?" Jin finally asks.
Kame merely shrugs in response, because he has no idea how to explain everything that's been going through his head these past few weeks. "I just needed to not think for a while."
"And being with me means you don't have to think?"
"Sort of, I guess. At least I don't have to think about Ryoko, and Sanada-san, and how I wish he was dead. You know Koki helped me buy a gun, right? I've been thinking that it should be easy to bring that with me the next time Sanada-san wants to see me, and I could just..." Kame trails off and shrugs again. He knows that he shouldn't be talking about this, shouldn't even be thinking about it.
Jin gets up from the table and walks out of the cafe; Kame knows him well enough to know that he's way past awkwardness by now."You could just what?"
"Pull the trigger," Kame says quietly. Maybe he shouldn't say it, but the thought has been popping up in his head more and more lately, and really, what other options does he have by now? Sanada owns him in a way that nobody else has, and Kame does not like it.
Not to mention that it wears on his sanity, having to constantly deal with Sanada and his men, having to deal with the memories of Ryoko, having to watch himself kill her over and over, every time he meets with Sanada.
"So you seem to think that trying to kill Sanada is a good idea?" Jin's voice is flat and void of emotion, something which tells Kame that he's annoyed beyond all belief.
"Don't start, Akanishi," Kame says tersely. He really doesn't want to talk about this, not when he has a gun in his bag and he has the memories of last night fresh in his mind.
Jin smirks. "Oh, so we're back to Akanishi again now? That's not what you were screaming last night."
"Don't be such an ass."
"If you'd let me near yours more often, I wouldn't be," Jin says, and by now, he's grinning openly. "Because honestly, that ass of yours is really--"
"Shut it, Akanishi," Kame says, and this time, he's struggling not to laugh.
Jin doesn't try to hold his laughter back, and he grabs Kame and spins him around before kissing his cheek and then running off before Kame can get a hold of him.
Which is probably a good thing, because if Kame could get his hands on Jin right now, he'd strangle him.
--
Kame shows up for their new PV shooting with a series of bruises after Sanada's men rough him up. Jin shakes his head when he sees Kame, but he doesn't comment.
He's the only one - the rest of them ask about what's going on, what has happened, and when Kame refuses to answer, they take turns coming up with theories about what's going on with him.
"My bet is on a crazy girlfriend," Junno says.
"Maybe he's been taking boxing lessons without telling us," Ueda says, tilting his head and looking Kame over again. "Which would be unfair, you know. You'd better take me with you if you're getting into fights."
"I think he just got drunk and fell down the stairs, and he's too embarrassed to admit it," Koki says.
Maru just comes over to Kame and hugs onto him. "You know that you can talk to us if there's anything going on, right? We're your friends, Kame, we'll help if there's something serious going on."
"Thanks," Kame says, and has no idea why he feels like crying.
"You're coming with me," Jin says and takes Kame's hand, pulling him into one of the small bathrooms in the building.
For a second or two, Kame thinks that Jin has some less than innocent things in mind, but then Jin just pulls him close and hugs him so hard that Kame's sure he's going to crack a rib. "This is getting stupid," Jin says. "You're going to get yourself killed, we have to do something to get you away from those people for good. 'Cause I'm not losing you."
Kame shakes his head and wraps his arms around Jin in return, rather tentatively. He's never been used to simply hugging Jin, that has never been a part of their relationship. Talking over beer and take-out to four in the morning, sure. Mindless sex that neither of them mention with a word the next day, sure. But hugs and concern? Not so much.
"I'll be fine," Kame says, but he knows just how hollow it sounds. Because he's not fine and he's not going to be fine, he knows that much.
"You're an idiot," Jin mutters and foregoes the hug for kissing Kame instead, hard and with a hint of something frantic. When his hands find their way underneath Kame's clothes, they're harsh and the touches are too rough, adding more bruises to the ones already marring Kame's skin.
Three weeks go by without anything happening, and Kame starts to think that maybe, maybe it's finally over. Maybe Sanada has realized that there isn't anything else that Kame can give him, that Kame has given everything he's got already.
Kame almost stops looking over his shoulders, stops checking every nearby car for someone with a gun, stops thinking about how to come up with more money, stops worrying about what tomorrow will bring and whether or not he's going to have to hide cuts and scrapes and bruises in the morning.
And then he opens the door to get the mail and finds himself face to face with two of Sanada's men, and Kame realizes that no, it's not over.
It might never be over.
They drag him along to the regular warehouse, and they relay the message from Sanada that he had better come up with some more money soon unless he wants to end up in the hospital. They bend his arms and his fingers until he groans in pain, they punch his stomach and kick his sides when he crashes down to the floor, they yank on his hair and step on his feet.
That is, until a gunshot rings through the empty building and one of the men falls down, landing half on top of Kame, blood pouring from a wound in his stomach. The man doesn't scream; he just whimpers for a few moments before he goes limp, lifeless.
Kame struggles to get up, struggles to figure out what the hell is going on, but there's another gunshot before he gets to his feet, and the second man falls to the floor as well. He screams, holding his leg, and Kame watches as his hands get covered in stark red blood. Then there's a third shot, tearing through the man's neck, and he falls to the floor with a soft thud. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that he's dead, and Kame inhales sharply and scrambles to his feet, looking around and half expecting to hear yet another shot, aimed for him this time.
He doesn't know what to say when he turns around to find Jin standing there, holding a gun in his hands.
Kame deals by calling Jin up late at night when he can't sleep, and he goes over to Jin's apartment even when he's not invited. Jin opens the door and lets Kame in without saying anything, but the way he looks at Kame and the way he tangles his fingers in Kame's hair and pulls him in for a kiss speaks volumes.
More often than not, they end up in bed together, because that seems to be their solution to practically everything.
Though every now and then, they never actually make it to the bed, and Kame wakes up on the floor in the morning, wondering where he is and lifting his head to find Jin looking at him with a strange little smile on his lips.
--
Eventually, Kame cracks. He shows up at one of their practice sessions with another black eye and a cut cheek, and Junno blinks and asks what the hell happened to him. At first, Kame just shakes his head and refuses to answer, but then Ueda asks as well, and then Maru, and Jin nods when Kame looks at him for support, and Kame cracks. He tells them everything; tells them about how he met Ryoko and about the night when Sanada's men grabbed her, tells them about the demands he made and the money Kame paid to free Ryoko again, tells them about the night she dies and about how he was the one to pull the trigger, tells them about how Sanada won't leave him alone and about how his oldest brother was attacked on his way home from work, tells them that he's terrified, that he doesn't know how to get out of this, that he's scared that someone else will get hurt.
And they listen. Kame doesn't look at any of them, but he hears the shocked gasps and the whispers and mutters, he feels it when one of them come to sit beside him and he sees it when Jin reaches out and takes a hold of his hand. He honestly didn't see it coming, but they're here for him when he needs it, and once he's done and looks up to meet their eyes, one by one, they all meet his eyes without flinching.
They're my friends, Kame thinks, and he wonders why it took him this long to figure out that no matter what, they will be friends through anything and everything.
"Don't worry, Kame, it'll be okay. We'll figure out a way to fix all of this, together. I'm glad you told us," Maru says as they're walking out of the building, and he offers Kame a smile.
When it's Maru who says it, Kame somehow finds it a lot easier to believe.
They all see the car screeching to a halt right outside the building, they all hear the shot, they all duck for cover.
It's not until the car has swerved around the nearest corner and disappeared out of sight that Kame turns his head and sees Maru on the ground, a pool of blood forming on the asphalt beside him.
The paramedics get there quickly, but they all know it's too late.
Jin's the one who falls to his knees, but Koki is the one who cries.
Kame lingers behind, sits on his knees and looks at Maru's picture, as if he can will Maru to come back to life if he focuses hard enough.
"This is your fault," Jin says behind him. His voice is barely even audible, and yet it's like an explosion in the quiet, empty room. "If it wasn't for you, he would still... Maru would still be..."
"I know," Kame says. Because what else can he say? He could argue that he didn't do this, that he's done anything to get these people off his back, that he's never dragged Maru into the whole mess, but the fact remains that if it hadn't been for Ryoko, then he wouldn't have owed Sanada the money in the first place. And if he hadn't owed the money, he would never have learned how to use a knife or a gun, he would never have ended up with actual enemies, Ryoko would never have died, he would never have developed a need to protect himself and look over his shoulder every other minute, and his friends would never have been in any kind of danger.
"I'm never forgiving you for this," Jin says. "You... He's dead because of you."
Kame doesn't know what to say, so he doesn't say anything at all, and just bends his head, looking down on his hands. He doesn't know how they can recover from this. He doesn't know if he wants them to recover.
He stays where he is even as the front door slams, only moves when Maru's parents come in later in the evening to collect Maru's portrait. Only then does he get up and walk out, but he doesn't go home. Instead he wanders the Tokyo streets until dawn, spending most of the time thinking about Maru.
It takes nearly two weeks before any of them speak to him again.
Kame doesn't blame them.
--
Somehow, life goes on. Kame doesn't quite know how that works, but it never stops to amaze him. He's lost people before; grand-parents and distant relatives and a friend of a friend, but nothing like this. First Ryoko, then Maru, and one of his brothers end up in the hospital after getting beat up on his way home from work, and Kame realizes that it's not over, his life isn't over, and it's not going to stop.
Sanada won't be satisfied until Kame is dead, he's convinced of it.
So maybe it'll stop if Kame isn't around anymore. He sits with the gun in his hand, thinking it over, when Jin barges into his apartment in a way that makes Kame flinch, throw himself around and point the gun at Jin.
"Whoa," Jin says, freezes. "I'm not armed, chill."
"Sorry," Kame mutters, and turns around again, going back to studying the gun.
Jin hmms and walks around the couch, flopping down next to Kame. Things are far from okay between them, but at least Jin's talking to him again. The two of them have always been good at burying their issues as far down as possible so that they can keep working together and talking to each other. "So why are you sitting here with a gun in your hands? I'm sure there's a dirty joke in there somewhere, but I'm a bit too tired to try to find it."
Kame smiles faintly. "I was thinking of killing myself," he states in a very matter-of-fact kind of way, because he figures that maybe Jin would be happy.
He's not right.
Jin sputters and spends the next ten minutes just yelling at him for even considering the idea, because how would that help anything and how fucking stupid is he, anyway? Once he runs out of breath and creative curses, he falls down onto his knees in front of Kame and pulls the gun away from him, placing it on the living room table. "It'll just be harder for the rest of us if you're gone too, don't you see that?"
Truth be told, Kame doesn't know how to react. "I thought you said you'd never forgive me for what happened."
"And I haven't forgiven you. That doesn't mean I want you dead," Jin says and reaches up, smacking Kame's forehead.
Kame chooses to take it as a good sign.
He takes it as a better sign when Jin comes over again, two nights later, slightly drunk and very talkative, and he pushes Kame against the wall and kisses him in one breath and curses him the next.
"You are not making it easy for yourself, are you, Kamenashi-san?" Sanada asks, circling around Kame once, twice, three times. He looks a bit paler than usual, a bit less controlled, and something about that fact makes Kame smirk and lash out, even if he knows that's not exactly the smartest idea in the world.
"Why would I make it easy for anyone, after everything you've done to me?"
Sanada shakes his head and gives two of his lackeys a sign, and Kame winces as they grab his arms, twisting them around onto his back - it gives him a sickening flashback of the night Ryoko died, but he tries to keep looking into Sanada's eyes to prove that he's not scared. Even if he's terrified. Sanada pulls up a series of pictures from his briefcase and shows them to Kame. First his family, then his friends, then his friends' families. "I believe this is most of the people in your life, Kamenashi-san. Right now, they are alive and well. Most of them, anyway. Such a shame about this friend of yours. Nakamaru, wasn't it?"
"Son of a bitch, you don't get to mention Maru's name," Kame hisses and he writhes in the harsh grip, wanting nothing more to get free in order to strangle the life out of Sanada with his own two hands.
He's not all that surprised to hear Sanada laugh at him - Kame would probably have done the same thing, if the roles were reversed. And if he was crazy, of course. "I think you will find that I can do whatever I want, Kamenashi-san. You took two good men from me. I will stop at no length to make you pay for what you did."
"Then kill me," Kame says. He might not be as suicidal anymore, but he'd rather sacrifice his own life than watch his family, friends, loved ones get hurt and killed all around him.
Sanada walks over to him and lights up a cigarette, blowing the smoke into Kame's face before pressing the glowing end into Kame's forearm. "No," Sanada says, repeating the action three more times until Kame's legs give out underneath him from the pain. "You do not get to die. I'm going to make you pay, you just wait for it. It might happen tomorrow or it might happen two years from now. But then, I'm going to capture you like I did with that little whore of yours, and I am going to make you suffer. That bastard friend of yours as well. Akanishi, right? You might wake up one of these days to find him at your door. In pieces."
Kame groans and falls to his knees, cradling his arm, when Sanada's men let go of him. He doesn't know how long he stays like that, but eventually he gets to his feet, starting on his way back home again. He only makes it about three blocks before he collapses.
It's Jin who comes to his rescue, nearly three hours later and after it's been raining for two.
"What the hell, Kame, why didn't you call me sooner?" Jin bends down and winds an arm around Kame, lifting him back onto his feet and half supporting him, half carrying him back to Jin's car.
Kame smiles bleakly. "Didn't want to worry you?"
"Yeah, good job with that. Koki and I went all over trying to find you. We were starting to think you were dead." Jin hands Kame his jacket before climbing into the driver's seat, heading back towards his own apartment instead of Kame's.
Sniffling and shivering from the cold, kame draws Jin's jacket around him and curls up, trying to not look as miserable as he feels. He's pretty sure he's failing. "Don't worry, it takes a whole lot more to kill me. Besides, Sanada doesn't want me dead just yet. Apparently it's you he wants to kill. He just wants to torture me."
"Kame, shut up," Jin says, then shuts up himself for the rest of the ride.
And Kame shuts up as well - it's easier that way. He manages to walk up to Jin's apartment without support, but crashes down onto Jin's couch within seconds. He's barely even aware of it when Jin pulls back the sleeve of Kame's shirt and cleans and bandages the burns on his arm.
By now, Jin has become pretty good at patching Kame up, dealing with his wounds and injuries without saying much about it.
Kame sits up eventually, scooting over so that he can lean against Jin, smiling when Jin wraps an arm around him and pulls him even closer. "This can't go on, Kame," he says, and turns his head to kiss Kame's temple.
"I know," Kame replies, but he doesn't know what they're supposed to do, how he's supposed to get out of this mess.
Jin shifts to lie down and pulls Kame with him, wrapping both arms around him to keep him close. "You know, we're in this together."
Kame shakes his head, wanting to protest because he doesn't know if he can bear the thought that he has ruined even more lives. "But this is my problem, it's not--"
"I killed two people, Kame," Jin says, and even if his voice doesn't waver, his hold tightens slightly. "I killed them. Me. Not you. As far as I know, you only killed one person."
"Maru's dead because of me."
"You didn't kill him," Jin says. "I know I said it was your fault, and I guess that in some ways, it is, but you didn't kill him. Sanada-san's men did. You killed Ryoko, because she begged you to. Because it was the only choice you had."
Kame stirs, shifting both to get closer and to get more comfortable. "And you killed those two guys because you thought they were killing me. I don't think either of us are evil because of the things we've done."
"Neither do I. But I think you're stupid for thinking that you're alone in this. I'm just as much a part of it as you are. Sanada-san wants me dead. I think that means I'm involved."
Even if he doesn't want to admit it, Kame sighs and nods, because he knows that Jin's right. Whether he likes it or not, Jin is a part of this now. "I'm sorry, Jin," Kame says, because he doesn't know what else to say. He doesn't think there is anything else he can say.
Jin laughs quietly and pulls Kame up, kissing him. "Don't worry," he says. "Don't worry, we'll figure it all out. Together. Deal?"
"Deal," Kame replies, and he smiles in spite of himself, in spite of the situation, in spite of the fact that they're backed up in a corner with no way out.
Because even if all else goes wrong, at least they will have each other.
--
"You have to get out of here," Junno says. "Since nobody else wants to say it, I'm going to. It's just not safe for either of you in Japan anymore, and you should get a plane or a boat and just run." The rest of them look at him like he's insane, even if they all know he's right. Junno looks back at them and waits, waits until first Ueda, then Kame, then Koki and finally Jin nod. "You should all know by now that I'm always right," Junno says with a pleasant smile before pulling an envelope up from his backpack, throwing it to Kame.
Kame frowns and takes a look, his eyes widening when he sees that it's filled with money, American dollar. "What," he says, because he can't begin to figure out what Junno is thinking.
"You'll need something to get you started," Junno says, and looks immensely proud of himself.
"I'd hit you, but I'm too impressed," Jin says and snatches the envelope away from Kame, flipping through the wad of cash. "How the hell did you get all this, anyway? Wait, do I want to know?"
"Probably not," Ueda comments.
Junno just beams at them. "I have contacts. I can get you plane tickets and fake passports too, if you think you need it."
Kame wonders if he suddenly wandered into an alternate reality where Junno is the king of the universe, before he remembers that Junno has always been like this - coming from the middle of nowhere and surprising the hell out of all of them by doing something completely crazy that nobody else would be able to pull off. "...you're kind of amazing."
"I know," Junno says, and ducks when they all throw pillows at him.
"But what are we supposed to say to people? You can't just disappear," Koki says. He looks the most upset at the thought of both Jin and Kame vanishing from his life; Junno's clearly okay with it and Ueda seems to have weighed the pros and cons in his mind in the span of three minutes and come to the conclusion that this is the best solution.
Kame feels like agreeing with Koki, and he scoots over. He doesn't want to abandon his entire life, not even if it means being alone with Jin and living the kind of life that neither of them have thought about for years. He still has ties to Tokyo, to Japan. "Yeah, are you sure we can't just stay here and be careful?"
Jin shakes his head, looks strangely calm and composed. "They're going to kill us, Kame, there's no escaping that if we stay here. How long do you think we can keep up doing public appearances and hiding from Sanada-san and his men at the same time, huh?"
"But--"
"And we're putting our families and our friends in danger. Maru's dead, your brothers were attacked, my mother got threatening letters in the mail, Pi was stalked and nearly hit by a car."
"The windows of my apartment were broken," Ueda adds. "Nobody was hurt, but it was freaky."
Koki nods. "Someone beat up a couple of my friends. I didn't connect the dots at the time, but... I think it was them. Would make sense."
"See what I mean?" Jin asks. He makes his way around the table and sits down next to Kame, puts an arm around his shoulders. "We have no choice. This isn't just about us. If it was, we could stay and fight. But right now? It's better if we disappear. And hey, good reason to take that epic road trip we talked about when we were teenagers, remember?"
Kame fights it for a while, but then he starts laughing and winds an arm around Jin in return. "You're the only one who could manage to see this as something positive."
Except he's not the only one who sees the positive in it. Junno helps them out and plans travel routes, Ueda pesters them about places they should visit and things they should do, Koki tells them that they had better buy him some presents. Pi promises that he'll come visit once they're settled somewhere safe, Ryo points out that there are good things about not having to wake up at the crack of dawn and do things they have no interest in doing all day. Jin shows up with red eyes after he talks to his mother, but he's smiling as well and tells Kame that he has the best mother in the entire world, because she understands.
Kame decides to not tell his own family, not until it's over. He'll send them a letter and explain everything instead. Jin calls him a coward and then clings to him all night and kisses his lips sore.
They spend the nights in run-down motels and love hotels in order to stay off the radar, they don't show up for appointments and they work less than they should. They nearly run into Sanada's men at a daily basis, but they've gotten used to living on their toes, they've gotten used to ducking and running for cover, fighting back, doing everything they need to stay alive. Kame wonders how things ended up this way, but he opts for not thinking about it, and he visits Maru's grave and talks about old memories and broken dreams, says goodbye because he knows he's not coming back.
They get ready to leave their lives behind for something new, something uncertain. Not because they want to, but because they have run out of options. They have no more choices, no more chances at a normal life.
And as the days go on, Kame finds himself strangely okay with the idea.
"So, road trip?" Kame asks over the phone, waiting for Jin. Since they are going no matter what, he might as well try to think of this as a good thing. They have money and fake passports, they have a bag each filled with clothing and ammunition, Kame has a gun fastened in his belt and Jin doesn't go anywhere without his knife. They have cell phones with the numbers of their friends and family, they have an unspoken promise that they'll see Junno, Koki and Ueda again, they have each other. As far as Kame is concerned, things could be worse.
Jin laughs, sounds ridiculously happy considering their situation. "Gimme a minute, I just need to get us something to actually drive on said road trip. Wait for me there, okay?"
"I thought it was supposed to be a white horse," Kame comments when he sees the bike. It's nice, sure, but it's far from a white horse.
Jin just snorts. "This is Tokyo, not the Wild West or a fairytale. Get on. We can still ride away into the sunset."
"How romantic."
"Yeah, well, it's the best I can do."
Kame grins and takes the helmet Jin hands him before climbing on behind him. He only hesitates for a fraction of a second before wrapping his arms around Jin's waist; it's been years since he's been on a motorcycle, and while he has no idea where they're going or what will happen on the way, at least he has someone to hold on to.
"Hold on tight," Jin says, leaning back against Kame for a couple of moments, then he revs the engine and takes off down the road, speeding up as if he can't get away from Tokyo fast enough.
Kame tightens his hold and leans his head against Jin's shoulder. "I'm not letting go," he says, and doesn't care that Jin can't hear him.
It doesn't matter; he already knows that Jin knows.
~fin~