Somewhere Between Midnight and Sunrise: Chapter Four
Title: Somewhere Between Midnight and Sunrise
Chapters: 4/?
Band: The Gazette
Pairings: Aoi/Uruha, Reita/Aoi, Ruki/Kai (bolded are present in this chapter)
Rating: R/Light NC-17
Genres: Drama, mystery, suspense, angst
Warnings: Sexual situations, Violence
Summary: Humanity is a vulnerable condition and only more so when emotional factors are thrown into an already delicate balance.
“Was this before or after the dinner party?” The fat one resigned himself to a chair and pinched the bridge of his nose again.
“Before, a‘course.” I said in passing, leaning up and fiddling mindlessly with the edge of the piece of paper they’d pushed in my direction to have me sign at the onset of this questioning. I hadn’t signed it yet because I wanted to get my story out before they had something to hold me to. It was very matter of fact that I stated it, because it was obvious. He might not fully be listening, but I was willing to tell it again if he needed to hear it once more. After all, these were some of my favorite stories.
“Without that part, Aoi never would have been at the dinner party to start with. Remember how I said Aoi would follow Reita anywhere?” I didn’t wait for a response. “Well if he hadn’t followed Reita years before this, he never would have learned what he needed to learn in order to survive. And he never would have had to give Ruki that poisoned glass of wine. It wasn’t just any poison either-”
“FORGET RUKI!” The fat one boomed.
“Can’t.” I said with a shrug. “He’s just as much part of this story as Aoi and Uruha and Kai for that matter.”
“We want to know about Reita though.” The quiet one chimed in as if to cool the other man off or at least give the vein on the side of his head that was popping out a break for a minute or two. I smiled again. It was fortunate that I liked to smile, I found these two particularly hilarious. They had no sense of priority.
“But that’s the thing, to know Reita you have to know the others; they all affected each other and their stories all overlap. You want to hold one accountable - you gotta hold 'em all accountable. You wanna hear about one - you gotta hear about all of 'em. Let me tell you what, they were some amazing guys. Besides - it was the poison glass of wine that brought Reita into Ruki’s life in the first place - when he tried to kill him…”
_______________________________
Kai was pacing and he was quiet. It was a very rare thing indeed as Kai was a gregarious sort. He loved people and loved to listen to them talk. He loved their stories and he simply liked interacting. He wasn’t opposed to walk right up to a stranger and initiate a conversation. But today he was quiet. It annoyed Uruha.
The look on Kai’s face was telling and that was also a social stigma in their superior society. He wasn’t meant to express his worry for Ruki outwardly like he was. He had stood up just to tell him to tell Kai to stop when the paper thin, pale white door opened and a doctor appeared. Kai stiffened in his spot and Uruha glanced over casually, having only been there because he was at the scene when it happened. However, deep down, Uruha has some measure of concern for the man lying beyond the door in the room - dying.
“Will he be okay?” Kai chirped, stuffing his hands in his pockets to keep from fiddling with them. “He doesn’t like dust and he’s sort of picky about the way things are arranged. Can I go look and make sure it’s…okay? He is…my best friend after all. I wouldn’t want him to wake up and it be…unsatisfactory.”
Uruha’s eyes darted over to Kai and he stifled a comment, but the doctor shook his head. “Not yet. Soon. I have no update for you. For now you’ll just have to wait.” He said and Kai visibly shrank; defeated. As the doctor walked away, Uruha scowled at him.
“Could you please try to keep it under control. It’s unbecoming to react like that.” Uruha scolded and Kai turned to look at the taller man. He frowned visibly, but didn’t answer as another man in a white lab coat, with a doctor mask over his face, slipped into the room. Kai turned to look in the direction - aptly aware of those that came and went from the location. He let his shoulder’s sink again when this doctor didn’t even give him a second glance.
The moment the man passed through into the private room, he slipped the mask off from behind his ears and let it flutter to the floor. Over his nose was a slim strip of cloth. The white doctor coat tumbled to the floor beside the fallen mask and Reita swiftly and silently slipped over next to the bed in which Ruki was lying in.
“This was not your fault and for that I’m sorry.” Reita said in a gruff whisper to the unconscious form of Ruki. “You are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time as I understand it.” He bowed his head and placed his hand on Ruki’s forehead lightly as if in momentary and silent goodbye.
_______________________________
“Goddamn it! STOP!” the fat one barked at me again and I felt the spray of spit hit my face. I sighed and closed my eyes. With the back of my shirt sleeve, I pulled the end of it over the heel of my palm and ran it across my eyelids.
“No you stop. It’s disgusting.” I mumbled.
“You started this “story” by telling us that Reita and Aoi were surprised to see each other. Then you backtrack years and years only to tell us they are in love and now...Reita is cleaning up Aoi's mess? None of this makes sense! If Reita was cleaning up Aoi's mistake, how could they be so shocked to see each other?!” He demanded.
“Look.” I started patiently. “You’re not listening. Open your ears and relax. Take a load off and just listen - for real listen.” I told him waving to the chair behind him. “They hadn’t seen each other in years yet and I never said Reita was cleaning up Aoi’s mess, now did I? Well, I guess he was actually.” I added on the end thoughtfully. After considering it for a second I waved my hand, it was an insignificant detail. “He didn't actually know that part though. It wasn't because Aoi cared what happened to Ruki, Aoi had another job to do - the one he failed at the night before. Aoi didn’t care about anything by that point; he was sort of empty, like a husk. He did what he was told when he was told.
"Reita was much the same, however he was still driven by the same initial passion that started him down the path in the first place. It was because he didn’t want to see people hurt. He’d been sent to kill Ruki because Aoi fucked up; but by different employers, you see. He had no clue Aoi had anything to do with it in the first place And Reita never wanted to know the details of a hit, just where he needed to be and when so he could get the job done. That was how he was in Ruki’s room and how he missed Aoi…like he always did…”
_______________________________
Reita’s eyes trailed down Ruki’s seemingly sleeping form. He closed his eyes and drew a dagger from his hip where it was placed. He hated it; it was clumsy and messy. He didn’t like to kill with hand weapons. It was undignified - just like the way people writhed against each other when they answered their animal instincts. There was a time he gave into those passions, but it was long ago and it seemed as if another lifetime. Now he just tried to live another day; survival was his focus.
His left hand’s index and middle fingertips lightly touched Ruki’s sternum and the point of the dagger rested just next to his fingers, where he planned on plunging the blade. His fingertips would offer light pressure and the metal itself should bite quickly enough that Ruki would feel little pain before his final breaths left his body.
Ruki, however, made a soft noise when the weapon touched his skin, offering a slight pressure against the soft epidermis. Reita’s eyes fluttered open and the weapon was immediately sheathed back to invisibility. In an instant, Reita was disguised in the clothing he’d been dressed in.
“How do you feel?” Reita asked stiffly, tipping his head down toward Ruki, half hoping he wouldn’t answer. He wished that he’d imagined the gurgling sound that seemed to come from the back of Ruki’s throat. He slipped his hands into the pockets of the lab coat. His wish was not answered when Ruki sighed and his chest heaved with fuller, deeper breaths. He groaned again but made no attempt to answer Reita.
Reita bit into his tongue when Ruki’s eyes beat a few times and finally opened lightly. He had killed many, much more alive, people. However, something about Ruki’s presence caught him and he knew he’d made a mistake. He’d let Ruki cross the threshold between job and person--suddenly he wasn't just a hit but, instead, a human being. One that was sick and hurt in a hospital, one that was about to be unfairly killed for a greater cause he wasn't a pat of in the first place. That made it impossible for Reita to proceed. His hesitation had cost him what he was meant to do in this room, the same where others had likely died before Ruki simply from the nature of hospitals.
It was because Reita meant to help people by doing what he did, even if blindly sometimes, rather than hurting them that he faltered. He said nothing further and slipped out of the room before he could find himself in a peril-less conflict of morals. He wanted to believe that Ruki would be too sick to live anyhow, that nature would steal him from this earth so that maybe Reita would be absolved of moral conflict and of occupational backlash. He wanted to pretend this day, this moment, didn’t happen at all as it made him question himself and his own motives.
Kai was on Reita the second he left the room. “Can I see him now, doctor?” He asked breathily.
Reita wasn’t used to be on the receiving end of an ambush like that. His nerves were already on edge and his hand had immediately closed around the handle of the dagger. However, he relaxed just as quickly as he’d gone on guard. “Yes.” Reita said without a second thought as it would give him the easiest unquestioned exit, and he turned to swiftly dart down the hallway.
_______________________________
“You see…it wasn’t the first time he’d let someone live; just like he was considering with Uruha and Aoi that night.” I nodded knowingly.
“Why did Reita’s employer want Ruki dead?” The quiet one asked.
“Because of the poison that Aoi laced his glass with. It wasn’t meant to kill people per se--and when the discovery of that in Ruki's system would put Reita's bosses in danger. It might not have been designed to kill people, but it certainly could kill them. For whatever reason, Ruki was resistant to it. It could have been fate or some people think it’s because he was something else too, there’s as much mystery to that as there is to Reita’s noseband. I have my own theories. Anyhow, they - as in Reita’s bosses - didn’t want anyone to know what he’d been given because it put them at risk and they were all about saving their own asses. Fuck everyone else.
“But there’s something you gotta understand about that too. Reita didn’t want to work for them, just as much as he didn't want to do what he did…but he pretty much had to…”
A/N: I certainly hope that this is still making sense to more than just myself--I do promise that all questions will be answered in the end. I know that the way this is written can be more confusing than helpful, but hopefully you, the readers, understand why it is written in this fashion. That though there were questions presented in the beginning of the story, everything is related--even if it seems as if the narrator is taking forever to get to it. I suppose I am asking you to trust the narrator--if you dare. Thank you for reading--I appreciate all comments.
Previous: One - Two - Three
Next: Five
Chapters: 4/?
Band: The Gazette
Pairings: Aoi/Uruha, Reita/Aoi, Ruki/Kai (bolded are present in this chapter)
Rating: R/Light NC-17
Genres: Drama, mystery, suspense, angst
Warnings: Sexual situations, Violence
Summary: Humanity is a vulnerable condition and only more so when emotional factors are thrown into an already delicate balance.
“Was this before or after the dinner party?” The fat one resigned himself to a chair and pinched the bridge of his nose again.
“Before, a‘course.” I said in passing, leaning up and fiddling mindlessly with the edge of the piece of paper they’d pushed in my direction to have me sign at the onset of this questioning. I hadn’t signed it yet because I wanted to get my story out before they had something to hold me to. It was very matter of fact that I stated it, because it was obvious. He might not fully be listening, but I was willing to tell it again if he needed to hear it once more. After all, these were some of my favorite stories.
“Without that part, Aoi never would have been at the dinner party to start with. Remember how I said Aoi would follow Reita anywhere?” I didn’t wait for a response. “Well if he hadn’t followed Reita years before this, he never would have learned what he needed to learn in order to survive. And he never would have had to give Ruki that poisoned glass of wine. It wasn’t just any poison either-”
“FORGET RUKI!” The fat one boomed.
“Can’t.” I said with a shrug. “He’s just as much part of this story as Aoi and Uruha and Kai for that matter.”
“We want to know about Reita though.” The quiet one chimed in as if to cool the other man off or at least give the vein on the side of his head that was popping out a break for a minute or two. I smiled again. It was fortunate that I liked to smile, I found these two particularly hilarious. They had no sense of priority.
“But that’s the thing, to know Reita you have to know the others; they all affected each other and their stories all overlap. You want to hold one accountable - you gotta hold 'em all accountable. You wanna hear about one - you gotta hear about all of 'em. Let me tell you what, they were some amazing guys. Besides - it was the poison glass of wine that brought Reita into Ruki’s life in the first place - when he tried to kill him…”
_______________________________
Kai was pacing and he was quiet. It was a very rare thing indeed as Kai was a gregarious sort. He loved people and loved to listen to them talk. He loved their stories and he simply liked interacting. He wasn’t opposed to walk right up to a stranger and initiate a conversation. But today he was quiet. It annoyed Uruha.
The look on Kai’s face was telling and that was also a social stigma in their superior society. He wasn’t meant to express his worry for Ruki outwardly like he was. He had stood up just to tell him to tell Kai to stop when the paper thin, pale white door opened and a doctor appeared. Kai stiffened in his spot and Uruha glanced over casually, having only been there because he was at the scene when it happened. However, deep down, Uruha has some measure of concern for the man lying beyond the door in the room - dying.
“Will he be okay?” Kai chirped, stuffing his hands in his pockets to keep from fiddling with them. “He doesn’t like dust and he’s sort of picky about the way things are arranged. Can I go look and make sure it’s…okay? He is…my best friend after all. I wouldn’t want him to wake up and it be…unsatisfactory.”
Uruha’s eyes darted over to Kai and he stifled a comment, but the doctor shook his head. “Not yet. Soon. I have no update for you. For now you’ll just have to wait.” He said and Kai visibly shrank; defeated. As the doctor walked away, Uruha scowled at him.
“Could you please try to keep it under control. It’s unbecoming to react like that.” Uruha scolded and Kai turned to look at the taller man. He frowned visibly, but didn’t answer as another man in a white lab coat, with a doctor mask over his face, slipped into the room. Kai turned to look in the direction - aptly aware of those that came and went from the location. He let his shoulder’s sink again when this doctor didn’t even give him a second glance.
The moment the man passed through into the private room, he slipped the mask off from behind his ears and let it flutter to the floor. Over his nose was a slim strip of cloth. The white doctor coat tumbled to the floor beside the fallen mask and Reita swiftly and silently slipped over next to the bed in which Ruki was lying in.
“This was not your fault and for that I’m sorry.” Reita said in a gruff whisper to the unconscious form of Ruki. “You are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time as I understand it.” He bowed his head and placed his hand on Ruki’s forehead lightly as if in momentary and silent goodbye.
_______________________________
“Goddamn it! STOP!” the fat one barked at me again and I felt the spray of spit hit my face. I sighed and closed my eyes. With the back of my shirt sleeve, I pulled the end of it over the heel of my palm and ran it across my eyelids.
“No you stop. It’s disgusting.” I mumbled.
“You started this “story” by telling us that Reita and Aoi were surprised to see each other. Then you backtrack years and years only to tell us they are in love and now...Reita is cleaning up Aoi's mess? None of this makes sense! If Reita was cleaning up Aoi's mistake, how could they be so shocked to see each other?!” He demanded.
“Look.” I started patiently. “You’re not listening. Open your ears and relax. Take a load off and just listen - for real listen.” I told him waving to the chair behind him. “They hadn’t seen each other in years yet and I never said Reita was cleaning up Aoi’s mess, now did I? Well, I guess he was actually.” I added on the end thoughtfully. After considering it for a second I waved my hand, it was an insignificant detail. “He didn't actually know that part though. It wasn't because Aoi cared what happened to Ruki, Aoi had another job to do - the one he failed at the night before. Aoi didn’t care about anything by that point; he was sort of empty, like a husk. He did what he was told when he was told.
"Reita was much the same, however he was still driven by the same initial passion that started him down the path in the first place. It was because he didn’t want to see people hurt. He’d been sent to kill Ruki because Aoi fucked up; but by different employers, you see. He had no clue Aoi had anything to do with it in the first place And Reita never wanted to know the details of a hit, just where he needed to be and when so he could get the job done. That was how he was in Ruki’s room and how he missed Aoi…like he always did…”
_______________________________
Reita’s eyes trailed down Ruki’s seemingly sleeping form. He closed his eyes and drew a dagger from his hip where it was placed. He hated it; it was clumsy and messy. He didn’t like to kill with hand weapons. It was undignified - just like the way people writhed against each other when they answered their animal instincts. There was a time he gave into those passions, but it was long ago and it seemed as if another lifetime. Now he just tried to live another day; survival was his focus.
His left hand’s index and middle fingertips lightly touched Ruki’s sternum and the point of the dagger rested just next to his fingers, where he planned on plunging the blade. His fingertips would offer light pressure and the metal itself should bite quickly enough that Ruki would feel little pain before his final breaths left his body.
Ruki, however, made a soft noise when the weapon touched his skin, offering a slight pressure against the soft epidermis. Reita’s eyes fluttered open and the weapon was immediately sheathed back to invisibility. In an instant, Reita was disguised in the clothing he’d been dressed in.
“How do you feel?” Reita asked stiffly, tipping his head down toward Ruki, half hoping he wouldn’t answer. He wished that he’d imagined the gurgling sound that seemed to come from the back of Ruki’s throat. He slipped his hands into the pockets of the lab coat. His wish was not answered when Ruki sighed and his chest heaved with fuller, deeper breaths. He groaned again but made no attempt to answer Reita.
Reita bit into his tongue when Ruki’s eyes beat a few times and finally opened lightly. He had killed many, much more alive, people. However, something about Ruki’s presence caught him and he knew he’d made a mistake. He’d let Ruki cross the threshold between job and person--suddenly he wasn't just a hit but, instead, a human being. One that was sick and hurt in a hospital, one that was about to be unfairly killed for a greater cause he wasn't a pat of in the first place. That made it impossible for Reita to proceed. His hesitation had cost him what he was meant to do in this room, the same where others had likely died before Ruki simply from the nature of hospitals.
It was because Reita meant to help people by doing what he did, even if blindly sometimes, rather than hurting them that he faltered. He said nothing further and slipped out of the room before he could find himself in a peril-less conflict of morals. He wanted to believe that Ruki would be too sick to live anyhow, that nature would steal him from this earth so that maybe Reita would be absolved of moral conflict and of occupational backlash. He wanted to pretend this day, this moment, didn’t happen at all as it made him question himself and his own motives.
Kai was on Reita the second he left the room. “Can I see him now, doctor?” He asked breathily.
Reita wasn’t used to be on the receiving end of an ambush like that. His nerves were already on edge and his hand had immediately closed around the handle of the dagger. However, he relaxed just as quickly as he’d gone on guard. “Yes.” Reita said without a second thought as it would give him the easiest unquestioned exit, and he turned to swiftly dart down the hallway.
_______________________________
“You see…it wasn’t the first time he’d let someone live; just like he was considering with Uruha and Aoi that night.” I nodded knowingly.
“Why did Reita’s employer want Ruki dead?” The quiet one asked.
“Because of the poison that Aoi laced his glass with. It wasn’t meant to kill people per se--and when the discovery of that in Ruki's system would put Reita's bosses in danger. It might not have been designed to kill people, but it certainly could kill them. For whatever reason, Ruki was resistant to it. It could have been fate or some people think it’s because he was something else too, there’s as much mystery to that as there is to Reita’s noseband. I have my own theories. Anyhow, they - as in Reita’s bosses - didn’t want anyone to know what he’d been given because it put them at risk and they were all about saving their own asses. Fuck everyone else.
“But there’s something you gotta understand about that too. Reita didn’t want to work for them, just as much as he didn't want to do what he did…but he pretty much had to…”
A/N: I certainly hope that this is still making sense to more than just myself--I do promise that all questions will be answered in the end. I know that the way this is written can be more confusing than helpful, but hopefully you, the readers, understand why it is written in this fashion. That though there were questions presented in the beginning of the story, everything is related--even if it seems as if the narrator is taking forever to get to it. I suppose I am asking you to trust the narrator--if you dare. Thank you for reading--I appreciate all comments.
Previous: One - Two - Three
Next: Five