[fic] The Things We Can't Control - Chapter 69 ~Some Things Unexpected~

[prettyorianna]

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.  and maeda_marika
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.  They immediately clash but is that all they'll ever be?  How much is fate and how much choice?  And how will their meeting change the world around them?

Author's Note:  Lot happens in this chapter.  Hope you like it (^_^)  And, hey, Marika.. MSoA or not?

BANNER BY DESHISORABA!!  THE MOST AWESOME BANNER EVER AND I WILL FIGHT ANYONE WHO DISAGREES!

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 69 ~Some Things Unexpected~

As soon as he finished eating, Kame tried to track down Yurina.  It took a lot longer than he would have guessed but he finally found her outside around the back kitchen door, leaning against the wall and staring off into the distance.

She didn’t wait for him to say anything.  Instead, Yurina spoke, “You know, I still wonder what she might be doing now…”

“I know you do, Yuri-chan,” Kame replied softly.  “I tried so hard to find her after it all happened but I may as well have been banging my head against the wall for all the good it did.  Are you going to be okay?”

“I’m always okay, even when I’m not.  You know that.” She scowled as she glanced over at him but he was not fooled.

Kame shook his head, “Much as you try to put up that tough front, I know you hurt from time to time.  You don’t have to hide it.”

“You do.” Now the look she was giving him was piercing.  She’d always been a sharp woman.  It must run in the family or something.  “You always have.  Well, at least, you try to.  We see it anyway but that’s hardly the point.”

“I…”  But he had no idea what to say to that.  Yes, it was true, but…

“Oh, it’s not… well, we understand.  You want to be strong for us so we’ll feel safe.  But you don’t have to do it.”  She smiled at him.  “Tell me, do you know why we all respect you so much?”

That he didn’t know.  Well, okay, he’d saved a good number of them from horrible situations but as the group grew, it wasn’t just his effort anymore.  So he doubted that’s what she was referring to.  “No.”

“Well, aside from the fact that you respect us, too, I mean.  It’s just, the people who’ve hurt or oppressed us, they were either full of anger or just cold and cruel.  But… you actually feel things.  You feel our pain as if it was your own.  You share your happiness with us, when you have it, and you share ours when we have it.  And you have your own pains.  Look, I know you see your pain as weakness despite the fact you don’t see our pain that way.  I don’t understand how you can be so understanding of us and still think we’d judge you for it.”

Huh.

“I just didn’t want you to worry,” Kame admitted.  “I take care of you all as best I can and… and… I just thought… if I’m weak then who will keep you all safe?”

“But you’re not weak.  That’s what I’m trying to say, Kame!  None of us think that.  No, we only worry about what will happen if you keep trying to bury the hurt.”  She shook her head.  “But I think you won’t be doing that so much anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

Now she laughed and it was a good laugh.  Patting him on the cheek affectionately, she said, “You’re in love.  And he’s just as stubborn as you are.”

Then Yurina walked off, back into the church.

Was it true?  Was this love, what he felt for Jin?  Everyone else seemed to think so.  Guess there was little point in denying it.  Yurina was, after all, a very smart woman.  If she said it, it was probably true.

He heard Jin laughing through the cracked door at something someone said and he couldn’t help but smile.  Sighing happily, Kame leaned against the wall, lost in his thoughts.  He should tell Jin, right?  Tell him how he felt.  The thought was scary but Jin did deserve to hear it from him and not the Kizuna rumor mill.

Worry about that tonight.  Now he had to go check out that address.  Kame wished he’d thought to ask Yasu to call and let them know he’s coming and that he had permission to investigate.  But if they gave him trouble, he’d just tell them to call for confirmation.

Jin was still in the kitchen so he was easy enough to find and Koki was with the street kids (go figure) though it took some wheedling to get Reina’s permission to steal him.  That was one little girl Kame didn’t want mad at him!

Takeshi was out but Shuta wasn’t busy so, just in case, Kame asked him to come along as well.  For all he knew, this was a setup.  Though… if Yasu wanted to take him out, he could have done so earlier.  They were outnumbered, after all.  But it was possible he just didn’t want blood in his new carpet.

It seemed Kame was worried for nothing, though.  The whole thing was legitimate.  Yasu’s best fence had been hit.  The place was in shambles but again, it looked like amateurs had done it… but the difference in this instance was that the fence had actually been there at the time.  He’d been taken by surprise as he was coming from the back, unable to get to his own weapon before he was subdued.  He had watched them trash the place, taking some of the valuables but curiously leaving others.  In the man’s best estimation, robbery hadn’t been the ultimate goal.

There wasn’t much more info to be had.  Apparently the security camera was broken so there was no video footage of the robbery.  The men had worn gloves, so no fingerprints to bribe Detective Nishikido to check on.  They hadn’t made any effort to hide their identities but the guy didn’t recognize them.

The only useful bit they got out of the whole thing was a description of the hardware then men had been collectively carrying.

Still… a list of supplies… maybe Maru could help with that.  He might remember selling that combination of items and if he hadn’t sold it, he might be able to find out who had.

Another idea.  “Ne, if I send someone by, could you describe the men well enough for him to draw them?”  Okura was pretty talented; he’d never thought to use him like this but it might work.  They’d lose nothing by trying, assuming Okura was willing to give it a shot.

He’d have to send protection with him, though.  Okura wasn’t much of a fighter.  Shuta said he didn’t mind going along.  He said he’d put together a good team if they’d drop him off at the church before going to see Maru.  The church wasn’t exactly on the way, but it was a good idea, worth the extra miles.

The whole time, Jin had been rather quiet.  He looked thoughtful, really.  Not unhappily so, just… preoccupied.  If they had been alone, Kame would have asked him about it but since they weren’t, it would have to wait.

They dropped Shuta off and then Koki drove them to Maru’s Bunny Shop.

“Hey, I didn’t expect to see you two again this soon!  How’d the out-of-town shopping trip go?” Maru asked cheerfully when Kame and Jin walked into the store.  But then he tilted his head to the side with a curious expression.  “Something’s changed.  What have you two been up to?”

Great.  He was blushing again.  It was embarrassing that he blushed every time but it’s not like he could do anything about it.  Didn’t mean he had to like it.  “Um… we’re just… well…”

But Jin saved him the trouble of answering, “Oh, we’re together now.  I finally wore him down.  I mean, I knew I would because I’m just so irresistible…”

“Not to mention arrogant,” Kame interrupted.

“That too.”

Maru laughed.  “See, Kame?  You have such terrible luck when you don’t take a bunny home with you.”

“Hey!” Jin protested.  “What do you mean by bad luck?  I’m quite the catch, I’ll have you know!”

“All I know is that I wouldn’t want to date you, Jin,” Maru practically giggled.

Kame had to admit, Maru had been a lot warmer towards him and the rest of Kizuna recently.  When he first met the man, he seemed downright scary at times.  But the longer he’d known him, the more he realized Maru was actual a fairly decent guy.  He put up the scary front simply because it was expected from a gun dealer and to show anything else would be seen as weakness.  And, well, he actually could be very dangerous if you pissed him off.  But he trusted Kame, as much as he trusted anyone, it seemed.

“Good, because I can get violently jealous,” Kame teased.  “Best keep your hands off him, Maru!”

“Hey, didn’t I say I don’t want him?”  But Maru was suddenly serious.  “You didn’t come here just to tell me the two of you are dating.  And you usually call in advance with a list of what you need so that it’s ready for you when you arrive.  What’s wrong?”

“Well, you know how Junno’s shop got robbed.  Apparen-”

“WHAT?!” Maru was clearly shocked.  Had Junno seriously not told him?  Why the hell hadn’t Junno mentioned it to him?  They were family!

“You really didn’t know?”

“Who did it?” and Maru’s voice was deep and menacing.

“We don’t know yet.  Kizuna’s looking into it.  Rumor on the street says it’s us, but it wasn’t.  Apparently other gangs have had similar problems, too.  Janne Da Arc had one of their fences hit earlier and I got permission to look into it.  I wasn’t able to find much but I have a list of supplies that they used.  I was wondering…” and he pulled the list out of his pocked and handed it to Maru.  “Have you sold someone these items together?”

“Hmm…” Maru eyeballed it for a moment.  “No, I don’t think I have.  Let me compare this to my records.  It’ll just take a minute.”  His eyes never left the page as he strolled into the back.  He was gone for what felt like forever but eventually he did come back out.

“Any luck?” Kame asked hopefully.

Maru shook his head.  “No.  I tried looking for partial orders that wouldn’t have stood out - for example, buying a gun with no ammo along with ammo for a different gun I would definitely remember and it hasn’t happened - but I had no luck with that, either.  It doesn’t mean I didn’t sell these items alone, but I didn’t sell them all together or in two logical, unnoticed groups.”

Damn.  “Do you think you could ask around?  I know that gun running is crazy competitive, but I think you’d have better luck than I would.  You lot are a pretty insular group.”

“I’ll do what I can.  Can I keep this list?”

“Please.”  Kame sighed.  He’d hoped… well, Maru’s Bunny Shop was in Kizuna territory but he knew Maru didn’t sell exclusively to Kizuna.  Some gangs were very particular about the exclusivity of their support within their territories, but that just wasn’t Kame.  It wasn’t Kizuna.  He liked to think Junno and Maru both appreciated the respect.

“Hey… I’ve wanted to ask you, but I was a bit afraid to…” Maru’s face was serious.  “How is Tatsuya doing?  Did my gift help?”

“Junno didn’t tell you that, either?”  Kame couldn’t believe it.  Maru and Junno were very close.  It didn’t seem like Junno to be keeping secrets from him.

“Tell me what?  Oh, please don’t tell me he’s dead…”

“No.  Far from it.  We rescued him.  He went home with Junno for a few days, to recover.  And that package you made us was very helpful.  Though a warning would have been nice!”

Jin snickered beside him, but Maru looked confused, “What do you mean?”

“Well, it was rather bright…”

“But you bought flash bombs.  I knew you’d be protected.  I don’t understand the problem.”

Kame laughed as he shook his head.  “Not a problem I guess.  But it was very nice.  It was a big help.  Anyway, thank you for looking into this for us, Maru.  We owe you one!”

“You saved Tatsuya.  If I’m able to find what you want, you can consider us even.”  Maru looked thoughtful but finally continued with, “You know, I still think you should take Neko home with you.  He’s the perfect personality for you and I know he’ll be good with the street kids at the church.”

“No bunny.  Sorry, Maru.  But I really do appreciate your help anyway.”  Kame excused himself and Jin and the two of them went back to the car.

Koki put the car into drive and took off for the church.  Nobody said anything for a few minutes but Koki finally asked, “Did you get what you need?”

“Well, he was a bust but he promised to look into it.”

“Good, good…” Koki said.

“After you drop us off, do you mind taking Okura and Shuta and whoever else back to the place we went earlier?  In JDA territory?”

“Sure thing, boss.”

Jin laughed.  “Does he always call you that?”

“I tell him not to, but he does it anyway.  Isn’t that right, Koki?” Kame laughed.

“Yes it is, boss.”

The three of them were still laughing as they pulled up to the church.

Shuta had assembled a group and Okura was willing to give suspect sketches a try so they were already prepared to leave.  Kame just needed to fetch some more gas money for Koki.

When he got to the office, however, the phone was ringing.  Taking the key from around his neck, he snatched up the phone with a friendly, “Hello?”  Holding the phone between his ear and shoulder, he unlocked the drawer and pulled out forty dollars and the ledger.

Massu’s voice in his ear.  He sounded… bad.  Something was definitely wrong.  “…Kame?”

“Yeah.  What’s wrong, Massu?”

“We… oh, god…”

“Talk to me, Massu.”

“Koyama’s hurt.  We’re in hiding.  We…  we…” and it sounded like he was crying.

“Oh my god!  The job went that badly?  Where are you?”

“No, no… the job was fine.  It was… we were on our way back.  We made it to our getaway vehicle and then we were being shot at!  We returned fire, managed to kill the guy.  But when we went to check him, to find out who he was… he had a cop badge and a photo of me!  And then more shots came and one of them hit Koyama in the arm and we had to run.  I don’t understand!  Why did he have a picture of me?  Why were the cops shooting at us?”

“I don’t know!  Is Koyama okay?”  Kame could barely believe what he was hearing.

“Yeah…” Massu sighed.  “It was a through-and-through, no slug to dig out.  Missed major vessels.  We did our best.  He’s in a lot of pain though and we can’t even go get him anything for it.”

“Do you want me to send someone?”

“I… I think that would be a bad idea right now.  Look, I don’t think the other shooter tracked us all the way here but I don’t want to give him someone else to follow to our location.  Just… we’ll be home in a couple of days.  We’re laying low.  I just… didn’t want you to worry when we didn’t come back.”

“Massu…”

“We’ll be fine, Kame.  I just don’t understand this.”  Another sigh.  “Look, I’ll call you back tomorrow morning for an update, okay?  Take care of yourself.  Take care of everyone.”  And Massu hung up before Kame could even get a phone number from him.

Kame sat there in shock for some time until Jin came looking for him.  “Koki’s getting impatient…”  But Jin stopped when he saw Kame’s expression.  “What’s wrong, Kazu-love?”

“Someone tried to kill Massu, Koyama, and Shige.  They’re in hiding.”

“What?”

Blinking, Kame suddenly remember why he’d come to the office in the first place.  “Um… I’d better take this to Koki…”

But Jin snatched up the money off the desk before Kame could get it.  “I’ll do that and then I’ll come right back and you can tell me the rest, okay?”

“Okay…”

Jin left with the money but all Kame could think about was how the cop had gotten Massu’s photograph and why the hell the cop would have ambushed them after the job instead of trying to keep them from doing the job.  It didn’t sound like how a cop would handle the situation.

Then again, maybe the man wasn’t there in his capacity as cop.  Detective Nishikido hired out his services - not that the man would ever work as an assassin, according to Kame’s judgment of him - so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities that other cops would, too.  Particularly those from south of the river.  It was common knowledge half the cops and politicians were crooked.  Maybe more than half.

“Kazu-love?” came Jin’s voice from the doorway.  “Are you still in here?”

“I’m here, Jin.”

Jin closed the office door behind him.  “Talk to me.”

Same words he’d used with Massu.  “Koyama’s been hurt.  He’ll be fine; he’s just in pain and they can’t risk going out to get him anything for it.  Apparently, some cop carrying a photo of Massu tried to assassinate the lot of them.  They killed him but there was a second shooter, probably another cop.  I don’t know what to do about this.”  It has to be related to the drug dealers and Junno’s robbery.  Too big a coincidence otherwise.  “They’re going to stay where they are for a few days.  Just until they feel it’s safe to move.  I’m not sure where they are, though.  I guess there isn’t really anything I can do until they either come back or call again…”

Holding his hand out for Kame, Jin said, “Then I forbid you to worry about it until that happens.”

Kame accepted his hand, letting Jin pull him up to his feet and into a comforting hug.  “Who died and made you boss?”

“Well, I deposed you, remember?  I’m leader of the revolution now.”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you.  I booted you from the revolution.  It’s up to me now to further the revolution’s goals alone.”

“The hell you did!  I’m the boss!”  Jin laughed playfully.  Kame’s eyes closed at the feel of Jin’s lips on his and, sure enough, all other thoughts fled.  Not that he’d admit it out loud, but maybe some of Jin’s arrogance was well-deserved.

“Fine…” Kame whispered.  He didn’t care who was in charge, so long as Jin kissed him again.

Which he did.  Kame moaned into it, reveling in the taste of Jin, the feel of his lips and tongue and the line of his body pressed against him.  Things he never thought he’d ever want to feel but he just couldn’t get enough of them.

When Jin finally pulled away, they were both breathing hard.  Their eyes met and before he was even fully aware of what he was doing, Kame softly said, “I think I love you.”

Hmm… he meant to plan that a bit better, not just suddenly blurt it out like that.  Blushing, he glanced down, breaking eye contact.  But Jin put a hand on his chin and tilted his head back up.  A soft kiss and, “I think I love you, too.  At least, I’m pretty sure that’s what this is.  It’s kind of new to me.”

“Me, too,” Kame admitted.  “You know, you’d think I would worry this was happening too fast but I’m not worried.  Not in the slightest.  Being with you just… I don’t know, it feels right.  It’s new and scary and all, but it feels right even so.  Is that strange?”

Jin gave a small laugh, “I wouldn’t know if it was or not.”  His hands ran down Kame’s back, down until he was able to lift the surprised Kame up off the ground and sit him on top of the desk.  More kisses, passionate and playful and amazing.  God, he wanted Jin so badly.

But more than that, he wanted Jin to have him.  He wanted Jin to be the first, last, and only person he was ever with because it was what he wanted and not something he had to do for one reason or another.

“Jin?”

“Hmm…?”  Another kiss.

“Make love to me.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The story continues:
Chapter 70 ~Knowing Too Much~

A/N:  I know, I'm such a bitch, ending the chapter there.  But don't worry, you'll get the whole scene at the start of chapter 71 or whatever the next present!chapter.  Unless something interrupts them again.  Hopefully they'll remember to lock the door this time, ne?