FIC FOR SUGIEX part 5
For: sugiex
From: yumemirunosekai
Title: Post Tenebras, Lux (Part 5)
Pairings/Characters: Kamenashi Kazuya/Ueda Tatsuya (main), Taguchi Junnosuke, Tanaka Koki, Toda Erika (side)
Rating: NC 17+
Warnings: blood, violence, gore, angst, AU, sci-fi
Notes: My first attempt at an AU/sci-fi fic. This a KAT-TUN gen fic with a side of KameDa. The personality I chose for Kame is Shuuji's real personality (the one that surfaces when he's with Akira, all prickly and whatnot) I have to emphasise that I tried to make this fic as close to reality as possible, in favour of my recipient, so expect less fluff and more… well. Reality.
Summary: Post Tenebras, Lux. ‘From Darkness, Light.’ The Red Plague has wiped out almost half the world’s population. Kame is a typical high school student who wants the easy way out of things, choosing to live in his own little world and ignore reality. When the lockdown sequence begins, he is thrown into another world where humans are animals, and killing seems to become a second nature. This is not a story of adventure, but reality.
part 1 || part 2 || part 3 || part 4 || part 5
Phase 6: Belphegor [Epilogue]
Because this isn’t a story that involves the glorification of a person, there isn’t any fanfare, or triumph when the five of them break their way into the Ueno Park Sanctuary. There is no big story of success, nor a thrilling tale of their adventure as they make their way from the bowels of Kabukichō into the ghost of a metropolitan city of Tokyo.
There is no stunned silence when they finally set foot into the bright sanctuary (remembering to shut the door behind them of course). And no grand break in with things being smashed and doors being thrown open. It’s rather anticlimactic, in all honesty, because all they do is to punch in an emergency code into a hidden panel just below the main doors, and a hatch opens up at the foot of the dome. The slip in quietly and soundlessly, and no one notices their strange arrival at all. There are no guards, only people, milling about the stark, empty room.
They do not greet anyone, but turn to each other in silent understanding. This is the end of their journey.
“I’m happy I met you guys.” Koki says.
“Same here.” Taguchi grins.
Ueda just nods, and Kame smiles. There really isn’t any words that need to be said. Nakamaru tilts his head. “I’m happy we managed to pull through that alive. Thank you all.”
They all nod in agreement.
With that, Koki turns and disappears into the milling crowds, and so does Taguchi. “I’ll see you, Kame,” he calls over his shoulder, but Kame can’t help but feel that it sounds more like a goodbye than an au revoir for some reason. He waves to his best friend, who will always be his best friend.
When it’s just him, Nakamaru and Ueda, Nakamaru ushers them past the people, to an elevator at the very end of the dome. It is here that he presses his eye into the retinal scanner at a spot where the lift buttons should be.
“The research centres are at the bowels of the sanctuary,” Nakamaru says, and a wry smile slides onto his face. “I wonder what my colleagues will say when they see me.” he muses. “It’s been too long.”
“Stop sounding like an old man,” Ueda says, as the elevator doors open, and the three of them step inside. It’s all bright white and so sterile, that it unnerves Kame. Living with the constant fear of being infected seems like a faraway nightmare when he’s cocooned in such whiteness. It’s almost like sliding back into the delicious oblivion that is ignorance. But somehow, the shadows feel less comfortable than he remembered. Perhaps it’s because he’s more mature now, having to face the horrors of reality first hand.
“Kame, I have to warn you that the researchers will not let you go easily once they find out you are immune to this plague,” Nakamaru says grimly. “They might keep you for a long, long time. You might even be a test subject, I’m not sure. Are you really up for this? Do you want this?”
Kame is silent. Does he? Fuck no. But, if his experiences have taught him anything, is that sometimes, life just isn’t fair. It strips whatever it can grab hold of you, and puts you through hell and back. It’s cruel, but that’s just life.
“Of course I’m sure,” Kame says quietly.
The elevator continues descending down.
///
The research levels are strangely colder, and Kame’s surroundings remind him of a submarine for some reason, not that he’s ever been into one. White-coats strut through the narrow corridors in crisp coats and starched shirts with stiff collars. They do not even acknowledge their presence.
Nakamaru seems to know the place like the back of his hand, as he leads them down the corridor, and they pass large glass windows, which allow them to look inside the individuals rooms, and actually see the experiments carried out within. All Kame can think is that the government must have stripped the country of all its white mice, with the sheer number of the creatures caged up in glass cells that line the walls of every research room.
The back of Ueda’s hand brushes Kame’s and he looks down. The older man never shows his affections in public. Kame sorta knew this from the start. Ueda just isn’t your typical sweet boyfriend at all, but that’s alright.
Finally, Nakamaru stops at a door that is slightly ajar. Inside sits a large man with a thick moustache, penning words in neat script into what seems to be a journal. He looks up when Nakamaru knocks, and the blatant surprise on his face is enough to make a grin appear of Nakamaru’s face.
“Chief,” he acknowledges.
The man blinks. “Maru? But- But how? I thought- How did you get in?” he splutters, but then leaps to his feet, finger pointing and face contorted into something resembling a cross between disgust, shock and pure anger. “Are you infected?!”
Nakamaru tackles the situation carefully. The last thing anyone needs is for the person to freak out and trigger the alarm. “No sir, I’m not,” he says calmly. “And how I got in is none of your concern, but this boy is.”
He pulls Kame forwards. The chief blinks owlishly at Kame, before looking up at Nakamaru, confused. “Why? What the hell is going on?”
“He’s immune,” Nakamaru says coolly and calmly, as though he had an entire speech rehearsed. “You don’t have to find a cure, because there is none. There is only a vaccine.” Kame feels eyes boring into him.
“You lie,” the chief whispers. “There can’t be- This is just- There is no- He’s immune?”
Nakamaru nods. “This is Kamenashi Kazuya, and he’s willing to provide his blood for testing, if you need confirmation.”
The chief looks as though he wants to ask more, but he does not. “You and I Nakamaru, have a lot to discuss about later,” he says grimly. “Starting from how you got in here, and how you found this boy. We will need everything - your statement, a full report, the works.”
Nakamaru nods. “Of course, sir, but please, you have to test him. He can help us.”
The chief’s eyes are then fixed on Kame and Kame only. There is a rabid hunger in his eyes that send spark of fear down Kame’s spine. “Well,” he says straightening up. “If this kid really does hold the key to synthesising a vaccine, then he’s government property now. So…” he presses a button on the intercom. “Sayaka, will you send in a gurney and a set of tests 135282K and 281821U? Thank you.”
“Wait a fucking minute here,” Ueda suddenly interrupts. “Government property? What bullshit is this?”
The chief clears his throat and looks at Nakamaru pointedly. “Did you not explain to them?” he asks. Nakamaru shakes his head. “Kame knows, but he doesn’t”
“Kame knows?” Ueda rounds on Kame, who looks a little guilty. He had gotten Nakamaru aside to discuss this, but had intentionally left the hot-headed Ueda out.
“Sorry, Ueda, but I knew you would react this way, but I need to do this, okay? I just- I just want this to be over,” Kame says in a small voice, but that does little to cull Ueda’s fury.
“So you’re going to let them run tests on you, like a fucking lab rat,” he spits. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“Ueda, language!” Nakamaru snaps. He is probably one of the many that has never liked Ueda’s foul mouth. “What he means by Government Property is that Kame will not be patented for this. That’s all. It just means that the vaccine that is made from his blood will not be considered his to own and market, but will be a property of the Japanese government. They are going to run tests of course, but they won’t hurt him.”
“If this boy really does help us manufacture the vaccine, we can sell it to the stronger countries such as the US or China. This can help in rebuilding Japan after all this has cleared up,” says the chief. “We have to get started right away.”
“I’m not letting you do that to Kame,” Ueda hisses, “It’s his blood you’re going to be siphoning out, and he get NO credit for this? Kame has fucking gone through enough shit, and he gets nothing, nothing in return?”
“Ueda, I don’t care,” Kame sighs wearily. “Will you please calm the fuck down and let me do this? I just want all this shit to stop so I can go back to having a normal life. I just want to be happy, with you. Is that too much to ask?”
Ueda is stymied. His gaze drifts to Nakamaru, and to a rather amused looking chief, before he storms out of the room with a loud yell of ‘Whatever!’ over his shoulder.
Nakamaru groans, rubbing his temples. “Seriously, that brat… Kame, I’ll see he doesn’t break his neck or something. You just do whatever you need to do. I’ll make sure he’s in one piece for you to come back to.”
Kame shoots Nakamaru a thankful nod, who disappears through the steel door and Kame can hear calls of ‘Ueda! Spot being a child and calm down!’ echoing down the corridor.
It’s the chief who speaks first. “Well,” he begins awkwardly. “Disregarding the fact that I actually do have a teensy problem about your sexual orientation, lets get down to it, shall we? Ah, and here’s Sayaka with the gurney.”
A stick-thin woman in a white lab coat walks in, and Kame cringes at how deathly pale she looks. She seriously needs some sunlight. Kame thinks.
Kame is made to lie on the gurney, while the chief takes a quick sample of blood from him and injects it into two separate plastic packs, one with a green solid, and one with a blue solid. Upon seeing Kame watching so intently, the chief brings the packs closer.
“This green pack will tell me if you’re infected, and this one will tell me if you are immune. They are much, much more effective than retinal scans.”
Kame watches as the chief breaks the solid within the two bags, and Kame stares entranced as his blood mixes with the colourful liquid.
Both packs turn colourless almost at once, and the chief does a strange jig and punches the air like a kid who just got a bagful of candy. “This is a miracle. A miracle, I say!” he shouts, and grabs Kame by the shoulders. “You my boy, are going to save the world!”
///
Kame barely remembers what happens after that, because he’s pushed and pulled this way and that. He’s shoved into MRI scanners and CAT scans, before being given X-ray after X-ray until he can barely register what the hell is going on around him.
The chief is present during every single one of the tests, shouting out orders to researchers, and at the same time interrogating Kame about his time locked outside the sanctuaries. The questions bombarded on him ranged from what school he attended to who his father is and into very personal matters.
Kame answers them without flinching, after all, what point was there to hide things?
As he lies dressed in a white hospital gown in one of the test rooms, he catches sight of one of the researches flipping through a stack of files. The title catches is attention.
“Um… Excuse me?” he calls out, and the researcher look up curiously.
“Yes?” he responds, and approaches Kame. “Is there something the matter?”
Kame shakes his head. “Oh, no. It’s just… about the fumigation, what is going to happen?” he asks, and the researcher regards him carefully before answering.
“Gas pipes have been built underground for this extermination method long before the sanctuaries were erected.” he says, looking grim. “The pipes all connect to every dome in Japan, which houses a large quantity of cyanide poison in a separate tank underground. When the fumigation starts, everything else is relatively simple. The pipe openings rise from the ground and the gas is released.”
Kame takes awhile to digest this information. “So… is that the only way to eradicate the plague?” Kame asks, genuinely curious.
The researcher sighs. “Well, that and the vaccine we are currently synthesising with your blood.” He suddenly smiles. “You are practically saving humanity here, sir. I hope you understand that.”
“I’m- I’m not exactly saving anyone.” Kame says bitterly. “But it’s just something I can do, so… What the heck?”
The researcher laughs. “You are strange, sir. Really strange.”
“Hey! Yamashita! A little help here?” a voice calls out from one of the rooms.
“Ah, coming!” the researcher shouts back. He throws Kame a final warm grin. “Well, I have to go. It was nice talking to you, sir.”
And the researcher is gone before Kame could ask his name.
///
When he’s finally, finally allowed to leave the research facility levels and go in search for Ueda, who he heard was causing a little trouble at the 4th level of the sanctuary. The elevator doors open to reveal a large circular room lined with hundreds of door all along it’s walls, and above that is more doors with stairs leading up to them. The artificial light burns his eyes, but Kame scans the vast room for any sign of Ue-
And then he sees him. Ueda is up against a wall, and there were several people surrounding him. Kame would think that Ueda could stand up for himself, because most of the people ganging up on him were women, but at the sight of Ueda’s face, Kame feels something crack inside.
“YOU!” Kame hears a woman shriek. “You are that little whore that stole my husband! You fucking faggot!”
Mumbles and whispers break across the crowd like wildfire, and soon everyone is watching at pointing, but no one stops to help. Perhaps they think that Ueda deserves it, but no, Ueda deserves nothing like this, because he is just another victim. It isn’t his fault, and Kame will be damned if he lets anyone say so.
“Give me back my husband, you filthy, disgusting, little fuck!” screeches another woman, and she reaches out to slap Ueda. She catches him across the face, and she leaves five diagonal scratches that make the white in front of Kame dissolve into fiery red.
It’s not good to hit women, his dad says (oh right, his dad huh? Kame completely forgot) but right now, Kame can hardly give a fuck. He storms right into the crowd, and he throws the woman backwards roughly, until she is sprawled on the ground, blinking in shock.
“Hey!” shouts a random man. “Are you that low to hit a woman?”
“Oh, SHUT THE FUCK UP,” Kame snarls, “I don’t give a shit if its a woman or a man. If you ever, ever accuse Ueda of something like that again, I will rip your face off. And don’t test me,” he adds.
Something out there must have given him whatever spectacular glare he is using now, because everyone backs away.
Kame turns to Ueda, and hooks an arms around his elbow before pulling him along forcefully, (because it seems as though Ueda has forgotten how to walk) towards the elevator. He shoves his face into the retinal scanner, which he found out opens for all people, as long as they aren’t infected.
When the steel doors open, Kame drags Ueda inside and jabs the ‘close door’ buttons. He sits Ueda down on the floor and flips the emergency stop button before rounding on Ueda and grappling his shoulders.
“Hey. Hey!” Kame says, and shakes Ueda’s shoulders roughly. “Don’t you go out on me, you asshole. Hey!”
The shaking makes Ueda blink at least. He looks blearily up and his gaze stops at Kame’s face. “Kame?” he whispers brokenly, and Kame’s heart just breaks into two.
Ueda seems to register that it’s Kame in front of him, because he grabs his wrist and pulls Kame into a bone crushing hug, burying his head into the crook of Kame’s neck.
Kame can barely breathe, but he just traces soothing circles down Ueda’s spine. “You aren’t what they say you are,” Kame reassures in a soft voice. “You aren’t that Ueda any more.”
Ueda doesn’t answer or deny this, but his arms just tighten more. Kame sighs. He doesn’t know how to tell Ueda that he’ll never leave him. Not now, not ever. “Look, Ueda,” he begins, in an even voice. “I’m never going to leave you, you insecure dickhead. I wouldn’t leave even if you wanted me to. So will you please, please stop thinking like that?”
There is no movement from Ueda, but he loosens his hold a little on Kame. “What makes you think I am thinking that?” he asks, voice muffled by Kame’s neck.
“You’re breaking my ribs here,” Kame deadpans. “C’mon. Let me go so I can look at you. Please?”
Ueda very slowly, very reluctantly does that, and his face is flushed in embarrassment. Kame laughs. “God, I never realised you could blush,” he chuckles, and Ueda flicks his forehead sharply.
“Don’t you dare,” he mutters, but keeps a hold of Kame’s wrist. He sighs. “Sorry. It’s just that in situations like this, I wish I still had my mom’s pendant.”
Kame blinks. “Pendant?”
“Yeah. The silver crucifix that I got rid of when that man-” Ueda swallows tightly. “That man’s fingers touched it. He touched it, Kame, and nothing is ever going to make it the same for me again.”
Kame hates it when Ueda is like this. It’s just not right to see Ueda weak. He reaches into his back pocket of his jeans, and he is surprised that after all this time, from that fateful day, it is still here.
“That’s just stupid, Ueda,” Kame says, and he pulls out the silver crucifix along with it’s chain and dangles it in front of Ueda’s face, which is contorted into an expression between shock and horror. “What you did back then, asking me to throw it away? It was a stupid move, and thank god I didn’t follow it. This is obviously precious to you, you fool.”
When Ueda still doesn’t take it, Kame wants to hit him. He sighs. “Is it just because that man touched it?” he asks, gently. “Well, then…”
Kame brings the pendant to his lips, and kisses the cold steel, over and over and over again.
“There,” he says, handing it to Ueda. “Is that all better?”
Ueda just stares at him unblinkingly. And when he speaks, his voice cracks. “You have no idea,” he whispers with a wobbly smile, and he takes Kame, pendant and all, into his arms and they just stay there, the silence of the elevator ensconcing them in their own world. A world where there is nothing but themselves.
***
The following is an excerpt from an online newspaper article published in year 2034 in Sanctuary KU20060203:
At precisely 0000 hrs Friday the 22nd, 20 thousand tonnes of cyanide gas was released into Japan’s atmosphere.
200 000 uninfected people outside the sanctuaries were killed.
***
14 January, 2044 - Winter
Kame sits at his usual seat at the small coffee shop not far from his university, which is still in the process of being rebuilt. He scans the greener opposite the shop. At least the parks are back up and running, so Kame’s ears ring with the laughter of children. He scans the small print on the newspaper before him and curses mentally that he forgot to bring his glasses.
But so far, news is still the same: Japan being rebuilt, the US spending billions and billions cleaning up what the missile did to New York, and also more reports that the vaccine for the Red Plague will be distributed to the public ‘soon’.
Kame shakes his head. Even at this moment, the government denies fairness. They are probably never going to distribute the vaccine publicly at all, Kame can only deduce that by doing so, they still have power over the people.
In the end, everything is still the same.
Kame doesn’t really mind much that half of Japan has probably completely changed. At least there is something good about having the past wiped out completely. He smiles. Ueda gets to start everything anew. His slate is clean once again, and they’ve moved away from Tokyo. Far away, to a place that Ueda can be away from his past.
Back in Tokyo, things are plodding along normally. Kame’s dad works together with Nakamaru at a private hospital, with Kamenashi-san being the Surgeons' Board’s personal secretary. It’s kinda weird, to have his dad be secretary. And also kinda wrong too, but then again, his dad has always been a pencil pusher kind of person. So office work really suits him. His dad doesn’t know Nakamaru as ‘the person who saved the world with my son’ but as ‘Director Nakamaru’, just like how it should be.
Last Kame heard of Nakamaru was from a news broadcast last week. Apparently, he’d been promoted to chief examiner in his field, and could barely keep his excitement at bay, judging by the man’s too-red face, and sputtery answers during that TV interview. Nakamaru was never good with handling too much happiness all at once.
Nakamaru has never contacted him ever since that day, and Kame understands. It’s not because that they aren’t friends, because if anything, what they experienced during those hellish months should have made them as close as brothers; a person you could trust with your life, but no, Nakamaru doesn’t call, and Kame knows he never will.
The last thing any of them need is to return to the events of year 2034, and they certainly didn’t need reminders. You move on with your life, and not stick to your old one. It’s kinda like shedding a skin that has become too tight and uncomfortable for you, Kame thinks. He misses Nakamaru’s parent-like demeanour, and his gentle nature, but Kame chooses to leave him be. Perhaps one day, they might run into each other. Who knows?
As for Koki, Kame can’t forget him even if he wanted to. The man’s face is literally up on every single major billboard in Japan, flashy earrings and lip rings and all. Kame has his first single sitting on a shelf at home, between Ueda’s Gackt CDs (Kame doesn’t understand how Ueda listens to that old stuff) and Kame’s university books. This year, Koki is going on his first world tour. Kame and Ueda have made plans to check it out when he drops by Osaka.
Koki, like Nakamaru doesn’t keep in touch, but it’s more understandable in Koki’s case, since he’s busy and all. He’s clearly moved on, and is happy, so Kame will also be happy for him.
Taguchi is the only person who contacts them, and Kame thinks that he does so because the smiley brat misses him. They are best friends, after all. Taguchi is majoring in psychology, and is doing his internship at a small hospital in Niigata. He speaks to Kame on the phone, or calls Kame randomly in the wee hours of the morning, which is not a very good time, seeing that Ueda’s libido is always in full swing at these hours.
But whenever they talk, regardless of what conversation it is, they always end up finishing on the same topic - the Red Plague of year 2034. It a memory that sticks, and Kame cannot erase it of forget it, because the signs of it as well as the scars, are still plainly visible, be it emotional or physical. Kame knows he will never, ever forget that year, or what he has experienced, of how animal-like humans can be. That’s probably why he’s aiming for medicine. He just wants to cure people. That’s all.
And Ueda? Ueda is happy, Kame is proud to say. Still a dick, but happy. With Kame’s help, he opened a small boxing gym under his name, and he has had several successes that he plans to go pro with. He’s nicknamed Ryuu, and Kame sniggers when Ueda first tells him how a little kid is the one who came up with it. Now, almost everyone calls him Ryuu, but his real name, the one he hid from the four of them during those dreadful months cooped up in the brothel, is Tatsuya.
Ueda Tatsuya.
Kame loves it, because it suits him perfectly.
///
Epilogue End
Phase 7: Post Apocalypse [OMAKE]
///
It’s getting late, so Kame chucks his half-empty coffee cup into the bin and rolls up his newspaper. As he steps out of the coffee shop, his shoulder jars the arm of a woman, and she drops the bag that is slung over her shoulder.
“Oh, sorry,” he says, and hurriedly bends down to retrieve the object. It’s a Gucci bag with a diamond clasp, and Kame has raised brows as he hands it back to the woman, who is actually dressed very stylishly in a brown work suit and dark glasses. Kame’s brows disappear higher up his hairline when he sees a very beautiful baby, cradled easily with only the woman’s left arm as she accepts her bag from Kame.
“Thank you,” she says, and flashes Kame another smile. “Be sure to watch where you walk next time, kiddo,” she adds, and grins in good humour, before flicking her long brown hair and walking to the counter.
“Ah, Erika-san, what is it you’d like today?” says the barista, and Kame watches, wide eyes growing wider, as the woman extracts a leather wallet, with a long charm hanging from it’s zip, made of lip rings and tongue studs that Kame so distinctly remembers.
Apparently she survived the fumigation. How she did so, Kame doesn’t know, and never will.
///
Kame is back in their small apartment before Ueda is home, and he’s fine with it. That just gives him more time to clean the place up, because Ueda’s idea or organisation is to leave things haphazardly lying all over the place, and watching Kame clear them out.
He sighs as he removes empty beer bottles and coffee mugs from the dining table and wash them out. Glass bottles always go into the recycling bin outside, and garbage down the garbage chute. Kame then proceeds to do whatever a normal person does while waiting for their lover to get home.
He vacuums and mops and wipes dusty sufaces before putting his choppy fringe up in a palm tree and putting the pan on the stove. Ueda is the only person who gets the privilege of eating his food now, mostly it’s because they rarely invite people over, and when they do, it’s mostly one of Ueda’s trainees, who sometimes go all fluttery eyes with Kame, that Ueda doesn’t really ask them over anymore.
Ueda says that Kame is too pretty for his own good.
He’s just finished frying up the beef mince when he hears the front door open. The is a loud scuffling and a string of profanities that drift into the kitchen which makes Kame frown. If there is one thing he can’t stand is that Ueda takes cursing way beyond the boundaries that he’s comfortable with, and some of the words he uses Kame hasn’t even heard of.
“SHUT UP, Tat-chan,” he calls over the sound of sizzling meat. “And remember to hang up your coat!”
There is a loud snort from the entryway and he can hear Ueda stomping into the kitchen. “Yeah, that’s the way you greet your husband,” he drawls.
“Who says you’re the husband?” Kame shoots back, not turning away from his cooking.
He jerks a little in surprise when he feels a pair of arms slither around his waist, and the smell of heated flesh and tangy deodorant makes his head spin.
“I’m not the one wearing an apron and making dinner,” Ueda says, and plants a kiss on Kame’s collarbone.
“That’s just being prejudiced,” Kame retorts, still focusing on cooking. “Some women have their husbands do this housework crap as well.”
Ueda smirks and tugs Kame closer. “You forget that we aren’t women.” he sniggers, and reaches out to turn of the gas and tug the spatula out of Kame’s hand.
“Woah, Wait wait wait, what the hell are you doing-!” Kame says, his sentence ending with a high pitched yelp when Ueda drags him away from the stove and hoists him up onto the breakfast counter.
“Indulge me please,” he whispers into Kame’s lips, and proceeds to deepen the kiss until Kame sees sparks behind his eyes. Ueda is still dressed in his boxing gear, which is a tight top and loose shorts. His hair is still damp with sweat, that makes his short bangs stick to his forehead.
Kame squirms, and rests a hand on Ueda’s chest. “You haven’t showered yet, you know,” he says, but doesn’t pull away. “And this is where we eat on, so I’m not going to talk dirty or do anything other than eat, on this counter.”
Ueda pouts, “C’mon, Kazu~” he whines. “It’s been hours!”
“Exactly! Hours! Not days, and not weeks!” Kame says, exasperatedly. “You’re just completely insatiable.” Kame wonders if Ueda’s seemingly unstoppable sex drive has anything to do with being a- he pauses. NO. No thinking like that. Ueda is no longer a prostitute, and Kame sure as hell isn’t going to bring that up again. “Now, be a good boy and let me finish cooking, while you go shower,” Kame says, and pats Ueda’s head before sliding off the counter, where he stumbles slightly, and bites his lip.
Freaking hell.
He’s still sore. It’s been 12 hours already, and his waist still throbs like hell and cramps up from time to time, especially when he gets up off chairs or squatting positions.
Ueda’s expression suddenly becomes very tender and he reaches for Kame’s waist softly. “Hey, are you still sore?” he asks.
Kame bites his bottom lip. “It’s just a cramp,” he says. “I’m fine.”
Ueda scoffs. “Bullshit, Kazu. What the hell do you think my previous job was to not be able to tell simple things like this?” he sighs heavily. “Does it hurt bad?”
Kame look sheepish. “I can still do it, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
Ueda frowns and flicks Kame’s forehead. “No, you stupid idiot. What kind of person do you think I am? I keep telling you that you should, for fuck’s sake tell me if things get too much for you. I can’t stop otherwise.”
Kame smiles. Ueda’s really is sweet, despite his rough demeanour. The gestures that he is capable of sometimes is just too much for Kame that he just wants to cry.
Once, they went through 6 rounds of nonstop sex that bordered on human body abuse, and after that, Kame stumbled blindly to the toilet and emptied everything in his stomach into the bowl. Kame never remembers throwing up that much before.
It’s not because he hated it, but he just felt sick (not that kind of sick) after it all, and his stomach and waist would cramp like hell.
Ueda had caught him puking his guts out. Not his finest moment, and Ueda had been so terribly furious and guilty at the same time, that the next morning, when Kame tried to get out of bed to make breakfast for Ueda and himself, the older man was already up, dressed in a long sleeved-sweater.
He pushed Kame back in bed and had brought breakfast to him in bed, revealing that he was a surprisingly good cook too.
Ueda skipped training that day, and spent a whole day with Kame, massaging his back at intervals or just talking.
It was the best day of his life.
Now Kame thinks that he just wants to do something for Ueda, something that will stop him from worrying so friggin’ much. And that’s how he ended up from ordering Ueda to take a shower to actually taking a shower with him, and then a bath, and then another shower.
Kame thinks that he really will not be able to walk tomorrow, but who cares?
///
As he lies buried under thick covers and ensconced in the arms of a certain man, Kame can’t help but think that the Red Plague did leave some good. Some. Every dark cloud has a silver lining, and happiness is something that is hard to come by. Kame isn’t even sure if this is what happiness is, but curled up into Ueda’s arms and breathing in that masculine scent that is all so distinctly Ueda, Kame knows that he is, for now, content.
Omake End.
A/N: I think that it’s fitting for them to separate after this is all over, since they all have their own lives, to go back to, and they all just want to forget everything that ever happened. I believe to let go is to forget, that is why I had to make everyone separate. So sorry :(
<- part 4
From: yumemirunosekai
Title: Post Tenebras, Lux (Part 5)
Pairings/Characters: Kamenashi Kazuya/Ueda Tatsuya (main), Taguchi Junnosuke, Tanaka Koki, Toda Erika (side)
Rating: NC 17+
Warnings: blood, violence, gore, angst, AU, sci-fi
Notes: My first attempt at an AU/sci-fi fic. This a KAT-TUN gen fic with a side of KameDa. The personality I chose for Kame is Shuuji's real personality (the one that surfaces when he's with Akira, all prickly and whatnot) I have to emphasise that I tried to make this fic as close to reality as possible, in favour of my recipient, so expect less fluff and more… well. Reality.
Summary: Post Tenebras, Lux. ‘From Darkness, Light.’ The Red Plague has wiped out almost half the world’s population. Kame is a typical high school student who wants the easy way out of things, choosing to live in his own little world and ignore reality. When the lockdown sequence begins, he is thrown into another world where humans are animals, and killing seems to become a second nature. This is not a story of adventure, but reality.
part 1 || part 2 || part 3 || part 4 || part 5
Phase 6: Belphegor [Epilogue]
Because this isn’t a story that involves the glorification of a person, there isn’t any fanfare, or triumph when the five of them break their way into the Ueno Park Sanctuary. There is no big story of success, nor a thrilling tale of their adventure as they make their way from the bowels of Kabukichō into the ghost of a metropolitan city of Tokyo.
There is no stunned silence when they finally set foot into the bright sanctuary (remembering to shut the door behind them of course). And no grand break in with things being smashed and doors being thrown open. It’s rather anticlimactic, in all honesty, because all they do is to punch in an emergency code into a hidden panel just below the main doors, and a hatch opens up at the foot of the dome. The slip in quietly and soundlessly, and no one notices their strange arrival at all. There are no guards, only people, milling about the stark, empty room.
They do not greet anyone, but turn to each other in silent understanding. This is the end of their journey.
“I’m happy I met you guys.” Koki says.
“Same here.” Taguchi grins.
Ueda just nods, and Kame smiles. There really isn’t any words that need to be said. Nakamaru tilts his head. “I’m happy we managed to pull through that alive. Thank you all.”
They all nod in agreement.
With that, Koki turns and disappears into the milling crowds, and so does Taguchi. “I’ll see you, Kame,” he calls over his shoulder, but Kame can’t help but feel that it sounds more like a goodbye than an au revoir for some reason. He waves to his best friend, who will always be his best friend.
When it’s just him, Nakamaru and Ueda, Nakamaru ushers them past the people, to an elevator at the very end of the dome. It is here that he presses his eye into the retinal scanner at a spot where the lift buttons should be.
“The research centres are at the bowels of the sanctuary,” Nakamaru says, and a wry smile slides onto his face. “I wonder what my colleagues will say when they see me.” he muses. “It’s been too long.”
“Stop sounding like an old man,” Ueda says, as the elevator doors open, and the three of them step inside. It’s all bright white and so sterile, that it unnerves Kame. Living with the constant fear of being infected seems like a faraway nightmare when he’s cocooned in such whiteness. It’s almost like sliding back into the delicious oblivion that is ignorance. But somehow, the shadows feel less comfortable than he remembered. Perhaps it’s because he’s more mature now, having to face the horrors of reality first hand.
“Kame, I have to warn you that the researchers will not let you go easily once they find out you are immune to this plague,” Nakamaru says grimly. “They might keep you for a long, long time. You might even be a test subject, I’m not sure. Are you really up for this? Do you want this?”
Kame is silent. Does he? Fuck no. But, if his experiences have taught him anything, is that sometimes, life just isn’t fair. It strips whatever it can grab hold of you, and puts you through hell and back. It’s cruel, but that’s just life.
“Of course I’m sure,” Kame says quietly.
The elevator continues descending down.
///
The research levels are strangely colder, and Kame’s surroundings remind him of a submarine for some reason, not that he’s ever been into one. White-coats strut through the narrow corridors in crisp coats and starched shirts with stiff collars. They do not even acknowledge their presence.
Nakamaru seems to know the place like the back of his hand, as he leads them down the corridor, and they pass large glass windows, which allow them to look inside the individuals rooms, and actually see the experiments carried out within. All Kame can think is that the government must have stripped the country of all its white mice, with the sheer number of the creatures caged up in glass cells that line the walls of every research room.
The back of Ueda’s hand brushes Kame’s and he looks down. The older man never shows his affections in public. Kame sorta knew this from the start. Ueda just isn’t your typical sweet boyfriend at all, but that’s alright.
Finally, Nakamaru stops at a door that is slightly ajar. Inside sits a large man with a thick moustache, penning words in neat script into what seems to be a journal. He looks up when Nakamaru knocks, and the blatant surprise on his face is enough to make a grin appear of Nakamaru’s face.
“Chief,” he acknowledges.
The man blinks. “Maru? But- But how? I thought- How did you get in?” he splutters, but then leaps to his feet, finger pointing and face contorted into something resembling a cross between disgust, shock and pure anger. “Are you infected?!”
Nakamaru tackles the situation carefully. The last thing anyone needs is for the person to freak out and trigger the alarm. “No sir, I’m not,” he says calmly. “And how I got in is none of your concern, but this boy is.”
He pulls Kame forwards. The chief blinks owlishly at Kame, before looking up at Nakamaru, confused. “Why? What the hell is going on?”
“He’s immune,” Nakamaru says coolly and calmly, as though he had an entire speech rehearsed. “You don’t have to find a cure, because there is none. There is only a vaccine.” Kame feels eyes boring into him.
“You lie,” the chief whispers. “There can’t be- This is just- There is no- He’s immune?”
Nakamaru nods. “This is Kamenashi Kazuya, and he’s willing to provide his blood for testing, if you need confirmation.”
The chief looks as though he wants to ask more, but he does not. “You and I Nakamaru, have a lot to discuss about later,” he says grimly. “Starting from how you got in here, and how you found this boy. We will need everything - your statement, a full report, the works.”
Nakamaru nods. “Of course, sir, but please, you have to test him. He can help us.”
The chief’s eyes are then fixed on Kame and Kame only. There is a rabid hunger in his eyes that send spark of fear down Kame’s spine. “Well,” he says straightening up. “If this kid really does hold the key to synthesising a vaccine, then he’s government property now. So…” he presses a button on the intercom. “Sayaka, will you send in a gurney and a set of tests 135282K and 281821U? Thank you.”
“Wait a fucking minute here,” Ueda suddenly interrupts. “Government property? What bullshit is this?”
The chief clears his throat and looks at Nakamaru pointedly. “Did you not explain to them?” he asks. Nakamaru shakes his head. “Kame knows, but he doesn’t”
“Kame knows?” Ueda rounds on Kame, who looks a little guilty. He had gotten Nakamaru aside to discuss this, but had intentionally left the hot-headed Ueda out.
“Sorry, Ueda, but I knew you would react this way, but I need to do this, okay? I just- I just want this to be over,” Kame says in a small voice, but that does little to cull Ueda’s fury.
“So you’re going to let them run tests on you, like a fucking lab rat,” he spits. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“Ueda, language!” Nakamaru snaps. He is probably one of the many that has never liked Ueda’s foul mouth. “What he means by Government Property is that Kame will not be patented for this. That’s all. It just means that the vaccine that is made from his blood will not be considered his to own and market, but will be a property of the Japanese government. They are going to run tests of course, but they won’t hurt him.”
“If this boy really does help us manufacture the vaccine, we can sell it to the stronger countries such as the US or China. This can help in rebuilding Japan after all this has cleared up,” says the chief. “We have to get started right away.”
“I’m not letting you do that to Kame,” Ueda hisses, “It’s his blood you’re going to be siphoning out, and he get NO credit for this? Kame has fucking gone through enough shit, and he gets nothing, nothing in return?”
“Ueda, I don’t care,” Kame sighs wearily. “Will you please calm the fuck down and let me do this? I just want all this shit to stop so I can go back to having a normal life. I just want to be happy, with you. Is that too much to ask?”
Ueda is stymied. His gaze drifts to Nakamaru, and to a rather amused looking chief, before he storms out of the room with a loud yell of ‘Whatever!’ over his shoulder.
Nakamaru groans, rubbing his temples. “Seriously, that brat… Kame, I’ll see he doesn’t break his neck or something. You just do whatever you need to do. I’ll make sure he’s in one piece for you to come back to.”
Kame shoots Nakamaru a thankful nod, who disappears through the steel door and Kame can hear calls of ‘Ueda! Spot being a child and calm down!’ echoing down the corridor.
It’s the chief who speaks first. “Well,” he begins awkwardly. “Disregarding the fact that I actually do have a teensy problem about your sexual orientation, lets get down to it, shall we? Ah, and here’s Sayaka with the gurney.”
A stick-thin woman in a white lab coat walks in, and Kame cringes at how deathly pale she looks. She seriously needs some sunlight. Kame thinks.
Kame is made to lie on the gurney, while the chief takes a quick sample of blood from him and injects it into two separate plastic packs, one with a green solid, and one with a blue solid. Upon seeing Kame watching so intently, the chief brings the packs closer.
“This green pack will tell me if you’re infected, and this one will tell me if you are immune. They are much, much more effective than retinal scans.”
Kame watches as the chief breaks the solid within the two bags, and Kame stares entranced as his blood mixes with the colourful liquid.
Both packs turn colourless almost at once, and the chief does a strange jig and punches the air like a kid who just got a bagful of candy. “This is a miracle. A miracle, I say!” he shouts, and grabs Kame by the shoulders. “You my boy, are going to save the world!”
///
Kame barely remembers what happens after that, because he’s pushed and pulled this way and that. He’s shoved into MRI scanners and CAT scans, before being given X-ray after X-ray until he can barely register what the hell is going on around him.
The chief is present during every single one of the tests, shouting out orders to researchers, and at the same time interrogating Kame about his time locked outside the sanctuaries. The questions bombarded on him ranged from what school he attended to who his father is and into very personal matters.
Kame answers them without flinching, after all, what point was there to hide things?
As he lies dressed in a white hospital gown in one of the test rooms, he catches sight of one of the researches flipping through a stack of files. The title catches is attention.
“Um… Excuse me?” he calls out, and the researcher look up curiously.
“Yes?” he responds, and approaches Kame. “Is there something the matter?”
Kame shakes his head. “Oh, no. It’s just… about the fumigation, what is going to happen?” he asks, and the researcher regards him carefully before answering.
“Gas pipes have been built underground for this extermination method long before the sanctuaries were erected.” he says, looking grim. “The pipes all connect to every dome in Japan, which houses a large quantity of cyanide poison in a separate tank underground. When the fumigation starts, everything else is relatively simple. The pipe openings rise from the ground and the gas is released.”
Kame takes awhile to digest this information. “So… is that the only way to eradicate the plague?” Kame asks, genuinely curious.
The researcher sighs. “Well, that and the vaccine we are currently synthesising with your blood.” He suddenly smiles. “You are practically saving humanity here, sir. I hope you understand that.”
“I’m- I’m not exactly saving anyone.” Kame says bitterly. “But it’s just something I can do, so… What the heck?”
The researcher laughs. “You are strange, sir. Really strange.”
“Hey! Yamashita! A little help here?” a voice calls out from one of the rooms.
“Ah, coming!” the researcher shouts back. He throws Kame a final warm grin. “Well, I have to go. It was nice talking to you, sir.”
And the researcher is gone before Kame could ask his name.
///
When he’s finally, finally allowed to leave the research facility levels and go in search for Ueda, who he heard was causing a little trouble at the 4th level of the sanctuary. The elevator doors open to reveal a large circular room lined with hundreds of door all along it’s walls, and above that is more doors with stairs leading up to them. The artificial light burns his eyes, but Kame scans the vast room for any sign of Ue-
And then he sees him. Ueda is up against a wall, and there were several people surrounding him. Kame would think that Ueda could stand up for himself, because most of the people ganging up on him were women, but at the sight of Ueda’s face, Kame feels something crack inside.
“YOU!” Kame hears a woman shriek. “You are that little whore that stole my husband! You fucking faggot!”
Mumbles and whispers break across the crowd like wildfire, and soon everyone is watching at pointing, but no one stops to help. Perhaps they think that Ueda deserves it, but no, Ueda deserves nothing like this, because he is just another victim. It isn’t his fault, and Kame will be damned if he lets anyone say so.
“Give me back my husband, you filthy, disgusting, little fuck!” screeches another woman, and she reaches out to slap Ueda. She catches him across the face, and she leaves five diagonal scratches that make the white in front of Kame dissolve into fiery red.
It’s not good to hit women, his dad says (oh right, his dad huh? Kame completely forgot) but right now, Kame can hardly give a fuck. He storms right into the crowd, and he throws the woman backwards roughly, until she is sprawled on the ground, blinking in shock.
“Hey!” shouts a random man. “Are you that low to hit a woman?”
“Oh, SHUT THE FUCK UP,” Kame snarls, “I don’t give a shit if its a woman or a man. If you ever, ever accuse Ueda of something like that again, I will rip your face off. And don’t test me,” he adds.
Something out there must have given him whatever spectacular glare he is using now, because everyone backs away.
Kame turns to Ueda, and hooks an arms around his elbow before pulling him along forcefully, (because it seems as though Ueda has forgotten how to walk) towards the elevator. He shoves his face into the retinal scanner, which he found out opens for all people, as long as they aren’t infected.
When the steel doors open, Kame drags Ueda inside and jabs the ‘close door’ buttons. He sits Ueda down on the floor and flips the emergency stop button before rounding on Ueda and grappling his shoulders.
“Hey. Hey!” Kame says, and shakes Ueda’s shoulders roughly. “Don’t you go out on me, you asshole. Hey!”
The shaking makes Ueda blink at least. He looks blearily up and his gaze stops at Kame’s face. “Kame?” he whispers brokenly, and Kame’s heart just breaks into two.
Ueda seems to register that it’s Kame in front of him, because he grabs his wrist and pulls Kame into a bone crushing hug, burying his head into the crook of Kame’s neck.
Kame can barely breathe, but he just traces soothing circles down Ueda’s spine. “You aren’t what they say you are,” Kame reassures in a soft voice. “You aren’t that Ueda any more.”
Ueda doesn’t answer or deny this, but his arms just tighten more. Kame sighs. He doesn’t know how to tell Ueda that he’ll never leave him. Not now, not ever. “Look, Ueda,” he begins, in an even voice. “I’m never going to leave you, you insecure dickhead. I wouldn’t leave even if you wanted me to. So will you please, please stop thinking like that?”
There is no movement from Ueda, but he loosens his hold a little on Kame. “What makes you think I am thinking that?” he asks, voice muffled by Kame’s neck.
“You’re breaking my ribs here,” Kame deadpans. “C’mon. Let me go so I can look at you. Please?”
Ueda very slowly, very reluctantly does that, and his face is flushed in embarrassment. Kame laughs. “God, I never realised you could blush,” he chuckles, and Ueda flicks his forehead sharply.
“Don’t you dare,” he mutters, but keeps a hold of Kame’s wrist. He sighs. “Sorry. It’s just that in situations like this, I wish I still had my mom’s pendant.”
Kame blinks. “Pendant?”
“Yeah. The silver crucifix that I got rid of when that man-” Ueda swallows tightly. “That man’s fingers touched it. He touched it, Kame, and nothing is ever going to make it the same for me again.”
Kame hates it when Ueda is like this. It’s just not right to see Ueda weak. He reaches into his back pocket of his jeans, and he is surprised that after all this time, from that fateful day, it is still here.
“That’s just stupid, Ueda,” Kame says, and he pulls out the silver crucifix along with it’s chain and dangles it in front of Ueda’s face, which is contorted into an expression between shock and horror. “What you did back then, asking me to throw it away? It was a stupid move, and thank god I didn’t follow it. This is obviously precious to you, you fool.”
When Ueda still doesn’t take it, Kame wants to hit him. He sighs. “Is it just because that man touched it?” he asks, gently. “Well, then…”
Kame brings the pendant to his lips, and kisses the cold steel, over and over and over again.
“There,” he says, handing it to Ueda. “Is that all better?”
Ueda just stares at him unblinkingly. And when he speaks, his voice cracks. “You have no idea,” he whispers with a wobbly smile, and he takes Kame, pendant and all, into his arms and they just stay there, the silence of the elevator ensconcing them in their own world. A world where there is nothing but themselves.
***
The following is an excerpt from an online newspaper article published in year 2034 in Sanctuary KU20060203:
At precisely 0000 hrs Friday the 22nd, 20 thousand tonnes of cyanide gas was released into Japan’s atmosphere.
200 000 uninfected people outside the sanctuaries were killed.
***
14 January, 2044 - Winter
Kame sits at his usual seat at the small coffee shop not far from his university, which is still in the process of being rebuilt. He scans the greener opposite the shop. At least the parks are back up and running, so Kame’s ears ring with the laughter of children. He scans the small print on the newspaper before him and curses mentally that he forgot to bring his glasses.
But so far, news is still the same: Japan being rebuilt, the US spending billions and billions cleaning up what the missile did to New York, and also more reports that the vaccine for the Red Plague will be distributed to the public ‘soon’.
Kame shakes his head. Even at this moment, the government denies fairness. They are probably never going to distribute the vaccine publicly at all, Kame can only deduce that by doing so, they still have power over the people.
In the end, everything is still the same.
Kame doesn’t really mind much that half of Japan has probably completely changed. At least there is something good about having the past wiped out completely. He smiles. Ueda gets to start everything anew. His slate is clean once again, and they’ve moved away from Tokyo. Far away, to a place that Ueda can be away from his past.
Back in Tokyo, things are plodding along normally. Kame’s dad works together with Nakamaru at a private hospital, with Kamenashi-san being the Surgeons' Board’s personal secretary. It’s kinda weird, to have his dad be secretary. And also kinda wrong too, but then again, his dad has always been a pencil pusher kind of person. So office work really suits him. His dad doesn’t know Nakamaru as ‘the person who saved the world with my son’ but as ‘Director Nakamaru’, just like how it should be.
Last Kame heard of Nakamaru was from a news broadcast last week. Apparently, he’d been promoted to chief examiner in his field, and could barely keep his excitement at bay, judging by the man’s too-red face, and sputtery answers during that TV interview. Nakamaru was never good with handling too much happiness all at once.
Nakamaru has never contacted him ever since that day, and Kame understands. It’s not because that they aren’t friends, because if anything, what they experienced during those hellish months should have made them as close as brothers; a person you could trust with your life, but no, Nakamaru doesn’t call, and Kame knows he never will.
The last thing any of them need is to return to the events of year 2034, and they certainly didn’t need reminders. You move on with your life, and not stick to your old one. It’s kinda like shedding a skin that has become too tight and uncomfortable for you, Kame thinks. He misses Nakamaru’s parent-like demeanour, and his gentle nature, but Kame chooses to leave him be. Perhaps one day, they might run into each other. Who knows?
As for Koki, Kame can’t forget him even if he wanted to. The man’s face is literally up on every single major billboard in Japan, flashy earrings and lip rings and all. Kame has his first single sitting on a shelf at home, between Ueda’s Gackt CDs (Kame doesn’t understand how Ueda listens to that old stuff) and Kame’s university books. This year, Koki is going on his first world tour. Kame and Ueda have made plans to check it out when he drops by Osaka.
Koki, like Nakamaru doesn’t keep in touch, but it’s more understandable in Koki’s case, since he’s busy and all. He’s clearly moved on, and is happy, so Kame will also be happy for him.
Taguchi is the only person who contacts them, and Kame thinks that he does so because the smiley brat misses him. They are best friends, after all. Taguchi is majoring in psychology, and is doing his internship at a small hospital in Niigata. He speaks to Kame on the phone, or calls Kame randomly in the wee hours of the morning, which is not a very good time, seeing that Ueda’s libido is always in full swing at these hours.
But whenever they talk, regardless of what conversation it is, they always end up finishing on the same topic - the Red Plague of year 2034. It a memory that sticks, and Kame cannot erase it of forget it, because the signs of it as well as the scars, are still plainly visible, be it emotional or physical. Kame knows he will never, ever forget that year, or what he has experienced, of how animal-like humans can be. That’s probably why he’s aiming for medicine. He just wants to cure people. That’s all.
And Ueda? Ueda is happy, Kame is proud to say. Still a dick, but happy. With Kame’s help, he opened a small boxing gym under his name, and he has had several successes that he plans to go pro with. He’s nicknamed Ryuu, and Kame sniggers when Ueda first tells him how a little kid is the one who came up with it. Now, almost everyone calls him Ryuu, but his real name, the one he hid from the four of them during those dreadful months cooped up in the brothel, is Tatsuya.
Ueda Tatsuya.
Kame loves it, because it suits him perfectly.
///
Epilogue End
Phase 7: Post Apocalypse [OMAKE]
///
It’s getting late, so Kame chucks his half-empty coffee cup into the bin and rolls up his newspaper. As he steps out of the coffee shop, his shoulder jars the arm of a woman, and she drops the bag that is slung over her shoulder.
“Oh, sorry,” he says, and hurriedly bends down to retrieve the object. It’s a Gucci bag with a diamond clasp, and Kame has raised brows as he hands it back to the woman, who is actually dressed very stylishly in a brown work suit and dark glasses. Kame’s brows disappear higher up his hairline when he sees a very beautiful baby, cradled easily with only the woman’s left arm as she accepts her bag from Kame.
“Thank you,” she says, and flashes Kame another smile. “Be sure to watch where you walk next time, kiddo,” she adds, and grins in good humour, before flicking her long brown hair and walking to the counter.
“Ah, Erika-san, what is it you’d like today?” says the barista, and Kame watches, wide eyes growing wider, as the woman extracts a leather wallet, with a long charm hanging from it’s zip, made of lip rings and tongue studs that Kame so distinctly remembers.
Apparently she survived the fumigation. How she did so, Kame doesn’t know, and never will.
///
Kame is back in their small apartment before Ueda is home, and he’s fine with it. That just gives him more time to clean the place up, because Ueda’s idea or organisation is to leave things haphazardly lying all over the place, and watching Kame clear them out.
He sighs as he removes empty beer bottles and coffee mugs from the dining table and wash them out. Glass bottles always go into the recycling bin outside, and garbage down the garbage chute. Kame then proceeds to do whatever a normal person does while waiting for their lover to get home.
He vacuums and mops and wipes dusty sufaces before putting his choppy fringe up in a palm tree and putting the pan on the stove. Ueda is the only person who gets the privilege of eating his food now, mostly it’s because they rarely invite people over, and when they do, it’s mostly one of Ueda’s trainees, who sometimes go all fluttery eyes with Kame, that Ueda doesn’t really ask them over anymore.
Ueda says that Kame is too pretty for his own good.
He’s just finished frying up the beef mince when he hears the front door open. The is a loud scuffling and a string of profanities that drift into the kitchen which makes Kame frown. If there is one thing he can’t stand is that Ueda takes cursing way beyond the boundaries that he’s comfortable with, and some of the words he uses Kame hasn’t even heard of.
“SHUT UP, Tat-chan,” he calls over the sound of sizzling meat. “And remember to hang up your coat!”
There is a loud snort from the entryway and he can hear Ueda stomping into the kitchen. “Yeah, that’s the way you greet your husband,” he drawls.
“Who says you’re the husband?” Kame shoots back, not turning away from his cooking.
He jerks a little in surprise when he feels a pair of arms slither around his waist, and the smell of heated flesh and tangy deodorant makes his head spin.
“I’m not the one wearing an apron and making dinner,” Ueda says, and plants a kiss on Kame’s collarbone.
“That’s just being prejudiced,” Kame retorts, still focusing on cooking. “Some women have their husbands do this housework crap as well.”
Ueda smirks and tugs Kame closer. “You forget that we aren’t women.” he sniggers, and reaches out to turn of the gas and tug the spatula out of Kame’s hand.
“Woah, Wait wait wait, what the hell are you doing-!” Kame says, his sentence ending with a high pitched yelp when Ueda drags him away from the stove and hoists him up onto the breakfast counter.
“Indulge me please,” he whispers into Kame’s lips, and proceeds to deepen the kiss until Kame sees sparks behind his eyes. Ueda is still dressed in his boxing gear, which is a tight top and loose shorts. His hair is still damp with sweat, that makes his short bangs stick to his forehead.
Kame squirms, and rests a hand on Ueda’s chest. “You haven’t showered yet, you know,” he says, but doesn’t pull away. “And this is where we eat on, so I’m not going to talk dirty or do anything other than eat, on this counter.”
Ueda pouts, “C’mon, Kazu~” he whines. “It’s been hours!”
“Exactly! Hours! Not days, and not weeks!” Kame says, exasperatedly. “You’re just completely insatiable.” Kame wonders if Ueda’s seemingly unstoppable sex drive has anything to do with being a- he pauses. NO. No thinking like that. Ueda is no longer a prostitute, and Kame sure as hell isn’t going to bring that up again. “Now, be a good boy and let me finish cooking, while you go shower,” Kame says, and pats Ueda’s head before sliding off the counter, where he stumbles slightly, and bites his lip.
Freaking hell.
He’s still sore. It’s been 12 hours already, and his waist still throbs like hell and cramps up from time to time, especially when he gets up off chairs or squatting positions.
Ueda’s expression suddenly becomes very tender and he reaches for Kame’s waist softly. “Hey, are you still sore?” he asks.
Kame bites his bottom lip. “It’s just a cramp,” he says. “I’m fine.”
Ueda scoffs. “Bullshit, Kazu. What the hell do you think my previous job was to not be able to tell simple things like this?” he sighs heavily. “Does it hurt bad?”
Kame look sheepish. “I can still do it, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
Ueda frowns and flicks Kame’s forehead. “No, you stupid idiot. What kind of person do you think I am? I keep telling you that you should, for fuck’s sake tell me if things get too much for you. I can’t stop otherwise.”
Kame smiles. Ueda’s really is sweet, despite his rough demeanour. The gestures that he is capable of sometimes is just too much for Kame that he just wants to cry.
Once, they went through 6 rounds of nonstop sex that bordered on human body abuse, and after that, Kame stumbled blindly to the toilet and emptied everything in his stomach into the bowl. Kame never remembers throwing up that much before.
It’s not because he hated it, but he just felt sick (not that kind of sick) after it all, and his stomach and waist would cramp like hell.
Ueda had caught him puking his guts out. Not his finest moment, and Ueda had been so terribly furious and guilty at the same time, that the next morning, when Kame tried to get out of bed to make breakfast for Ueda and himself, the older man was already up, dressed in a long sleeved-sweater.
He pushed Kame back in bed and had brought breakfast to him in bed, revealing that he was a surprisingly good cook too.
Ueda skipped training that day, and spent a whole day with Kame, massaging his back at intervals or just talking.
It was the best day of his life.
Now Kame thinks that he just wants to do something for Ueda, something that will stop him from worrying so friggin’ much. And that’s how he ended up from ordering Ueda to take a shower to actually taking a shower with him, and then a bath, and then another shower.
Kame thinks that he really will not be able to walk tomorrow, but who cares?
///
As he lies buried under thick covers and ensconced in the arms of a certain man, Kame can’t help but think that the Red Plague did leave some good. Some. Every dark cloud has a silver lining, and happiness is something that is hard to come by. Kame isn’t even sure if this is what happiness is, but curled up into Ueda’s arms and breathing in that masculine scent that is all so distinctly Ueda, Kame knows that he is, for now, content.
Omake End.
A/N: I think that it’s fitting for them to separate after this is all over, since they all have their own lives, to go back to, and they all just want to forget everything that ever happened. I believe to let go is to forget, that is why I had to make everyone separate. So sorry :(
<- part 4