In the Palm of Your Hand Part II for Quelleperedhil!
Title: In the Palm of Your Hand Part II
Author: Mathias
Recipient: quelleperedhil
Pairing/Characters: Hirakoba Rin, Zaizen Hikaru, Higa team, Shitenhouji team
Rating: R
Warnings: Sex, bad worldbuilding and magic systems, violence, blood, ambiguous relationships.... and there's a dead body in there and that's a bit gross.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
Summary: Zaizen infiltrates Higa to kill Hirakoba Rin, but it turns out to be a lot more difficult than he first thought.
(Alternate summary: Everybody, meet RinZ. Fantasy AU)
Hirakoba was still damp from the pool that night as he draped himself over Zaizen's lap. But with how disappointed he'd been to leave the beach and the time he'd had to spend at the bottom of the pool sulking after he'd vanished from the room for a large chunk of the afternoon... he decided he didn't really care enough to tell him to towel himself dry again.
“Is your family as bad as mine?” Hirakoba asked, turning his head to look at Zaizen. “Do you have elders telling you what to do?”
“We don't have elders.” And even if they did, Zaizen wouldn't listen to them. He listened to Shiraishi, somewhat, as the other man planned for his approaching time to take over the leadership of the family.
Hirakoba sighed loudly and stretched out a little before settling down again. “They're not even that powerful, you know. Some of them don't have powers at all.”
“Then why do you listen to them?”
“Because they're my family and you're supposed to...” There was so much doubt in Hirakoba's voice and Zaizen wondered if this was the first time that he'd actually thought about it.
Of course, keeping their most powerful member under control would have been a lifelong thing.
“And the people on guard outside your door?” He made no attempt at lowering his voice for that and he thought he heard a little bit of shifting from outside in response.
“To help me whenever I need them... apparently.”
“They're more likely there to stop you from ever leaving without permission.”
“... Probably.” Hirakoba sounded a bit miserable and resigned to the fact. “They used to say it was for my own protection as a child.”
Zaizen found himself with his hands on Hirakoba's back, resting there and feeling him relax a little into the touch.
“If you wanted to get rid of them, you could. It would be easier than in other families too, since your family structure isn't based on immediate relations and bloodline.”
He didn't have a clear understanding on how Higa's structure worked exactly, but he knew that it wasn't like the other families were normally. Especially knowing now that some of the family elders were powerless people as well.
Hirakoba laughed a little at that, though the silence he fell into was thoughtful. “I'm not quite strong enough to take on the whole of my family. Some of them are quite strong.” He shrugged. “I mean, just Eishirou alone would be a bit of a task.”
Zaizen shrugged. “I never said you had to. There's other ways to get power than killing people.”
“Isn't that what our society's based on, though? Killing for powers?”
Zaizen looked down at Hirakoba, who was settling back down to press his face back into Zaizen's lap. He jabbed him in the side, being rewarded with the usual unhappy squeak and twitch. “How much do you know?”
“Don't do that.” Hirakoba pushed his hand away and Zaizen just prodded him again. “I got told enough when I was younger.”
To keep a younger Hirakoba in line with fear and to justify why he had to stay inside all the time. Zaizen knew that. They'd never finished this conversation before and Zaizen was so tempted to now, to see how far he could push it.
“Tell me.” Zaizen threateningly touched his fingertips to Hirakoba's side again and heard him grumble.
“The families collect powers by killing people from other families. And the elemental powers are always the most sought after because there's only one each of them and they're the most powerful.” Hirakoba's voice had a bored, learned by heart sound to it.
Hirakoba sighed. “Do the other elemental people also get treated the same?”
Zaizen could hear the unasked question. Were the other elementals also kept trapped inside all the time?
“Traditionally they were as a form of protection. And the powerless members of the family, or those with the weakest powers were usually sent out to try and kill and collect others.
“What about you, Mary-kun?”
“What about me?”
“I know you're not powerless. Or weak.” Zaizen stiffened at that and Hirakoba twisted around to look up at him, smiling. “I would have thought your family leader would have wanted to keep you safe from harm as well.”
“I don't have any powers,” Zaizen said with a flat expression and Hirakoba just smiled a bit more.
How much had Hirakoba guessed about what he could do? … How much had he given away?
“Tradition's been changing recently, anyway.”
“Oh?” At least it was easy to distract Hirakoba away from the topic.
“Rikkai's an interesting example. They used to be like this, but their elemental users are pushing to take over the family now.” Zaizen didn't linger over his thoughts about what he foresaw happening when it was successful, for there was no doubt of it. Shitenhouji would have to adapt to a changed society when it happened.
“Rikkai was mentioned today in the meeting,” Hirakoba said and Zaizen looked down at him. He hadn't been in contact with Shitenhouji enough to get regular updates on what had happened. Something he regretted now about being locked away for weeks on end.
Hirakoba thankfully seemed to sense his interest in the topic and kept talking. “They were targeting Seigaku and got caught up in a fight with Hyotei. The elders are considering whether there's a chance they'll come here next.”
For everything that was happening, Hirakoba didn't seem too concerned or all that interested. He seemed to be paying more attention to sneaking his hands under Zaizen's shirt some more, even as Zaizen processed the new information.
“They might.”
Though he doubted it. At least not for a while... Hirakoba really was very subtle with his powers and not going outside often meant he wasn't seen using them.
“Would you come with me if they made me go somewhere?”
… No, was the immediate answer Zaizen came to. But Hirakoba was watching him so closely.
“Would there be mochi and internet there?”
Hirakoba laughed and snuggled up to him again. “I'll have to check. I'll make sure to request it if they make us move.”
-
He should have expected it, really, with knowing that the elders wanted to get rid of him and that irritating Hirakoba by getting rid of him was something they most definitely probably didn't want to do.
But still, it was a shock to walk into the bedroom from the pool room with Hirakoba in tow to find another person just standing in there, waiting. It hadn't occurred to him that they might try something like that, a very passive... potentially successful way to get rid of him that wouldn't make Hirakoba turn on them.
Perhaps they weren't so foolish after all.
He'd almost prefer to be dragged out of the bedroom and killed out back than Hirakoba potentially throwing him away because he lost interest.
The first time, Hirakoba had walked past to hop into his bed, uninterested.
The second time, he'd taken at least a moment to pause and glance before heading dragging Zaizen to his bed.
The third time, Zaizen thought he had it figured out, as Hirakoba fully stopped and looked and considered.
There was an obvious pattern emerging. This third person was small and dark haired and looking like he was about to wet himself as Hirakoba eyed him up.
Was this how it normally was then, how Hirakoba chose his new companions? Did Kite just shove them into his room and if he liked them, they never left again until their bodies were dumped somewhere? And if he didn't like them... they were shown the door as he did with the first two?
… For that matter, he didn't know what happened to them after they were made to leave the room.
And suddenly he realised that his acceptance into Higa had been a complete coincidence. If it had been anyone else in Shitenhouji that Shiraishi seemed like to sending on various tasks that had been sent there... they would have just been rejected by Hirakoba.
Tooyama might get half a look, with his small stature, but Zaizen had a feeling it was the dark hair as well that had made Hirakoba decide he was 'perfect'.
Were the others before him the same, he wondered. If he'd gone into that pool room on the first night, would he have seen others that shared those features with him?
Zaizen stared at the stranger, much younger than him, now that he looked closer and still looking terrified. He was from Yamabuki, if he remembered correctly. Were Yamabuki believing the rumours too and making a move to gain an elemental? Had they had the same plan as him?
Did this Dan Taichi have a knife concealed under his clothes to stab into Hirakoba the moment he got enveloped in a hug? Or was he the type to poison him? He really doubted Dan was the type to try to physically overpower Hirakoba, just the idea made him laugh.
“The pizza's getting cold,” he said, poking Hirakoba sharply in the back to get his attention. “Stop flirting, I'm hungry.”
That seemed to get Hirakoba's attention quickly and he found himself smothered in a hug that he just stood and accepted, glancing at the stranger just a few paces away and noticing their gaze on them. Good.
“So jealous, Mary-kun!” Hirakoba sounded weirdly delighted at this in his teasing and Zaizen pushed him away with a frown.
“I'm not jealous. I'm hungry.”
“Of course. The packet of mochi before did nothing for your stomach. Let me get rid of them first and you can start eating.”
He got a kiss on the cheek and then Hirakoba was gone, to the door to poke his head out to ask 'Yuu' to come and remove the person. Zaizen knew he shouldn't feel quite so pleased about the result as the person he recognised as Kai came in to pull the Yamabuki person out.
Zaizen couldn't even bring himself to feel a sliver of pity as he heard them head down into the house, away from the front door and his question on what happened after seemed to be answered for him.
-
Hirakoba having his interest caught by other short, dark haired males that he seemed to enjoy just for the company was one thing that Zaizen had to keep a close eye on as he cared about remaining alive.
And it was so easy to manipulate Hirakoba's attentions anyway that it seemed almost pointless to worry about them.
In terms of the elders getting them separated, that particular tactic wasn't a concern anymore. … But he still worried a little.
But he didn't care so much about it when Hirakoba was gifted with other men that definitely didn't fit that description. Especially since Hirakoba didn't seem to particularly care as Zaizen set up the laptop at the table in the room and focused his attentions on the screen, headphones on and for all intents and purposes not paying attention.
… Somehow he thought Hirakoba wouldn't care if he was paying attention either, a thought he didn't linger on.
After all, Hirakoba never shut the door fully when they were around either and Zaizen had to spare a thought for whoever was on duty and standing outside the door when it happened.
He wondered how regularly this happened normally... and had Hirakoba been holding himself back until he thought Zaizen himself might be comfortable enough to allow it? At least when they visited, Hirakoba tended to present him with a box of mochi to keep himself occupied for a while.
The visiting men seemed to have more problems with it though and some of them had outright refused as Zaizen stared at them from his corner as they entered the room, others had been obviously confused but eagerly accepted it as Hirakoba distracted them.
Zaizen clicked on the screen a couple of times and reloaded his weapon, stuffing a piece of mochi in his mouth.
The headphones weren't noise cancelling, he'd learned that very quickly. But the sound of Hirakoba's voice speaking was easy enough to block out, as was the sound of flesh hitting flesh and soft moans from the bed just a few paces away.
At least it was never particularly loud.
Zaizen ate another piece of mochi.
He glanced up occasionally, to see the progress and check that there wasn't any sign of the male being tempted to stay the night. He'd only had to kick out a few people out of the room, Hirakoba never seemed too keen to have them stick around and took care of that most nights by himself.
Telling him “I'm tired, I want to go to sleep tonight,” always tended to get him to remove the ones that lingered around, anyway.
And Zaizen was happy to do it for the privacy, even if it meant a night spent without a computer and staring at the ceiling for most of it until he fell asleep in the early hours of the morning.
Tonight's visitor was one of the ones that tried to convince Hirakoba to tell Zaizen to leave the room, even as he turned down the volume so he could eavesdrop on their conversation as he'd found himself doing most nights that this had happened. Hirakoba was getting better at convincing them otherwise with a trail of kisses up their jaw and some well placed hands.
A thought occurred him to suddenly and he lowered his headphones before speaking. “I'm not sleeping in the wet spot,” Zaizen said and Hirakoba pulled away from his companion to look at him.
“Oh, of course, darling.”
“Change the sheets.” It seemed pointless to remind Hirakoba, since he changed them after every time anyway after the first time Zaizen had protested about it.
“When I'm done. You can even go get them for me.”
Zaizen nodded and sunk back into his seat, putting his headphones on again. But he still didn't turn the sound up too loud, so he could hear properly the murmur of their voices and found himself glancing in the direction of the bed much more often than usual.
He couldn't see very well from this position, mostly just of the man's broad back - too muscular, but Hirakoba always seemed to go for that type, he'd realised - and Hirakoba's legs. There was nothing new to glean from this position, Zaizen had seen it far too often now.
What was new though, was Hirakoba being rolled over and pushed up onto his knees. Zaizen had come to the conclusion that Hirakoba didn't like this position since he seemed to like being able to touch and kiss freely for himself. But, as Zaizen glanced up again and his fingers fell still, he did seem to enjoy kisses pressed to the back of his neck and the amount of attention otherwise.
It grew boring to watch though and Zaizen was about to turn his attention back to his computer screen when he saw movement that definitely wasn't normal and the sound of Hirakoba's breathing changed.
There were hands around his neck, his face pressed into the pillows and Hirakoba was struggling, but pinned down by a body much larger than his.
And that was all Zaizen needed to see.
He picked up the closest thing on hand, his mouse cable being yanked out of the port before he threw the mouse at the back of the person's head, hearing it hit his head with a satisfying noise.
It had been worth the night spent in Hirakoba's arms to get him to buy him the heavier, more solid gaming mouse, then.
It was enough of of a distraction, to give him enough time to move, faster than maybe even Kenya would have, he liked to think, pulling out the collapsible knife that he'd so carefully sewn into his belt again, stabbing it into the man's back.
He felt the blade scrape against bone and he twisted it, feeling their body convulse underneath him. And the hands loosened from around Hirakoba's neck and Zaizen watched with great fascination as he twisted around, his eyes an unnaturally bright blue and an expression on his face Zaizen had never seen before and he carefully filed away.
He was manipulating the water in their body, he realised, forcing blood into his lungs as he heard the wet gurgle of the man trying to breathe. And just for good measure, Zaizen pulled the knife out of the man's back and stabbed him again, twisting the blade around.
Hirakoba's eyes narrowed, still unnaturally bright and there was suddenly blood appearing and the wet sound of a man choking on his own filling lungs.
Zaizen didn't know how to feel as the man slowly died between them and blood was still appearing, staining the bedsheets and growing.
Hirakoba kicked the body off him before he started coughing, taking in deep, wheezing breaths. “That was uncalled for,” he said finally moving to flop onto his back and touch his neck. “It was kind of hot to begin with though.”
He just stared at Hirakoba and reached out to poke his neck for himself. “No.”
“He could have waited until I came at least,” Hirakoba said and Zaizen's gazed flicked down to his groin and then back up to his face. Apparently attempted murder and Hirakoba having to kill someone hadn't killed any sort of arousal. Fascinating information. “What a selfish asshole.”
“Yes. What an asshole for leaving you like that. Good thing he's dead,” Zaizen said flatly. He turned away from the bed and made his way back to the desk and the computer. Which no longer had a mouse, he realised glumly and he looked down at the still playing computer game.
“You could always lend me a helping hand, Mary-kun,” Hirakoba said with a bit of a smile.
Zaizen glanced back at him. His eyes were back to normal now, he realised. Definitely a reaction to power being used. “Do it yourself.”
Hirakoba tsked and Zaizen moved to put his headphones back up again. Still, even as he made do with the trackpad to finish off this round and stared so intently at his screen, there was no sound from the computer blocking out the sound of Hirakoba on the bed; the little catches of his breath that Zaizen thought he could calculate the frequency of, the sound of what Zaizen suspected was his feet shifting on the covers and the soft moans that Hirakoba made no effort at biting back.
Zaizen kept his gaze focused on the screen that was blank, just listening and figuring out what was happening from sound alone. He didn't need to look to know what was happening, he'd learned the sounds well enough by now and what they meant.
“Done yet?” Zaizen asked as it fell silent and he looked up again. Hirakoba was still on the bed, his legs sprawled and blood streaked over them as he continued to lie on the soaked sheets.
There was more blood than the should have been... he wondered what Hirakoba had done to cause it. He'd been focusing too much on the shifting colour of Hirakoba's eyes, he foolishly hadn't paid attention.
The body was still lying next to him but Hirakoba didn't seem to be paying it any attention at all, or even noticing it was there now that it was no longer interesting.
“Yes. Give me a moment, hun.”
“I'll go get someone to remove your visitor.”
“You're so kind. Thank you.”
Zaizen stopped by the bed for a moment on his way to the door, looking down at Hirakoba who seemed very tired all of a sudden - a result of the power usage, maybe? - lying with his eyes closed and taking purposely deep breaths.
He pulled the knife out of the stranger's back with a squelch and as he stood there with Hirakoba so tired and vulnerable and his knife in his hand... it would be so easy to just stab him now and get it over and done with.
His fingers tightened and he prodded Hirakoba with the tip of his knife, which made him open his eyes suddenly and look at him, though he made no move to defend himself.
“You nearly died because you got careless. Stupid,” Zaizen said, wiping the blade on the bedsheets and folding it back up before resting it on the bedside table.
“I'll be more careful next time.” Hirakoba said with a tired smile.
It was Chinen that came to collect the body when Zaizen poked his head out the door. Had he been listening to the whole thing, standing there the whole time in the shadows? He wondered how frequent of an event this was as well, when Chinen didn't even seem to blink when he walked in on the scene.
“Thank you, Hiroshi. As always.”
Hirakoba patted the man on the arm, still not willing to move, but Chinen seemed to not really care, either about the mess now on his arm or about Hirakoba just lying there. He was much more interested in the stab wounds from Zaizen. He didn't even seem to blink at the blood or the fact that Hirakoba had clearly been in the middle of sex when it happened.
Definitely listening at the door, then.
“You didn't do this,” he said, moving to inspect Hirakoba's neck which he obediently tilted his head for, letting his hair fall to the side.
“No, he took me by surprise. Mary-kun did it, he's a good bodyguard.”
Chinen glanced at him, his eyes intense before he turned his attention to moving the body, dragging it off by the arms and pulling it along the ground to the door and leaving a wet, red smear. Looking at the man now, there was blood all down his front as well, though Zaizen could see no wound that could have caused it. Hirakoba, then.
“I'll clean it later.”
“Thank you.”
And then Chinen was gone, leaving the door wide open behind him. Although Zaizen couldn't really blame him, the body had looked heavy and the man was very thin.
More important was looking down at Hirakoba and the bed itself. “I'm not sleeping with you in that bed,” Zaizen said, looking down at Hirakoba who laughed at him, reaching out to smear a mixture of come and blood on his arm and then went for his face.
Zaizen flinched back and slapped Hirakoba's hand away, which was only greeted with more laughter.
“Go bathe.”
“Are you going to help me?” Hirakoba was waggling his fingers at Zaizen again and he glanced down at them, seeing the mess of fluids on them. He didn't know how to feel about Hirakoba being unbothered by lying in blood either.
… How often had it happened for it to be so normal, he wondered. And that thought was more sad than disturbing, he realised.
“No. You can clean yourself up.”
He expected it though, moving off to the pool room to wash off the gross on his arm and hands, Hirakoba getting up to hug him from behind and he felt the warm press of his skin against him and his frown intensified.
“Thank you for saving me, really.”
Zaizen pushed Hirakoba off him, not talking until he could reach the small shower in the pool room to spray himself with water. Now his back was all bloodied too and he sighed as he stripped off his clothes.
“You should have done it yourself.”
“I got distracted.” The hands that were moving along his back were distracting and Zaizen turned the water spray on Hirakoba for a moment, hearing him laugh before he turned the water on his back to get rid of the gross.
Zaizen carefully thought about how to phrase his next question and he let Hirakoba wash his back, his fingers pressing into Zaizen's muscles. He elbowed Hirakoba as the hands snuck just a bit low.
“Did you know you were capable of what you did?”
Hirakoba was silent and the hands fell still for a moment before they moved to hug him around the waist. “You mean, have I done it before?”
He could tell Hirakoba was smiling as he spoke though and Zaizen didn't move at all or make a sound, even as the hands traced around his inner thighs. The shower head was still in his hands, spraying on the floor and Hirakoba's chin was on his shoulder now.
“Yes hun, I've done it before,” Hirakoba said eventually. “To one of the elders, a long time ago.” His smile was just a bit vicious. “They learned not to touch me.”
They sat like that for a while longer as Zaizen processed this and came up with so many scenarios on what could have happened. There were too many possibilities and not enough data though he had enough of an idea that he didn't want to linger over too much. Finally he moved to stand up, abruptly spraying Hirakoba in the face with the shower head.
“Get clean. And I'm hungry now.”
“Pizza, then? Tell Hiroshi, I'll be out in a little while.”
-
They did indeed get pizza, which Chinen brought in with his cleaning supplies and they sat and watched him tidy up with well practiced efficiency, Hirakoba curled up around him.
“You owe me a new mouse,” he said and he could feel the huff of his breath on his ear as he laughed.
The bedroom smelled sharp from the disinfectant that had been sprayed liberally around the room to get rid of any remains of the dead man. Chinen had even gotten a new mattress to replace the other one that had been soaked. He was very currently putting bedsheets on it, also apparently uncaring about the blood and come on the dirtied set.
“I know. I'll ask Eishirou tomorrow.”
Zaizen frowned. “I want to pick it myself this time. Your other one was too spongy.”
Hirakoba shifted to press a kiss to his cheek. Zaizen barely even blinked at it now. “Then, we can sneak out tomorrow and go get you one.”
Somehow he doubted that would happen. They'd probably get to the door and be told to go back inside. And Hirakoba would obey and just make one of his friends get it for him again.
Zaizen sighed. “... A mechanical keyboard as well.”
Hirakoba snorted a bit and settled back down. “Just a mouse.”
“... I should have let him kill you,” Zaizen sulked and Hirakoba buried his face into his ear, making him wriggle at the ticklishness.
“Fine, a keyboard as well. Because I love you that much.”
Chinen glanced up at that and looked over to them, one of Hirakoba's many pillows in his hands being plumped up.
“I love you too, Hiroshi. No getting jealous now.” And just for added measure, Hirakoba blew him a kiss.
Chinen's expression didn't even change at that and he returned to his task of arranging Hirakoba's pillow collection. However Zaizen did notice the light tinge to his hollow cheeks that he observed with great interest. Somehow though, he doubted Hirakoba paid any attention to it; he seemed more interested in kissing cheese from the corner of Zaizen's lip and hugging the breath out of him as usual.
-
How long had he been at Higa now, Zaizen tried to think, as he had Hirakoba sprawled over his lap, sacrificing his back to be used as a laptop table while he napped.
It was an awkward position, but they both were happy and comfortable enough with it. And Hirakoba seemed to be actually asleep, if the timing of his breathing was anything to go by and the lack of wandering hands.
Over a month... six weeks, maybe? … Two months?
And how long had it been since he'd messaged Shiraishi to let him know about his progress?
… He couldn't recall the last one and that frightened him a little with how easily he'd slipped into complacency and lost track of things while staying in Hirakoba's care.
He considered for a while that perhaps this constant calmness and contentedness with the situation was a result of some power being used over the room, to keep Hirakoba happy. That would explain so much, as he shifted the book on Hirakoba's bum to a slightly better position as a mousepad.
Zaizen certainly had collected enough information now to be able to have a decent chance at escaping the house and being able to kill Hirakoba. He thought that just by listening to his breathing or the strength of his grip while they were in bed together, he could determine the safe points throughout the night where killing him would be so easy.
Even the routine of the guards and their shifts and how it lined up with Hirakoba's sleeping pattern, he could predict and at what time he needed to get Hirakoba settled down into bed so that he had that tiny window of opportunity.
But even just writing a message to Shiraishi, he didn't want to do and for the nth time, Zaizen x'ed out of the window.
Later, he told himself. Tonight was the wrong timing for it.
But of course, Higa was never fully known, particularly with how little information he had about the Higa elders and trying to determine their thought patterns. And of all the things Zaizen had been thinking they might do, he certainly hadn't been expecting them to decide to move Hirakoba to the mainland.
“The situation between Seigaku and Rikkai has worsened,” Kite said to them and Zaizen felt Hirakoba's arms tighten around him slightly. “The elders voted unanimously to preemptively move you to a safe house.”
“For how long?”
“Until we can strengthen our defences. We know Yamabuki have infiltrated us before,” clearly Dan Taichi's presence hadn't gone unnoticed. “As have other families.” Kite's gaze lingered on Zaizen for a long moment before returning to Hirakoba.
“We tried to cover up the attempted murder a few nights ago, but they learned about it. They're getting paranoid that you've become a more public target.”
That was interesting. He wondered who had been responsible for trying to cover it up. And more importantly, why? What did that say about those person's links to the elders that they were attempting to defy them like that?
“So they're taking it away from me now, I'm guessing? No more visitors to my room?”
Kite looked troubled but Zaizen thought he could detect a little bit of sympathy in his expression. “Probably not.”
“I hope they're not planning on substituting themselves in to keep me entertained.”
“Also probably not.” And some amusement now.
There was a pause before Hirakoba sighed loudly. “Who else is coming with me to this safe house?”
“Yuujirou was assigned to it.”
There was a troubled silence and Zaizen hunched his shoulder as Hirakoba pressed his face into it before he spoke. “Will there be mochi and internet there?”
Kite seemed to understand exactly the reason behind that question and his gaze on Zaizen was so sharp. But Zaizen just met it with his usual flat stare, uncaring.
“Yes Rin, you can take your pet with you.”
… Surely moving Hirakoba away from his protected room here in the Higa household, where he was surrounded by people with powers, was a foolish idea for people that wanted to keep him safe? Particularly with how closely one needed to observe in order to ascertain that Hirakoba was indeed the water elemental.
But there was the tactician in Rikkai, who would be capable of it, Zaizen reminded himself. And they didn't know where the attempted murderer from the other night had come from. If Rikkai found Seigaku and Hyotei too much of a challenge to take on in their current states, perhaps Higa was a very tempting target.
So perhaps moving him to another location was a good idea? If they brought all three elementals with them, Zaizen had no doubt they could level the house to the ground.
“Will you come with me, Mary-kun?” Hirakoba asked, after Kite had left and Hirakoba petted his hair and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
No. … “I'll need three boxes of red bean mochi.”
Had Hirakoba actually been worried that he wouldn't agree to come? The arms around him spoke of relief and happiness anyway.
-
There were many places Zaizen could think of to have a safe location, a beach in Wakayama was not one of them. Particularly since if anything, the availability of the beach in relation to where they were staying, and Kai's laxness in enforcing the rules of keeping Hirakoba in line, meant that he was more obvious than ever with his elemental powers.
Still, it was so hard to complain or say anything about it when he was sitting out in the fresh air and Hirakoba was so obviously happier here.
Zaizen had burned the first day and the redness had faded into tan lines and a bit of peeling skin that Hirakoba had laughed over and kissed as they sat in bed together.
The second day, he'd made Hirakoba buy him a parasol to hold over himself while he sat on the beach. The alternative was letting Hirakoba slather him up with sunscreen, which was sticky and smelled, and he'd told him as such, much to his amusement.
And so he spent almost every daylight hour sitting at the beach, watching Hirakoba in the water and spending the nights with him wrapped around him, sleeping so soundly while Zaizen enjoyed the feeling of the fresh nighttime breeze through the windows that he hadn't realised until now he'd missed.
Hirakoba was surfing today and Zaizen watched from under the shaded safety of his parasol. The man always had a good wave, as expected.
He was caught considering how much power and manipulation Hirakoba would have to put in, trying to find the exact moment he did - was it from the beginning and actually forming the wave itself, or was it just controlling when and how it broke?
He wanted to know the exact level of control Hirakoba had, now that he knew how far it extended beyond just letting himself breathe underwater and propelling himself through his pool.
Somehow he thought Hirakoba might even be willing to demonstrate to him, especially with Kai supervising and not really caring. He half considered actually getting up and getting his toes wet in the ocean to ask him.
But before he could, there was a surprised shout of his name and Zaizen turned around in surprise, seeing Kenya heading towards him.
He was surprised he wasn't running and was making an effort to hold back his super speed to look like a - very briskly walking - person.
“Zaizen?! You're alive?!”
Zaizen moved his parasol to hit the edge of it into Kenya's forehead. “No, I'm a ghost. I'm haunting you.”
There were suddenly hands on his arm, much more invasive than Hirakoba's ever seemed to be, pulling him up to standing.
“What are you doing here? Why didn't you come home if you're so close?”
Zaizen glanced at the water, seeing Kai and Hirakoba together, laughing and paying him no attention at the moment. “I'm holidaying.”
And then he realised.
… He had to get Kenya away from here. Right now.
Kenya, who knew from Zaizen's notes about who the water elemental wielder was and what he looked like. Kenya, who was definitely no match for Hirakoba, particularly with this much water around them, let alone Kai.
Kenya, who Zaizen definitely didn't want to see killed.
And he hated that hesitation in him as he tried to foresee what was going to happen down the many routes he could think of, from staying here, to moving away, to making Kenya leave him alone. There were so many possibilities and Zaizen scrunched up his face slightly as he tried to concentration.
Kenya seemed to notice his dilemma and sudden stress as well, grasping his arm and giving him a concerned shake that did nothing to distract him.
Zaizen looked at the ocean again and the blonde figure he could see paddling out to the deeper water again. And then shoved his hand into Kenya's face to stop him from following his gaze, pushing his face away to the other side.
He didn't really have a choice.
Or that's what he told himself, to justify what he was doing?
“I'm done holidaying. I got burned and sunscreen smells.”
He put the parasol down, purposely covering up Hirakoba's possessions that he didn't think Kenya had seen with his interest too much on Zaizen. And then he stood up, dusting off sand from his legs.
He barely listened to Kenya's platitudes about how Shiraishi wasn't going to care about him failing the mission - how had he gone with that, anyway? - or about why Kenya was there in the first place.
He just needed to keep walking away from the beach and not look back in case he changed his mind about walking away from Hirakoba.
--
It wasn't until he was on the train back to their home that Zaizen had the belated realisation that perhaps sending them to Wakayama hadn't been for Hirakoba's safety, but some twisted strategy by Higa to get rid of him.
And one that he hadn't foreseen and predicted.
…
And one that had actually worked and had probably been the worst way for him to leave.
It made sense, now that he thought about it. Why else send Kai with them, who was irresponsible and bad at keeping track of Hirakoba and keeping him in line? Why let Hirakoba out of the safe house so much, when otherwise they were so intent on keeping him away from the public eye.
But that wasn't so important anymore, though Zaizen was annoyed at himself for not seeing it and falling into the their trap.
More importantly was, what had Hirakoba thought, when he'd returned to the shore to find Zaizen gone, his possessions still on the beach? And how long had he waited before he realised that Zaizen wasn't coming back?
He could imagine Hirakoba's expression easily enough, though there were still many faces of the other man that he hadn't seen, he realised that.
What had he done when he'd realised? There had been no news of anything happening and no threat of Higa moving into Shitenhouji territory, even though Zaizen regularly checked for it.
Of course Higa wouldn't move into Shitenhouji territory, Zaizen told himself. They were probably overjoyed that their plan had worked and he'd left their household, no matter Hirakoba's reaction to it.
And then there were the worse thoughts; had Hirakoba curled up into his ball under the covers on the bed when he'd gotten back to the room? At least the room they'd been in in the safe house had windows he could look out instead of depressingly blank walls.
And with Zaizen gone, how quickly had Hirakoba been made to return to Okinawa and back to his room?
… Had anyone been there with him?
Had he maybe been so easily replaced by someone else that Hirakoba had picked up off the street and dragged into his world? Or had the elders gone through with their word and kept him isolated again to satisfy their own paranoia?
Maybe Chinen had stepped up and tried taking his space, although he doubted the tall man was comfortable to hug and would be satisfactory.
Zaizen tapped on his computer, scrolling quickly through the news sites.
It was weird, how easily back he'd been accepted into Shitenhouji. How relieved his family had been to have him back, even though he'd been gone for so long and had done nothing.
It was back to normal then, pushing off Koharu's hugs automatically and dodging Tooyama's rush to jump on him when the boy had gotten back from his adventure in Tokyo and found him to be home, and spending long afternoons with Chitose, wiping the floor with him at shogi.
He hated his family.
… But not that much, as Kenya tossed him a packet of crisps from the doorway and went off to his own room.
Shiraishi had asked him what had happened, of course.
“It was a mistaken identity. Hirakoba only breathes underwater, he doesn't control the element. There was no elemental wielders in Higa,” Zaizen found himself saying, for reasons he couldn't comprehend himself, though he mulled over his words many times at night.
Returning to Shitenhouji should have been easy to adjust back into, but Zaizen found himself missing the extra warmth in the bed and the physical contact that was comfortable and undemanding; not invasive and annoying like his family's was. He missed the easy conversations and the extra presence in the room as he played video games - although he did note that his computer was much better for it than Hirakoba's laptop.
… This sucked.
The whole family thought he was unhappy, but he refused to tell them any details of why, instead just leaving them to realise that his door was shut more often and he spent longer than before on his computer or watching Amelie while bundled up under blankets.
They guessed, as he knew they would.
Tooyama thought that he was sulking from a loss and tried to convince him that losing was okay, sometimes, not really, and then got himself confused. Last he'd heard, the red head had gone off to Tokyo again to fight against his friend after their one sided conversation.
Kenya never guessed or prodded him for answers, for which Zaizen was thankful for, though he didn't show it. He liked to think Kenya understood anyway as he always had.
That silence was made up for by Koharu and Yuuji making wild guesses about what had happened. He'd been swept off his feet by someone there and was pining in love, was their latest guess. Zaizen had just thrown the contents of his cup of tea at them and shut the door.
Idiots.
But he was unhappy, that much he had to admit to himself after weeks of moping in his room. And he grew more unhappy as his mind moved through possibilities and figured out the most likely of events that had occurred after he left and were probably happening now.
Hirakoba was probably very unhappy as well and he hated that he cared about it.
And he hated that he had to do something about it. That maybe he needed to get up and leave, as he'd told Hirakoba to do?
There were no doors holding him back, or guards outside his room. And certainly, with how well he'd hidden his power from his whole family, hiding it from the outside world wasn't difficult.
It was such a stupid idea and he'd probably throw things at anyone else if they'd thought of doing the same. But it was only for a short while, he told himself. Just to confirm a few things, that he didn't quite know yet, but he'd sort out on the plane trip over. And to get Hirakoba out of the Higa house. Maybe.
Zaizen told only Kenya, as he passed him on the way to the front door, his bag slung over his back. And it said so much that Kenya made no move to stop him or convince him otherwise.
--
The beaches in Okinawa were nice, even if it was still hot as he sat on the wall and stared at his phone, scrolling through forums.
Kenya sent him a photo of his iguana and he saved it. It was much more acceptable than the other photos of sneakers that he got.
There was no blond haired surfer out there today, or splashing in the shallows, just like there hadn't been for the past few days that he'd been there.
Still trapped inside in his room, then. Maybe curled up around another dark haired short male.
Zaizen lifted up his phone to take a quick photo of the beach, focusing on the angle to take his mind of where his thoughts had wandered.
There was no point in him being there today either, but he couldn't quite bring himself to get up and trek back to the hotel just yet. Even if he could feel the sun on the back of his neck and he was probably going to get sunburned there.
He barely paid any attention to the footsteps behind him, even as his mind processed the sounds of them - someone with a limp, an older man, two girls in much too tall heels, a businessman in designer shoes, two males. He only looked up as there was suddenly shade over him.
“You're meant to at least swim at the beach, you know Zaizen-kun, not just sit on your phone.”
Zaizen turned around to look, seeing Chinen with his usual unreadable expression on his face, standing behind a smiling Hirakoba, holding a parasol over him.
He lowered his phone down to lap and stared at Hirakoba, analysing him quickly. A little thinner than before, his hair had been recently dyed and he couldn't quite figure out the exact feelings behind that smile.
Someone had told Hirakoba his real name. Or perhaps he'd known it all along and just played along with calling him Mary Poppins. It didn't really matter all that much though, he decided.
“I don't know who that is. I'm not Zaizen,” he said flatly, turning back around to pointedly look at his phone again.
There was such familiar laughter - the genuine, definitely amused laughter - and then the warm arms wrapping around him from behind. Hirakoba pressed his face into Zaizen's shoulder, his arms tightening around him so it was almost difficult to breathe.
“Mary-kun, of course. Sorry.” There was a pause before Hirakoba spoke again. “I'm going swimming. Can you swim now, or do you still need lessons?”
Zaizen elbowed him, but not too hard. “I don't need lessons. I've always been able to swim.”
“Are you going to join me in the water, then?”
“I'm only putting my feet in.”
Hirakoba hummed as he considered his answer. And then he spoke again, with such a sudden change in topics that it disarmed Zaizen for a moment. He'd been waiting for the usual attempts at bribery and bartering for affection. “Are you back now? I missed you.” His voice sounded so hopeful and his arms were so deathly tight around him.
There was no questions about what had happened and where he'd been. And somehow he thought that Hirakoba wouldn't ask him about it either, until he wanted to tell him himself.
Zaizen didn't answer; he couldn't answer. And that was enough for Hirakoba to know and his arms tightened around him. Zaizen had no answer for him, except to maybe push his arms off from around him and head down to the water. But he didn't do that, just yet.
And he noticed Hirakoba made no move either to pull away to let him.
Author: Mathias
Recipient: quelleperedhil
Pairing/Characters: Hirakoba Rin, Zaizen Hikaru, Higa team, Shitenhouji team
Rating: R
Warnings: Sex, bad worldbuilding and magic systems, violence, blood, ambiguous relationships.... and there's a dead body in there and that's a bit gross.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
Summary: Zaizen infiltrates Higa to kill Hirakoba Rin, but it turns out to be a lot more difficult than he first thought.
(Alternate summary: Everybody, meet RinZ. Fantasy AU)
Hirakoba was still damp from the pool that night as he draped himself over Zaizen's lap. But with how disappointed he'd been to leave the beach and the time he'd had to spend at the bottom of the pool sulking after he'd vanished from the room for a large chunk of the afternoon... he decided he didn't really care enough to tell him to towel himself dry again.
“Is your family as bad as mine?” Hirakoba asked, turning his head to look at Zaizen. “Do you have elders telling you what to do?”
“We don't have elders.” And even if they did, Zaizen wouldn't listen to them. He listened to Shiraishi, somewhat, as the other man planned for his approaching time to take over the leadership of the family.
Hirakoba sighed loudly and stretched out a little before settling down again. “They're not even that powerful, you know. Some of them don't have powers at all.”
“Then why do you listen to them?”
“Because they're my family and you're supposed to...” There was so much doubt in Hirakoba's voice and Zaizen wondered if this was the first time that he'd actually thought about it.
Of course, keeping their most powerful member under control would have been a lifelong thing.
“And the people on guard outside your door?” He made no attempt at lowering his voice for that and he thought he heard a little bit of shifting from outside in response.
“To help me whenever I need them... apparently.”
“They're more likely there to stop you from ever leaving without permission.”
“... Probably.” Hirakoba sounded a bit miserable and resigned to the fact. “They used to say it was for my own protection as a child.”
Zaizen found himself with his hands on Hirakoba's back, resting there and feeling him relax a little into the touch.
“If you wanted to get rid of them, you could. It would be easier than in other families too, since your family structure isn't based on immediate relations and bloodline.”
He didn't have a clear understanding on how Higa's structure worked exactly, but he knew that it wasn't like the other families were normally. Especially knowing now that some of the family elders were powerless people as well.
Hirakoba laughed a little at that, though the silence he fell into was thoughtful. “I'm not quite strong enough to take on the whole of my family. Some of them are quite strong.” He shrugged. “I mean, just Eishirou alone would be a bit of a task.”
Zaizen shrugged. “I never said you had to. There's other ways to get power than killing people.”
“Isn't that what our society's based on, though? Killing for powers?”
Zaizen looked down at Hirakoba, who was settling back down to press his face back into Zaizen's lap. He jabbed him in the side, being rewarded with the usual unhappy squeak and twitch. “How much do you know?”
“Don't do that.” Hirakoba pushed his hand away and Zaizen just prodded him again. “I got told enough when I was younger.”
To keep a younger Hirakoba in line with fear and to justify why he had to stay inside all the time. Zaizen knew that. They'd never finished this conversation before and Zaizen was so tempted to now, to see how far he could push it.
“Tell me.” Zaizen threateningly touched his fingertips to Hirakoba's side again and heard him grumble.
“The families collect powers by killing people from other families. And the elemental powers are always the most sought after because there's only one each of them and they're the most powerful.” Hirakoba's voice had a bored, learned by heart sound to it.
Hirakoba sighed. “Do the other elemental people also get treated the same?”
Zaizen could hear the unasked question. Were the other elementals also kept trapped inside all the time?
“Traditionally they were as a form of protection. And the powerless members of the family, or those with the weakest powers were usually sent out to try and kill and collect others.
“What about you, Mary-kun?”
“What about me?”
“I know you're not powerless. Or weak.” Zaizen stiffened at that and Hirakoba twisted around to look up at him, smiling. “I would have thought your family leader would have wanted to keep you safe from harm as well.”
“I don't have any powers,” Zaizen said with a flat expression and Hirakoba just smiled a bit more.
How much had Hirakoba guessed about what he could do? … How much had he given away?
“Tradition's been changing recently, anyway.”
“Oh?” At least it was easy to distract Hirakoba away from the topic.
“Rikkai's an interesting example. They used to be like this, but their elemental users are pushing to take over the family now.” Zaizen didn't linger over his thoughts about what he foresaw happening when it was successful, for there was no doubt of it. Shitenhouji would have to adapt to a changed society when it happened.
“Rikkai was mentioned today in the meeting,” Hirakoba said and Zaizen looked down at him. He hadn't been in contact with Shitenhouji enough to get regular updates on what had happened. Something he regretted now about being locked away for weeks on end.
Hirakoba thankfully seemed to sense his interest in the topic and kept talking. “They were targeting Seigaku and got caught up in a fight with Hyotei. The elders are considering whether there's a chance they'll come here next.”
For everything that was happening, Hirakoba didn't seem too concerned or all that interested. He seemed to be paying more attention to sneaking his hands under Zaizen's shirt some more, even as Zaizen processed the new information.
“They might.”
Though he doubted it. At least not for a while... Hirakoba really was very subtle with his powers and not going outside often meant he wasn't seen using them.
“Would you come with me if they made me go somewhere?”
… No, was the immediate answer Zaizen came to. But Hirakoba was watching him so closely.
“Would there be mochi and internet there?”
Hirakoba laughed and snuggled up to him again. “I'll have to check. I'll make sure to request it if they make us move.”
-
He should have expected it, really, with knowing that the elders wanted to get rid of him and that irritating Hirakoba by getting rid of him was something they most definitely probably didn't want to do.
But still, it was a shock to walk into the bedroom from the pool room with Hirakoba in tow to find another person just standing in there, waiting. It hadn't occurred to him that they might try something like that, a very passive... potentially successful way to get rid of him that wouldn't make Hirakoba turn on them.
Perhaps they weren't so foolish after all.
He'd almost prefer to be dragged out of the bedroom and killed out back than Hirakoba potentially throwing him away because he lost interest.
The first time, Hirakoba had walked past to hop into his bed, uninterested.
The second time, he'd taken at least a moment to pause and glance before heading dragging Zaizen to his bed.
The third time, Zaizen thought he had it figured out, as Hirakoba fully stopped and looked and considered.
There was an obvious pattern emerging. This third person was small and dark haired and looking like he was about to wet himself as Hirakoba eyed him up.
Was this how it normally was then, how Hirakoba chose his new companions? Did Kite just shove them into his room and if he liked them, they never left again until their bodies were dumped somewhere? And if he didn't like them... they were shown the door as he did with the first two?
… For that matter, he didn't know what happened to them after they were made to leave the room.
And suddenly he realised that his acceptance into Higa had been a complete coincidence. If it had been anyone else in Shitenhouji that Shiraishi seemed like to sending on various tasks that had been sent there... they would have just been rejected by Hirakoba.
Tooyama might get half a look, with his small stature, but Zaizen had a feeling it was the dark hair as well that had made Hirakoba decide he was 'perfect'.
Were the others before him the same, he wondered. If he'd gone into that pool room on the first night, would he have seen others that shared those features with him?
Zaizen stared at the stranger, much younger than him, now that he looked closer and still looking terrified. He was from Yamabuki, if he remembered correctly. Were Yamabuki believing the rumours too and making a move to gain an elemental? Had they had the same plan as him?
Did this Dan Taichi have a knife concealed under his clothes to stab into Hirakoba the moment he got enveloped in a hug? Or was he the type to poison him? He really doubted Dan was the type to try to physically overpower Hirakoba, just the idea made him laugh.
“The pizza's getting cold,” he said, poking Hirakoba sharply in the back to get his attention. “Stop flirting, I'm hungry.”
That seemed to get Hirakoba's attention quickly and he found himself smothered in a hug that he just stood and accepted, glancing at the stranger just a few paces away and noticing their gaze on them. Good.
“So jealous, Mary-kun!” Hirakoba sounded weirdly delighted at this in his teasing and Zaizen pushed him away with a frown.
“I'm not jealous. I'm hungry.”
“Of course. The packet of mochi before did nothing for your stomach. Let me get rid of them first and you can start eating.”
He got a kiss on the cheek and then Hirakoba was gone, to the door to poke his head out to ask 'Yuu' to come and remove the person. Zaizen knew he shouldn't feel quite so pleased about the result as the person he recognised as Kai came in to pull the Yamabuki person out.
Zaizen couldn't even bring himself to feel a sliver of pity as he heard them head down into the house, away from the front door and his question on what happened after seemed to be answered for him.
-
Hirakoba having his interest caught by other short, dark haired males that he seemed to enjoy just for the company was one thing that Zaizen had to keep a close eye on as he cared about remaining alive.
And it was so easy to manipulate Hirakoba's attentions anyway that it seemed almost pointless to worry about them.
In terms of the elders getting them separated, that particular tactic wasn't a concern anymore. … But he still worried a little.
But he didn't care so much about it when Hirakoba was gifted with other men that definitely didn't fit that description. Especially since Hirakoba didn't seem to particularly care as Zaizen set up the laptop at the table in the room and focused his attentions on the screen, headphones on and for all intents and purposes not paying attention.
… Somehow he thought Hirakoba wouldn't care if he was paying attention either, a thought he didn't linger on.
After all, Hirakoba never shut the door fully when they were around either and Zaizen had to spare a thought for whoever was on duty and standing outside the door when it happened.
He wondered how regularly this happened normally... and had Hirakoba been holding himself back until he thought Zaizen himself might be comfortable enough to allow it? At least when they visited, Hirakoba tended to present him with a box of mochi to keep himself occupied for a while.
The visiting men seemed to have more problems with it though and some of them had outright refused as Zaizen stared at them from his corner as they entered the room, others had been obviously confused but eagerly accepted it as Hirakoba distracted them.
Zaizen clicked on the screen a couple of times and reloaded his weapon, stuffing a piece of mochi in his mouth.
The headphones weren't noise cancelling, he'd learned that very quickly. But the sound of Hirakoba's voice speaking was easy enough to block out, as was the sound of flesh hitting flesh and soft moans from the bed just a few paces away.
At least it was never particularly loud.
Zaizen ate another piece of mochi.
He glanced up occasionally, to see the progress and check that there wasn't any sign of the male being tempted to stay the night. He'd only had to kick out a few people out of the room, Hirakoba never seemed too keen to have them stick around and took care of that most nights by himself.
Telling him “I'm tired, I want to go to sleep tonight,” always tended to get him to remove the ones that lingered around, anyway.
And Zaizen was happy to do it for the privacy, even if it meant a night spent without a computer and staring at the ceiling for most of it until he fell asleep in the early hours of the morning.
Tonight's visitor was one of the ones that tried to convince Hirakoba to tell Zaizen to leave the room, even as he turned down the volume so he could eavesdrop on their conversation as he'd found himself doing most nights that this had happened. Hirakoba was getting better at convincing them otherwise with a trail of kisses up their jaw and some well placed hands.
A thought occurred him to suddenly and he lowered his headphones before speaking. “I'm not sleeping in the wet spot,” Zaizen said and Hirakoba pulled away from his companion to look at him.
“Oh, of course, darling.”
“Change the sheets.” It seemed pointless to remind Hirakoba, since he changed them after every time anyway after the first time Zaizen had protested about it.
“When I'm done. You can even go get them for me.”
Zaizen nodded and sunk back into his seat, putting his headphones on again. But he still didn't turn the sound up too loud, so he could hear properly the murmur of their voices and found himself glancing in the direction of the bed much more often than usual.
He couldn't see very well from this position, mostly just of the man's broad back - too muscular, but Hirakoba always seemed to go for that type, he'd realised - and Hirakoba's legs. There was nothing new to glean from this position, Zaizen had seen it far too often now.
What was new though, was Hirakoba being rolled over and pushed up onto his knees. Zaizen had come to the conclusion that Hirakoba didn't like this position since he seemed to like being able to touch and kiss freely for himself. But, as Zaizen glanced up again and his fingers fell still, he did seem to enjoy kisses pressed to the back of his neck and the amount of attention otherwise.
It grew boring to watch though and Zaizen was about to turn his attention back to his computer screen when he saw movement that definitely wasn't normal and the sound of Hirakoba's breathing changed.
There were hands around his neck, his face pressed into the pillows and Hirakoba was struggling, but pinned down by a body much larger than his.
And that was all Zaizen needed to see.
He picked up the closest thing on hand, his mouse cable being yanked out of the port before he threw the mouse at the back of the person's head, hearing it hit his head with a satisfying noise.
It had been worth the night spent in Hirakoba's arms to get him to buy him the heavier, more solid gaming mouse, then.
It was enough of of a distraction, to give him enough time to move, faster than maybe even Kenya would have, he liked to think, pulling out the collapsible knife that he'd so carefully sewn into his belt again, stabbing it into the man's back.
He felt the blade scrape against bone and he twisted it, feeling their body convulse underneath him. And the hands loosened from around Hirakoba's neck and Zaizen watched with great fascination as he twisted around, his eyes an unnaturally bright blue and an expression on his face Zaizen had never seen before and he carefully filed away.
He was manipulating the water in their body, he realised, forcing blood into his lungs as he heard the wet gurgle of the man trying to breathe. And just for good measure, Zaizen pulled the knife out of the man's back and stabbed him again, twisting the blade around.
Hirakoba's eyes narrowed, still unnaturally bright and there was suddenly blood appearing and the wet sound of a man choking on his own filling lungs.
Zaizen didn't know how to feel as the man slowly died between them and blood was still appearing, staining the bedsheets and growing.
Hirakoba kicked the body off him before he started coughing, taking in deep, wheezing breaths. “That was uncalled for,” he said finally moving to flop onto his back and touch his neck. “It was kind of hot to begin with though.”
He just stared at Hirakoba and reached out to poke his neck for himself. “No.”
“He could have waited until I came at least,” Hirakoba said and Zaizen's gazed flicked down to his groin and then back up to his face. Apparently attempted murder and Hirakoba having to kill someone hadn't killed any sort of arousal. Fascinating information. “What a selfish asshole.”
“Yes. What an asshole for leaving you like that. Good thing he's dead,” Zaizen said flatly. He turned away from the bed and made his way back to the desk and the computer. Which no longer had a mouse, he realised glumly and he looked down at the still playing computer game.
“You could always lend me a helping hand, Mary-kun,” Hirakoba said with a bit of a smile.
Zaizen glanced back at him. His eyes were back to normal now, he realised. Definitely a reaction to power being used. “Do it yourself.”
Hirakoba tsked and Zaizen moved to put his headphones back up again. Still, even as he made do with the trackpad to finish off this round and stared so intently at his screen, there was no sound from the computer blocking out the sound of Hirakoba on the bed; the little catches of his breath that Zaizen thought he could calculate the frequency of, the sound of what Zaizen suspected was his feet shifting on the covers and the soft moans that Hirakoba made no effort at biting back.
Zaizen kept his gaze focused on the screen that was blank, just listening and figuring out what was happening from sound alone. He didn't need to look to know what was happening, he'd learned the sounds well enough by now and what they meant.
“Done yet?” Zaizen asked as it fell silent and he looked up again. Hirakoba was still on the bed, his legs sprawled and blood streaked over them as he continued to lie on the soaked sheets.
There was more blood than the should have been... he wondered what Hirakoba had done to cause it. He'd been focusing too much on the shifting colour of Hirakoba's eyes, he foolishly hadn't paid attention.
The body was still lying next to him but Hirakoba didn't seem to be paying it any attention at all, or even noticing it was there now that it was no longer interesting.
“Yes. Give me a moment, hun.”
“I'll go get someone to remove your visitor.”
“You're so kind. Thank you.”
Zaizen stopped by the bed for a moment on his way to the door, looking down at Hirakoba who seemed very tired all of a sudden - a result of the power usage, maybe? - lying with his eyes closed and taking purposely deep breaths.
He pulled the knife out of the stranger's back with a squelch and as he stood there with Hirakoba so tired and vulnerable and his knife in his hand... it would be so easy to just stab him now and get it over and done with.
His fingers tightened and he prodded Hirakoba with the tip of his knife, which made him open his eyes suddenly and look at him, though he made no move to defend himself.
“You nearly died because you got careless. Stupid,” Zaizen said, wiping the blade on the bedsheets and folding it back up before resting it on the bedside table.
“I'll be more careful next time.” Hirakoba said with a tired smile.
It was Chinen that came to collect the body when Zaizen poked his head out the door. Had he been listening to the whole thing, standing there the whole time in the shadows? He wondered how frequent of an event this was as well, when Chinen didn't even seem to blink when he walked in on the scene.
“Thank you, Hiroshi. As always.”
Hirakoba patted the man on the arm, still not willing to move, but Chinen seemed to not really care, either about the mess now on his arm or about Hirakoba just lying there. He was much more interested in the stab wounds from Zaizen. He didn't even seem to blink at the blood or the fact that Hirakoba had clearly been in the middle of sex when it happened.
Definitely listening at the door, then.
“You didn't do this,” he said, moving to inspect Hirakoba's neck which he obediently tilted his head for, letting his hair fall to the side.
“No, he took me by surprise. Mary-kun did it, he's a good bodyguard.”
Chinen glanced at him, his eyes intense before he turned his attention to moving the body, dragging it off by the arms and pulling it along the ground to the door and leaving a wet, red smear. Looking at the man now, there was blood all down his front as well, though Zaizen could see no wound that could have caused it. Hirakoba, then.
“I'll clean it later.”
“Thank you.”
And then Chinen was gone, leaving the door wide open behind him. Although Zaizen couldn't really blame him, the body had looked heavy and the man was very thin.
More important was looking down at Hirakoba and the bed itself. “I'm not sleeping with you in that bed,” Zaizen said, looking down at Hirakoba who laughed at him, reaching out to smear a mixture of come and blood on his arm and then went for his face.
Zaizen flinched back and slapped Hirakoba's hand away, which was only greeted with more laughter.
“Go bathe.”
“Are you going to help me?” Hirakoba was waggling his fingers at Zaizen again and he glanced down at them, seeing the mess of fluids on them. He didn't know how to feel about Hirakoba being unbothered by lying in blood either.
… How often had it happened for it to be so normal, he wondered. And that thought was more sad than disturbing, he realised.
“No. You can clean yourself up.”
He expected it though, moving off to the pool room to wash off the gross on his arm and hands, Hirakoba getting up to hug him from behind and he felt the warm press of his skin against him and his frown intensified.
“Thank you for saving me, really.”
Zaizen pushed Hirakoba off him, not talking until he could reach the small shower in the pool room to spray himself with water. Now his back was all bloodied too and he sighed as he stripped off his clothes.
“You should have done it yourself.”
“I got distracted.” The hands that were moving along his back were distracting and Zaizen turned the water spray on Hirakoba for a moment, hearing him laugh before he turned the water on his back to get rid of the gross.
Zaizen carefully thought about how to phrase his next question and he let Hirakoba wash his back, his fingers pressing into Zaizen's muscles. He elbowed Hirakoba as the hands snuck just a bit low.
“Did you know you were capable of what you did?”
Hirakoba was silent and the hands fell still for a moment before they moved to hug him around the waist. “You mean, have I done it before?”
He could tell Hirakoba was smiling as he spoke though and Zaizen didn't move at all or make a sound, even as the hands traced around his inner thighs. The shower head was still in his hands, spraying on the floor and Hirakoba's chin was on his shoulder now.
“Yes hun, I've done it before,” Hirakoba said eventually. “To one of the elders, a long time ago.” His smile was just a bit vicious. “They learned not to touch me.”
They sat like that for a while longer as Zaizen processed this and came up with so many scenarios on what could have happened. There were too many possibilities and not enough data though he had enough of an idea that he didn't want to linger over too much. Finally he moved to stand up, abruptly spraying Hirakoba in the face with the shower head.
“Get clean. And I'm hungry now.”
“Pizza, then? Tell Hiroshi, I'll be out in a little while.”
-
They did indeed get pizza, which Chinen brought in with his cleaning supplies and they sat and watched him tidy up with well practiced efficiency, Hirakoba curled up around him.
“You owe me a new mouse,” he said and he could feel the huff of his breath on his ear as he laughed.
The bedroom smelled sharp from the disinfectant that had been sprayed liberally around the room to get rid of any remains of the dead man. Chinen had even gotten a new mattress to replace the other one that had been soaked. He was very currently putting bedsheets on it, also apparently uncaring about the blood and come on the dirtied set.
“I know. I'll ask Eishirou tomorrow.”
Zaizen frowned. “I want to pick it myself this time. Your other one was too spongy.”
Hirakoba shifted to press a kiss to his cheek. Zaizen barely even blinked at it now. “Then, we can sneak out tomorrow and go get you one.”
Somehow he doubted that would happen. They'd probably get to the door and be told to go back inside. And Hirakoba would obey and just make one of his friends get it for him again.
Zaizen sighed. “... A mechanical keyboard as well.”
Hirakoba snorted a bit and settled back down. “Just a mouse.”
“... I should have let him kill you,” Zaizen sulked and Hirakoba buried his face into his ear, making him wriggle at the ticklishness.
“Fine, a keyboard as well. Because I love you that much.”
Chinen glanced up at that and looked over to them, one of Hirakoba's many pillows in his hands being plumped up.
“I love you too, Hiroshi. No getting jealous now.” And just for added measure, Hirakoba blew him a kiss.
Chinen's expression didn't even change at that and he returned to his task of arranging Hirakoba's pillow collection. However Zaizen did notice the light tinge to his hollow cheeks that he observed with great interest. Somehow though, he doubted Hirakoba paid any attention to it; he seemed more interested in kissing cheese from the corner of Zaizen's lip and hugging the breath out of him as usual.
-
How long had he been at Higa now, Zaizen tried to think, as he had Hirakoba sprawled over his lap, sacrificing his back to be used as a laptop table while he napped.
It was an awkward position, but they both were happy and comfortable enough with it. And Hirakoba seemed to be actually asleep, if the timing of his breathing was anything to go by and the lack of wandering hands.
Over a month... six weeks, maybe? … Two months?
And how long had it been since he'd messaged Shiraishi to let him know about his progress?
… He couldn't recall the last one and that frightened him a little with how easily he'd slipped into complacency and lost track of things while staying in Hirakoba's care.
He considered for a while that perhaps this constant calmness and contentedness with the situation was a result of some power being used over the room, to keep Hirakoba happy. That would explain so much, as he shifted the book on Hirakoba's bum to a slightly better position as a mousepad.
Zaizen certainly had collected enough information now to be able to have a decent chance at escaping the house and being able to kill Hirakoba. He thought that just by listening to his breathing or the strength of his grip while they were in bed together, he could determine the safe points throughout the night where killing him would be so easy.
Even the routine of the guards and their shifts and how it lined up with Hirakoba's sleeping pattern, he could predict and at what time he needed to get Hirakoba settled down into bed so that he had that tiny window of opportunity.
But even just writing a message to Shiraishi, he didn't want to do and for the nth time, Zaizen x'ed out of the window.
Later, he told himself. Tonight was the wrong timing for it.
But of course, Higa was never fully known, particularly with how little information he had about the Higa elders and trying to determine their thought patterns. And of all the things Zaizen had been thinking they might do, he certainly hadn't been expecting them to decide to move Hirakoba to the mainland.
“The situation between Seigaku and Rikkai has worsened,” Kite said to them and Zaizen felt Hirakoba's arms tighten around him slightly. “The elders voted unanimously to preemptively move you to a safe house.”
“For how long?”
“Until we can strengthen our defences. We know Yamabuki have infiltrated us before,” clearly Dan Taichi's presence hadn't gone unnoticed. “As have other families.” Kite's gaze lingered on Zaizen for a long moment before returning to Hirakoba.
“We tried to cover up the attempted murder a few nights ago, but they learned about it. They're getting paranoid that you've become a more public target.”
That was interesting. He wondered who had been responsible for trying to cover it up. And more importantly, why? What did that say about those person's links to the elders that they were attempting to defy them like that?
“So they're taking it away from me now, I'm guessing? No more visitors to my room?”
Kite looked troubled but Zaizen thought he could detect a little bit of sympathy in his expression. “Probably not.”
“I hope they're not planning on substituting themselves in to keep me entertained.”
“Also probably not.” And some amusement now.
There was a pause before Hirakoba sighed loudly. “Who else is coming with me to this safe house?”
“Yuujirou was assigned to it.”
There was a troubled silence and Zaizen hunched his shoulder as Hirakoba pressed his face into it before he spoke. “Will there be mochi and internet there?”
Kite seemed to understand exactly the reason behind that question and his gaze on Zaizen was so sharp. But Zaizen just met it with his usual flat stare, uncaring.
“Yes Rin, you can take your pet with you.”
… Surely moving Hirakoba away from his protected room here in the Higa household, where he was surrounded by people with powers, was a foolish idea for people that wanted to keep him safe? Particularly with how closely one needed to observe in order to ascertain that Hirakoba was indeed the water elemental.
But there was the tactician in Rikkai, who would be capable of it, Zaizen reminded himself. And they didn't know where the attempted murderer from the other night had come from. If Rikkai found Seigaku and Hyotei too much of a challenge to take on in their current states, perhaps Higa was a very tempting target.
So perhaps moving him to another location was a good idea? If they brought all three elementals with them, Zaizen had no doubt they could level the house to the ground.
“Will you come with me, Mary-kun?” Hirakoba asked, after Kite had left and Hirakoba petted his hair and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
No. … “I'll need three boxes of red bean mochi.”
Had Hirakoba actually been worried that he wouldn't agree to come? The arms around him spoke of relief and happiness anyway.
-
There were many places Zaizen could think of to have a safe location, a beach in Wakayama was not one of them. Particularly since if anything, the availability of the beach in relation to where they were staying, and Kai's laxness in enforcing the rules of keeping Hirakoba in line, meant that he was more obvious than ever with his elemental powers.
Still, it was so hard to complain or say anything about it when he was sitting out in the fresh air and Hirakoba was so obviously happier here.
Zaizen had burned the first day and the redness had faded into tan lines and a bit of peeling skin that Hirakoba had laughed over and kissed as they sat in bed together.
The second day, he'd made Hirakoba buy him a parasol to hold over himself while he sat on the beach. The alternative was letting Hirakoba slather him up with sunscreen, which was sticky and smelled, and he'd told him as such, much to his amusement.
And so he spent almost every daylight hour sitting at the beach, watching Hirakoba in the water and spending the nights with him wrapped around him, sleeping so soundly while Zaizen enjoyed the feeling of the fresh nighttime breeze through the windows that he hadn't realised until now he'd missed.
Hirakoba was surfing today and Zaizen watched from under the shaded safety of his parasol. The man always had a good wave, as expected.
He was caught considering how much power and manipulation Hirakoba would have to put in, trying to find the exact moment he did - was it from the beginning and actually forming the wave itself, or was it just controlling when and how it broke?
He wanted to know the exact level of control Hirakoba had, now that he knew how far it extended beyond just letting himself breathe underwater and propelling himself through his pool.
Somehow he thought Hirakoba might even be willing to demonstrate to him, especially with Kai supervising and not really caring. He half considered actually getting up and getting his toes wet in the ocean to ask him.
But before he could, there was a surprised shout of his name and Zaizen turned around in surprise, seeing Kenya heading towards him.
He was surprised he wasn't running and was making an effort to hold back his super speed to look like a - very briskly walking - person.
“Zaizen?! You're alive?!”
Zaizen moved his parasol to hit the edge of it into Kenya's forehead. “No, I'm a ghost. I'm haunting you.”
There were suddenly hands on his arm, much more invasive than Hirakoba's ever seemed to be, pulling him up to standing.
“What are you doing here? Why didn't you come home if you're so close?”
Zaizen glanced at the water, seeing Kai and Hirakoba together, laughing and paying him no attention at the moment. “I'm holidaying.”
And then he realised.
… He had to get Kenya away from here. Right now.
Kenya, who knew from Zaizen's notes about who the water elemental wielder was and what he looked like. Kenya, who was definitely no match for Hirakoba, particularly with this much water around them, let alone Kai.
Kenya, who Zaizen definitely didn't want to see killed.
And he hated that hesitation in him as he tried to foresee what was going to happen down the many routes he could think of, from staying here, to moving away, to making Kenya leave him alone. There were so many possibilities and Zaizen scrunched up his face slightly as he tried to concentration.
Kenya seemed to notice his dilemma and sudden stress as well, grasping his arm and giving him a concerned shake that did nothing to distract him.
Zaizen looked at the ocean again and the blonde figure he could see paddling out to the deeper water again. And then shoved his hand into Kenya's face to stop him from following his gaze, pushing his face away to the other side.
He didn't really have a choice.
Or that's what he told himself, to justify what he was doing?
“I'm done holidaying. I got burned and sunscreen smells.”
He put the parasol down, purposely covering up Hirakoba's possessions that he didn't think Kenya had seen with his interest too much on Zaizen. And then he stood up, dusting off sand from his legs.
He barely listened to Kenya's platitudes about how Shiraishi wasn't going to care about him failing the mission - how had he gone with that, anyway? - or about why Kenya was there in the first place.
He just needed to keep walking away from the beach and not look back in case he changed his mind about walking away from Hirakoba.
--
It wasn't until he was on the train back to their home that Zaizen had the belated realisation that perhaps sending them to Wakayama hadn't been for Hirakoba's safety, but some twisted strategy by Higa to get rid of him.
And one that he hadn't foreseen and predicted.
…
And one that had actually worked and had probably been the worst way for him to leave.
It made sense, now that he thought about it. Why else send Kai with them, who was irresponsible and bad at keeping track of Hirakoba and keeping him in line? Why let Hirakoba out of the safe house so much, when otherwise they were so intent on keeping him away from the public eye.
But that wasn't so important anymore, though Zaizen was annoyed at himself for not seeing it and falling into the their trap.
More importantly was, what had Hirakoba thought, when he'd returned to the shore to find Zaizen gone, his possessions still on the beach? And how long had he waited before he realised that Zaizen wasn't coming back?
He could imagine Hirakoba's expression easily enough, though there were still many faces of the other man that he hadn't seen, he realised that.
What had he done when he'd realised? There had been no news of anything happening and no threat of Higa moving into Shitenhouji territory, even though Zaizen regularly checked for it.
Of course Higa wouldn't move into Shitenhouji territory, Zaizen told himself. They were probably overjoyed that their plan had worked and he'd left their household, no matter Hirakoba's reaction to it.
And then there were the worse thoughts; had Hirakoba curled up into his ball under the covers on the bed when he'd gotten back to the room? At least the room they'd been in in the safe house had windows he could look out instead of depressingly blank walls.
And with Zaizen gone, how quickly had Hirakoba been made to return to Okinawa and back to his room?
… Had anyone been there with him?
Had he maybe been so easily replaced by someone else that Hirakoba had picked up off the street and dragged into his world? Or had the elders gone through with their word and kept him isolated again to satisfy their own paranoia?
Maybe Chinen had stepped up and tried taking his space, although he doubted the tall man was comfortable to hug and would be satisfactory.
Zaizen tapped on his computer, scrolling quickly through the news sites.
It was weird, how easily back he'd been accepted into Shitenhouji. How relieved his family had been to have him back, even though he'd been gone for so long and had done nothing.
It was back to normal then, pushing off Koharu's hugs automatically and dodging Tooyama's rush to jump on him when the boy had gotten back from his adventure in Tokyo and found him to be home, and spending long afternoons with Chitose, wiping the floor with him at shogi.
He hated his family.
… But not that much, as Kenya tossed him a packet of crisps from the doorway and went off to his own room.
Shiraishi had asked him what had happened, of course.
“It was a mistaken identity. Hirakoba only breathes underwater, he doesn't control the element. There was no elemental wielders in Higa,” Zaizen found himself saying, for reasons he couldn't comprehend himself, though he mulled over his words many times at night.
Returning to Shitenhouji should have been easy to adjust back into, but Zaizen found himself missing the extra warmth in the bed and the physical contact that was comfortable and undemanding; not invasive and annoying like his family's was. He missed the easy conversations and the extra presence in the room as he played video games - although he did note that his computer was much better for it than Hirakoba's laptop.
… This sucked.
The whole family thought he was unhappy, but he refused to tell them any details of why, instead just leaving them to realise that his door was shut more often and he spent longer than before on his computer or watching Amelie while bundled up under blankets.
They guessed, as he knew they would.
Tooyama thought that he was sulking from a loss and tried to convince him that losing was okay, sometimes, not really, and then got himself confused. Last he'd heard, the red head had gone off to Tokyo again to fight against his friend after their one sided conversation.
Kenya never guessed or prodded him for answers, for which Zaizen was thankful for, though he didn't show it. He liked to think Kenya understood anyway as he always had.
That silence was made up for by Koharu and Yuuji making wild guesses about what had happened. He'd been swept off his feet by someone there and was pining in love, was their latest guess. Zaizen had just thrown the contents of his cup of tea at them and shut the door.
Idiots.
But he was unhappy, that much he had to admit to himself after weeks of moping in his room. And he grew more unhappy as his mind moved through possibilities and figured out the most likely of events that had occurred after he left and were probably happening now.
Hirakoba was probably very unhappy as well and he hated that he cared about it.
And he hated that he had to do something about it. That maybe he needed to get up and leave, as he'd told Hirakoba to do?
There were no doors holding him back, or guards outside his room. And certainly, with how well he'd hidden his power from his whole family, hiding it from the outside world wasn't difficult.
It was such a stupid idea and he'd probably throw things at anyone else if they'd thought of doing the same. But it was only for a short while, he told himself. Just to confirm a few things, that he didn't quite know yet, but he'd sort out on the plane trip over. And to get Hirakoba out of the Higa house. Maybe.
Zaizen told only Kenya, as he passed him on the way to the front door, his bag slung over his back. And it said so much that Kenya made no move to stop him or convince him otherwise.
--
The beaches in Okinawa were nice, even if it was still hot as he sat on the wall and stared at his phone, scrolling through forums.
Kenya sent him a photo of his iguana and he saved it. It was much more acceptable than the other photos of sneakers that he got.
There was no blond haired surfer out there today, or splashing in the shallows, just like there hadn't been for the past few days that he'd been there.
Still trapped inside in his room, then. Maybe curled up around another dark haired short male.
Zaizen lifted up his phone to take a quick photo of the beach, focusing on the angle to take his mind of where his thoughts had wandered.
There was no point in him being there today either, but he couldn't quite bring himself to get up and trek back to the hotel just yet. Even if he could feel the sun on the back of his neck and he was probably going to get sunburned there.
He barely paid any attention to the footsteps behind him, even as his mind processed the sounds of them - someone with a limp, an older man, two girls in much too tall heels, a businessman in designer shoes, two males. He only looked up as there was suddenly shade over him.
“You're meant to at least swim at the beach, you know Zaizen-kun, not just sit on your phone.”
Zaizen turned around to look, seeing Chinen with his usual unreadable expression on his face, standing behind a smiling Hirakoba, holding a parasol over him.
He lowered his phone down to lap and stared at Hirakoba, analysing him quickly. A little thinner than before, his hair had been recently dyed and he couldn't quite figure out the exact feelings behind that smile.
Someone had told Hirakoba his real name. Or perhaps he'd known it all along and just played along with calling him Mary Poppins. It didn't really matter all that much though, he decided.
“I don't know who that is. I'm not Zaizen,” he said flatly, turning back around to pointedly look at his phone again.
There was such familiar laughter - the genuine, definitely amused laughter - and then the warm arms wrapping around him from behind. Hirakoba pressed his face into Zaizen's shoulder, his arms tightening around him so it was almost difficult to breathe.
“Mary-kun, of course. Sorry.” There was a pause before Hirakoba spoke again. “I'm going swimming. Can you swim now, or do you still need lessons?”
Zaizen elbowed him, but not too hard. “I don't need lessons. I've always been able to swim.”
“Are you going to join me in the water, then?”
“I'm only putting my feet in.”
Hirakoba hummed as he considered his answer. And then he spoke again, with such a sudden change in topics that it disarmed Zaizen for a moment. He'd been waiting for the usual attempts at bribery and bartering for affection. “Are you back now? I missed you.” His voice sounded so hopeful and his arms were so deathly tight around him.
There was no questions about what had happened and where he'd been. And somehow he thought that Hirakoba wouldn't ask him about it either, until he wanted to tell him himself.
Zaizen didn't answer; he couldn't answer. And that was enough for Hirakoba to know and his arms tightened around him. Zaizen had no answer for him, except to maybe push his arms off from around him and head down to the water. But he didn't do that, just yet.
And he noticed Hirakoba made no move either to pull away to let him.