[fic] The Things We Can't Control - Chapter 16 ~Meeting Hina~
Title: The Things We Can't Control
Author:
prettyorianna
Pairing: Akame. Others to be added later.
Rating: NC-17.
Genre: crime drama au
Beta by: my cat Gemma. okay, seriously, nobody
Disclaimer: I don't own KAT-TUN, any of its members, any other JE 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: Two criminals with vastly different styles meet by chance one day. Can they work together or will they end up destroying each other?
Author's Note: Back to the past.
BANNER BY DESHISORABA!!
Warning: This gets graphic often occasionally, containing at the very least foul language, character death, nefarious crimes, rape, etc etc.
The Master Posts:
On my journal - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the akame_ Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the akame_fanfics Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the je_kamenashi Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the kattun_fanfics Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the jin_fics Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
Chapter 16 ~Meeting Hina~
Kame sat in the alley, back against the wall. He was clutching his stuffed animal tightly as he watched Ryuichi zip his pants and walk away. But at least he was set for another week.
It was getting harder. For a while, he’d just been numb. Kame thought that meant he was adjusting, getting used to it all finally. But apparently that wasn’t the case, because after a week that numbness was leaving and the thought of the approaching night filled him with dread, self-disgust, and no small amount of panic. And what he just did for Ryuichi… that was worse even because he wasn’t even getting paid for that.
No, that just meant he was free to continue tearing away pieces of his soul, one client at a time.
Was this really it? Was there nothing else he could do to keep himself alive?
Was it even worth it?
Maybe death would be better…
He hated thinking like that. He really did. If she was still alive, his mother would probably be so ashamed of him. But… if he was dead, he would be with her. He could finally know her.
His grip on his Snoopy doll tightened even further.
But for better or worse night would soon fall so, after making sure nobody was looking, Kame hid the stuffed doll in its normal spot, murmuring a short prayer that it would still be there when he came back for it. He made himself move, step by step, out of the alley and into the rest of hell… oops, he meant Pearl Street.
And so a few more days passed, somehow managing to both bleed together and yet each day feel like its own eternity. Ryuichi kept pestering him during the daytime hours, trying to find excuses to touch him - grope might be a better word for it - and offering to help him with anything he wanted in exchange for more sex. Kame would have none of it, though, and just pushed him away each time.
Though…
Kame desperately hoped Ryuichi didn’t run out of patience and force him again. He had to admit that if the older boy really tried, he still wasn’t strong enough to stop him. Ryuichi had to know that after the first time he took Kame.
But Kame was so focused on keeping his distance from Ryuichi that he found himself blindsided when an attack did come…
…because it wasn’t from Ryuichi.
Kame was walking back from the dingy conbini on Fourth Street halfway between Fortification and Hill Street. He had just crossed Pearl Street and taken a turn to his left to head back to his spot when he felt an arm circle around his waist suddenly at the same time a hand clamped on his mouth. His food dropped out of his hands and onto the sidewalk as he was dragged into the alley.
Out of reflex, Kame elbowed his attacker, managing to land a pretty solid hit despite his surprise. His attacker lost his grip.
Now free, Kame wasted no time bolting down the alley. Luck wasn’t with him, however, because this particular alley out of the two on the eastern side of the block from 3rd to 4th was divided in half by a huge chain link fence, at least fifteen feet high, blocking the way out to the east. Still, Kame tried to climb up and over.
Unfortunately, this was all the time his attacker needed to catch up to him. Kame felt hand grabbing the back of his shirt, yanking him off the fence and throwing him down to the ground. Before he could push himself back up, the boy was straddling him.
“Get off me! Don’t touch me!” Kame shrieked as loudly as he could. Whoever this boy was, he didn’t look familiar though he certain fit in on this stroll.
Hitting him once over the head and then leaning down to speak in his ear, Kame’s attacker quietly said, “Just behave!”
Kame used the closeness to his advantage, biting the other boy as hard as he could on the neck. This caused his attacker to jerk back, a hand going up to the bite mark to check for blood. Shouting, he said, “You stupid...”
But he was interrupted by Yoko’s voice, “Hina-chan? Is that you?” as Yoko came from the street. “Ah, you’re back! Dumped already? I’d heard it from Ryuichi but… wait, what are you doing to Kame-chan?”
“This is Kame? Ryuichi's new toy?” Suddenly scrambling off of him, that Hina person started spilling apologies, “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was you.”
“Didn’t realize… What?!” Kame shrieked indignantly. “I DON’T belong to him! He can go rot in hell for all I care!”
“But he said…”
“I don’t care what he said!” Kame pushed himself up to sit.
But there was a strange gleam in Hina’s eyes after Kame spoke. “Is that so…” At least, that’s what it sounded like he spoke. It was so quietly that Kame couldn’t be sure. “Whatever. I’m going to find Ryuichi and complain that he didn’t introduce us. Nice to meet you, Kame-chan!”
Kame watched as Hina walked out of the alley and… stopped to steal the food he’d just bought that had landed on the sidewalk! “Hey! HEY! THAT’S MINE!” But Hina apparently was selectively deaf because he just kept walking away with Kame’s food from the conbini without a word, disappearing from sight after a few seconds.
Yoko was shaking his head, “He’s just like that. He lives off others as much as he can. Keep an eye out or he’ll rob you blind. In fact, he’s a great pickpocket so you might want to check to make sure you still have whatever money you were carrying.”
Now that it was all over and the adrenaline was wearing off, Kame found himself shaking. That Hina had attacked him and he’d been completely defenseless against him. “Thanks… I’ll be sure to check…”
Eying him thoughtfully, Yoko finally said, “You know, I can teach you.”
“Teach me what?” Kame asked warily. He’d only been here a week and a half but it was long enough for him to learn nothing came for free.
“How to fight. How to defend yourself. Why do you think Ryuichi doesn’t kick me off the stroll even though I won’t fuck him? I’m tougher than he is. He knows if he tries anything with me, I’ll kick his ass.”
“You mean, it’s possible to work here without… you know…” Kame asked quickly, suddenly very interested in what Yoko was saying. “I thought…”
“Oh, that payment’s just for people who can’t stop him. Don’t tell him I said this, but…”
Ryuichi’s voice interrupted as he entered the alley, “Don’t tell who you said what?”
“Eh, I was just offering to teach Kame-chan how to fight and how to defend himself,” Yoko said with a shrug.
“No. I forbid it!” Ryuichi said sharply.
Laughing, Yoko responded with, “And you think you can stop me? I kicked your ass last time we threw down.”
“Mou, why do you always have to spoil my fun, Yoko? I really like this one!”
Kame watched the two of them go back and forth like that for a while, like they’d somehow managed to forget he was there even though they were talking about him. But eventually Ryuichi, in a complete moody sulk by then, said to Kame, “Okay, I’ll give my blessing on this if you agree to help me in some other way.”
“Hound and Hunter?” Yoko asked, glancing back and forth between Kame and Ryuichi.
“Hound and Hunter.”
“Hmm… he’d make a great hound, that’s for sure…” Yoko mused.
Finally his curiosity got the better of him and so Kame asked, “What’s ‘Hound and Hunter’ exactly?”
“It’s a kind of trick roll,” Ryuichi explained.
Oh, like that really cleared things up… Kame rolled his eyes. “And a trick roll is… what?”
“You’re kidding, right?” from both Yoko and Ryuichi.
Feeling self conscious, Kame shook his head.
This time it was Ryuichi who rolled his eyes. “Alright, see… the way it works, you got the one guy who’s the hound. He goes into a bar or club or whatever and looks for a mark, right? Then he seduces him and lures him out to the alley. But while the hound has the mark distracted, the other guy, the hunter, right? He sneaks up behind the mark and knocks him out. Then you take all his money and his plastic and anything worth money from him and the both run away before the mark wakes up.”
“But that’s… that’s horrible! And won’t the guy recognize the hound later?”
Ryuichi shrugged. “That’s why if you’re smart you do it away from the strolls entirely. And the hound, he can pose as a pro or a date, whatever works with the mark.”
“So if I do this, then Yoko can teach me self defense?”
Ryuichi frowned again, shooting a death gaze at Yoko, and said to Kame, “I can’t stop him but I can still stop you…” But finally he sighed dramatically and nodded his head. “Fine, fine.”
“And I won’t have to have sex with you anymore to work the stroll?”
“I ain’t saying that. You’ll keep paying as long as I can make you, whether you want to or not!” Ryuichi said with an irritated grumble but he finally walked off.
Yoko held his hand out to Kame to help pull him to his feet. After thanking him and agreeing to start the lessons first thing the next morning, Kame took off towards the conbini once more to buy some more food. Halfway there, he remembered what Yoko said about Hina’s sticky fingers but, thankfully, all his money was right where he left it.
So… this was an improvement, right?
To be honest, Kame wasn’t sure but he grasped that faint bit of hope as tightly as he could since it was the last little bit he had in him.
To be honest, it was the only thing keeping him from killing himself.
He really hated thinking like that. Really…
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The story continues:
Chapter 17 ~The Hellions in the Plan~
A/N: Okay, okay, I know. I was supposed to update UP first. And, to be honest, I tried. Several times. I don't understand why because I still love the idea and the whole concept still amuses me, but it's rapidly approaching the point where writing UP feels more like a chore I HAVE to do than a thing I do because I WANT to. I'm not sure what to do about that. Maybe I should put it on hold for a while. Except I hate to disappoint you guys.
But I finally decided, if UP wasn't going to play nice, I could at least give you more TWCC.
Poor Kame, wondering if he'd be better off dead. The numbness is wearing off and it's all really starting to sink in.
And bad Hina! Bad! No donut! Eh, he needs to stop taking people's stuff (or, well, people themselves). Ryuichi already expressed once before that it was good Hina wasn't around for the next while so he wouldn't be hitting on "his" Kame. But Hina (yes, that's Murakami Shingo if you're curious) always ends up coming back. His sugar daddies get tired of him after a while and kick him out. But now that Kame's said he doesn't belong to Ryuichi, I wonder what Hina's going to do.
Ryuichi really, really doesn't want Kame to get un-helpless. But I honestly think Yoko would teach Kame for free, just to irritate Ryuichi.
But, Kame's shock when he found out not everyone pays "the price" to work the stroll was probably not good. He's already feeling so much loathing at both himself and Ryuichi over this price he's having to pay that the knowledge some people don't pay is making him feel worse. But hopefully he'll learn to defend himself and the Ryuichi better watch out!
THough.... Kame, Kame, why did you screw the man at the pawn shop for a knife if you weren't going to use it in self defense? I mean, Hina attacked you and you completely forgot you had the thing!
Okay, I'm done rambling now. I hope you enjoyed the update.