[05/06] Yakuza AU: Important Things
title. Important Things
pairing. akame (je)
rating. pg-13
summary. akanishi and kamenashi are yakuza who work together, who live together, who trust each other. they're supposed to go to kobe, but akanishi decides not to.
author's note. yakuza au! one more aftre this! and it's already written! it's done! it's done! yay!
word count. 02200
Kamenashi comes home late one night. A job on his own-they're becoming increasingly frequent. There's a woman in the kitchen that he doesn't recognize. It happens sometimes, but Kamenashi is apprehensive when she introduces herself as Akanishi's girlfriend.
That's never happened before.
Kamenashi greets her politely, bows and says, "I'm Kamenashi, Akanishi's roommate. It's nice to meet you."
---
Kamenashi showers. The job was uneventful and the anticipation was heavier than any action. His heart doesn't pump loudly and his blood doesn't rush to his head (though the long cut on his arm stings a little and oozes some red). He feels relaxed and languid, not particularly afraid of an uncertain future or all of the opportunities that he might have to die.
It's better, he decides beneath the hot spray, to not worry so much. Carpe diem. Seize the day.
But to be honest, he doesn't want the day, just Akanishi's existence by his side as reassurance.
He can hear them through the wall, and he feels annoyed, angry. It's her make-up that he saw in the kitchen, caked and smearing beneath her eyes. It's her body that passed by him on the way to Akanishi's bedroom, spicy and woody and something girly too-sweet. It's her mouth, her hair, her everything.
Akanishi, Kamenashi thinks as he turns off the water, could probably do better.
He's toweling off when Akanishi cries out, and he freezes.
---
Kamenashi's in his room rewrapping his arm when he hears Akanishi's door open. He hears her giggling and he hears her enter the bathroom and turn on the water. He's taping the bandages when Akanishi opens his bedroom door and stands in the doorway.
"What's up?" Kamenashi asks. He doesn't look up from his bandaging, but he can see Akanishi out of the corner of his eye. Akanishi wears a pair of loose, light jeans and no shirt. His hair looks sweaty and mussed and sticks out in all directions. "Why don't you take a shower?"
"How'd your job go?" Akanishi asks, doesn't seem to hear Kamenashi's questions. His eyes flicker to the bandaged arm. "Did you get that taken care of?" He approaches, stands in front of Kamenashi and pulls on the other's arm so that he can look at it.
"Knife. It's fine. It's clean. This is a new bandage," he says, clicks his tongue in annoyance as Akanishi begins to unwrap it.
"You should change it every few hours," Akanishi says, runs his fingers along the line. "Clean it, but like-. Did you rub it with alcohol?"
"I know what to do," Kamenashi says, pulls his arm back. "And it's not as bad as it seems."
Akanishi shrugs, doesn't let go of Kamenashi's arm and begins to rewrap it. "You're calm about it today though, aren't you? Normally you'd bitch about how your arm almost got cut off."
"It's fine," Kamenashi replies, looks at his arm. "Girlfriend, huh?" He asks.
"Sort of." Kamenashi raises an eyebrow and Akanishi pulls the bandages too tight. "I really like her," he says. "We've gone out a few times."
"She's pretty," he says. "Not really my type."
"What's your type, then, Kamenashi?" Akanishi asks, and smiles.
"What're you doing?"
They both look to the doorway. She stands there dressed in street clothes, towel-drying her hair.
"Kamenashi cut himself," Akanishi says, finishes taping it up and pats it to let Kamenashi know he's done. He moves toward her and the doorway.
"I hope you're okay, Kamenashi-san," she says. She looks genuinely concerned. "Hey, Jin. It's late but I'm going to go home because-"
"You shouldn't be around outside so late at night," Kamenashi says. "Why don't you stay?"
"Don't worry about it. I called a cab. I just have class tomorrow morning and everything's at home-"
"I can drive you," Akanishi says. "No problem."
She smiles. "I'll call you when I get home, promise."
Akanishi kisses her on the corner of her lips, soft and sweet. Kamenashi feels a little bit sick, and he wonders if he lost more blood than he thought.
When he looks up again, they're gone, at the front door. He can hear vague words whispered and the door opening and shutting. Akanishi is back inside the bedroom a few minutes later with two bottles of water. He throws one to Kamenashi, sits beside him on the bed.
They sit silently.
"So what's your type, Kamenashi?" Akanishi asks, finally.
"Good night, Akanishi," Kamenashi says, and reaches over to turn off the lamp on his nightstand.
Akanishi doesn't leave, sits there in the dark. "Am I?" He asks. “Is your type ‘Akanishi Jin’?”
Kamenashi shifts his weight and the bed creaks beneath them. "We're not like that," he says softly. He adjusts to the darkness and Akanishi still sits on the edge of the bed, eyes watching him. "We do it because-not because we want a relationship-there's tension. It's emotional, but it's raw, like-" He exhales heavily, tries to collect his thoughts. Kamenashi is suddenly acutely aware of Akanishi's soft breaths. "It's like. Emotional release because we share that-what we do-not love or, and-"
Akanishi kisses him. She lingers. Her perfume is in Akanishi's hair and her sweat is on his skin. Kamenashi leans into the kiss anyway.
Suddenly, the hall lights are on. They pull away to look up, but Akanishi's still too close to Kamenashi and Kamenashi's hands are still are on his chest.
"Are you fucking serious, Jin?"
"-hey."
And Akanishi follows her out the door.
Kamenashi leans his head against the headboard, takes a deep breath and a gulp of water. It's over between them. Akanishi won't lie. His policy is honesty. Black and white. Right and wrong.
And he'll move on easily, too, because by telling the truth, he's convinced everything will eventually work itself out.
It usually happens like that. To Akanishi.
Kamenashi is a pragmatist. He'll say what he has to in order to get what he needs and what he wants.
---
"We really needed her," Takizawa says. "We really needed her. You worked on her for six weeks. And you lost her because she caught you in bed with someone else."
"Yes," Akanishi says, answers the statement. He watches Takizawa with his head up and chin forward, but Kamenashi knows that this is not a situation he particularly wants to be in.
"Right after you were with her."
"Yes."
Takizawa brings one hand to his forehead, pushes his bangs back and looks at Kamenashi. "Kamenashi, can't you keep him in line? You live-"
"It was my fault," Kamenashi says, and Akanishi looks at him in surprise. Kamenashi watches Takizawa. "It's my fault he got caught," he says, but doesn't offer more. "I would have been more careful if I'd known she was a job."
Takizawa's lips form a grim line, but he doesn't say anything to lecture them. "We're not getting her father's ports anytime soon, then," he says, and he pulls open his top right desk drawer. He pulls out two cards and hands one to each of them.
"What is it?" Akanishi asks, and Kamenashi opens his.
"Kitagawa wants the two of you in Kobe."
"It's sudden," Kamenashi says, eyes skimming over the neatly-typed characters. "The end of next week."
"It's an opportunity," Takizawa says. "Kyoto, Kobe, and Osaka are where most of the territory lies. The deals are bigger, more important. So are the targets, the clients. Everything."
---
Kamenashi finds out the day before they are supposed to go to Kobe. "What do you mean, Shinjuku?"
"I'm staying in Tokyo," Akanishi repeats. "Next semester I'll be back at Sophia. And I'll be working in Shinjuku."
"That's not Kobe," Kamenashi says. He stands after he finishes up taping the last of his boxes, brushes imaginary dust off the front of his jeans. "When were you going to tell me?"
"Before now," Akanishi says lamely, and leans against the wall. He looks at Kamenashi.
"Too late for that, isn't it?" Kamenashi asks. Their boxes are piled in the hallway and in the kitchen. They're stacked high, Kamenashi's are labeled with sharpie and Akanishi's have 'this side up' pointing in every direction. It's their last night in the apartment, but that has yet to catch up with them.
"You'll be good," Akanishi reassures, "working in Kobe."
Kamenashi doesn't answer. The only think keeping the butterflies in his stomach at bay had been the prospect of Akanishi being there with him. He suddenly feels very anxious, sick.
"I'll visit," Akanishi says, softly.
Kamenashi tries to wrap his mind around it. "I don't understand why you'd rather stay," he says. "It's better going to Kobe better than finishing university right now. You can go back to Sophia anytime, but Kitagawa isn't going to wait for you."
"You finished university," Akanishi says. "And this job is the most important thing to you." He pauses. "It's not my most important thing. And it's not like I'm stopping, just staying here, just doing two things at once, like before-"
"What else is there, Akanishi? This is what we've done since before university, since Takizawa took our sorry asses in. What else is real and tangible besides us and this job? It's our world. We're obligated to it."
Akanishi pushes off the wall, faces Kamenashi. "You're a child, Kamenashi," he says, and Kamenashi looks up at him in surprise. "You're all theory and no experience."
Akanishi is the child, Kamenashi thinks. He's reckless, careless. Kamenashi is sensible and realistic. They have to do their job. They're bound to it, and but it's also the best path to follow.
Whatever Akanishi could do with his university degree, Kamenashi knows, isn't as beneficial as doing what Kitagawa says. Not now, anyway, and besides-
They'd always worked together.
"You're not very aware, you know?" Akanishi continues. "I mean, of yourself, of people, of subjective things," he explains. "Your world is so black and white. Happy or sad. Dead or alive. This or that. For you, Kobe is perfect. For me, it's wrong."
Akanishi is uncomfortable. His weight shuffles awkwardly and he plays with that dumb pinky ring, bites the inside of his lip and speaks his mind like he's flustered.
Kamenashi just feels angry, like he could throw his own ring down a storm drain.
"So this is it," Kamenashi says finally. He runs a hand through his messy hair. "So we're separating tomorrow."
"Don't say it like-"
"Akanishi, our paths fork here," Kamenashi says. "You said it. Kobe is for me, not for you." He laughs. "So don't bother with anything concerning me."
Akanishi sighs, shuts his eyes and swallows. "You say it so harshly," he says, and looks back at Kamenashi. "That's like you. That's what I'm talking about. Black and white. Live together, fuck each other, but once something changes a little bit, the whole world is off kilter and we're strangers."
"You said it," Kamenashi repeats. "Our lives split."
"You know," Akanishi says, and approaches the other. "You know I didn't mean it that way. You know it's not as clean as that, but to deal with it, you make it that way."
Kamenashi trusts Akanishi-trusted Akanishi. But Akanishi staying in Tokyo feels like betrayal, and really, it is as clean as that. "What am I supposed to do, then, Akanishi? Because to me, it really is as clean as that."
Akanishi looks angry and frustrated. Akanishi looks like he wants to look away and never look back.
"Go to Kobe, Kamenashi. Since you're so intent on it, never speak to me again. Do whatever the hell you want, because like every other fucking time, what I say means zero to you."
Kamenashi doesn't answer. He watches Akanishi pull on his shoes and jacket. He lights a cigarette.
He closes his eyes to take a drag, and a hand plucks the stick out of his fingers. Akanishi is in front of him. Kamenashi sees his eyes are too dark, too intense, scrutinizing. The look is always unnerving because it's a stare that pierces Kamenashi's skin and finds his soul.
"You're an idiot," Akanishi says softly. "You're selfish." He drops the cigarette on the linoleum, crushes it below the toe of his shoe. "You drive me absolutely insane when we argue, when we disagree, because you refuse to compromise."
Kamenashi feels numb, and he looks down at the cigarette before there's a hand on his cheek tilting his face back up.
"But," Akanishi says, and laughs like he can't believe himself, "but, I'm in love with you, you know. Even if you say otherwise, even if this is nothing to you, this-you-. You are my most important thing. And I've always wanted to do everything for you, but now I want to be selfish. I want myself to be put first. I want to do something for me, not for you, and not for us."
He closes his eyes, presses his lips against Kamenashi's ear and murmurs.
"So I'm not going to Kobe."
Akanishi lets Kamenashi go and moves toward the front door.
"I'm going out, Kamenashi," he says.
PART 04 // PART 06
2008.01 → 2008.01.13