Hubris - Chapter 8/? [The Gazette - Reita/Ruki; Reita/Aoi (one-sided); to be revealed]
Title: Hubris
Author: shir0ukun (pelting_rain )
Rating: NC17
Genre: Violence | AU | Smut | Action | Romance | Slight Fluff | Angst | Slight Humour
Chapter: Chapter 8/?
Warnings: Generally Violence | Violent Reita | MxM sex | Heavy plot
Band[s]: The GazettE
Pairing[s]: Reita/Ruki | Reita/Aoi - onesided (To be revealed)
Synopsis: Reita Suzuki is the boss of Japan’s strongest Mafia organisation, the Hayato. His cruel and cold-blooded personality is challenged when he gets involved in a car accident, and ends up housing a guy who has completely lost his existing memory.
Comments: Sorry I’m so late in posting this. Enjoy (:
Previous Chapters:
[Chapter 7]
[Chapter 6]
[Chapter 5]
[Chapter 4]
[Chapter 3]
[Chapter 2]
[Chapter 1]
[Prologue]
“It’s really none of your business, Ruki.”
“Pfft. Which means I hit the jackpot huh.”
“…So what if I am, don’t get cocky now.”
“It’s just fascinating to know,” Ruki shrugged, “Why were you intending to keep it from me anyway?”
“Like I said, ‘cos it’s none-of-your-business.”
“… You were worried about me, huh?”
“What? Hah. Don’t flatter yourself.” Akira looked away.
“You didn’t want me involved, so you kept it from me.”
“… Revealing the fact that I’m from the mafia’s already enough. I didn’t need you to get hurt because of this crap anymore.”
Ruki’s eyes widened, and he bit his lips. Akira sounded thoughtful and for the first time, human. The blonde slapped his forehead as if awakened from a trance, and he scowled at Ruki.
“Oh forget whatever I said. Now shut the hell up and stop asking.”
“That… totally destroyed the moment.”
“Do I look like I fuckin’ care?”
“Nope, but I know you do.”
Akira threw his hands up in irritation and, throwing the remote control in his hands onto the couch, strode off into his room and slammed the door in rage.
Throwing himself onto bed, Akira pulled the covers over his head.
What the fuck… Something was wrong- terribly wrong. He’d let emotions take over in dealing with Ruki- and it was the first since ages.
Hold up, Reita. The entire thing was very simple to begin with. He’d let Ruki stay at his place, help him recover his memories, and then kick him the fuck out of his house. Yeah, I’ll just do that.
He rolled over on his side and bit his lips. It’d been so simple, and yet why did it feel so complicated? He tried to deny it, but no matter how many times he slapped his forehead, or roll over in the bed, he was feeling something. Reita- Akira- had developed feelings, for a stranger he has barely known for three weeks.
Argh, fuck this shit. No matter how he looked it, Reita couldn’t figure out what kind of feelings he bore for Ruki. Maybe… just maybe, I could turn this entire thing around, he thought. But the more he thought about it, the more he felt disgusted with himself. Was it just protectiveness? Or something more?
Throwing the covers off in irritation, he sat straight up on his bed and threaded his fingers through his hair violently. He frowned for a moment, before chuckling hysterically to himself. You’re thinkin’ too much, Reita. The thought of him being paranoid had comforted him, but he had to do something. A grin spread across his face before he got off the bed in a rush and yanked his bedroom door opened.
“Oi, Ruki.” Akira pulled open his bedroom door to reveal the short blonde sitting cross-legged on the couch, “You’ll be fine walking, won’t you?”
The building loomed tall before them, as Reita turned off the engine and getting off, locked his car doors. Ruki gaped at the tremendous size of the solemn looking building as compared to the others in the district.
“Welcome to the city.”
“You work, here?”
“Yeah, well of course we don’t own the entire building. It’d be too open to hold our base in such a large building.”
Reita led the way into the office building, and Ruki felt a gust of cool air condition brush against his cheeks. Ruki had expected some form of greeting or another from the office workers who were rushing about in the lobby- as seen in the movies-, but he encountered none, as if they were non-existent.
“Well, then where do you work?”
Reita led the way across the lift lobby, and he pushed open a metal door that said “Strictly no entrance.”
“Um, we’re not taking the lift? I don’t think I’ll be able to handle climbing stairs, ya know?”
The echoes of their footsteps bounced loudly off the walls of the well-lit corridor, and Ruki lifted an eyebrow when he spotted a lift at the end of the corridor. It didn’t seem different from the others in the lobby, but having a lift in such a secluded place was more than unusual.
“We’ll be taking the lift, duh. Just a different one.” Entering the lift, Ruki realized the buttons were different from usual lift buttons. Instead of numbers, there were letters on the buttons. Reita pressed the button with the letter “B” on it, and as the lift doors shut close, he leaned against the wall of the lift just across Ruki.
“We work underground.”
“… Got news. I figured that out since it took you so long to answer my question.”
“Oh, and, before I forget, please don’t stare.” Reita added, “Just in case you’ve got an unusual habit of lettin’ your eyes linger, you know. These boys don’t like people staring at ‘em.”
Ruki shivered. He’d forgotten that the moment he had stepped inside the lift, he was in mafia territory now. It was equivalent to a lamb in a tiger’s den. His semi-terrified gaze settled on Reita.
“Say… wouldn’t those guys… attack me or something…?” Ruki asked hopefully- if he were to die in a mafia base, he’d rather know about it earlier, “I mean… after all, I am a stranger. Heh.”
Reita’s eyes widened in surprise, and he felt himself explode in laughter in his mind. He let that menacing grin spread across his cheeks- much to the dismay of Ruki-, and the blonde’s stomach churned as the lift pulled to a stop.
“Hmm… the truth is, I don’t know about that either…” Reita tried to hold in the amusement he was about to reveal from taunting Ruki, “But in here, you might want to think twice about talking back, to me.”
Upon finishing the statement, the lift doors open up to reveal yet another corridor, but it was very, very different from the previous one. It was well-lit nonetheless, but along the corridor, there were dozens of hallways branching out, the floor was carpeted bright red- reminding Ruki the colour of blood- and the atmosphere here was less than friendly.
Ruki stared at a smirking Akira as he led the way out, and he felt his knees go weak. Stepping unsurely onto the carpeted ground, Ruki noticed that it was noisy here, even though the corridor was empty. As he followed the lead of Akira, he passed one of the opened hallways, and he realized that the noise were coming from the bunches of mafiasos residing in the hallways. It was the first time Ruki had seen a real mafiaso- ever since he’d lost his memory, that is- and every one of them had on a black suite and dark glasses.
“Aoi.” Ruki was startled as Akira stopped in the middle of his tracks, and he noticed a brunette appear before them. He seemed to have emerged from one of the hallways, and he wasn’t donning dark glasses like the rest of them were. He had shoulder-length hair, and even though he was wearing a suite as well, there was something special about him that differentiated him from others.
“Reita,” The man called Aoi peeked over Akira’s shoulder “You’re Ruki, aren’t you?”
Ruki flinched when he was acknowledged by the strong-looking guy, before he nodded timidly. He felt disgusted by himself with how cowardly he appeared, but in situations like this, he decided it was better to be safe than sorry.
Aoi moved over Reita to Ruki, causing the latter to take a step backward. The brunette let out a short chuckle before putting his hand out and warmly shook Ruki’s hand. Ruki’s eyes widened at the sudden contact, and he felt his hand drop, limped, to his side as Aoi released his hold.
“The name’s Aoi.” He gave a small but earnest smile, and Ruki heaved a small sigh of relief at the kind gesture. He had a feeling this trip wouldn’t be as dangerous as he thought, yet by his instincts it was better to stay vigilant in the enemies’ territory.
“What brings you here anyway, Reita?” Aoi turned back to conversing with Akira, and it was then that Ruki registered what the brunette had called Akira in his mind. Reita. So Reita was his real name? Or was it just a nickname?
“Hmm, I figured there wasn’t much to do at home. And… I’ve been getting’ soft.” Reita gave a scowl as he finished his statement, eliciting a chuckle from Aoi, “Thought I’d return and pull my socks up.”
“So I’ve heard from Kai.”
“That annoying bastard.”
Just then a couple of mafiasos strode out of one of the hallways before them, and giving a forty-five-degree-manly-bow, they greeted Reita with much respect- or fear- before turning their attention to Ruki. The blonde worried his lips- he couldn’t tell if the mafiasos were glaring or staring in curiosity at him with their glasses on-, and he let out a breath when they disappeared into the lift Ruki had just taken.
“I’m heading to my office.”
“Sure.”
“I’ve got some things I want to look into,” Reita shot a glance Ruki’s way, “Take him around.”
Without as much as a second look, Reita continued down the hallway, and Aoi placed a hand on Ruki’s shoulder.
“Like it or not, I’m bringin’ you around. Orders from above.” Aoi joked teasingly, and Ruki watched Reita disappear into a different hallway at the very end of the corridor.
“It’s very different from what you’ve expected, huh?”
Ruki nodded in agreement as he followed Aoi’s lead down the corridor. As he passed the hallways, he grew accustomed to how the mafias dress, but it didn’t change the fact that the way they were dressed was completely different to Ruki’s impression of the mafiasos.
“I didn’t know they dressed in suits,” Ruki wondered aloud to the brunette walking beside him, “I’ve always thought they were bunches of unruly gangsters that held knives and guns.”
Aoi chuckled aloud.
“You’ve got your facts wrong, then. We dress in suits and dark glasses so as to achieve a distinctive image,” Aoi’s face turned a tad bit serious in an instant, “Granted, we mafias kill, and you might have heard about the Hayato; but gangsters are entirely different from us. While we rule the industry, gangsters govern the streets- and they kill anyone that trespasses on their territories. There are a lot of other distinct qualities that differentiates us from those gangsters, but all in all, mistaking us as one of them is a huge insult to us mafiasos.”
Ruki nodded in awe at Aoi’s speech, and he felt educated all of a sudden. Wait- we’re talking about mafias here hello.
“So… is it safe to assume that you guys are…” Ruki couldn’t think of a suitable word to finish off his statement.
“If you were about to say anything like violent or cruel, then ab-so-lute-ly.” Aoi drew out the last word menacingly, causing Ruki to swallow nervously, “I’m guessing you haven’t heard about us, huh?”
“The Hayato is Japan’s most powerful and most dangerous mafia organization. We’re famous for the way we kill- gruesome and cruel, and it’s absolutely understandable for us to be called cold-blooded animals.” Aoi added a smile to his statement, as if proud of the Hayato’s achievements, “The government has tried all ways to eliminate us, but after years of trying to no avail, they’ve given up, and for the time being we’re in alliance with them. This makes us all the more powerful, and there you have, the Hayato of today.”
“Wow.”
“Amazing, huh? And to top it all off the Hayato’s become this powerful all under the sole leadership of Reita.”
Ruki stopped in his tracks, gaping at the brunette in front of him.
“R-Reita? You mean Akira?”
“Akira?” Aoi raised an eyebrow at Ruki. So Reita had allowed Ruki the use of his real name, huh? “Yeah.” Aoi furrowed his brows and continued walking.
“You might not have seen it, but the success behind the Hayato owes it all to Reita’s cruelty, strength and willpower.”
Ruki picked up his pace since he was getting left behind, and he bit his lips. A tinge of something crept up inside him. It felt as if he was stung, and it felt sour.
“Don’t mind if I ask, but who exactly are you?”
“Me? Oh yes I forgot to mention. I’m Reita’s right-hand man.”
“Woah,” So that explains the difference in aura between him and other mafiasos, Ruki decided, “How long have you known that guy?”
“Ever since he entered the mafia.”
A series of questions appeared in Ruki’s mind, but he figured that Aoi might get irritated from him asking so much questions. You might not have seen it… the harmless statement repeated itself in Ruki’s mind. It made the impression of Akira in Ruki waver, and something else was accompanying it. Ruki had thought he knew Akira, since he acknowledged Akira’s kinder side. But the truth was there were other people out there that knew Akira better than him- those who had known Akira since young. Ruki groaned as confusion seeped in.