[fic] The Things We Can't Control - Chapter 29 ~The Rescue Attempt~
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: So sorry for the delay! But it's a very important chapter and I hope it makes sense.
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 29 ~The Rescue Attempt~
It took a lot of arguing - four hours of it, in fact - but Kizuna finally had a plan.
Oh, it’s wasn’t a perfect plan. It was wildly dangerous and, well, if Papa K came to visit the rough trade house, the whole plan would probably fall apart since it depended on the fact that the place only had two guards and a glorified accountant. Oh, and did he forget to mention that if there were too many customers, that would also screw the plan up completely?
But there was no such thing as a perfect plan, right? And Kame didn’t want to wait too much longer.
There was much debate over whether to just spring Ueda or whether to help all of the whores flee. Eventually Kame put his foot down on the side of saving everyone, since it would only take a bit more effort.
Jin had insisted on going with them, which (despite already scolding Jin about expecting Kizuna to do all the work) Kame at first forbade but Jin really did have a good point that Ueda would respond better to a familiar face. Since Koki couldn’t go, it would have to be Jin.
Well, the man could handle a gun at least.
Speaking of which, several members of Kizuna were sent to Maru’s Bunny Shop and an hour later the whole rescue team was armed with guns (or tasers for the people who preferred less deadly means, since Kame would never force someone to kill unwillingly), flash bombs, a rather large… well, Kame wasn’t sure what it was exactly but Maru assured them he’d made the thing himself and that if they set it off by the stairs, it’d basically split the room into two so that those upstairs could be rushed out without giving the guards a decent target to shoot. He hoped Maru didn’t mean that split thing literally…
Junno set the lot of them up with some rather fancy earbud communication network which would be undetectable unless the guards were actually trying to find them. Junno actually closed up his shop entirely, bringing the equipment personally to the church (though how he knew where it was, Kame couldn’t guess since he’d never been there before). Kame couldn’t recall ever seeing the man so worried before. Did he know Ueda Tatsuya? Jin hadn’t said… but why else would the man not charge them for the equipment?
Such a violent plan… but Papa K’s thugs wouldn’t hesitate to kill and so they couldn’t afford to hesitate either. There wasn’t another option. Not really.
Sometimes Kame wondered if their methods were so damning that all the good they tried to do was almost irrelevant. Was it right to kill to save? He’d done it before, as far back as when he was fifteen when he’d killed Ryuichi - yes, he still remembered the kid’s name along with the faces of everyone else he’d killed since then! - but he wasn’t sure that made it right.
But there was nothing to be done for it.
Time to go.
+++
Walking into Papa K’s rough trade house was so fucking nerve-wrecking! What if Papa K sent word around to look out for him? There weren’t that many people that looked like him, right?
But, no, Jin had to hope that since Papa K thought he didn’t know where to find Tat-chan, he wouldn’t have bothered putting the house on alert.
He had to hope that, because he had to walk boldly in with his best friend (read: member of Kizuna he’d barely met, the one named Massu) to buy time with Tatsuya while Massu bought time with someone else. Anyone else. The point was to get both of them upstairs. Jin had to get to Tatsuya and Massu just needed upstairs to pick the locks on the doors for the other four rooms.
Why oh why hadn’t he learned to pick locks?
As the two of them neared the front door (you know, now that they were in hearing range of the people inside), Jin said, “I’m telling you, it’s totally worth it!”
“I thought you said you’ve never been here before?” Massu asked. “I could have sworn…”
Jin interrupted, “I haven’t. Yamapi told me about this place. He was here earlier today and liked it so much he called me to rave about the place.”
“Yamapi? I’m not sure… he’s kind of out there, isn’t he?”
“Just trust me!”
“Fine, fine. But if this sucks, you’re paying me back. You hear me?”
“Yeah, yeah, I hear you.” He sighed dramatically. But by this time they were both inside and standing in front of the desk where the man who handled the financial part of the transaction sat.
“Can I help you?” the old man at the desk asked. Jin was going to have to rely on Massu’s eyes to scout the room out since he was supposed to talk to the accountant or whatever the man called himself.
“Yeah, I’m here for… oh, what the hell did he call it… ah! A session. We both want sessions,” Jin gave a small knowing smile which the man at the desk returned. The rough trade business was one hidden behind euphemisms and looks. At least, the public face of it was, mostly for legal reason (since what went on was completely illegal). Upstairs would be a different story entirely.
“Ah, good. Hm… I don’t recognize you. You’ve not been here before?” The accountant or whatever he was (the little nameplate said Sato Daisuke) gave them a critical look before continuing with, “Well, it’s two hundred dollars up front and an additional two hundred per half hour. Everything you need is provided though we do have a few rules.” And he handed them both a piece of paper.
It was all very carefully worded, of course, but it essentially said no killing, no damage to the face, and absolutely no cameras of any kind upstairs. Without hesitation Jin signed his with “Yabuki Hayato” which was his default false name ever since he’d gotten ahold of a fake ID two years ago.
Once the forms were signed, the man Sato unlocked a drawer of his desk, pulled out a small notebook and handed it to them.
“See one you like?”
Jin flipped through it until he found the page he was looking for. Room Two. It didn’t have his name but the photo was definitely his friend Ueda Tatsuya. Shoving the notebook back at the man behind the desk, he said, “That one.”
Massu added, “The blonde. Room Five.”
Taking back the notebook and putting it back in the drawer, Sato said, “Now, if you’ll just give me the two hundred dollars for each of you, I’ll get your keys.” He held his hand out expectantly.
Jin wanted to break that hand, but he didn’t. Instead, he paid the man with the money Kame had given him. Ideally, they’d be able to snag that money back as they were all leaving, but if they weren’t able to… well, it was a lot of money but there were more important things at stake.
As they approached the stairs, Jin heard through his earbud (the voice sounded like Kame), “Don’t forget Maru’s, um… thing? By the stairs!”
It was a good thing he’d said something, too, because Jin had completely forgotten and it seemed like Massu had as well, despite the fact it was in a backpack slung over one shoulder and rather heavy to boot. “Oi, your camera. You can’t take it up.” Turning back towards the desk and addressing Sato the Accountant Guy, “He can’t, right? Should he just leave it by the stairs?” Eyes narrowed as he continued, “It will still be there if he leaves it by the steps, right? It won’t magically grow legs or something? He needs that bag and that camera for work…”
Sato looked to Jin. “Your rude friend is right. Leave it down by the stairs. I promise, it won’t disappear.”
Jin did his best to look disbelieving, but “grudgingly” left the… well, seriously, nobody had been able to figure out what it was or what it did but it did look like it might could be a camera. Jin only knew that the remote he carried would set it off. Normally he’d feel nervous at using things when he had no idea what they did, but Maru made it. That meant a lot.
Once the two of them were completely up the stairs, Massu excused himself with, “Alright, I’ll get that fifth room unlocked and then I’ll pick the rest of the locks working my way back towards you. Shouldn’t be too hard to convince them to come with us.” And he went his way, down the hall towards the left while Jin went down the much smaller hall to the right where Room One and Room Two were found. Letting himself in, he quickly closed the door behind him.
He was not expecting the immediate response from his best friend. “So even you just want to hurt me in the end…”
Jin’s heart stopped at the sight of his friend sitting on the bed, knees tucked tightly to his chest, as he started crying. Jin couldn’t help it; his own eyes started to tear up despite his express desire to not cry. But Tatsuya, he just… he looked so hopeless.
“Papa K said… only I didn’t believe him. I didn’t… But now you’re here… to hurt me like the others…” Tatsuya cried. But something was wrong. Okay, okay… a lot was wrong. But they’d expected most of that. This was something else. Something…
Ah, that was it. “Oh, Tat-chan… They drugged you again, didn’t they?” and Jin crossed the room in great strides to sit on the edge of the bed by his friend. Even though it only made the both of them cry harder, Jin pulled his friend into his arms in a protective hug. “Shh… I’m not here to hurt you. I promise, Tat-chan. I swear it.”
Sniffling, Tatsuya didn’t try to pull away. Instead he just whispered, “I broke the locks again. More needles and those guards smell bad… Was that today? No, they came with more needles later… How long…?” Tatsuya trailed off. Jin hated that everyone could hear them. That earbud he was wearing, it was picking up everything the both of them said so that every single person wearing one got to listen in. But he couldn’t take it out or he’d miss his mark on the escape. At least after a while the chatter increased as the rest of the plan swung into overdrive. Something about a smoke bomb in the back yard and… well, Jin couldn’t afford to focus on it, instead keeping his attention on his friend.
Tatsuya finally spoke again, begging, “Please, no more. I will be good. Don’t hurt me, Jin!”
“I won’t hurt you! I’m here to rescue you. Not just me this time. A whole lot of people. We’re all coming to rescue you. I’ll do a much better job this time, I promise!”
“The reporter last week said that. Or was that today…”
Jin made a silent vow in that moment to put a knife through Papa K’s heart… eventually, after putting it through a lot of other things. Maybe starting with his one good eye or perhaps his testicles. Though it wasn’t a matter of choosing which one so much as choosing which first. Yeah… cut the man’s balls off while he still had at least one eye to see it when Jin held them up before him in his hands. That’d be real satisfying.
“Well, I’m the one saying it now,” Jin whispered back to him.
“Death. Nobody gets away…”
That wasn’t true, was it? “What about Koki?”
“Dead. Dead.”
“No, not dead.”
“Papa K killed him. Dead. Dead.”
Addressing the people connected to him by the earbud transmitter/receiver, “Someone, get Koki. Put him on.” He’d let Tatsuya hear for himself. “Tat-chan, Papa K lied to you. He always lies.”
In his ear, Jin heard, “The range is too far.”
Damn. “I’ll show you, if you come with me. You can see Koki. And Junno, he misses you! He still loves you!”
“Never loved me… Used me… like everyone. Papa K said…” And the bitterness left his voice to be replaced by fear once more, “Please don’t hurt me, Jin. I’ll be good. I’ll do whatever you want. Don’t hurt me…”
This was no good. He couldn’t get through to his friend, not with all they had him doped up with. To be honest, Jin wasn’t sure what he’d been given this time but it seemed likely it was a combination and not just one thing like the heroin before. But if he couldn’t get through to his friend, how could he convince him to follow?
Hating himself for what he was about to do, Jin released his friend and stood back up. Doing his best to not hit too hard, Jin slapped Tatsuya across the face once and in a very severe voice said, “You’ll come with me or I’ll hit you again. Only I’ll really make it hurt next time. Understand?”
It made him sick, talking to his friend like that. His mind flashed back and he saw himself cringing on his mother’s kitchen floor. So young… Sometimes he thought the best thing she’d ever done for him was kick him out. He was always the one to suffer for her poor boyfriend choices.
Jin tried to calm himself with the knowledge that Tatsuya would probably forgive him, once the drugs wore off. But… but… he HIT his best friend even as he was begged to not hurt him!
Breaking out into total sobs, Tatsuya said, “Understand.”
In his ear, Massu’s voice, something about the locks and then some other stuff… He could hear the sound of gunshots through the earbud but not through the building itself. Was the room soundproofed? Well, anyway, he pulled Tatsuya to his feet. “Can you walk?”
Tatsuya took an experimental step but stumbled into Jin, showering him with apologies and more begging.
“Jin! Damn it, are you listening?” This was Kame’s voice in his ear. “We’re in! Set off the damn re….mote… Oh, god… Daisuke?” Great, now Kame sounded afraid, too. And the faint, “Kame-chan?” which, as best as Jin could tell over the sound of the fighting, was the voice of the accountant at the desk.
Jin pulled the remote out, flipped it open, and pushed the button. He then proceeded to help Tatsuya out the door and towards the stairs. Though once they reached the top of the stairs, Jin realized there was no way Tatsuya would be able to safely walk down them.
With complete disregard of the fact that he’d be unable to defend himself in the slightest, Jin scooped up Tatsuya bridal-style and carried him down the steps.
That… thing… that Maru made threw up a wall of… well, Jin was reminded of fireworks. Huge fireworks, all going off at once. Everyone coming down the stairs had their back mostly towards it so they were able to escape the blinding. Of course, Kizuna was all wearing goggles to protect against the blinding effect of flash bombs since they’d brought a few of their own (Thank goodness, too! Why in the hell hadn’t Maru told them it was a fancy flash bomb?)
As Jin carried Tatsuya out the door, following the same path the group of Papa K’s four other rough trade whores and Massu took, he heard some woman in his ear addressing Kame, “Why’d you shoot at that guy? He wasn’t even armed!”
But everything was so chaotic that nobody seemed to mind that Kame didn’t answer and as soon as Jin got out of the building with Tatsuya, Kame ordered the whole group to fall back.
Jin wouldn’t be satisfied until they all arrived safely back at the church but the fact that he’d been able to at least get Tatsuya out the front door gave him hope.
This was really happening. They were saving his friend.
If only Tatsuya would stop crying. He was still begging Jin to not hurt him and every time he did, the knowledge he’d slapped his friend twisted his stomach into knots.
But… when the drugs wore off, Tat-chan would forgive him.
That’s what friends did, right?
They forgave?
“Please, please, I’ll be good… don’t hit me again…”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The story continues:
Chapter 30 ~And Then the Things We Can...~
A/N: Well, there you go. I hope you don't mind that I mostly stayed with Jin instead of the show-down on the first floor. You'll get some more details of it from Kame soon.
Poor Tatsuya. He's out of his mind on whatever concoction of drugs Sato Daisuke whipped up for him. Yes, it's THAT Daisuke. If you're curious. That wasn't the original idea (it was supposed to just be some random guy) but then I needed a name for his nameplate and it occured to me that I could kill two birds with one stone if it was the same guy. So... there.
Next chapter, back to young Kame and the twins.