[JE] [JEF #4] Past Flaws 8/12
Title: JE Fleet IV: Past Flaws 8/12
Series: JE Fleet
Fandom: KAT-TUN
Pairing: Akame
Rating: R (m/m activity)
Genre: AU, crack, sci-fi
Word count: 54,000
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the guys or random song lyrics that appear in this fic. Credit for naming the Yunaka goes to maya_morning.
Summary: When Akanishi Jin runs away from Earth, falling in with thieves along the way, the last thing he expects is to attract the attention of rookie Lunar/InterPlanetary Security officer, Kamenashi Kazuya.
Chapter 8
Ishida was hefty even by non-Japanese standards, and when he'd slammed Kame against the Yunaka's hull, Kame's mind had temporarily blanked from the pain. It would have been so easy to let go, to ignore the cold, ridged metal bruising his back, to forget about the fist knotted in his shirt and the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. To slump down, a dead weight in Ishida's hands, and let his eyes roll back in his head.
But Ishida would never have let him wake up again, would he? He hadn't let Kame out of his sight, after that mess of an interrogation, had taken him back to party with the others and the whole time, Kame had had to pretend that he hadn't noticed a thing, that he was just drunk like everyone else. Even Gustav had succumbed, or Ishida had drugged him too - Kame wasn't sure which - and there was no one left to fly them home. No one except Ishida himself, markedly more sober than the others, who had crept from subordinate to subordinate to check that they were asleep. The handful of prison staff had scattered, driven into the sanctuary of their own quarters by the rowdy invaders, so there were no witnesses when Ishida, content that he was unobserved, sneaked out of the break room.
No one except Kame. He'd feigned a drunken collapse with little difficulty, falling into a pose comfortable enough that he could keep it up for a while and one from which he could peek through his hair at Ishida. He hadn't been the first - that would have been suspicious - but nor had he been the last, not wanting Ishida to check too closely. With the drinking songs losing singers by the second, and merry banter being overtaken by snores, it had been easy enough for Kame to fall into line with the rest of his unit - perhaps the only time he ever had.
He'd followed Ishida to the docks, watched him pull a flat card from his sleeve and use it on the Yunaka's lock. There hadn't been anyone around to protest - the area was used so rarely that it was unmanned, and the cameras didn't work. Kame had seen the wrecked equipment on his way in. He'd spared a thought for the trio of officers who'd been cataloguing the Yunaka's cargo, then remembered seeing them drinking with the others. Ishida had drawn them in, too.
Kame's plan had been simple enough. Follow Ishida inside the ship, wait till he found the diamond, then take the damned thing away from him at stunner-point. After that...well, he hadn't thought much about it. The only thing that mattered was that Ishida had to be left without any way to pay off his debts, which meant Kame couldn't let him pocket any of the other jewellery either. Whatever happened, Kame's career in LIPS was over, so he might as well finish Ishida's for him.
He hadn't counted on Ishida's paranoia, though. No sooner had he set foot inside the Yunaka than a meaty fist caught him on the chin, sending him flying, and after that it had been a short, painful spell as Ishida's personal punchbag. Still unsteady from the drug, Kame hadn't been able to put up much of a fight; after the nerve disruptor had put in an appearance, he hadn't even bothered trying to resist.
"Maybe now you'll listen to me, rookie," Ishida had sneered, shoving him back out the door. "If the gun's not good enough, though, I can always break a couple of ribs - makes no difference to me. You'll still be just as dead when they find your corpse, another sad casualty of an escape attempt gone wrong. Tragic, really, but I guess no one could blame that Akanishi guy for wanting revenge on you. Must've been pretty humiliating for him, that interrogation."
That snippet, delivered with a derisive squeeze of Kame's hip, had chilled him to the bone. Just how long had Ishida been planning to get rid of him? Had the Yunaka and her crew merely been convenient tools in Ishida's hands, and Kame's fate had been decided the second he joined the unit?
Ishida had marched them silently through the prison, nerve disruptor nested in Kame's hair, until they'd reached the showers. He cuffed Kame to a handrail, twisting his hands behind him so Kame couldn't even lean against the wall to support himself.
It was turning out like every bad prison holovid Kame had ever watched, only the sadistic guard and the innocent prisoner were wearing the same uniform and there didn't appear to be any soap around. Tugging on the cuffs was futile, but a necessary part of the process, and Kame scraped metal against metal and watched Ishida's smile grow.
"You know that's not gonna work without the code, Kamenashi." Ishida pulled out the electronic lock pick he'd used on the Yunaka. "Or this. I took it off Akanishi earlier. He's not as innocent as his record makes out, you know - not if he's carrying this around. But I guess you wouldn't have cared whether he was a criminal or not, just that he was there, right? Not that you got anything out of it. I was expecting a show, and you let me down."
He hit the panel behind him with his thumb, and the showerhead above Kame creaked to life, leaving him coughing and spluttering through a jet of ice water. The thin, torn fabric of his uniform plastered itself to chilled skin; Kame clamped his jaws shut, not wanting to give Ishida the satisfaction of letting him see how badly Kame's teeth were chattering.
And when Ishida taunted him again, he was glad of the cold - it kept the embarrassment from burning his cheeks.
"We were all taking bets on how long it'd take," Ishida continued, rubbing his fingers lovingly over the nerve disruptor's trigger. "When you took his pants off, I thought for sure I was gonna win, but you cost me money, Kamenashi. You're not impressing anyone with that self-restraint of yours. Or maybe," Ishida hit the panel again and the waterfall stopped, "you're a rookie in that arena too? Is that it?"
A drenched Kame glared at him from under dripping bangs. "Or maybe," he said icily, "even drugs don't screw me up so badly that I have to resort to your tactics of forcing myself on someone."
Ishida hit the water again. Kame shivered and shook and didn't regret it one damned bit, because he was right, and even if he'd gone a little overboard with the chair, he hadn't done anything too scarring to Akanishi. He hoped, anyway.
"Bet the prettyboy captain's pet's usually fighting 'em off," Ishida growled. "Who told you to watch me, huh? Who tipped you off? That harpy wants to make sure I don't run out on her?"
"Harpy?" Kame had no idea who his erstwhile colleague could be referring to. "You d-didn't tell me you were m-married."
That earned him a fist in the gut that left him gasping for breath.
"Don't play dumb with me, rookie. Kitagawa's niece can have me followed all she wants but I'm not stupid enough to walk off without paying."
"I'm n-not working f-for the Kitagawas!"
"But I am." The shower room door, which Ishida hadn't bothered to close completely, slid aside to reveal a familiar figure. Akanishi Jin, aiming a stunner at Ishida.
"You!"
"Drop it!" Akanishi ordered as Ishida brought up his weapon.
"And let you two frame me all nice and neat for Kitagawa? I don't think so!"
Akanishi fired. So did Ishida.
Ishida's shot went wild, thanks to Kame kicking him in the back, and lost itself in a mountain of used towels. Akanishi's chest shot hit Ishida's forehead on its way down, and Ishida dropped like a stone.
Kame stared at Akanishi for a moment, both of them frozen, mouths gaping open. Then he pulled himself together. "W-water!" he stuttered.
"You want water?" Akanishi looked around frantically. "Just hang on a sec while I look for a drinking fountain..."
Huddled under the showerhead in full flow, Kame decided to give his rescuer the benefit of the doubt and assume that the shock of stunning a man had temporarily scrambled his brains. "N-no," he tried again through chattering teeth. "Sh-shower, A-a-ka-ni-ni-"
"Just call me 'Jin', will you? It's easier to say." Akanishi - no, Jin, smiled kindly and switched off the water. The smile disappeared when he saw the cuffs.
"Ishida's pocket." Kame avoided stuttering only through a supreme effort of will.
Jin found not only his pick but his datband, which Ishida had apparently been hanging onto. He jammed it back on his wrist, then turned his attention to the handcuffs. "How do I...?"
"The lock's underneath." Where Kame couldn't even look at it, of course. Jin had to push behind him, head almost resting on Kame's shoulder so he could see what he was doing, and it was making them both antsy.
"Got it!" Jin looked relieved when he stepped back; the cuffs clanked to the ground, empty. The protective coating meant they wouldn't rust on the wet tile, and even the electronic lock wasn't at risk of a short.
Kame stumbled forward, wanting to curl up round his aches and pains until everything stopped hurting, but Jin was in the way.
"Easy," he soothed. "Come on, Kamenashi. Let's get you out of here."
"Kame."
"Huh?"
"Kame. My nickname. Anyone who saves my life gets to use it," Kame joked, just before his knees gave out.
Jin caught him round the waist, didn't care that he was getting soaked and that they were probably both going to freeze to death before they ever made it back to the Yunaka. He helped Kame out of his sodden shirt and jacket and draped a clean towel round his shoulders. There was no point relieving Ishida of his jacket - it was already getting wet from the floor, and besides, the idea was somewhat distasteful.
Kame did remove the nerve disruptor, though. He stood for a moment, the weapon trembling in his hand, looking down at Ishida's prone form.
"Are you going to shoot him?" Jin sounded uncomfortable.
"I want to," Kame admitted. "But that would make me as bad as he is." He hung onto it, nonetheless.
"Good." Jin laughed nervously. "The Kitagawa Family will probably kill him anyway if he doesn't show up with the diamond. He didn't find it, right?"
"How did you...?"
Jin shrugged. "I hear things."
"Right. He didn't find it - it's probably still on the Yunaka somewhere."
"Which is where we're headed." Jin quickly explained about Ueda and the others, and how they'd agreed to meet at the Yunaka. "So you have to stay conscious long enough to show me the way, okay?"
Kame hoped he could manage that. "Wait...you ran off after me without knowing you could find your way back?"
Jin flashed him a grin. "I knew you'd know how to get there."
"And what if I was already dead?"
"Then Ishida would probably have killed me and it wouldn't have mattered anyway."
"You're either a blind optimist or an incurable idiot." Or possibly a bit of both, Kame thought. Either way, he was grateful for the rescue, no matter how unlikely. He was curious about one thing, though. "Do you really work for the Kitagawas?"
"Um...I used to. But I just said that to spook Ishida," Jin confessed. "If he thinks there really is someone after him..."
"I have no objection to playing on his paranoia."
They stopped to stash Ishida's unconscious body in a small shower cubicle, a move that almost unbalanced Kame - only physically, as Jin was pretty sure his new friend was mentally unbalanced as a matter of course. Once Ishida was tucked out of sight, Kame led the way to the docks.
There were a million questions he knew he should be asking Jin, but the most important one - Why did you come back for me? - stuck in his throat. What now? was also a fairly sizeable issue, especially since he couldn't think of any good reason that two musically-inclined jewel thieves, one abnormally-cheerful game thief, one criminal mastermind and one ex-yakuza would want him on the same ship as them, unless it was to throw him out the airlock.
"Are you sure this is going to be okay?" Kame asked when they were just outside, stunners at the ready. "I was involved in the arrests of all five of you - not that Ueda and Taguchi would've noticed unless they were looking at the next table - so none of you have much reason to harbour a LIPS officer."
"Former LIPS officer," Jin corrected. "You're quitting, right?"
"If I haven't already been fired, yeah - and once someone finds Ishida and he talks, they'll probably put a warrant out for my arrest." Kame sighed. How had he managed to get himself in such a sticky situation? "No one's going to believe my story over his, especially since I won't be around to tell it."
Jin threw a nervous glance over his shoulder. The corridors were still clear, though. "Can we worry about that once we're out of here?"
Kame got a tight grip on the nerve disruptor with one hand and the stunner with the other, well aware how strange he looked with nothing over his bare chest but a towel. At least it covered some of the scrapes and bruises. "After you."
If Kame stuck his head round the door first and got it blown off, Jin would feel guilty for the rest of his life. He waved his hand over the panel; as the door shuddered open he slid through, quickly pressing himself against the wall. Kame did the same, turning to the opposite side.
No shots were fired. The only ships in the dock were the now-unmanned LIPS cruiser and the gaudily-painted Yunaka - there was no sign of life from either. Both ships were sealed up tight.
Jin caught Kame's eye. "You don't suppose-"
"What are you waiting for, the end of the universe?"
Koki's voice over the Yunaka's external speakers caught them both by surprise, and Kame almost jumped out of his towel.
Jin pulled a face. "Would've been nice if they'd left the door open for us."
Kame was understandably wary, sticking close to the other man while he tapped in the code. He needn't have worried about another ambush - no one paid any attention to him at all. There was only seating for three in the cockpit, and Kame was last in line for a chair. He tuned out while Jin delivered a fast explanation about Ishida.
Nakamaru, now sporting an attractive bandage and sling combo, was the only person who spared him more than a hurried nod. "Take him into my cabin and get him fixed up," he suggested to Jin. To Kame, he said, "Sorry, the place is a bit of a mess. Your colleagues did a real number on it."
Kame said nothing, only huddled under his towel and wished he could erase himself from existence. He couldn't tell if Nakamaru meant to be unkind, or if he was simply being blunt, but Kame had been expecting hostility and mistrust, and if he hadn't exactly received that, well, he hadn't been greeted with open arms either. Mostly, he was being ignored. It was safer that way, almost comfortingly familiar...and a lot better than being taunted by Ishida and his groupies.
"Ah, don't listen to him." Jin tapped Nakamaru lightly on the shoulder, trying not to jar his injury. "It wasn't that tidy to begin with."
"Not since you moved in!" Nakamaru agreed, batting Jin's hand away with a smile.
Nakamaru and Koki had had a cabin apiece until Jin's unexpected arrival, and since they'd agreed not to kick him out, they'd moved him in with Nakamaru. Jin wasn't sure how the sleeping arrangements were going to work now, with six of them, but they'd figure something out.
"Could I..." Kame cleared his throat and tried again. It was the first time he'd spoken to any of them in the flesh aside from Jin. "Could I borrow a shirt or something? I'm a bit..."
"Trust me, clothing is the one thing we've got no shortage of," Nakamaru said as he strapped himself into the pilot's seat. "We're headed for Neptune. Taguchi's just busy conning the prison AI into opening up some doors for us - apparently it's got the blues and can only be cheered up by bad puns - and we'll be going. I'll let you know when we're on the move."
Jin nodded. "You going to be okay to fly with one hand?"
Nakamaru looked vaguely insulted. "A little thing like this won't be enough to persuade me to let you at the controls."
"And definitely don't let him near the weapons!" Koki was manning that station himself.
Ueda, standing over Taguchi at the comm, hid his amusement behind his sleeve.
"They value my skills really," Jin muttered as he led Kame off to get cleaned up.
The cabin was as messy as promised, but Kame didn't care. Jin found him a first-aid kit and he patched up his cuts and scrapes, swatting Jin's helping hands away. Kame was used to doing things for himself, not being cosseted and fussed over as if he was a small child.
Jin wished Kame would let him help, just so he had something to do with his hands. He settled for rifling through the cupboard to find some clean, dry clothing, tossing it on the bed as he went. Because the crew of the Yunaka had a fairly lackadaisical approach to laundry, garments were routinely mixed between the cabins.
"Why do all these sweatshirts say 'JOKER'?" Kame asked.
He had three of them sitting on his lap, a pair of jeans draped over one shoulder, and a feather boa hanging backwards round his neck where Jin's aim had been spectacularly odd. Jin hurriedly retrieved the last of these items and exchanged it for more practical apparel, since he assumed Kame would be more interested in a pair of clean socks than in looking glamorous.
"Koki has some sort of complex. I don't understand it yet either," he said.
Kame pulled on a black sweatshirt with 'JOKER' emblazoned on the front in white; a little on the large side, but comfortable, and a lot warmer than the bloodstained towel. He accepted the rest of his outfit with thanks, tucking his dripping boots away in the corner of the small bathroom unit. While he took the opportunity to go wash the remaining streaks of make-up from his face, Jin changed too, tossing his borrowed uniform aside. It was damp where he'd pressed up against Kame. The uniform, he decided, along with the towel and Kame's clothing, were going out the airlock at the earliest possible moment.
The ship gave a sudden lurch just as Kame emerged from the bathroom; Jin attempted to catch him but ended up sprawled flat on his stomach.
"So much for the warning," Jin muttered.
"That wasn't a jump, that's just us taking off." Kame retreated to the bed, found a set of straps, and buckled himself in. There was bound to be a lot of shaking going on once they cleared the inner doors and made it into the tunnel.
Jin pulled another bed down from the wall - the one he'd been using - and did the same. He was almost too late. The Yunaka went from a crawl to a dash, hurtling towards the outer doors and the freedom of open space.
Half an hour later, once the prison was no longer viewable even on maximum zoom and the artificial gravity had stabilised enough for them to risk removing the safety straps, Jin broke the uncomfortable silence.
He looked at the scrawny stray pup he'd picked up, huddled under a sweatshirt that hung off his skinny frame, and asked the question that was running through both their minds.
"What now?"
Series: JE Fleet
Fandom: KAT-TUN
Pairing: Akame
Rating: R (m/m activity)
Genre: AU, crack, sci-fi
Word count: 54,000
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the guys or random song lyrics that appear in this fic. Credit for naming the Yunaka goes to maya_morning.
Summary: When Akanishi Jin runs away from Earth, falling in with thieves along the way, the last thing he expects is to attract the attention of rookie Lunar/InterPlanetary Security officer, Kamenashi Kazuya.
Chapter 8
Ishida was hefty even by non-Japanese standards, and when he'd slammed Kame against the Yunaka's hull, Kame's mind had temporarily blanked from the pain. It would have been so easy to let go, to ignore the cold, ridged metal bruising his back, to forget about the fist knotted in his shirt and the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. To slump down, a dead weight in Ishida's hands, and let his eyes roll back in his head.
But Ishida would never have let him wake up again, would he? He hadn't let Kame out of his sight, after that mess of an interrogation, had taken him back to party with the others and the whole time, Kame had had to pretend that he hadn't noticed a thing, that he was just drunk like everyone else. Even Gustav had succumbed, or Ishida had drugged him too - Kame wasn't sure which - and there was no one left to fly them home. No one except Ishida himself, markedly more sober than the others, who had crept from subordinate to subordinate to check that they were asleep. The handful of prison staff had scattered, driven into the sanctuary of their own quarters by the rowdy invaders, so there were no witnesses when Ishida, content that he was unobserved, sneaked out of the break room.
No one except Kame. He'd feigned a drunken collapse with little difficulty, falling into a pose comfortable enough that he could keep it up for a while and one from which he could peek through his hair at Ishida. He hadn't been the first - that would have been suspicious - but nor had he been the last, not wanting Ishida to check too closely. With the drinking songs losing singers by the second, and merry banter being overtaken by snores, it had been easy enough for Kame to fall into line with the rest of his unit - perhaps the only time he ever had.
He'd followed Ishida to the docks, watched him pull a flat card from his sleeve and use it on the Yunaka's lock. There hadn't been anyone around to protest - the area was used so rarely that it was unmanned, and the cameras didn't work. Kame had seen the wrecked equipment on his way in. He'd spared a thought for the trio of officers who'd been cataloguing the Yunaka's cargo, then remembered seeing them drinking with the others. Ishida had drawn them in, too.
Kame's plan had been simple enough. Follow Ishida inside the ship, wait till he found the diamond, then take the damned thing away from him at stunner-point. After that...well, he hadn't thought much about it. The only thing that mattered was that Ishida had to be left without any way to pay off his debts, which meant Kame couldn't let him pocket any of the other jewellery either. Whatever happened, Kame's career in LIPS was over, so he might as well finish Ishida's for him.
He hadn't counted on Ishida's paranoia, though. No sooner had he set foot inside the Yunaka than a meaty fist caught him on the chin, sending him flying, and after that it had been a short, painful spell as Ishida's personal punchbag. Still unsteady from the drug, Kame hadn't been able to put up much of a fight; after the nerve disruptor had put in an appearance, he hadn't even bothered trying to resist.
"Maybe now you'll listen to me, rookie," Ishida had sneered, shoving him back out the door. "If the gun's not good enough, though, I can always break a couple of ribs - makes no difference to me. You'll still be just as dead when they find your corpse, another sad casualty of an escape attempt gone wrong. Tragic, really, but I guess no one could blame that Akanishi guy for wanting revenge on you. Must've been pretty humiliating for him, that interrogation."
That snippet, delivered with a derisive squeeze of Kame's hip, had chilled him to the bone. Just how long had Ishida been planning to get rid of him? Had the Yunaka and her crew merely been convenient tools in Ishida's hands, and Kame's fate had been decided the second he joined the unit?
Ishida had marched them silently through the prison, nerve disruptor nested in Kame's hair, until they'd reached the showers. He cuffed Kame to a handrail, twisting his hands behind him so Kame couldn't even lean against the wall to support himself.
It was turning out like every bad prison holovid Kame had ever watched, only the sadistic guard and the innocent prisoner were wearing the same uniform and there didn't appear to be any soap around. Tugging on the cuffs was futile, but a necessary part of the process, and Kame scraped metal against metal and watched Ishida's smile grow.
"You know that's not gonna work without the code, Kamenashi." Ishida pulled out the electronic lock pick he'd used on the Yunaka. "Or this. I took it off Akanishi earlier. He's not as innocent as his record makes out, you know - not if he's carrying this around. But I guess you wouldn't have cared whether he was a criminal or not, just that he was there, right? Not that you got anything out of it. I was expecting a show, and you let me down."
He hit the panel behind him with his thumb, and the showerhead above Kame creaked to life, leaving him coughing and spluttering through a jet of ice water. The thin, torn fabric of his uniform plastered itself to chilled skin; Kame clamped his jaws shut, not wanting to give Ishida the satisfaction of letting him see how badly Kame's teeth were chattering.
And when Ishida taunted him again, he was glad of the cold - it kept the embarrassment from burning his cheeks.
"We were all taking bets on how long it'd take," Ishida continued, rubbing his fingers lovingly over the nerve disruptor's trigger. "When you took his pants off, I thought for sure I was gonna win, but you cost me money, Kamenashi. You're not impressing anyone with that self-restraint of yours. Or maybe," Ishida hit the panel again and the waterfall stopped, "you're a rookie in that arena too? Is that it?"
A drenched Kame glared at him from under dripping bangs. "Or maybe," he said icily, "even drugs don't screw me up so badly that I have to resort to your tactics of forcing myself on someone."
Ishida hit the water again. Kame shivered and shook and didn't regret it one damned bit, because he was right, and even if he'd gone a little overboard with the chair, he hadn't done anything too scarring to Akanishi. He hoped, anyway.
"Bet the prettyboy captain's pet's usually fighting 'em off," Ishida growled. "Who told you to watch me, huh? Who tipped you off? That harpy wants to make sure I don't run out on her?"
"Harpy?" Kame had no idea who his erstwhile colleague could be referring to. "You d-didn't tell me you were m-married."
That earned him a fist in the gut that left him gasping for breath.
"Don't play dumb with me, rookie. Kitagawa's niece can have me followed all she wants but I'm not stupid enough to walk off without paying."
"I'm n-not working f-for the Kitagawas!"
"But I am." The shower room door, which Ishida hadn't bothered to close completely, slid aside to reveal a familiar figure. Akanishi Jin, aiming a stunner at Ishida.
"You!"
"Drop it!" Akanishi ordered as Ishida brought up his weapon.
"And let you two frame me all nice and neat for Kitagawa? I don't think so!"
Akanishi fired. So did Ishida.
Ishida's shot went wild, thanks to Kame kicking him in the back, and lost itself in a mountain of used towels. Akanishi's chest shot hit Ishida's forehead on its way down, and Ishida dropped like a stone.
Kame stared at Akanishi for a moment, both of them frozen, mouths gaping open. Then he pulled himself together. "W-water!" he stuttered.
"You want water?" Akanishi looked around frantically. "Just hang on a sec while I look for a drinking fountain..."
Huddled under the showerhead in full flow, Kame decided to give his rescuer the benefit of the doubt and assume that the shock of stunning a man had temporarily scrambled his brains. "N-no," he tried again through chattering teeth. "Sh-shower, A-a-ka-ni-ni-"
"Just call me 'Jin', will you? It's easier to say." Akanishi - no, Jin, smiled kindly and switched off the water. The smile disappeared when he saw the cuffs.
"Ishida's pocket." Kame avoided stuttering only through a supreme effort of will.
Jin found not only his pick but his datband, which Ishida had apparently been hanging onto. He jammed it back on his wrist, then turned his attention to the handcuffs. "How do I...?"
"The lock's underneath." Where Kame couldn't even look at it, of course. Jin had to push behind him, head almost resting on Kame's shoulder so he could see what he was doing, and it was making them both antsy.
"Got it!" Jin looked relieved when he stepped back; the cuffs clanked to the ground, empty. The protective coating meant they wouldn't rust on the wet tile, and even the electronic lock wasn't at risk of a short.
Kame stumbled forward, wanting to curl up round his aches and pains until everything stopped hurting, but Jin was in the way.
"Easy," he soothed. "Come on, Kamenashi. Let's get you out of here."
"Kame."
"Huh?"
"Kame. My nickname. Anyone who saves my life gets to use it," Kame joked, just before his knees gave out.
Jin caught him round the waist, didn't care that he was getting soaked and that they were probably both going to freeze to death before they ever made it back to the Yunaka. He helped Kame out of his sodden shirt and jacket and draped a clean towel round his shoulders. There was no point relieving Ishida of his jacket - it was already getting wet from the floor, and besides, the idea was somewhat distasteful.
Kame did remove the nerve disruptor, though. He stood for a moment, the weapon trembling in his hand, looking down at Ishida's prone form.
"Are you going to shoot him?" Jin sounded uncomfortable.
"I want to," Kame admitted. "But that would make me as bad as he is." He hung onto it, nonetheless.
"Good." Jin laughed nervously. "The Kitagawa Family will probably kill him anyway if he doesn't show up with the diamond. He didn't find it, right?"
"How did you...?"
Jin shrugged. "I hear things."
"Right. He didn't find it - it's probably still on the Yunaka somewhere."
"Which is where we're headed." Jin quickly explained about Ueda and the others, and how they'd agreed to meet at the Yunaka. "So you have to stay conscious long enough to show me the way, okay?"
Kame hoped he could manage that. "Wait...you ran off after me without knowing you could find your way back?"
Jin flashed him a grin. "I knew you'd know how to get there."
"And what if I was already dead?"
"Then Ishida would probably have killed me and it wouldn't have mattered anyway."
"You're either a blind optimist or an incurable idiot." Or possibly a bit of both, Kame thought. Either way, he was grateful for the rescue, no matter how unlikely. He was curious about one thing, though. "Do you really work for the Kitagawas?"
"Um...I used to. But I just said that to spook Ishida," Jin confessed. "If he thinks there really is someone after him..."
"I have no objection to playing on his paranoia."
They stopped to stash Ishida's unconscious body in a small shower cubicle, a move that almost unbalanced Kame - only physically, as Jin was pretty sure his new friend was mentally unbalanced as a matter of course. Once Ishida was tucked out of sight, Kame led the way to the docks.
There were a million questions he knew he should be asking Jin, but the most important one - Why did you come back for me? - stuck in his throat. What now? was also a fairly sizeable issue, especially since he couldn't think of any good reason that two musically-inclined jewel thieves, one abnormally-cheerful game thief, one criminal mastermind and one ex-yakuza would want him on the same ship as them, unless it was to throw him out the airlock.
"Are you sure this is going to be okay?" Kame asked when they were just outside, stunners at the ready. "I was involved in the arrests of all five of you - not that Ueda and Taguchi would've noticed unless they were looking at the next table - so none of you have much reason to harbour a LIPS officer."
"Former LIPS officer," Jin corrected. "You're quitting, right?"
"If I haven't already been fired, yeah - and once someone finds Ishida and he talks, they'll probably put a warrant out for my arrest." Kame sighed. How had he managed to get himself in such a sticky situation? "No one's going to believe my story over his, especially since I won't be around to tell it."
Jin threw a nervous glance over his shoulder. The corridors were still clear, though. "Can we worry about that once we're out of here?"
Kame got a tight grip on the nerve disruptor with one hand and the stunner with the other, well aware how strange he looked with nothing over his bare chest but a towel. At least it covered some of the scrapes and bruises. "After you."
If Kame stuck his head round the door first and got it blown off, Jin would feel guilty for the rest of his life. He waved his hand over the panel; as the door shuddered open he slid through, quickly pressing himself against the wall. Kame did the same, turning to the opposite side.
No shots were fired. The only ships in the dock were the now-unmanned LIPS cruiser and the gaudily-painted Yunaka - there was no sign of life from either. Both ships were sealed up tight.
Jin caught Kame's eye. "You don't suppose-"
"What are you waiting for, the end of the universe?"
Koki's voice over the Yunaka's external speakers caught them both by surprise, and Kame almost jumped out of his towel.
Jin pulled a face. "Would've been nice if they'd left the door open for us."
Kame was understandably wary, sticking close to the other man while he tapped in the code. He needn't have worried about another ambush - no one paid any attention to him at all. There was only seating for three in the cockpit, and Kame was last in line for a chair. He tuned out while Jin delivered a fast explanation about Ishida.
Nakamaru, now sporting an attractive bandage and sling combo, was the only person who spared him more than a hurried nod. "Take him into my cabin and get him fixed up," he suggested to Jin. To Kame, he said, "Sorry, the place is a bit of a mess. Your colleagues did a real number on it."
Kame said nothing, only huddled under his towel and wished he could erase himself from existence. He couldn't tell if Nakamaru meant to be unkind, or if he was simply being blunt, but Kame had been expecting hostility and mistrust, and if he hadn't exactly received that, well, he hadn't been greeted with open arms either. Mostly, he was being ignored. It was safer that way, almost comfortingly familiar...and a lot better than being taunted by Ishida and his groupies.
"Ah, don't listen to him." Jin tapped Nakamaru lightly on the shoulder, trying not to jar his injury. "It wasn't that tidy to begin with."
"Not since you moved in!" Nakamaru agreed, batting Jin's hand away with a smile.
Nakamaru and Koki had had a cabin apiece until Jin's unexpected arrival, and since they'd agreed not to kick him out, they'd moved him in with Nakamaru. Jin wasn't sure how the sleeping arrangements were going to work now, with six of them, but they'd figure something out.
"Could I..." Kame cleared his throat and tried again. It was the first time he'd spoken to any of them in the flesh aside from Jin. "Could I borrow a shirt or something? I'm a bit..."
"Trust me, clothing is the one thing we've got no shortage of," Nakamaru said as he strapped himself into the pilot's seat. "We're headed for Neptune. Taguchi's just busy conning the prison AI into opening up some doors for us - apparently it's got the blues and can only be cheered up by bad puns - and we'll be going. I'll let you know when we're on the move."
Jin nodded. "You going to be okay to fly with one hand?"
Nakamaru looked vaguely insulted. "A little thing like this won't be enough to persuade me to let you at the controls."
"And definitely don't let him near the weapons!" Koki was manning that station himself.
Ueda, standing over Taguchi at the comm, hid his amusement behind his sleeve.
"They value my skills really," Jin muttered as he led Kame off to get cleaned up.
The cabin was as messy as promised, but Kame didn't care. Jin found him a first-aid kit and he patched up his cuts and scrapes, swatting Jin's helping hands away. Kame was used to doing things for himself, not being cosseted and fussed over as if he was a small child.
Jin wished Kame would let him help, just so he had something to do with his hands. He settled for rifling through the cupboard to find some clean, dry clothing, tossing it on the bed as he went. Because the crew of the Yunaka had a fairly lackadaisical approach to laundry, garments were routinely mixed between the cabins.
"Why do all these sweatshirts say 'JOKER'?" Kame asked.
He had three of them sitting on his lap, a pair of jeans draped over one shoulder, and a feather boa hanging backwards round his neck where Jin's aim had been spectacularly odd. Jin hurriedly retrieved the last of these items and exchanged it for more practical apparel, since he assumed Kame would be more interested in a pair of clean socks than in looking glamorous.
"Koki has some sort of complex. I don't understand it yet either," he said.
Kame pulled on a black sweatshirt with 'JOKER' emblazoned on the front in white; a little on the large side, but comfortable, and a lot warmer than the bloodstained towel. He accepted the rest of his outfit with thanks, tucking his dripping boots away in the corner of the small bathroom unit. While he took the opportunity to go wash the remaining streaks of make-up from his face, Jin changed too, tossing his borrowed uniform aside. It was damp where he'd pressed up against Kame. The uniform, he decided, along with the towel and Kame's clothing, were going out the airlock at the earliest possible moment.
The ship gave a sudden lurch just as Kame emerged from the bathroom; Jin attempted to catch him but ended up sprawled flat on his stomach.
"So much for the warning," Jin muttered.
"That wasn't a jump, that's just us taking off." Kame retreated to the bed, found a set of straps, and buckled himself in. There was bound to be a lot of shaking going on once they cleared the inner doors and made it into the tunnel.
Jin pulled another bed down from the wall - the one he'd been using - and did the same. He was almost too late. The Yunaka went from a crawl to a dash, hurtling towards the outer doors and the freedom of open space.
Half an hour later, once the prison was no longer viewable even on maximum zoom and the artificial gravity had stabilised enough for them to risk removing the safety straps, Jin broke the uncomfortable silence.
He looked at the scrawny stray pup he'd picked up, huddled under a sweatshirt that hung off his skinny frame, and asked the question that was running through both their minds.
"What now?"