Singed Feathers (02)
Part 1
12.
A struggle for power within the King Cobra family and its many complex branches had led to Aiba Masaki becoming a Leader much earlier than even Ohno. Youthful and inadequately experienced, he acted as a pawn and tool for most of his executives in his earlier years. In an effort to finally exert his own control over the organization, the King Cobra Leader's first personal decree had been to accept and enforce the pact with the Purple Phoenix syndicate.
As the two groups and their Heads formally convene above a first-class restaurant located in neutral territory, Matsumoto takes in the pleasant expression on the King Cobra's Leader's handsome face and he cannot ascertain if the man is trustworthy or extraordinarily crafty. Aiba Masaki's mind is as much an enigma as their Leader's, Ohno.
After all, within a span of five short years following the establishment of the pact the Head of the King Cobra family had already managed to consolidate his power over his rebellious group.
As if the Head of the King Cobra family feel his eyes, the man looks over and smiles at Matsumoto sitting among his brothers discreetly a few paces down behind his Leader.
"Matsumoto Jun," he says, picking Matsumoto out among the crowd. "You've a famous face and name around the city. Beautiful outside and tenacious inside. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance at last."
Matsumoto steels his expression and bows his head in acknowledgement of the praise.
"I am unworthy of such flattery," he replies.
For one moment Ohno wears a proud expression, then it is replaced by concern. He gestures for the other Leader's attention.
"We're here for more serious matters, Aiba. You should already have an idea of what your men are doing."
"What are they doing?" Aiba asks, almost too innocently.
Matsumoto thinks that he is right to doubt this man and wishes that their Leader isn't too trusting either. Aiba or his executives must be well aware of what has occurred, of what their men have done and are planning. A syndicate's lifespan depends on keeping their ears and eyes open. The King Cobras are not dumb enough to forget their instincts. Matsumoto scrutinizes the men seated behind Aiba and they are as stony faced as he is. He seethes silently, containing his desire to physically extract the truth out of them.
"Aiba," Ohno says and smiles as innocently as Aiba looks. "If it has come to my notice, then your men have not done a good job of shedding their skin."
Aiba continues to look pleasantly unconcerned.
"I may be able to remember what you're alluding to if you're a bit more specific, Ohno. My people are involved in many projects that I know of."
Ohno pauses. The room falls into silence. Then the Head of the Purple Phoenix squints at Aiba and purses his bottom lip thoughtfully.
"If you need me to be direct, we need to talk in privacy," he states.
Aiba deliberately frowns while he contemplates, the push and pull of power and information between them relentless.
"We need to talk about five years ago concerning the instrument of his fall," Ohno emphasizes.
At last the King Cobra Leader's eyes alight with understanding and his expression hardens into that of dangerous man, a contrast to the previous friendliness on his face. He raises his right hand in a swift gesture.
"Everyone out," the Leader commands.
Ohno follows with a motion of his own to his men. Matsumoto rises reluctantly. The executives of both groups shuffle out and settle on opposite sides in the adjoining room. They glare at each other, arrogance in the very way they carried themselves, and in the strained atmosphere await the first provocation from the other group.
13.
The Leaders' private discussion remain cordial. In the adjacent room not a single sound or disturbance is heard until half an hour later when the sliding door is thrown back and the right-hand of the King Cobra's Leader calls for one of their henchmen. All of the men outside are cautious as the man wearily join their Heads inside and the sliding door is closed again.
In less than ten minutes, heated voices emit from the room and then is suddenly followed by a deafening crash. The men outside tense and their minds sharpen, Matsumoto included. They prepare to run in if called, but the orders don't come. They hear profuse apologies that without a doubt comes from the henchman that had just joined them.
Matsumoto feels dread in the pit of his stomach, mingling and fighting with the distrust and contempt. He intuitively knows that something is wrong.
The door slides back again and this time it is Sakurai who is standing in the doorway. Instead of beckoning another person in, he signals for Matsumoto to follow him out. The ominous pressure closes in on Matsumoto even more as they leave the room of restless men.
"We need your car," Sakurai says.
Matsumoto immediately picks up his phone to call his driver. In less than two minutes, they settle into the backseat of Matsumoto's private vehicle and Sakurai tells them to head to Ninomiya's current hideout. This time with the lawyer's safety obviously on the line Matsumoto hesitates.
"Something's wrong," he states the obvious.
"We need to hurry," Sakurai urges him without a direct reply.
Perceiving his urgency, Matsumoto orders his driver to head to a particular area within the city. Once the car starts moving, he turns questioning eyes to the right-hand.
"Your man betrayed you last year. Why?" Sakurai asks instead of an explanation.
Matsumoto had all but forgotten about it. His acquaintanceship with Ninomiya had been the more important detail that came out of the situation.
"His family had medical fees that he couldn't pay," he remembers and the mention of the man's biological family reminded Matsumoto of his past argument with Ninomiya about relationships outside the syndicate.
Once an individual enters the dark underworld, he lives and dies in it and those he drags into it with him frequently suffers the same fate. Intelligent men who had yet to cast away their biological family customarily learns to leave everything behind. Understanding Matsumoto's rationality, Sakurai captures Matsumoto's gaze with his own in hopes that the younger man will comprehend, even a little, his next words.
"Every man, no matter who he is or what he does, has at least one precious treasure and weakness," Sakurai states. "When both are exploited is when a man's true worth is evaluated."
Matsumoto narrows his eyes at the right-hand as frustration joins the mixture of emotions already clamoring inside of him. He exhales slowly, his mind working to grasp what the other did not say.
"After I tell you what I have to, Matsumoto, you have to find the truth within yourself," Sakurai warns.
Matsumoto waits and Sakurai takes a breath and continues.
"The man Ninomiya sent away five years ago was the ring leader of a rebellious faction in the King Cobra family," Sakurai says. "The men directly under him were hunted down and annihilated by the main family after he went away. Except some of them escaped. One of them was your biological father."
He paused, watching Matsumoto's stony expression.
"Some of them left the country, but a few of them came straggling back for their leader's execution. Aiba was not aware of this. His executives thought the small hindrances an unnecessary mention. We were not aware of them, but my suspicions were confirmed by the story of your previous man."
Sakurai spoke his next questions deliberately slow.
"Matsumoto, why of all the other easier targets did your man try to frame you? How certain are you that another one of your man has not been forced to the same depths of submission by your father?"
14.
They are men who are a part of the dark underside of society, who are allegedly professionals at inflicting pain and enjoying cruelty. They are men who are supposed to be even better at enduring it. Their lives are guided by codes and a twisted sense of honor. Their existence is built on loyalty and secrecy. Yet, these men are human. Humans with treasures and weaknesses. Humans who make mistakes.
Matsumoto and Sakurai finds one of his two subordinates dead on the doorsteps of the apartment they had arranged for Ninomiya. The other man, the traitor, and their charge is nowhere to be found within.
The pent up rage and frustration inside Matsumoto explodes. While the right-hand man watches outside the doorway, Matsumoto punches holes into the wall and tears up the wooden floorboards. He shrieks as he does so, in his frenzy his only purpose the destruction of what was once whole. Without Ninomiya there, the entire structure is useless. The sight of its wholesomeness is unfathomable and he cannot tolerate it still standing.
When there is nothing left to destroy and the walls have caved in, the empty rooms adjacent to the apartment visible through the room, he finally stops. He stands at the dead center of the chaotic mess, his knuckles cracked and bleeding, himself heaving from anger and the exertion. Sakurai finally speaks.
"We will find him," he assures Matsumoto in a sympathetic murmur.
The words sink in and deep inside Matsumoto aches with emptiness. Ninomiya is gone and the loss rips him apart. His father, that man that he damns to hell every day, have taken the one thing from him that he cares for, as if the innocence of his childhood had not been enough.
Matsumoto sees a piece of cloth poking through the clutter and he digs through the mess at his feet to get to it. He hauls out the dirt encrusted blanket that he had last seen wrapped around the lawyer; that last time when he'd turned away not realizing how precious that final moment was. The coldness of the blanket and its solitary appearance speaks volumes. Matsumoto shakes the debris off and then clutches the blanket to his chest, wishing it were the lawyer instead.
He thinks of his father, the monster who had practiced the arts of torture on his own blood, who had left his child to die.
He is afraid to ask the right-hand if Ninomiya will be alive when they find him.
15.
The nightmares come again and without Ninomiya's warmth and comforting presence to ease his anxieties, Matsumoto falls into the trap of his horrendous, repetitive dreams. His father's face leers at him and drags his head down, face first, into his own vomit. Ice hot pain streaks across his back and wracks through his body. He cries, but he doesn't have enough tears to last a lifetime. He prays that his father's next strike kills him.
Hatred wells up in him, so intense that he breathes it.
Extreme longing for Ninomiya consumes him and pierces through the engulfing madness.
Instead of crying for his father to stop, he calls Ninomiya's name.
The pain stops and it is Ninomiya curled beneath the shadow of his father. The smaller man cries out instead, calls out for him. A new kind of pain wracks Matsumoto's body, an ache that reaches his heart and strangles him from the inside out. He touches his chest, knowing that his heart is bleeding.
Matsumoto wakes with a start, gasping and sweating. His second in command stands at the foot of his bed with a solemn look on his face.
"Boss, we found them," he says.
It has been one week since Ninomiya went missing.
16.
Aiba and Ohno are cold-blooded and ruthless. Blood, guts, and lifeless bodies are strewn across the ground.
When Matsumoto enters the underground tunnels through the warehouse above, the men with him disappear into dark passages unhindered. Somewhere in this dark place, Ninomiya is being held captive. Somewhere in here, his father is hiding. He has to find both and only one of them will come first. Matsumoto moves through the tunnel without thinking, allowing chance to decide.
Sakurai's voice buzz in his ear from his earpiece.
"We have one hour before the police notices anything and two hours before they get here," he tells them. "Leader wants the underground tunnels flooded and the warehouse burned to the ground with the bodies before they come. I give you all forty-five minutes to get back up here, unless you want to drown in sewage water with the rats."
Matsumoto grits his teeth. His pulse pounds in his head and the beats race in his ears. If he runs out of time, he has to concentrate on finding only one person. The Purple Phoenix men that entered with him have disappeared ahead of him and he jogs through the dark passage alone. Surrounded by nothing but narrow concrete walls, he feels it steadily cave in.
The vivid memories of ice hot pain arc across his back while the warm skin of Ninomiya move underneath him. His father's harsh laughter rings in his ears, but Ninomiya's high pitched giggle cuts in. Matsumoto has nursed his hatred for many years, yet at that moment he cannot decide. He has lived to kill his father, lived for the Purple Phoenix family, but he wants to continue living just to see Ninomiya today, tomorrow, and the days after.
That is, if Ninomiya is still alive.
He needs to know if the Ninomiya is still breathing.
He must find Ninomiya.
He needs Ninomiya Kazunari in his life.
The realization hits him, jolts him out of his stupor. Matsumoto breaks into a run.
17.
The underground passages are endless and only once does he run across one of his own men. He stops the man and asks questions, but the responses are just as frustrating. Time ticks away as he moves from one passageway to another. Nino becomes a chant under his breath, but the person evades him.
"Five minutes left," Sakurai speaks in his ear.
The countdown begins in Matsumoto's head. Every beat of his heart is wasted seconds. One minute passes and his limbs refuse to give up. Adrenaline pushes him and he continues to run, searching. Two minute passes. Matsumoto opens his mouth and screams. He screams the lawyer's name. The sound echoes back and around him. No answering scream answers his except his own.
Desperation rears and claws inside of him. What if he doesn't make it in time? What if Ninomiya eludes him?
"Three minutes. Matsumoto, come back up here," Sakurai commands.
No, Matsumoto thinks. He cannot. Not without Ninomiya.
"Leader wants you back up here now," Sakurai demands. "It's an order."
Loyalty or death, Matsumoto remembers telling the lawyer. His steps lag and he stops running until he's standing motionless. Gasping for breath, he looks around him at nothing. No one is here with him. Ninomiya is not here. He closes his eyes and shudders. He's a phoenix. A phoenix with no wings.
Running footsteps alert him and for that split second hope swells within his chest. Matsumoto's eyes fly open and he sees another man run on the opposite bank of the passage across from him. The man runs through, but does not stop. He is not a member of the Purple Phoenix. Matsumoto's breath catches in his throat as he recognizes his father; a lot older, more heavyset, but the man from his nightmares nonetheless.
His father disappears into the dark recesses of another passageway. He fades into the darkness and all at once Matsumoto's limbs unlock. He rushes toward the opposite bank.
"One minute," Sakurai says. "Matsumoto, your time is up."
Nino, Matsumoto remembers and hesitates. The sound of running footsteps follows his father into the darkness and dies away, leaving Matsumoto in another silence that encloses him in. He doesn't give chase. It no longer matters. Ninomiya is more important and Ninomiya is not here. A world without Ninomiya is empty.
Idiot, he hears the lawyer tease him. The other man is right. He's an idiot.
"Matsumoto! You stupid asshole! Get out of there!"
Matsumoto jerks into consciousness.
"I'm up here! Come to me!" Ninomiya shouts through the earpiece where Sakurai's voice had come from. "You can't die!"
Matsumoto doesn't second guess or ask questions. He turns back and runs for the surface. Underneath him, the ground rumbles and he hears the roar of water. Death pursues him, but he catches the nearest ladder and climbs up. He runs to catch another and another while the flood gates and walls of each underground level of the tunnel begins to shatter. The roar of the water is deafening and fear encloses him.
A constant breathless, whimpering in his ear overwhelms even the boom of the destructive water. He realizes above the anxiety coursing through him that it is the tearful sobs of Ninomiya and the sound is heart breaking even to Matsumoto whose instincts are screaming. He doesn't understand what is happening, but he has to live. He has to find the source of that sound.
Close by he hears and feels the barrage of rushing water. It shakes him until his vision vibrates. The flood is here. He sees light above him, the last ladder to the surface. Matsumoto climbs up as death approaches. He breaks the surface just as rushing water storms through and the ladder is swept away by the tide.
On the ground, Matsumoto inhales deeply and choke on acrid smoke. His eyes burn and waves of heat washes over him. He turns his head and sees that he has come up right beside the burning warehouse. The flames reach for him and Matsumoto rolls away.
"Matsumoto, are you there?" Sakurai tentatively asks, uncertain if the man is alive.
Instead of answering, Matsumoto forces himself to his feet and tries to move. Through the thick smoke, he cannot make out where the gang is. He breaks into a fit of coughing as smoke fill his lungs.
"Matsumoto!" Sakurai shouts into his ear.
Matsumoto clears his throat. When he speaks, his voice is hoarse.
"Nino. Where is Nino?" he asks.
It cannot have been a mistake. He heard Ninomiya call him. Why is it Sakurai speaking to him now?
He stumbles forward, out of the smoke and away from the heat, unsure of where he is heading. He is desperate and afraid. What if the person he has been looking for is not here? Why then did he escape death?
Something, someone, slams into him and Matsumoto falls back hard onto the ground. The pain of the drop doesn't faze him. He blinks away tears caused by the smoke and sees the one person he has been looking for. Ninomiya falls into his lap, wraps his around Matsumoto's neck and buries his face into Matsumoto's hair.
"Idiot," Ninomiya mutters through his sobs.
Matsumoto's embraces him as tightly as he is being held and feels the trembling of Ninomiya's slighter body, knows that it isn't the smaller man alone; that he's shaking with emotions himself. He presses his face into the warmth of Ninomiya's neck and feels relief. Ninomiya is in his arms. He doesn't need answers. This is happiness.
18.
When the ex-King Cobra men had gathered outside his hideout, Matsumoto's two subordinates had split on what to do. Ninomiya had contemplated three choices; follow one man or the other, or try to survive alone. As an attorney he had defended many innocent and guilty individuals, some of them as pure as any human would ever be and a few evil enough to be considered monsters. Yet he wasn't an expert on human psychology and his meager experiences up until that point were not advantageous. This was a situation of life and death and he had to rely on his instincts.
Ninomiya chose the man who reminded him of Matsumoto the most, the man with the greater pride, and his decision had not been wrong. They evaded the traitor and ran. For one week, Matsumoto's man and Ninomiya hid. They dared not move at all, even to contact the Purple Phoenix. In doing so, they survived.
All of this Ninomiya relays to Ohno and then later to Matsumoto during the night while they rest at the main house.
Because of their emotional reunion, Matsumoto hopes and expects to spend time alone with the lawyer and that they will be given enough time to reassure themselves about each other. Instead the morning after his not quite rescue the lawyer shuts them out.
"Don't disturb me!" Ninomiya warns both Ohno and Matsumoto. "I have a hearing in two days and no one will stop me from going. I have to work. I need to de-stress. Leave me alone."
He locks himself into his apartment.
Matsumoto has just learned the importance of Ninomiya in his life and the immediate dismissal and unsentimental post-reception aggravates him.
After forty-eight hours without contact from the lawyer, he needs someone to blame for his frustration and he turns on his man, Ninomiya's companion during his supposed kidnapping. The man had one week alone with the lawyer while Matsumoto gets none and envy spurs Matsumoto as much as his own disappointment.
He calls his subordinate to his office. He sits in his usual chair behind his desk while his henchman stands facing him.
"Give me three good reasons why I shouldn't punch your lights out," Matsumoto coolly tells him.
The man who had been expecting anything other than a threat swallows.
"Boss...?"
"You must have suspected something even up to the betrayal, yet you did not come to me," Matsumoto says indifferently, excusing his childishness, as he stands from his chair and massage his knuckles.
His henchman involuntarily takes a step back.
"Boss, I didn't know nothing," he squeaks.
Matsumoto remembers Ninomiya comparing him to this lumbering moron in front of him and he scowls, frightening his man further.
"Three reasons," he repeated, this time stepping around his desk and cracking his neck.
The man thinks about their Leader's gratitude earlier that week. It had been the first time he'd been spoken to directly by the Head of their family and pride had swelled in his chest. Despite everything against him, he had protected Ninomiya for one week. He tells Matsumoto this.
"Boss, I helped Ninomiya escape," he says. "We held on for one week."
Instead of appeasing Matsumoto, the reminder that he himself had failed to do so, that he lost one week with Ninomiya, that this man and the lawyer had been alone for so many hours, pisses Matsumoto off. He advances and bares his fists. His henchman drops to his knees wailing, his arms going up to protect his head.
"Boss! I didn't harm no one!" he screams. "Even when they hurt his leg, I carried him to safety! I did my best to protect Ninomiya for Boss!"
Matsumoto latches on to the information the man had unwittingly confessed. He grips his henchman's neck and pulls him up until their faces are almost levelled.
His tone chilling, he whispers, "What did you say? Who hurt him? Where?"
19.
On the night of his recovery Ninomiya had refused to be looked over, claiming he was fine and had wasted away his week of hiding doing nothing. He cunningly persuaded the family’s medic to tend to Matsumoto and the other men instead. Matsumoto realizes the lawyer had known that once his injury was known, Ohno and Matsumoto would have confined him to a hospital bed and refused to allow him to attend his legal case. Ninomiya's work as an attorney, it seems, is more important to himself than his health.
Matsumoto decides the lawyer is the bigger idiot between the two of them.
When he reaches the court building, his second in command at his side, Ninomiya's hearing has already completed and the assembly is making their way out. He catches sight of the small lawyer limping, very slowly as if he is an old man, down the front concrete stairs. Matsumoto has on dark sunglasses and his hands are stuffed inside his pockets, his entire exterior is forbidding and cold, but when he confronts Ninomiya at the bottom of the steps his voice is filled with impassioned fury.
"Why the fuck are you still walking?" he demands.
Ninomiya's face is a pasty white and perspiration beads on his brow, but he continues to stand facing him. The lawyer grins weakly, cheekily, refusing to show even an ounce of weakness.
"Matsumoto Jun doesn't swear," he says.
The display wreaks havoc on Matsumoto's heart and he feels an urge to tug the smaller man to him and press the latter's head to his chest, to embrace the slight body and keep him there forever in the crook of his arms. Before he even acts on his feelings, Ninomiya drops and Matsumoto deftly catches him. The lawyer lies limply in Matsumoto's arms, having fainted.
Matsumoto carefully hefts the small weight and looks down into the pale, sweet face of the lawyer. Wings flutter in the pit of his stomach mixing with the concern. Ninomiya is precious to him, more than anything. Nothing else matters but his safety and happiness. Unconscious of the people around them, Matsumoto leans down to kiss the lawyer's closed eyelids.
20.
While in hiding the stab wound on Ninomiya's thigh had been hastily tended to by Matsumoto's henchman and the lawyer with the bare materials they had on hand. It had been left to fester for the week. The healing had been awkward and the injury still painful. All of this Matsumoto learns from his henchman and Ninomiya’s doctor later.
Matsumoto’s second in command barely stops him from thrashing his man and the doctor at the news, but the second in command isn’t so successful in deterring him the second time after Ninomiya’s wound is reopened and stitched and they find the lawyer lying immobile and pale in his private ward post-surgery. On the hard hospital bed among the white sheets the smaller man looks beaten, weary and insufferably vulnerable. The ghostly vision terrifies and angers Matsumoto. He lashes out at the doctor and nurses and is completely intimidating anyone who happens to cross his path. He knows the hospital staff are not doing enough. Someone must be able to do something to help.
“W-w-we’re doing the b-best we can,” the Ninomiya’s doctor stutters out in the face of his frustration.
Yet it’s not enough, Matsumoto knows. Nothing they do will ever be enough until Ninomiya’s perfectly healthy again.
He’s on the verge of exploding when a pillow hits him square in the back of his head. Both he and the doctor turn around to find the lawyer awake and annoyed but also highly amused. The endearing sight of the slightly curled corners of Ninomiya’s lips stun Matsumoto and all his rage drains away, leaving behind a throbbing ache in the center of his chest.
"Matsumoto, why are you acting like a stupid gangster? Stop being a nuisance," the lawyer croaks.
Matsumoto doesn't retort with the obvious that he basically is a member of a crime syndicate. He storms over to Ninomiya's side and plants his hands on either side of the lawyer's head. He inspects the latter's face before turning to the doctor with a hiss.
"Nino's still weak and pale," Matsumoto growls. "You haven’t done anything."
Ninomiya rolls his eyes while the doctor returns to trembling under Matsumoto's glare.
"We're doing the best we can," the doctor pleads in a repeat of his earlier statement.
"Excuse me for always looking so weak and pale," Ninomiya mutters and pry Matsumoto's hands off his head.
He tries to turn on the hard hospital bed and winces when pain shoots up his thigh. His motion aggravate and startle Matsumoto who latches onto his shoulders to firmly hold him in place before turning to the doctor again.
"Why is he feeling pain?" Matsumoto snarls.
"The anesthesia has worn off," the doctor timidly explains in a low voice.
"Then give him some more!” Matsumoto bellows.
Ninomiya decisively takes hold of Matsumoto's face this time and turns the former's head until their eyes lock barely an arm's length apart.
"Matsumoto, you're not thinking straight. Calm down," he says.
His thumbs rub comforting circles over Matsumoto's cheeks and instantly the irrational rage subsides once more.
The doctor breathes a sigh of relief upon seeing his relaxed form and uses the reprieve to escape. The second in command who had watched everything from beside the wall is clever enough to understand he is not needed inside the room and he follows the doctor out, shutting the door behind him.
Both of them alone in the room at last, Ninomiya quietly asks, "Can you breathe easier now?"
The murmur of his voice and the gentle touch of his fingers worm their way into the pit of Matsumoto’s stomach and tightens. Matsumoto clasps his hands over Ninomiya's smaller ones on each side of his head and stops their circular motions. He stares into Ninomiya’s face and sees the kindness and assurance he’d been seeking his entire life.
He brings their hands together over his chest and replies, "No. Not when I'm with you."
Ninomiya swallows and licks his lips. He tries to pull his hands away, but he cannot. Matsumoto has a firm grip of them. Matsumoto knows through their touch the lawyer can feel his racing heart, but he doesn’t let the other man go. His thumbs grace over the pulse on Ninomiya’s wrists and he can feel that the lawyer’s heart is beating as fast as his own.
"I know we have nothing to do with each other anymore. Maybe you're glad to be finally rid of me and to return to your hostess bar,” Ninomiya mutters.
Matsumoto raises an eyebrow at him, wondering why the lawyer would think that they no longer have anything to do with each other.
"Nino, are you stupid?" he asks.
Ninomiya thinks the insult not required and he scowls at the handsome face in front of him.
"If you're talking about why I went to the hearing despite being in pain, well, I couldn't allow it to be pushed back again. It’s not that easy to ask another life to patiently wait for me to recover from a minor injury," he snaps. "I have my responsibilities to the Purple Phoenix as you have yours, Matsumoto Jun."
Matsumoto shakes his head. He has a billion things to say, to argue against that statement, but he holds back the retorts. The more important issue is the misconception about him. He sits on the edge of the hospital bed and weaves his fingers through Ninomiya's until their hands are clasped in a lover's hold. He brings one of their intertwined hands to his lips and kisses the back of the lawyer's hand. His eyes sees a pretty flush color the smaller man’s pale cheeks.
Ninomiya tries to glower at him, but doesn’t succeed and turns his head to press his face into his arm, hiding his embarrassment and fluttering heart.
"If you keep on doing things like this, I'll mistake your intentions again," he mutters.
A crease forms between Matsumoto’s eyebrows and his full lips press together disapprovingly. He knows his past actions are to blame for the lawyer’s current hesitation. Matsumoto’s intentions had always been unclear. Whenever he felt trapped he pushed the lawyer away and once too many times. He cannot erase the past, but he will make certain the other man knows the truth.
“Nino,” Matsumoto starts, squeezing the small hand in his grasp tight, “I may be crude and may seem heartless, but you’ve always forgiven this rough part of me. No matter what I’d done or how I hurt you, you accepted me again. Before I realized it, I wanted to know everything about you, from your inconsequential complaints to the round point of your nose.”
He releases one of Ninomiya’s hands in order to reach out and gently flick the tip of Ninomiya’s nose. He sees the lawyer flinch back at first and then gape at him. He finds the look of disbelief on the lawyer’s face cute.
“Every moment I spent with you became precious,” Matsumoto continues, sincerely pouring everything he can muster out at the moment. “If you can forgive me once more, I hope you’ll look past my cowardliness. I couldn’t see, couldn’t admit, how important you’ve become to me. Nino, even if I am a part of this dark world, I cannot let you go. I’m selfish because even then I still want you. I can only ask you, will you throw your life in with me?”
Ninomiya stares blankly at him for a few seconds. Then he averts his gaze, looking down at his lap. He blinks rapidly, holding back tears. Hastily, he brings up his arm and hides his face in the crook of his elbow again. Matsumoto feels an urge to pull his hand back and to touch the lawyer’s face, to wipe the tears away, but he stops himself. He waits.
“Idiot,” Ninomiya finally says. “I’ve been here all this time.”
Hope blossoms in Matsumoto’s chest. He grins sheepishly and pulls the lawyer into a hug. Ninomiya fits inside his arms snugly. Against the smaller man’s ears he murmurs soundlessly, Thank you.
21.
The staff and henchmen make sure to keep out of Romance Chocolatier’s backroom whenever Ninomiya visits. Although they cannot understand why the lawyer always stop by during Matsumoto’s bi-weekly check-ins at the club, and not at another place and time, they at least appreciate their Boss’s better moods whenever Ninomiya comes. Of course, the rare moments happen when their Boss wind up even more irritated than when they started.
“If you’re going to whine about how hard the walls or floors are every time, at least allow me to rent a room,” Matsumoto asserts from where he’s moved to check the CCTV screens. “There’s a love hotel just around the corner.”
Ninomiya glares at Matsumoto’s back before he picks himself off the ground and begins smoothing down his wrinkled dress shirt and putting on his discarded boxers and pants.
“That’s a waste of money,” he says as if he wasn’t stating the very obvious.
“Then you don’t have to come here when I’m working,” Matsumoto starts. “You’re a distraction anyway.”
“No bloody way,” the lawyer grumbles. “The ladies act like fucking rutting hounds in heat when you’re around. The way they just look at you is enough to make my skin crawl.”
Matsumoto turns from watching the monitors to staring at Ninomiya.
“Is this what this is all of about? You’re jealous?”
Ninomiya scowls, irritated by his apathy.
“They should already know you belong to me.”
Matsumoto suddenly has an idea (affirmed by the things he’s learned from his hostesses throughout the last weeks) and he’s grinning when he moves to wrap his arms around Ninomiya’s middle. He presses kisses along the smaller man’s neck.
“Is that what you were really saying when I thought you were flirting with them? And leaving messages for me in their hands?”
“Your ego’s inflated,” Ninomiya snaps back at him as he tries to push Matsumoto off of him. “Stop it, J. I’m sweaty and sure to be sore as fuck tomorrow already. I don’t need you to stop me from walking, too. I’m meeting with Ohno tomorrow, you know, before I go on my business trip.”
Matsumoto laughs and releases him. He runs his hand through his hair, trying to fix the mess that Ninomiya had made of it earlier.
“We won’t see each other for a month,” he announces.
The lawyer is startled and scrutinizes Matsumoto warily.
“Why? I’ll only be gone for two weeks,” he says.
Matsumoto indifferently stands to straighten his clothing. He turns back to face the monitors as he speaks.
“I have someone to meet,” is all he explains.
He holds in a grin as he sees Ninomiya try to not let it bother him, but the lawyer makes a face anyway before grabbing his bag and leaving the backroom. Matsumoto’s struggle is vain and he’s overcome with laughter. He knows he’s too besotted when even he finds Ninomiya’s childish sulk adorable.
22.
In the enclosed room, Matsumoto lies on his bare stomach. He is stripped of his top and his back is exposed. A man leans over him with a needle.
“I’m starting,” the tattoo artist says.
Matsumoto grunts and feels the needle on his back. He clenches his teeth.
Some minutes later his phone decides to ring and he ignores it. It rings again and several times more and he curses himself for not turning it off. A moment after his second in command enters the room and apologizes.
“Ninomiya desired that I inform you to pick up your phone,” the man explains.
Matsumoto feels the tattoo artist pause and he reaches for his phone during the temporary lapse. He unlocks the screen and looks at the latest message. He smiles as he reads Ninomiya’s words: Cut short my trip. You’re already gone. Jerk.
Matsumoto knows it’s not the last message he’ll receive before this is over and he turns his phone off. He puts it down and tries to remain motionless when the tattoo artist begins inking in the wings of his phoenix again. Matsumoto addresses his second in command when he speaks.
“If Nino calls you again, tell him to wait for me. I’ll go find him as soon as I can. There’s something I want to show him.”
END
12.
A struggle for power within the King Cobra family and its many complex branches had led to Aiba Masaki becoming a Leader much earlier than even Ohno. Youthful and inadequately experienced, he acted as a pawn and tool for most of his executives in his earlier years. In an effort to finally exert his own control over the organization, the King Cobra Leader's first personal decree had been to accept and enforce the pact with the Purple Phoenix syndicate.
As the two groups and their Heads formally convene above a first-class restaurant located in neutral territory, Matsumoto takes in the pleasant expression on the King Cobra's Leader's handsome face and he cannot ascertain if the man is trustworthy or extraordinarily crafty. Aiba Masaki's mind is as much an enigma as their Leader's, Ohno.
After all, within a span of five short years following the establishment of the pact the Head of the King Cobra family had already managed to consolidate his power over his rebellious group.
As if the Head of the King Cobra family feel his eyes, the man looks over and smiles at Matsumoto sitting among his brothers discreetly a few paces down behind his Leader.
"Matsumoto Jun," he says, picking Matsumoto out among the crowd. "You've a famous face and name around the city. Beautiful outside and tenacious inside. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance at last."
Matsumoto steels his expression and bows his head in acknowledgement of the praise.
"I am unworthy of such flattery," he replies.
For one moment Ohno wears a proud expression, then it is replaced by concern. He gestures for the other Leader's attention.
"We're here for more serious matters, Aiba. You should already have an idea of what your men are doing."
"What are they doing?" Aiba asks, almost too innocently.
Matsumoto thinks that he is right to doubt this man and wishes that their Leader isn't too trusting either. Aiba or his executives must be well aware of what has occurred, of what their men have done and are planning. A syndicate's lifespan depends on keeping their ears and eyes open. The King Cobras are not dumb enough to forget their instincts. Matsumoto scrutinizes the men seated behind Aiba and they are as stony faced as he is. He seethes silently, containing his desire to physically extract the truth out of them.
"Aiba," Ohno says and smiles as innocently as Aiba looks. "If it has come to my notice, then your men have not done a good job of shedding their skin."
Aiba continues to look pleasantly unconcerned.
"I may be able to remember what you're alluding to if you're a bit more specific, Ohno. My people are involved in many projects that I know of."
Ohno pauses. The room falls into silence. Then the Head of the Purple Phoenix squints at Aiba and purses his bottom lip thoughtfully.
"If you need me to be direct, we need to talk in privacy," he states.
Aiba deliberately frowns while he contemplates, the push and pull of power and information between them relentless.
"We need to talk about five years ago concerning the instrument of his fall," Ohno emphasizes.
At last the King Cobra Leader's eyes alight with understanding and his expression hardens into that of dangerous man, a contrast to the previous friendliness on his face. He raises his right hand in a swift gesture.
"Everyone out," the Leader commands.
Ohno follows with a motion of his own to his men. Matsumoto rises reluctantly. The executives of both groups shuffle out and settle on opposite sides in the adjoining room. They glare at each other, arrogance in the very way they carried themselves, and in the strained atmosphere await the first provocation from the other group.
13.
The Leaders' private discussion remain cordial. In the adjacent room not a single sound or disturbance is heard until half an hour later when the sliding door is thrown back and the right-hand of the King Cobra's Leader calls for one of their henchmen. All of the men outside are cautious as the man wearily join their Heads inside and the sliding door is closed again.
In less than ten minutes, heated voices emit from the room and then is suddenly followed by a deafening crash. The men outside tense and their minds sharpen, Matsumoto included. They prepare to run in if called, but the orders don't come. They hear profuse apologies that without a doubt comes from the henchman that had just joined them.
Matsumoto feels dread in the pit of his stomach, mingling and fighting with the distrust and contempt. He intuitively knows that something is wrong.
The door slides back again and this time it is Sakurai who is standing in the doorway. Instead of beckoning another person in, he signals for Matsumoto to follow him out. The ominous pressure closes in on Matsumoto even more as they leave the room of restless men.
"We need your car," Sakurai says.
Matsumoto immediately picks up his phone to call his driver. In less than two minutes, they settle into the backseat of Matsumoto's private vehicle and Sakurai tells them to head to Ninomiya's current hideout. This time with the lawyer's safety obviously on the line Matsumoto hesitates.
"Something's wrong," he states the obvious.
"We need to hurry," Sakurai urges him without a direct reply.
Perceiving his urgency, Matsumoto orders his driver to head to a particular area within the city. Once the car starts moving, he turns questioning eyes to the right-hand.
"Your man betrayed you last year. Why?" Sakurai asks instead of an explanation.
Matsumoto had all but forgotten about it. His acquaintanceship with Ninomiya had been the more important detail that came out of the situation.
"His family had medical fees that he couldn't pay," he remembers and the mention of the man's biological family reminded Matsumoto of his past argument with Ninomiya about relationships outside the syndicate.
Once an individual enters the dark underworld, he lives and dies in it and those he drags into it with him frequently suffers the same fate. Intelligent men who had yet to cast away their biological family customarily learns to leave everything behind. Understanding Matsumoto's rationality, Sakurai captures Matsumoto's gaze with his own in hopes that the younger man will comprehend, even a little, his next words.
"Every man, no matter who he is or what he does, has at least one precious treasure and weakness," Sakurai states. "When both are exploited is when a man's true worth is evaluated."
Matsumoto narrows his eyes at the right-hand as frustration joins the mixture of emotions already clamoring inside of him. He exhales slowly, his mind working to grasp what the other did not say.
"After I tell you what I have to, Matsumoto, you have to find the truth within yourself," Sakurai warns.
Matsumoto waits and Sakurai takes a breath and continues.
"The man Ninomiya sent away five years ago was the ring leader of a rebellious faction in the King Cobra family," Sakurai says. "The men directly under him were hunted down and annihilated by the main family after he went away. Except some of them escaped. One of them was your biological father."
He paused, watching Matsumoto's stony expression.
"Some of them left the country, but a few of them came straggling back for their leader's execution. Aiba was not aware of this. His executives thought the small hindrances an unnecessary mention. We were not aware of them, but my suspicions were confirmed by the story of your previous man."
Sakurai spoke his next questions deliberately slow.
"Matsumoto, why of all the other easier targets did your man try to frame you? How certain are you that another one of your man has not been forced to the same depths of submission by your father?"
14.
They are men who are a part of the dark underside of society, who are allegedly professionals at inflicting pain and enjoying cruelty. They are men who are supposed to be even better at enduring it. Their lives are guided by codes and a twisted sense of honor. Their existence is built on loyalty and secrecy. Yet, these men are human. Humans with treasures and weaknesses. Humans who make mistakes.
Matsumoto and Sakurai finds one of his two subordinates dead on the doorsteps of the apartment they had arranged for Ninomiya. The other man, the traitor, and their charge is nowhere to be found within.
The pent up rage and frustration inside Matsumoto explodes. While the right-hand man watches outside the doorway, Matsumoto punches holes into the wall and tears up the wooden floorboards. He shrieks as he does so, in his frenzy his only purpose the destruction of what was once whole. Without Ninomiya there, the entire structure is useless. The sight of its wholesomeness is unfathomable and he cannot tolerate it still standing.
When there is nothing left to destroy and the walls have caved in, the empty rooms adjacent to the apartment visible through the room, he finally stops. He stands at the dead center of the chaotic mess, his knuckles cracked and bleeding, himself heaving from anger and the exertion. Sakurai finally speaks.
"We will find him," he assures Matsumoto in a sympathetic murmur.
The words sink in and deep inside Matsumoto aches with emptiness. Ninomiya is gone and the loss rips him apart. His father, that man that he damns to hell every day, have taken the one thing from him that he cares for, as if the innocence of his childhood had not been enough.
Matsumoto sees a piece of cloth poking through the clutter and he digs through the mess at his feet to get to it. He hauls out the dirt encrusted blanket that he had last seen wrapped around the lawyer; that last time when he'd turned away not realizing how precious that final moment was. The coldness of the blanket and its solitary appearance speaks volumes. Matsumoto shakes the debris off and then clutches the blanket to his chest, wishing it were the lawyer instead.
He thinks of his father, the monster who had practiced the arts of torture on his own blood, who had left his child to die.
He is afraid to ask the right-hand if Ninomiya will be alive when they find him.
15.
The nightmares come again and without Ninomiya's warmth and comforting presence to ease his anxieties, Matsumoto falls into the trap of his horrendous, repetitive dreams. His father's face leers at him and drags his head down, face first, into his own vomit. Ice hot pain streaks across his back and wracks through his body. He cries, but he doesn't have enough tears to last a lifetime. He prays that his father's next strike kills him.
Hatred wells up in him, so intense that he breathes it.
Extreme longing for Ninomiya consumes him and pierces through the engulfing madness.
Instead of crying for his father to stop, he calls Ninomiya's name.
The pain stops and it is Ninomiya curled beneath the shadow of his father. The smaller man cries out instead, calls out for him. A new kind of pain wracks Matsumoto's body, an ache that reaches his heart and strangles him from the inside out. He touches his chest, knowing that his heart is bleeding.
Matsumoto wakes with a start, gasping and sweating. His second in command stands at the foot of his bed with a solemn look on his face.
"Boss, we found them," he says.
It has been one week since Ninomiya went missing.
16.
Aiba and Ohno are cold-blooded and ruthless. Blood, guts, and lifeless bodies are strewn across the ground.
When Matsumoto enters the underground tunnels through the warehouse above, the men with him disappear into dark passages unhindered. Somewhere in this dark place, Ninomiya is being held captive. Somewhere in here, his father is hiding. He has to find both and only one of them will come first. Matsumoto moves through the tunnel without thinking, allowing chance to decide.
Sakurai's voice buzz in his ear from his earpiece.
"We have one hour before the police notices anything and two hours before they get here," he tells them. "Leader wants the underground tunnels flooded and the warehouse burned to the ground with the bodies before they come. I give you all forty-five minutes to get back up here, unless you want to drown in sewage water with the rats."
Matsumoto grits his teeth. His pulse pounds in his head and the beats race in his ears. If he runs out of time, he has to concentrate on finding only one person. The Purple Phoenix men that entered with him have disappeared ahead of him and he jogs through the dark passage alone. Surrounded by nothing but narrow concrete walls, he feels it steadily cave in.
The vivid memories of ice hot pain arc across his back while the warm skin of Ninomiya move underneath him. His father's harsh laughter rings in his ears, but Ninomiya's high pitched giggle cuts in. Matsumoto has nursed his hatred for many years, yet at that moment he cannot decide. He has lived to kill his father, lived for the Purple Phoenix family, but he wants to continue living just to see Ninomiya today, tomorrow, and the days after.
That is, if Ninomiya is still alive.
He needs to know if the Ninomiya is still breathing.
He must find Ninomiya.
He needs Ninomiya Kazunari in his life.
The realization hits him, jolts him out of his stupor. Matsumoto breaks into a run.
17.
The underground passages are endless and only once does he run across one of his own men. He stops the man and asks questions, but the responses are just as frustrating. Time ticks away as he moves from one passageway to another. Nino becomes a chant under his breath, but the person evades him.
"Five minutes left," Sakurai speaks in his ear.
The countdown begins in Matsumoto's head. Every beat of his heart is wasted seconds. One minute passes and his limbs refuse to give up. Adrenaline pushes him and he continues to run, searching. Two minute passes. Matsumoto opens his mouth and screams. He screams the lawyer's name. The sound echoes back and around him. No answering scream answers his except his own.
Desperation rears and claws inside of him. What if he doesn't make it in time? What if Ninomiya eludes him?
"Three minutes. Matsumoto, come back up here," Sakurai commands.
No, Matsumoto thinks. He cannot. Not without Ninomiya.
"Leader wants you back up here now," Sakurai demands. "It's an order."
Loyalty or death, Matsumoto remembers telling the lawyer. His steps lag and he stops running until he's standing motionless. Gasping for breath, he looks around him at nothing. No one is here with him. Ninomiya is not here. He closes his eyes and shudders. He's a phoenix. A phoenix with no wings.
Running footsteps alert him and for that split second hope swells within his chest. Matsumoto's eyes fly open and he sees another man run on the opposite bank of the passage across from him. The man runs through, but does not stop. He is not a member of the Purple Phoenix. Matsumoto's breath catches in his throat as he recognizes his father; a lot older, more heavyset, but the man from his nightmares nonetheless.
His father disappears into the dark recesses of another passageway. He fades into the darkness and all at once Matsumoto's limbs unlock. He rushes toward the opposite bank.
"One minute," Sakurai says. "Matsumoto, your time is up."
Nino, Matsumoto remembers and hesitates. The sound of running footsteps follows his father into the darkness and dies away, leaving Matsumoto in another silence that encloses him in. He doesn't give chase. It no longer matters. Ninomiya is more important and Ninomiya is not here. A world without Ninomiya is empty.
Idiot, he hears the lawyer tease him. The other man is right. He's an idiot.
"Matsumoto! You stupid asshole! Get out of there!"
Matsumoto jerks into consciousness.
"I'm up here! Come to me!" Ninomiya shouts through the earpiece where Sakurai's voice had come from. "You can't die!"
Matsumoto doesn't second guess or ask questions. He turns back and runs for the surface. Underneath him, the ground rumbles and he hears the roar of water. Death pursues him, but he catches the nearest ladder and climbs up. He runs to catch another and another while the flood gates and walls of each underground level of the tunnel begins to shatter. The roar of the water is deafening and fear encloses him.
A constant breathless, whimpering in his ear overwhelms even the boom of the destructive water. He realizes above the anxiety coursing through him that it is the tearful sobs of Ninomiya and the sound is heart breaking even to Matsumoto whose instincts are screaming. He doesn't understand what is happening, but he has to live. He has to find the source of that sound.
Close by he hears and feels the barrage of rushing water. It shakes him until his vision vibrates. The flood is here. He sees light above him, the last ladder to the surface. Matsumoto climbs up as death approaches. He breaks the surface just as rushing water storms through and the ladder is swept away by the tide.
On the ground, Matsumoto inhales deeply and choke on acrid smoke. His eyes burn and waves of heat washes over him. He turns his head and sees that he has come up right beside the burning warehouse. The flames reach for him and Matsumoto rolls away.
"Matsumoto, are you there?" Sakurai tentatively asks, uncertain if the man is alive.
Instead of answering, Matsumoto forces himself to his feet and tries to move. Through the thick smoke, he cannot make out where the gang is. He breaks into a fit of coughing as smoke fill his lungs.
"Matsumoto!" Sakurai shouts into his ear.
Matsumoto clears his throat. When he speaks, his voice is hoarse.
"Nino. Where is Nino?" he asks.
It cannot have been a mistake. He heard Ninomiya call him. Why is it Sakurai speaking to him now?
He stumbles forward, out of the smoke and away from the heat, unsure of where he is heading. He is desperate and afraid. What if the person he has been looking for is not here? Why then did he escape death?
Something, someone, slams into him and Matsumoto falls back hard onto the ground. The pain of the drop doesn't faze him. He blinks away tears caused by the smoke and sees the one person he has been looking for. Ninomiya falls into his lap, wraps his around Matsumoto's neck and buries his face into Matsumoto's hair.
"Idiot," Ninomiya mutters through his sobs.
Matsumoto's embraces him as tightly as he is being held and feels the trembling of Ninomiya's slighter body, knows that it isn't the smaller man alone; that he's shaking with emotions himself. He presses his face into the warmth of Ninomiya's neck and feels relief. Ninomiya is in his arms. He doesn't need answers. This is happiness.
18.
When the ex-King Cobra men had gathered outside his hideout, Matsumoto's two subordinates had split on what to do. Ninomiya had contemplated three choices; follow one man or the other, or try to survive alone. As an attorney he had defended many innocent and guilty individuals, some of them as pure as any human would ever be and a few evil enough to be considered monsters. Yet he wasn't an expert on human psychology and his meager experiences up until that point were not advantageous. This was a situation of life and death and he had to rely on his instincts.
Ninomiya chose the man who reminded him of Matsumoto the most, the man with the greater pride, and his decision had not been wrong. They evaded the traitor and ran. For one week, Matsumoto's man and Ninomiya hid. They dared not move at all, even to contact the Purple Phoenix. In doing so, they survived.
All of this Ninomiya relays to Ohno and then later to Matsumoto during the night while they rest at the main house.
Because of their emotional reunion, Matsumoto hopes and expects to spend time alone with the lawyer and that they will be given enough time to reassure themselves about each other. Instead the morning after his not quite rescue the lawyer shuts them out.
"Don't disturb me!" Ninomiya warns both Ohno and Matsumoto. "I have a hearing in two days and no one will stop me from going. I have to work. I need to de-stress. Leave me alone."
He locks himself into his apartment.
Matsumoto has just learned the importance of Ninomiya in his life and the immediate dismissal and unsentimental post-reception aggravates him.
After forty-eight hours without contact from the lawyer, he needs someone to blame for his frustration and he turns on his man, Ninomiya's companion during his supposed kidnapping. The man had one week alone with the lawyer while Matsumoto gets none and envy spurs Matsumoto as much as his own disappointment.
He calls his subordinate to his office. He sits in his usual chair behind his desk while his henchman stands facing him.
"Give me three good reasons why I shouldn't punch your lights out," Matsumoto coolly tells him.
The man who had been expecting anything other than a threat swallows.
"Boss...?"
"You must have suspected something even up to the betrayal, yet you did not come to me," Matsumoto says indifferently, excusing his childishness, as he stands from his chair and massage his knuckles.
His henchman involuntarily takes a step back.
"Boss, I didn't know nothing," he squeaks.
Matsumoto remembers Ninomiya comparing him to this lumbering moron in front of him and he scowls, frightening his man further.
"Three reasons," he repeated, this time stepping around his desk and cracking his neck.
The man thinks about their Leader's gratitude earlier that week. It had been the first time he'd been spoken to directly by the Head of their family and pride had swelled in his chest. Despite everything against him, he had protected Ninomiya for one week. He tells Matsumoto this.
"Boss, I helped Ninomiya escape," he says. "We held on for one week."
Instead of appeasing Matsumoto, the reminder that he himself had failed to do so, that he lost one week with Ninomiya, that this man and the lawyer had been alone for so many hours, pisses Matsumoto off. He advances and bares his fists. His henchman drops to his knees wailing, his arms going up to protect his head.
"Boss! I didn't harm no one!" he screams. "Even when they hurt his leg, I carried him to safety! I did my best to protect Ninomiya for Boss!"
Matsumoto latches on to the information the man had unwittingly confessed. He grips his henchman's neck and pulls him up until their faces are almost levelled.
His tone chilling, he whispers, "What did you say? Who hurt him? Where?"
19.
On the night of his recovery Ninomiya had refused to be looked over, claiming he was fine and had wasted away his week of hiding doing nothing. He cunningly persuaded the family’s medic to tend to Matsumoto and the other men instead. Matsumoto realizes the lawyer had known that once his injury was known, Ohno and Matsumoto would have confined him to a hospital bed and refused to allow him to attend his legal case. Ninomiya's work as an attorney, it seems, is more important to himself than his health.
Matsumoto decides the lawyer is the bigger idiot between the two of them.
When he reaches the court building, his second in command at his side, Ninomiya's hearing has already completed and the assembly is making their way out. He catches sight of the small lawyer limping, very slowly as if he is an old man, down the front concrete stairs. Matsumoto has on dark sunglasses and his hands are stuffed inside his pockets, his entire exterior is forbidding and cold, but when he confronts Ninomiya at the bottom of the steps his voice is filled with impassioned fury.
"Why the fuck are you still walking?" he demands.
Ninomiya's face is a pasty white and perspiration beads on his brow, but he continues to stand facing him. The lawyer grins weakly, cheekily, refusing to show even an ounce of weakness.
"Matsumoto Jun doesn't swear," he says.
The display wreaks havoc on Matsumoto's heart and he feels an urge to tug the smaller man to him and press the latter's head to his chest, to embrace the slight body and keep him there forever in the crook of his arms. Before he even acts on his feelings, Ninomiya drops and Matsumoto deftly catches him. The lawyer lies limply in Matsumoto's arms, having fainted.
Matsumoto carefully hefts the small weight and looks down into the pale, sweet face of the lawyer. Wings flutter in the pit of his stomach mixing with the concern. Ninomiya is precious to him, more than anything. Nothing else matters but his safety and happiness. Unconscious of the people around them, Matsumoto leans down to kiss the lawyer's closed eyelids.
20.
While in hiding the stab wound on Ninomiya's thigh had been hastily tended to by Matsumoto's henchman and the lawyer with the bare materials they had on hand. It had been left to fester for the week. The healing had been awkward and the injury still painful. All of this Matsumoto learns from his henchman and Ninomiya’s doctor later.
Matsumoto’s second in command barely stops him from thrashing his man and the doctor at the news, but the second in command isn’t so successful in deterring him the second time after Ninomiya’s wound is reopened and stitched and they find the lawyer lying immobile and pale in his private ward post-surgery. On the hard hospital bed among the white sheets the smaller man looks beaten, weary and insufferably vulnerable. The ghostly vision terrifies and angers Matsumoto. He lashes out at the doctor and nurses and is completely intimidating anyone who happens to cross his path. He knows the hospital staff are not doing enough. Someone must be able to do something to help.
“W-w-we’re doing the b-best we can,” the Ninomiya’s doctor stutters out in the face of his frustration.
Yet it’s not enough, Matsumoto knows. Nothing they do will ever be enough until Ninomiya’s perfectly healthy again.
He’s on the verge of exploding when a pillow hits him square in the back of his head. Both he and the doctor turn around to find the lawyer awake and annoyed but also highly amused. The endearing sight of the slightly curled corners of Ninomiya’s lips stun Matsumoto and all his rage drains away, leaving behind a throbbing ache in the center of his chest.
"Matsumoto, why are you acting like a stupid gangster? Stop being a nuisance," the lawyer croaks.
Matsumoto doesn't retort with the obvious that he basically is a member of a crime syndicate. He storms over to Ninomiya's side and plants his hands on either side of the lawyer's head. He inspects the latter's face before turning to the doctor with a hiss.
"Nino's still weak and pale," Matsumoto growls. "You haven’t done anything."
Ninomiya rolls his eyes while the doctor returns to trembling under Matsumoto's glare.
"We're doing the best we can," the doctor pleads in a repeat of his earlier statement.
"Excuse me for always looking so weak and pale," Ninomiya mutters and pry Matsumoto's hands off his head.
He tries to turn on the hard hospital bed and winces when pain shoots up his thigh. His motion aggravate and startle Matsumoto who latches onto his shoulders to firmly hold him in place before turning to the doctor again.
"Why is he feeling pain?" Matsumoto snarls.
"The anesthesia has worn off," the doctor timidly explains in a low voice.
"Then give him some more!” Matsumoto bellows.
Ninomiya decisively takes hold of Matsumoto's face this time and turns the former's head until their eyes lock barely an arm's length apart.
"Matsumoto, you're not thinking straight. Calm down," he says.
His thumbs rub comforting circles over Matsumoto's cheeks and instantly the irrational rage subsides once more.
The doctor breathes a sigh of relief upon seeing his relaxed form and uses the reprieve to escape. The second in command who had watched everything from beside the wall is clever enough to understand he is not needed inside the room and he follows the doctor out, shutting the door behind him.
Both of them alone in the room at last, Ninomiya quietly asks, "Can you breathe easier now?"
The murmur of his voice and the gentle touch of his fingers worm their way into the pit of Matsumoto’s stomach and tightens. Matsumoto clasps his hands over Ninomiya's smaller ones on each side of his head and stops their circular motions. He stares into Ninomiya’s face and sees the kindness and assurance he’d been seeking his entire life.
He brings their hands together over his chest and replies, "No. Not when I'm with you."
Ninomiya swallows and licks his lips. He tries to pull his hands away, but he cannot. Matsumoto has a firm grip of them. Matsumoto knows through their touch the lawyer can feel his racing heart, but he doesn’t let the other man go. His thumbs grace over the pulse on Ninomiya’s wrists and he can feel that the lawyer’s heart is beating as fast as his own.
"I know we have nothing to do with each other anymore. Maybe you're glad to be finally rid of me and to return to your hostess bar,” Ninomiya mutters.
Matsumoto raises an eyebrow at him, wondering why the lawyer would think that they no longer have anything to do with each other.
"Nino, are you stupid?" he asks.
Ninomiya thinks the insult not required and he scowls at the handsome face in front of him.
"If you're talking about why I went to the hearing despite being in pain, well, I couldn't allow it to be pushed back again. It’s not that easy to ask another life to patiently wait for me to recover from a minor injury," he snaps. "I have my responsibilities to the Purple Phoenix as you have yours, Matsumoto Jun."
Matsumoto shakes his head. He has a billion things to say, to argue against that statement, but he holds back the retorts. The more important issue is the misconception about him. He sits on the edge of the hospital bed and weaves his fingers through Ninomiya's until their hands are clasped in a lover's hold. He brings one of their intertwined hands to his lips and kisses the back of the lawyer's hand. His eyes sees a pretty flush color the smaller man’s pale cheeks.
Ninomiya tries to glower at him, but doesn’t succeed and turns his head to press his face into his arm, hiding his embarrassment and fluttering heart.
"If you keep on doing things like this, I'll mistake your intentions again," he mutters.
A crease forms between Matsumoto’s eyebrows and his full lips press together disapprovingly. He knows his past actions are to blame for the lawyer’s current hesitation. Matsumoto’s intentions had always been unclear. Whenever he felt trapped he pushed the lawyer away and once too many times. He cannot erase the past, but he will make certain the other man knows the truth.
“Nino,” Matsumoto starts, squeezing the small hand in his grasp tight, “I may be crude and may seem heartless, but you’ve always forgiven this rough part of me. No matter what I’d done or how I hurt you, you accepted me again. Before I realized it, I wanted to know everything about you, from your inconsequential complaints to the round point of your nose.”
He releases one of Ninomiya’s hands in order to reach out and gently flick the tip of Ninomiya’s nose. He sees the lawyer flinch back at first and then gape at him. He finds the look of disbelief on the lawyer’s face cute.
“Every moment I spent with you became precious,” Matsumoto continues, sincerely pouring everything he can muster out at the moment. “If you can forgive me once more, I hope you’ll look past my cowardliness. I couldn’t see, couldn’t admit, how important you’ve become to me. Nino, even if I am a part of this dark world, I cannot let you go. I’m selfish because even then I still want you. I can only ask you, will you throw your life in with me?”
Ninomiya stares blankly at him for a few seconds. Then he averts his gaze, looking down at his lap. He blinks rapidly, holding back tears. Hastily, he brings up his arm and hides his face in the crook of his elbow again. Matsumoto feels an urge to pull his hand back and to touch the lawyer’s face, to wipe the tears away, but he stops himself. He waits.
“Idiot,” Ninomiya finally says. “I’ve been here all this time.”
Hope blossoms in Matsumoto’s chest. He grins sheepishly and pulls the lawyer into a hug. Ninomiya fits inside his arms snugly. Against the smaller man’s ears he murmurs soundlessly, Thank you.
21.
The staff and henchmen make sure to keep out of Romance Chocolatier’s backroom whenever Ninomiya visits. Although they cannot understand why the lawyer always stop by during Matsumoto’s bi-weekly check-ins at the club, and not at another place and time, they at least appreciate their Boss’s better moods whenever Ninomiya comes. Of course, the rare moments happen when their Boss wind up even more irritated than when they started.
“If you’re going to whine about how hard the walls or floors are every time, at least allow me to rent a room,” Matsumoto asserts from where he’s moved to check the CCTV screens. “There’s a love hotel just around the corner.”
Ninomiya glares at Matsumoto’s back before he picks himself off the ground and begins smoothing down his wrinkled dress shirt and putting on his discarded boxers and pants.
“That’s a waste of money,” he says as if he wasn’t stating the very obvious.
“Then you don’t have to come here when I’m working,” Matsumoto starts. “You’re a distraction anyway.”
“No bloody way,” the lawyer grumbles. “The ladies act like fucking rutting hounds in heat when you’re around. The way they just look at you is enough to make my skin crawl.”
Matsumoto turns from watching the monitors to staring at Ninomiya.
“Is this what this is all of about? You’re jealous?”
Ninomiya scowls, irritated by his apathy.
“They should already know you belong to me.”
Matsumoto suddenly has an idea (affirmed by the things he’s learned from his hostesses throughout the last weeks) and he’s grinning when he moves to wrap his arms around Ninomiya’s middle. He presses kisses along the smaller man’s neck.
“Is that what you were really saying when I thought you were flirting with them? And leaving messages for me in their hands?”
“Your ego’s inflated,” Ninomiya snaps back at him as he tries to push Matsumoto off of him. “Stop it, J. I’m sweaty and sure to be sore as fuck tomorrow already. I don’t need you to stop me from walking, too. I’m meeting with Ohno tomorrow, you know, before I go on my business trip.”
Matsumoto laughs and releases him. He runs his hand through his hair, trying to fix the mess that Ninomiya had made of it earlier.
“We won’t see each other for a month,” he announces.
The lawyer is startled and scrutinizes Matsumoto warily.
“Why? I’ll only be gone for two weeks,” he says.
Matsumoto indifferently stands to straighten his clothing. He turns back to face the monitors as he speaks.
“I have someone to meet,” is all he explains.
He holds in a grin as he sees Ninomiya try to not let it bother him, but the lawyer makes a face anyway before grabbing his bag and leaving the backroom. Matsumoto’s struggle is vain and he’s overcome with laughter. He knows he’s too besotted when even he finds Ninomiya’s childish sulk adorable.
22.
In the enclosed room, Matsumoto lies on his bare stomach. He is stripped of his top and his back is exposed. A man leans over him with a needle.
“I’m starting,” the tattoo artist says.
Matsumoto grunts and feels the needle on his back. He clenches his teeth.
Some minutes later his phone decides to ring and he ignores it. It rings again and several times more and he curses himself for not turning it off. A moment after his second in command enters the room and apologizes.
“Ninomiya desired that I inform you to pick up your phone,” the man explains.
Matsumoto feels the tattoo artist pause and he reaches for his phone during the temporary lapse. He unlocks the screen and looks at the latest message. He smiles as he reads Ninomiya’s words: Cut short my trip. You’re already gone. Jerk.
Matsumoto knows it’s not the last message he’ll receive before this is over and he turns his phone off. He puts it down and tries to remain motionless when the tattoo artist begins inking in the wings of his phoenix again. Matsumoto addresses his second in command when he speaks.
“If Nino calls you again, tell him to wait for me. I’ll go find him as soon as I can. There’s something I want to show him.”
END