Alone Upon the Threshold
TITLE: Alone Upon the Threshold
CHARACTERS: Kanjani8, NEWS, KAT-TUN
NOTE: Uh, cliche-yakuza drabble collection
a war fan.
They're in the conference room. Shibutani is cleaning his handgun at the table and Murakami is looking out the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the little people of the world hurry about their pointless business. There's a knock on the door. Nishikido and Ohkura enter.
"We found him," Ohkura says, but he doesn't sound happy. "He's in Kantou."
"I knew it," Shibutani mutters. "I knew he'd betrayed us."
Murakami turns away from the window, regarding the younger pair. "It certainly does seem that way. He's made contact with our enemies down there?"
"Yes," Nishikido answers.
There's another knock on the door and the rest of the team - Yokoyama, Yasuda and Maruyama - come in and sit down at their standard places. Ryo and Ohkura are still standing.
"It seems exactly what we'd wished wouldn't happen has come true. I never thought I'd live to see the day one of my own subordinates would betray me and run in the arms of those Kantou pigs."
"Are we taking a road trip then?" Yasuda is smiling.
"Of course. Something like this doesn't go unpunished. We leave in the morning. Once we get to Kantou, we'll each go our separate ways to find him. I want him alive."
Yokoyama slaps the table. "We haven't had a keep-alive order in a long time! You're serious about this guy."
"Yes." Murakami regards each man individually before continuing. "Find Katou Shigeaki and bring him to me."
fight or flight.
Katou Shigeaki doesn’t leave the office. He sleeps on the couch. It’s not safe outside. He’s being hunted, and he knows it’s just a matter of time until he’s caught. He betrayed the Kansai family and ran to the Kantou family with all their secrets. Kansai won’t rest until he’s been made an example of.
Katou Shigeaki has chosen his morals over his life. He couldn’t stand defending criminals in court anymore. Human trafficking, illegal drugs, smuggling, insurance fraud, gambling - he’d gotten all of them off. Mistrials and not-guilty rulings. Other lawyers respected him for his brilliance and skill, but as a human being, they found him disgusting.
But Kantou knew his conscience was suffering.
“Come here,” they’d said. “Be privy to no illicit affairs. Just tell us things, and we’ll take care of the rest… You’ll have complete immunity, we’ll make sure of it. You’ll be protected.”
So Katou Shigeaki fled north. He was welcomed and treated with kindness, even though he knew his saviors were the same kind of people, but did their business with more ethics. They offer to drive him around and take him out to shows, but Katou doesn’t go. He wants to live as long as he can before Kansai finds him. He won’t flaunt his presence.
Kansai understand Kantou, but Kantou doesn’t understand Kansai. They seem the same - two tight knit families that were once one, going about their business.
Katou Shigeaki knows the truth, though.
Kansai is ruthless. They kill on a whim and the crimes Katou defended them of were horrible and turned his stomach.
Kansai will find him, and he knows his death won’t be a fast one. There’s revenge to be considered.
So Katou Shigeaki stays in the little office he’s been provided with, filling up notebooks after notebooks, writing down everything he wishes he didn’t know.
send me quickly to my grave.
They’ve been in Kantou for more than a week, laying low and off the radar, each member hunting Katou in their own way. Murakami’s patience is running thin. His phone rings.
“Guess who I found~”
Yasuda. He’s singing over the phone and Murakami knows it’s a good sign.
-- --
Yasuda tells him that Katou’s in an old office building outside Metropolitan Tokyo. During the day, a lot of people come and go, but Katou never leaves. Several members of the Kantou family have been there as well. Murakami calls the family together and sets things up.
Two days later, 3am. Kansai busts through the doors and kill the few security guards. Katou is easily found enough, like he’s waiting for them. He doesn’t put up a fight. Murakami - all of them - resist the urge to kill him where he stands.
“For being so smart, you’re a fool.”
“It depends on your definition.”
All of them could tell from his tone of voice - Katou had accepted his fate.
Shibutani laughs as he pulls the hood over Katou’s head.
broken & bleeding
It’s been days, Katou knows - he thinks maybe four or five. For that long, he’d been tied to a chair in a big room with a single fluorescent light bulb hanging from the ceiling. There are a few windows, but they’re covered with something, and no light comes in.
Periodically, a few of the Kansai family will come in and rough him up, taunt him, try to persuade him to tell them what he’d told the Kantou family. He doesn’t tell them - they should know. His left eye is swollen shut, his lip is split and he’s pretty sure he’s got a few broken ribs.
Katou’s not surprised that Murakami has left the beating to the other members. The kill shot is all that matters to him. He leaves the dirty work to the others.
It’s late one night - he thinks - when the whole family comes in acting a little frantically. Yasuda punches him across the face.
“Where are they?!”
He’s screeching and it gives Katou a headache.
“Where did Kantou move to?!”
“Why would I know? They never told me much.”
“Because you’re not family.” Murakami is the only one staying calm.
“Because I’m not family.”
“Why do you matter so much to them?”
“I don’t.”
Murakami looks like he wants to contradict Katou, but he can’t, because there’s a loud noise and the ground shakes. Kansai starts swearing and pulling out their guns.
The time between the noise and the windows breaking in was at most 30 seconds, but for Katou, it felt like hours. The Kantou family appears, guns blazing, smoke bombs flying - and Shige’s pretty sure he’s going to end up dead from a stray bullet in what he thinks is a rescue attempt. Kansai scatters for cover.
Tegoshi - the one Katou finds most ill-suited to this line of work - pops up in front of him.
“Hi! We’ve come to get you!”
“I noticed.”
Tegoshi smiles and hums as he cuts the ropes binding Katou and then helps him into a bullet-proof vest. Tegoshi signals for Katou to follow and they start crawling along the floor - guns shooting, people yelling. Something tugs on his leg, and then Katou looks back, it’s Maruyama and his eyes are red.
“Where are you going?”
Katou’s mouth goes dry.
Maruyama starts to pull something out of his jacket, but another person - a Kantou - jumps on him and they start wrestling on the floor.
“Go!”
Koyama - he can tell from the voice. He had always been a little too fond of Katou.
But there are no more interruptions and after that, Tegoshi leads Katou safely around the building to a car where Kamenashi is waiting.
“How’s everyone else?” Kamenashi sounds worried.
“Fine!” Tegoshi smiles. “We out-number them by a lot!”
The three of them drive away and Katou doesn’t tell them that you need more than numbers to beat Kansai.
the grass is always greener on the other side.
It’s been a week - Katou knows this because there’s a calendar next to his bed. His eye isn’t swollen anymore, but it’s an ugly yellow-green color now. His chest is tightly bound - he was right about the broken ribs.
Koyama’s been doting on him. Tegoshi intrudes on him all the time. Masuda shares his food and he’s told it’s a big deal. Yamashita and Akanishi try to include Katou in their stupid arguments, but he uses big lawyer words, and they stop after a while. When his ribs hurt and it shows, Koki tells him to man-up and Nakamaru brings him water and pain killers. Taguchi invites Katou to play video games with him and Kamenashi brings him little snacks every afternoon. Katou doesn’t ask about Kansai, and no one tells him.
He gets pulled aside one morning by Kamenashi, whose face is grim.
“How long where you on retainer for Kansai?”
“A little more than a year. I started right out of school.”
Kamenashi nods and walks away.
Katou knows he’s being treated delicately. He knows a lot more than he’s told Kantou.
Katou knows that before he was hired as Kansai’s lawyer, the two families were one. They were close and worked together. Nishikido was especially friendly with some of the now-Kantou members. But something tore them apart. They stopped working together and started fighting - Kansai more than Kantou. Kantou remembers the friendship and don’t have it within themselves to hate Kansai. They act only in self-defense and never with lethal force. The split was particularly hard for Yamashita, Akanishi and Tegoshi.
Kansai never shared this feeling - Katou only knows from overhearing both groups. Kantou desperately wants a resolution, and Kansai wants Kantou gone. But both sides know they won’t get what they want - Kansai will accept no apologies and Kantou won’t allow themselves to fall before their apology is accepted.
CHARACTERS: Kanjani8, NEWS, KAT-TUN
NOTE: Uh, cliche-yakuza drabble collection
a war fan.
They're in the conference room. Shibutani is cleaning his handgun at the table and Murakami is looking out the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the little people of the world hurry about their pointless business. There's a knock on the door. Nishikido and Ohkura enter.
"We found him," Ohkura says, but he doesn't sound happy. "He's in Kantou."
"I knew it," Shibutani mutters. "I knew he'd betrayed us."
Murakami turns away from the window, regarding the younger pair. "It certainly does seem that way. He's made contact with our enemies down there?"
"Yes," Nishikido answers.
There's another knock on the door and the rest of the team - Yokoyama, Yasuda and Maruyama - come in and sit down at their standard places. Ryo and Ohkura are still standing.
"It seems exactly what we'd wished wouldn't happen has come true. I never thought I'd live to see the day one of my own subordinates would betray me and run in the arms of those Kantou pigs."
"Are we taking a road trip then?" Yasuda is smiling.
"Of course. Something like this doesn't go unpunished. We leave in the morning. Once we get to Kantou, we'll each go our separate ways to find him. I want him alive."
Yokoyama slaps the table. "We haven't had a keep-alive order in a long time! You're serious about this guy."
"Yes." Murakami regards each man individually before continuing. "Find Katou Shigeaki and bring him to me."
fight or flight.
Katou Shigeaki doesn’t leave the office. He sleeps on the couch. It’s not safe outside. He’s being hunted, and he knows it’s just a matter of time until he’s caught. He betrayed the Kansai family and ran to the Kantou family with all their secrets. Kansai won’t rest until he’s been made an example of.
Katou Shigeaki has chosen his morals over his life. He couldn’t stand defending criminals in court anymore. Human trafficking, illegal drugs, smuggling, insurance fraud, gambling - he’d gotten all of them off. Mistrials and not-guilty rulings. Other lawyers respected him for his brilliance and skill, but as a human being, they found him disgusting.
But Kantou knew his conscience was suffering.
“Come here,” they’d said. “Be privy to no illicit affairs. Just tell us things, and we’ll take care of the rest… You’ll have complete immunity, we’ll make sure of it. You’ll be protected.”
So Katou Shigeaki fled north. He was welcomed and treated with kindness, even though he knew his saviors were the same kind of people, but did their business with more ethics. They offer to drive him around and take him out to shows, but Katou doesn’t go. He wants to live as long as he can before Kansai finds him. He won’t flaunt his presence.
Kansai understand Kantou, but Kantou doesn’t understand Kansai. They seem the same - two tight knit families that were once one, going about their business.
Katou Shigeaki knows the truth, though.
Kansai is ruthless. They kill on a whim and the crimes Katou defended them of were horrible and turned his stomach.
Kansai will find him, and he knows his death won’t be a fast one. There’s revenge to be considered.
So Katou Shigeaki stays in the little office he’s been provided with, filling up notebooks after notebooks, writing down everything he wishes he didn’t know.
send me quickly to my grave.
They’ve been in Kantou for more than a week, laying low and off the radar, each member hunting Katou in their own way. Murakami’s patience is running thin. His phone rings.
“Guess who I found~”
Yasuda. He’s singing over the phone and Murakami knows it’s a good sign.
-- --
Yasuda tells him that Katou’s in an old office building outside Metropolitan Tokyo. During the day, a lot of people come and go, but Katou never leaves. Several members of the Kantou family have been there as well. Murakami calls the family together and sets things up.
Two days later, 3am. Kansai busts through the doors and kill the few security guards. Katou is easily found enough, like he’s waiting for them. He doesn’t put up a fight. Murakami - all of them - resist the urge to kill him where he stands.
“For being so smart, you’re a fool.”
“It depends on your definition.”
All of them could tell from his tone of voice - Katou had accepted his fate.
Shibutani laughs as he pulls the hood over Katou’s head.
broken & bleeding
It’s been days, Katou knows - he thinks maybe four or five. For that long, he’d been tied to a chair in a big room with a single fluorescent light bulb hanging from the ceiling. There are a few windows, but they’re covered with something, and no light comes in.
Periodically, a few of the Kansai family will come in and rough him up, taunt him, try to persuade him to tell them what he’d told the Kantou family. He doesn’t tell them - they should know. His left eye is swollen shut, his lip is split and he’s pretty sure he’s got a few broken ribs.
Katou’s not surprised that Murakami has left the beating to the other members. The kill shot is all that matters to him. He leaves the dirty work to the others.
It’s late one night - he thinks - when the whole family comes in acting a little frantically. Yasuda punches him across the face.
“Where are they?!”
He’s screeching and it gives Katou a headache.
“Where did Kantou move to?!”
“Why would I know? They never told me much.”
“Because you’re not family.” Murakami is the only one staying calm.
“Because I’m not family.”
“Why do you matter so much to them?”
“I don’t.”
Murakami looks like he wants to contradict Katou, but he can’t, because there’s a loud noise and the ground shakes. Kansai starts swearing and pulling out their guns.
The time between the noise and the windows breaking in was at most 30 seconds, but for Katou, it felt like hours. The Kantou family appears, guns blazing, smoke bombs flying - and Shige’s pretty sure he’s going to end up dead from a stray bullet in what he thinks is a rescue attempt. Kansai scatters for cover.
Tegoshi - the one Katou finds most ill-suited to this line of work - pops up in front of him.
“Hi! We’ve come to get you!”
“I noticed.”
Tegoshi smiles and hums as he cuts the ropes binding Katou and then helps him into a bullet-proof vest. Tegoshi signals for Katou to follow and they start crawling along the floor - guns shooting, people yelling. Something tugs on his leg, and then Katou looks back, it’s Maruyama and his eyes are red.
“Where are you going?”
Katou’s mouth goes dry.
Maruyama starts to pull something out of his jacket, but another person - a Kantou - jumps on him and they start wrestling on the floor.
“Go!”
Koyama - he can tell from the voice. He had always been a little too fond of Katou.
But there are no more interruptions and after that, Tegoshi leads Katou safely around the building to a car where Kamenashi is waiting.
“How’s everyone else?” Kamenashi sounds worried.
“Fine!” Tegoshi smiles. “We out-number them by a lot!”
The three of them drive away and Katou doesn’t tell them that you need more than numbers to beat Kansai.
the grass is always greener on the other side.
It’s been a week - Katou knows this because there’s a calendar next to his bed. His eye isn’t swollen anymore, but it’s an ugly yellow-green color now. His chest is tightly bound - he was right about the broken ribs.
Koyama’s been doting on him. Tegoshi intrudes on him all the time. Masuda shares his food and he’s told it’s a big deal. Yamashita and Akanishi try to include Katou in their stupid arguments, but he uses big lawyer words, and they stop after a while. When his ribs hurt and it shows, Koki tells him to man-up and Nakamaru brings him water and pain killers. Taguchi invites Katou to play video games with him and Kamenashi brings him little snacks every afternoon. Katou doesn’t ask about Kansai, and no one tells him.
He gets pulled aside one morning by Kamenashi, whose face is grim.
“How long where you on retainer for Kansai?”
“A little more than a year. I started right out of school.”
Kamenashi nods and walks away.
Katou knows he’s being treated delicately. He knows a lot more than he’s told Kantou.
Katou knows that before he was hired as Kansai’s lawyer, the two families were one. They were close and worked together. Nishikido was especially friendly with some of the now-Kantou members. But something tore them apart. They stopped working together and started fighting - Kansai more than Kantou. Kantou remembers the friendship and don’t have it within themselves to hate Kansai. They act only in self-defense and never with lethal force. The split was particularly hard for Yamashita, Akanishi and Tegoshi.
Kansai never shared this feeling - Katou only knows from overhearing both groups. Kantou desperately wants a resolution, and Kansai wants Kantou gone. But both sides know they won’t get what they want - Kansai will accept no apologies and Kantou won’t allow themselves to fall before their apology is accepted.