[fic] Silent Collision - Chapter Fourteen ~The Safehouse~
Title: Silent Collision
Author:
prettyorianna
Pairing: Akame. Ryo x Kame. Ueda x Junno.
Rating: NC-17. Eventually.
Genre: crime drama? AU story
Beta by: nobody
Disclaimer: I don't own the people. I write this for fun and for other fans of these fine folks. But don't steal my plots, mmkay? I put a great deal of time into them except for when I'm randomly spastically spitting words onto a page. But I value those too...
Summary: Jin kills in self defense only to find himself a fugitive. Along the way he meets a scared boy...
Warning: Character death(s). Abuse, murder, gangs, kidnapping, etc etc.
Author's Note: A lot happens in this chapter and it ends in a cliff hanger muahaha!!
The Master Posts:
On my journal - Silent Collision Master Post
On the akame_ Community - Silent Collision Master Post
On the akame_fanfics Community - Silent Collision Master Post
On the kattun_fanfics Community - Silent Collision Master Post
Chapter Fourteen ~The Safehouse~
Thank goodness Junno left the door unlocked. Ueda had completely forgotten to grab his key before he ran off. Maybe it was a sign that Junno was ready for his apology?
“Junno? Did Jin and Kame leave yet?” he called through the house as he shut the door behind him and locked it.
Junno didn’t answer. Maybe he wasn’t quite ready to hear an apology.
Just great... Cranky Junno was incredibly cute but a pain to deal with.
“You’re still pouting?” he said as he was arriving at the kitchen. But he didn’t see Junno there.
At least, not at first…
Was that blood on the floor?
Yes, it was! A lot of it…
He rounded the corner of the cabinets, coming fully into the kitchen. What he saw there, his mind refused to process for a few moments. He just stared at it blankly until, finally, it clicked.
Then he wanted his mind to take it back. Because it just couldn’t be real.
Junno, on the floor, throat opened, he and the kitchen tile covered in so much blood.
Dropping to his knees beside his lover, he pulled him up partway into his lap, shaking him hard. Growing more and more hysterical, he rambled, “This isn’t funny, Junno. You can’t be dead. It’s not funny! I’m not laughing! Please, say something! Anything! Dajare, I don’t care. Iriguchi, deguchi, Taguchi desu… say it. Please! Oh, god, you have to say it. I’ll say it with you. Iriguchi… deguchi…” And he was shaking Junno’s lifeless form harder and harder, tears streaming down his face.
“No… No! I didn’t get to say goodbye! Please, I love you! Don’t be dead! You can’t be dead! I love you! I’m so sorry! I wasn’t ashamed of you. Not ever! I was ashamed of myself and I was wrong and I was coming to tell you so you wouldn’t be mad anymore. Please, just open your eyes! We’ll go somewhere nice, a proper date! Anywhere you want! But you have to open your eyes! JUNNO! PLEASE!”
Something inside Ueda just broke. Still clutching Junno’s body, he sobbed so hard his entire body was shaking. He sobbed until he ran out of both breath and tears and even then, he wouldn’t move or even let go.
He felt something at his throat for the briefest instant and then an odd feeling of warmth running down the front of him. Then there was nothing. He slumped forward, dead, his lips landing on Junno’s in one final kiss that neither of them could feel any longer.
+++
As much as he wanted to, Koki did not break into the Manatsu gang’s headquarters that night. He was kicking himself the whole time over the decision, but it’s not like any of it would have been admissible if he had found something.
But the next morning, something arrived to sooth his frustration; it was an article on the front page of the local newspaper, written by a man named Taguchi Junnosuke. It was yet another article covering the story of the original kidnapping and the “murder” of Tegoshi Yuya… but this one was different.
This one was true.
It mentioned some of the same things as other articles - Kamenashi was taken from the park, parents now deceased. Only this one claimed the Tegoshi Yuya killing was self defense. It claimed that a man, reportedly calling himself Kamenashi’s uncle and bearing false legal documents to support the story, was really the original kidnapper and that Jin had stumbled upon the boy - who was mute - while hiding from the police. It painted Jin as a tragic hero, risking everything to save an abused young man despite being constantly hounded by the notorious Manatsu gang, who wanted Jin dead. It mentioned the arson of Ueda Tatsuya’s house and recounts a daring escape only made possible because the young Kamenashi had detected the fire early enough… barely, it seemed, because he didn’t escape completely uninjured.
It even included a description of the boy’s kidnapper, which Koki had to admit was dead on with Nishikido Ryo. That could only have come from Kamenashi himself, since neither Jin nor Ueda nor the reporter had ever met the man or even known his name.
There was absolutely no way the reporter could have written that story without talking to both Jin and Kamenashi, or at the very least, Ueda…
Wait, come to think on it…
He fished a business card out of one of his drawers. It was the card the reporter friend of Ueda had handed to him. Comparing the names, he was delighted to find them one and the same.
So, okay, he’d lost his shot at the gang headquarters but maybe a visit to the reporter’s house would help clear Jin’s name.
And… just going to talk to the reporter meant he didn’t have to drag the whole police station behind him. He wasn’t looking for Akanishi; he was questioning a witness. Right…?
… just in case Jin was foolish enough to stick around after that article hit the news stand.
But when he arrived at Taguchi’s house, something was off. He could hear shouting and crying. And then there was silence.
Every bit of instinct Koki had within him was screaming. He tried the door knob, but it was locked. Drawing his gun, he kicked in the door. For the briefest second, he saw a man disappearing out the back door, but even at a run, by the time he reached it there was nobody in sight. Back in the house, he started searching room by room.
Until he reached the kitchen and saw the two bodies.
There was a large pool of blood…
As fast as he could move without stepping in the blood, he went to the two figures. It was Ueda and the reporter. He tried to find a pulse but both of them were gone. It looked like their throats had been slit, probably by the man that had disappeared out the back.
He was about to call it in when a thought occurred to him. Frantically, he scoured the rest of the house, trying to see if there were other bodies. Trying to see if Jin and Kamenashi had shared their fate. Thankfully, they were nowhere to be found.
It wasn’t going to look good for Jin that the only reporter that wrote his version of events turned up dead. Some people might think he’d forced the reporter to write the story and then murdered him. But Koki knew better. It was going to make it harder to prove his friend’s innocence. As far as the Tegoshi killing was concerned, he was pretty much stumped on how to help his friend. At least Kamenashi could refute the kidnapping charge.
Sighing, he called the double homicide in to the station.
It was going to be a long day.
Well, so much for the signed copy of Ueda’s next novel.
Now Koki was well and truly pissed.
+++
Jin had to pick the lock on the door, but it wasn’t difficult. Yamashita had always been a big believer in the theory that safe houses should look like their surroundings. In other words, installing a complicated lock would have been like painting an enormous “Look at Me” sign on the place.
The room was small; there was a bed, a mini fridge, a dresser, an old television, a phone with a dial instead of buttons. One dingy window. A doorless bathroom with a toilet and sink but no shower.
Jin was pretty sure the squeaking sound coming from the walls belonged to rats.
No wonder they didn’t use this one very often.
Kame gave Jin a discouraging look as he surveyed the room.
“I know it’s bad, but nobody will think to look for us here.”
Nodding, Kame sat on the edge of the bed and not on the floor like he usually did. To Jin, that alone was a mild victory. Kame patted the bed, inviting Jin to come sit with him. Jin complied.
“I promise we won’t keep running forever. Please, bear with me a little longer. Do you think you’ll be okay in this room by yourself for about twenty minutes? I know the guy that runs the ramen shop and I can go get information from him and buy us something to eat, too. And he won’t rat me out, I’m pretty sure. I’ll bring you with me if you want but you’ll be safer staying put.”
It took Kame a moment to respond, but he finally nodded yes.
Jin hugged him briefly, kissed him on the forehead, and left for the ramen shop.
The man was surprised to see him, to say the least. “Jin, you’ve been making a mess, haven’t you? I saw you on the news!”
“It’s stupid. I got into it with some other members and now Yamashita is having me killed. What fun, huh?”
“Oh, you haven’t heard, have you?”
Jin’s eyebrows furrowed and he warily asked, “Heard what?”
“Yamashita couldn’t care less about you anymore. Your life has been bought.”
“WHAT?!”
Nodding, the man glanced around and then in an extremely quiet voice asked, “Have you heard of Nishikido Ryo?”
Jin shook his head. Well, the name sounded slightly familiar but as far as he could remember, he’d never met anyone by that name.
“You know, that rich guy who plays the entire underground field. Always has a job needing done, doesn’t care how much it costs so long as he gets the best? Mr. Set-Your-Own-Price and don’t piss him off?”
“Wait, THAT guy?” That was where he’d heard the name. There was a select list of people who were considered untouchable by any of the gangs with half a brain leading them. You don’t mess with them, their possessions, their money, or their loved ones. Usually it was either because they paid all the major gang bosses off or because all the people who’d tried to scam, rob, or kill them ended up dead instead.
But Jin hadn’t done a thing to the man. Why would he buy his life? Because it surely wasn’t out of benevolence. Would he take over trying to kill him, or did he need Jin for a job and wanted to make sure he lived long enough to get to do it? That did occasionally happen… Not often, mind you. The former was much more common than the latter.
“Have you heard anything else?” Jin asked.
The man shook his head. “Just the news. Hey, is it true?”
“What? The news? Yamashita sent the kid to kill me so that was self-defense and, no, I didn’t kidnap Kame-chan.”
“Hey, hey, can’t blame a guy for asking. I run a noodle shop. Stories like that are the only thrills I get these days!” But the other person working behind the counter, the woman, smacked the man on the back of the head. “I meant other than you, dear!”
Jin was still snickering as he ordered two bowls of ramen to go.
When he got back to the safe house, he found Kame watching the news. He was crying, rocking back and forth.
Carefully setting the bowls on top of the mini fridge, Jin hurried to Kame’s side. “What’s wrong, Kame-chan?”
He pointed at the TV.
Jin’s gaze followed Kame’s finger and he stared in shock at the television as it discussed a double murder from earlier that very morning…
Ueda and Junno…
Oh, god…
Jin fell to his knees, tears blurring his vision.
How could this happen? Jin left so they would be safe! He let out a frustrated roar and started pounding the floor as hard as he could.
He felt Kame’s hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. The boy tried again; he shrugged it off again and just continued slamming his fists on the floor, leaving them bruised and bloodied.
Rather than try a third time, Kame instead walked around Jin and knelt in front of him. Kame was crying still, too, but he reached out a hand and placed it gently on Jin’s cheek, slowly guiding Jin to look at him. Once he had Jin’s attention, Kame kissed Jin softly on the lips.
Even though Jin had told himself time and again that he didn’t want Kame, that even if he did (which he didn’t), it was wrong… at that moment, it felt good and he was too raw emotionally to be able to deny his feelings for the younger. Though it didn’t stop his tears, Jin let his eyes close and he enjoyed the feel and taste of Kame’s lips on his.
Apparently taking his cue from the fact that Jin didn’t pull away, Kame scooted closer until he was practically straddling Jin’s lap and deepened the kiss, sliding the hand from Jin's cheek back to bury his fingers in Jin's hair.
The last purely rational thought Jin had was that he was pretty sure he’d burn in hell for this, even if Kame was technically legal. That thought wasn't enough to stop him, though. Kame felt good and though he never knew what exactly went through the younger’s head, at that moment it seemed like Kame wanted him, too.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
The story continues:
Chapter Fifteen ~The Slap~
A/N: I'm off to hide from fireman's axes AND piranha (in a completely unrelated story, I've updated my Fireman's Axe-Proof Mobile Armor Unit to have anti-piranha features, a pretty standard update on that model if you ask me because piranhas are known to carry fireman's axes), because of the terrible massacre of me I feel coming like a raging typhoon of painful axe-y bitey death.