[fic] The Things We Can't Control - Chapter 19 ~Part One - Two Arguments~
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: More Jin and Kame. Plus some Kame and Koki. Enjoy!
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 19 Part One ~Two Arguments~
Before he left to talk to Koki about the street kids, Kame had pulled Jin aside and asked him to walk with him for a moment. On the way to the office, Kame explained that he wanted to have the street kids set up with some sort of recording device. It didn’t really matter so much what so long as either the data was saved in the device or was broadcast to a receiver and had a range of at least a few blocks, if not more.
And then they were at the office. Kame took some money out of one of the drawers and handed it to Jin.
Jin was a bit confused. Why was Kame giving the money to him and not someone in Kizuna? “I don’t understand…?”
Kame looked at him like he was an idiot. “For the listening device, baka! What have I just been talking about for the past ten minutes?”
Grumbling, Jin said, “I’m not stupid. I know it’s for the listening device! But why are you giving the money to me? I’m not a member of…”
“So you expect Kizuna to do all the work? You can’t go back to Pearl Street but that doesn’t mean you can just sit on your ass while we risk our lives!” Kame said. He wasn’t yelling and yet something about his tone gave the same impression. He was definitely pissed at Jin.
“I didn’t say that! I just meant, why are you giving me the money?” Jin shot at Kame.
“Because you can’t buy something for nothing!” Kame sniped back. “Idiot.”
“No, I just… I thought…” Jin trailed off. He had been so sure Kame didn’t have that good of an opinion of him, so why would Kame trust him with the money in a place where Kame couldn’t keep an eye on him? It didn’t make sense! “What’s to keep me from running away with your money once I’m away from the church?”
The look Kame shot him was a fiercely angry one. “Are you saying you’d steal from us, even though your friend is in danger? Am I that wrong about you? Are you really that uncaring? Look, you’re the one who said there’s a timer on this rescue! You can stand here and argue or you can go find Koyama to put together a team and drive you all over to Junno’s. You guys will help him out for a while but Koyama will bring you back here once you get what we need. Now go!” And Kame stalked out of the office and Jin supposed he was off to talk to Koki.
Jin sighed. He’d manage to piss off Kame again. He didn’t mean to, honestly. It just… it just seemed to happen before he realized he’d put his foot in it once again. There had to be something he could do or say that would show Kame he could be trusted and that he’s not a bad person. Maybe doing this job right, going to Junno’s to buy the surveillance equipment and “help him out” in whatever way Kame meant, would patch things up between them?
Because it was starting to bother him more and more, each of those times he managed to piss off Kame.
Though he did find it kind of funny that he cared at all. Jin didn’t usually care if he pissed people off. He knew how to take care of himself so he had never worried about it all that much. If they got angry enough to attack him, he’d defend himself and that would be that.
But this wasn’t like that. No, not like that at all.
Jin pocketed the money and left to find Koyama.
+++
“I really need your help with this, Koki!” Kame said. Koki was still so dead-set against this plan. But out of the entirety of Kizuna, Koki had developed the best rapport with the kids. He always seemed to know just how to talk to them and they opened up around him in a way life for the most part had already taught them not to. Simply put, that was huge.
That’s why he needed Koki’s help.
“They’re too young! I mean, Eiji is pretty much their leader and he’s only fifteen!” Koki said stubbornly.
“Actually…” Kame began hesitantly, “I was thinking, younger than that… Reina and Kiyoshi, maybe Kenji…”
“WHAT? You can’t be serious! Reina and Kiyoshi are only six! Kenji’s not much older at nine!”
“I know that!” Kame sighed. Koki could get downright stubborn when he was trying to do the right thing. And Kame couldn’t really fault Koki for this. Both he and Koki understood what sends a kid to the streets at such a young age as well as what happened when you got there. Koki wanted to do his hardest to spare them that… or, well, more of that. These kids had been on the street for a while already when Kizuna took them each in. “But I think I’ve come up with the safest way to do this and that means sending in the youngest of the kids.”
Koki seemed doubtful. “What plan like that could possibly be called ‘the safest’ plan when you’re talking about sending them to Papa K’s stroll?”
“Just listen to me for a second and shut up!” Kame snapped irritably. He felt bad for it immediately afterwards since he was pretty sure the irritation was just left over from his conversation with Jin, but rather than apologize, he just continued. “Kids around that age won’t be viewed either as a threat or as an oddity if they play their part well. So Papa K’s whores won’t even think to mention them, especially if they use the ‘Tat-chan’ nickname like they already know him. You know these kids, Koki. You know they can be pretty crafty to get what they want, especially from adults. We should have faith in them, like they do in us.”
“Yeah, but…” but Koki sounded unsure now, like Kame’s words were getting to him.
“I admit, if I had another choice, I’d use it. But I have to face the truth in what Koyama said. These kids are getting older and someday they’ll have to be able to take care of themselves. We’ll never abandon them and they’ll always have a place here. But if we don’t prepare them to either move on or join the gang, if we keep fully supporting them because we didn’t let them learn how to do it for themselves, we won’t be able to take in any new kids. And when we’re gone, then what happens to them? We have so many enemies and if they find us, even if the kids get away, without us to look out for them, they’ll be in worse shape than ever. They’ll learn the hard way, the way they already were before they came to this church!”
Koki was silent for a few minutes but finally responded with, “I understand, but sending them out all alone…”
“They won’t be alone. Someone will be assigned to each one, blending into the background across the street, keeping a covert eye on them. When the kids give the signal that they’ve got the information, the member assigned to them will snatch them back up with some bullshit line like, ‘There you are! I was worried sick!’ or ‘What did I say about bothering people?’ or something else along those lines and the pair will get the hell out of there. Then when the kids get back, we’ll go over the audio from the listening devices I just sent Jin to fetch.”
“Well,” Koki started, “Shouldn’t we decide in advance what ruse the kids should use?”
“No. No, that’s probably not a good idea. Firstly, if more than one kid shows up in a small area with the same ruse, it’ll raise red flags. And, frankly, I don’t doubt that Papa K’s whores would recognize an adult con coming from a child. No, we need the kids to use kid tools, so it seems real and natural.” Kame still didn’t like the plan, regardless of everything he just told Koki, but what else could he do? They promised to rescue Ueda Tatsuya and Koyama had been right about the street kids and their futures. “Besides, after everything they’ve conned out of you, do you really doubt their ability to get what they want if they put their minds to it? When’s the last time you bought sweets that you actually ended up eating yourself?”
“Hm… not since I got here, that’s for sure. They’re pretty crafty. Reina especially, when she wants to be.” But then Koki looked thoughtful. “Eiji is going to throw a fit if we send out his baby sister, though. You know he’s going to insist he get to go along.”
“Well, you just have to convince him otherwise. The plan won’t work with a fifteen-year-old tagging along. Please, Koki?”
“Alright…” Koki said with a heavy sigh. “So long as they stay in sight of their chaperone. I’ll go talk to them now.”
“Thanks.”
Kame could hear Koki muttering to himself as he walked towards the hall, “Eiji is going to have a total fit over this, I just know it…”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The rest of the chapter:
Part Two ~Junno's Tale~
A/N: This is just half of chapter 19 (rough guess). Normally, if I don't get it done and I don't want to make you wait any longer, I'd move the rest to the next chapter. But in this fic, since the chapters alternate, I can't do that because all of these things have to happen BEFORE some of the past!Kame stuff of chapter 20.
So "Part One" and "Part Two" for the same chapter should probably work?
Anyway, yet another spat between Jin and Kame. They keep hijacking my writing to do that! I don't mean to have them fight but then one of them says something and suddenly, it's on. LOL Okay, maybe not that bad. Still, I'm wondering if they're ever gonna finally get together! Geez, I seriously should just lock them in a room somewhere till they get along better.
And, isn't Koki so sweet?