[fic] The Things We Can't Control - Chapter 35 ~An Awkward Moment~
Title: The Things We Can't Control
Author:
prettyorianna
Pairing: Akame. Others to be added later.
Rating: NC-17.
Genre: crime drama au
Beta by: my cat Gemma. okay, seriously, nobody
Disclaimer: I don't own KAT-TUN, any of its members, any other JE people. I write this for fun and for other fans of these fine folks. But don't steal my plots, mmkay? I put a great deal of time into them except for when I'm randomly spastically spitting words onto a page. But I value those too...
Summary: Two criminals with vastly different styles meet by chance one day. Can they work together or will they end up destroying each other?
Author's Note: Here you go. Not a really exciting chapter, but still...
BANNER BY DESHISORABA!!
Warning: This gets graphic often occasionally, containing at the very least foul language, character death, nefarious crimes, rape, etc etc.
The Master Posts:
On my journal - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the akame_ Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the akame_fanfics Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the je_kamenashi Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the kattun_fanfics Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
On the jin_fics Community - The Things We Can't Control Master Post
Chapter 35 ~An Awkward Moment~
Kizuna spent an hour trying to find Yoko but he’d slipped away in the darkness and that was it. Kame was slightly comforted by the fact that he wouldn’t head for Papa K. At least, not immediately. If he found himself unable to get his hands on the drugs he so desperately wanted, he might very well go back willingly. For a lot of drug addicts, need outshone discretion.
Kame kept reminding himself that, since it was night and Yoko was jonesing for a fix, he wouldn’t pay too much attention to the path he took and would be unable to find the place again even if he did make his way back to Papa K.
There was nothing to be done about it. He should probably go back to bed. Not that he’d get much sleep now.
He got back to the office at the same time Koki was letting himself out. Stopping him before he walked away, Kame asked, “How is he? Really?”
“He’s at that point where you’re just numb. He nodded off while we were talking and I didn’t wanna wake him back up. But I don’t know how long he’ll stay like that.”
“Alright,” and Kame yawned with Koki following right after. “Hmm… looks like we both need sleep, too. I promise not to wake him.”
So Koki retreated to his own space and Kame quietly entered his office, locking the door behind him for the second time that night. And while it was true he wouldn’t really get any sleep, he climbed back under the blanket, turning to put his back towards the wall instead of the desk and then closing his eyes as he stretched.
And then he opened his eyes again and saw light coming in from under the door. How strange… Who would be moving around this late? Everyone had gone back to bed or at least that’s what he thought. Had Yoko managed to follow them back and they just missed him?
But when he opened the door, Kame saw it was morning. He’d passed right back out last night even though he was so sure he wouldn’t. Well, Koki did get Jin a really good blanket. It was pretty comfortable. That must be why. Not that he wasn’t grateful. Best just accept the good fortune and move on.
A voice from a bit behind him, “You’re awake.”
It was Ueda-san. He was sitting on the sleeping mat, chin on his knees with his arms circled around.
“H-How long have you been awake?” Kame asked him, doing his best to pull himself back together after nearly jumping out of his skin at the sudden unexpected voice.
“Don’t know.”
“Are you… can I get you… something?”
“No trouble…” but then his brow furrowed as something grabbed his attention. He cautiously leaned forward and picked something up off of the group and mumbled something that Kame could have sworn sounded like, “This again?”
As far as Kame could tell, it was some sort of card.
“Ueda-san?” Kame asked slowly. “What is it?”
“Wouldn’t burn. Maybe it’s yours, then…” and he held the card out to Kame who accepted it from him. Almost as an afterthought, Ueda-san added, “Tatsuya, please. I’m… I’m Tatsuya…”
“Un…” but Kame’s attention was on the card. Singer of Connection. He’d never seen anything like it before. “What do you mean by that? The not burning part?”
“I burned them all. All but six. They wouldn’t burn. I tried. So I threw them out, but they keep coming back… Maybe if you have it, it won’t come back again.”
There was no such thing as a card that wouldn’t burn and inanimate object can’t just follow a person all on its own. None of that made any sense whatsoever. But Kame decided not to say anything and instead chalked it up to the disorientation Ue… er, Tatsuya had to be feeling at the moment. Still, it was a beautiful card. Blues and greens shining through darkness. So lovely.
No reason not to keep it, he supposed. He dropped it on the desk with a, “Thank you,” that Tatsuya barely acknowledged.
“Do you… can you come to the kitchen to eat? I know you…” and Kame was reminded of what that reporter Yamashita-san had said about Tatsuya’s face being flawless and the rest of him beat to hell and back (looked like a pretty spot-on observation if you asked him), “might need a little while to heal and we can bring you food here for now, if that’s better for you?”
But Tatsuya didn’t respond. He just sort of stared into nothing with an empty expression, his arms still curled protectively around his knees.
“Right… I’ll just bring you some food, then.”
“No trouble…”
“It’s no trouble…”
+++
“Morning, Lazybones!” Jin said as Kame finally made his appearance for a breakfast that had been over for two and a half hours already. Honestly, he was surprised. Kame didn’t seem like the sort of person who usually slept so late. Then again, with the rescue mission and that guy who broke into the office and the search for him, it was no wonder.
No, the real confusion was that Kame had slept at all. Because, ever tiny moment he ever spent with the man said he’d find no rest that night.
And yet he looked pretty damn rested.
Kame blinked a few times before asking, “How late is it?” He grabbed two bowls and started to ladle some food into them.
“Eleven.” Jin gave a small laugh.
That seemed to floor Kame. “Eleven? Really?”
“Yeah… I was about to send a search party…” Jin teased, before what Kame was doing finally sunk in. “Two bowls? Is one for Tatsuya?”
Kame nodded.
“Let me take it to him, please? I…” Well, he really wanted to check on him. He hadn’t gotten to talk to him last night and he was still worried. Tatsuya had seemed so… so…
Damn, he wasn’t sure what he meant. He just knew his friend was hurting and he wanted to see him.
Kame handed him the bowl and when he started to turn away, Jin grabbed his wrist. “Wait! Kame!”
The man didn’t look so thrilled at the fact Jin had grabbed him, sending him a slightly angry glare but it didn’t phase Jin. “I’m sorry, it’s just, I want to, you know, thank you…”
“You can start by letting go of me.”
Oh, right. “Sorry. Just… please, I need you to know. I need… you… I… it’s just, without you…”
Kame’s expression softened a bit as Jin let go. “It wasn’t just me, Jin. It was all of us. That’s what we do, together, like a family.
“I know that, I just…” but what, really, was he trying to say? He just knew that his heart was doing that funny thing again that drove him to make a fool of himself to Kame once more. Biting his lip a bit nervously, he mumbled, “Nevermind…”
And he turned and left the kitchen. He was aware of Kame’s eyes following him but then he was in the hall and out of sight.
What really had he tried to say just now?
Whatever it was, he’d only made himself look like an idiot.
So he pushed all those thoughts to the side because he didn’t feel like trying to figure them out. No, he wanted to see his friend. Tatsuya was the only thing he wanted to focus on because he wasn’t convinced his friend had come through his ordeal whole.
And that scared the shit out of him because he had no idea what to do if that was the way of it. He had to do something, though. He had to fix this. It was all his fault, after all. If he hadn’t convinced Tatsuya to leave that pimp, none of it would have happened.
Assuming Tatsuya was even able to find his way back to how he used to be, Jin wondered if his friend would ever be able to forgive for everything that happened…
Because Jin was pretty sure he didn’t deserve it.
But he didn’t want to dwell on all that selfish stuff. He wanted to see his friend better, back to his old self and he would give anything he had to make it happen.
++++++++++++++++
The story continues:
Chapter 36 ~His New Life~
A/N: Not long. Sorry I didn't have it up last night. I was pretty spot on at my guess of 2 a.m. since I was ready to post it at 1:45... but then livejournal stopped working so I got fed up and went to bed. SO here it is now.