House of Cards: 24/??

[andrew_in_drag]

Title: House of Cards
Author: andrew_in_drag
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Kyo/Toshiya, Kaoru/Toshiya, Die/Shinya, Aoi/Uruha
General Warnings: AU, slash, violence, language, yakuza theme, character death
Chapter Warnings: upsetting scenes, character death
Previously: The Prodigy | The Rent Boy | The Escort | The Imposter | The Professional | The Shateigashira | The Bargain | The Addict | The Rookie | The Long Night | The Lights | The Chase | The Brothel | The Pits | The Memory | The Truce | The Plan | The Shateigashira's Game | The Oyabun | The Suspect | The Revelations | The Oyabun's Advice | The Fortune Teller | The Escape
Notes: this is the prequel to Protect Me. For the yakuza terminology and hierarchy that I'm working with, please see here.


When a young prostitute is found with blood on his hands, he catches the eye of the Inagawa clan's prodigy and quickly finds himself tangled up within Osaka's criminal underworld. Taken into a yakuza house and pimped by the mysterious shateigashira, he is desperate for any means of escape - but in a house of cards, can anybody really be trusted?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: THE BETRAYAL

Their car pulled up with a terrible lurch outside a grey concrete tower block, but there wasn't really time to take in the surroundings: as soon as the vehicle stopped they spilled out of it, Aoi supporting Uruha with renewed strength. Where his arm was wrapped around his old friend's chest, he could feel the slow, steady beating of his heart against the inside of his wrist, and it gave him strength: if Uruha could go on, so could he.

Together, Toshiya and Aoi half-dragged, half-carried him into the building. They emerged in a very dusty, dirty lobby, lit by one flickering fluorescent bar; there was an old desk where perhaps a night watchman had once sat, but now it was splintered and empty. It was a grim scene, and they hurried across it to the ancient-looking elevator. It needed a key to work, which Aoi produced from his pocket.

“The guy gave it to me when I made the arrangements,” he babbled nervously, leaning across Toshiya to stab right button on the elevator's panel; it didn't light, but the doors slid closed, and after an awful grinding noise they were jerked roughly upwards.

Uruha gave a low groan, and Toshiya saw that his face was dead white.

“He needs a doctor,” he said.

Aoi looked strangely stiff.

“I know,” he said.

“Will he...I mean, he will...?”

“I don't know!” Aoi snapped, and sagged back slightly against the metal wall. “I don't know,” he repeated, softer.

Toshiya swallowed thickly, a small bird of panic fluttering desperately inside his chest.

“He has to,” he said, trying to sound strong and sure. “We'll get to the island and he'll feel the sun and the sea air...”

Aoi nodded rigidly. Toshiya noticed that he was holding tightly to Uruha's hand.

The elevator ground to a halt, and the doors were still for just a second too long. Toshiya held his breath, but they reluctantly slid open. The corridor was just as dingy as the lobby had been, cobwebbed and neglected and layered up with different graffiti, old to new, telling stories like cave paintings.

An immense feeling of dread socked Toshiya hard in the stomach.

It was as if he had just jumped into an icy lake: the cold fear shot straight through him and froze him along his bones: something was wrong.

“Aoi,” he whispered, and he heard the high thin note of terror in his own shallow breaths. “Aoi...”

“Toshiya, I can't take him alone, come on!”

“Aoi, I...”

“I warned you!” the other man hissed. “Hold us up and I'll leave you behind! Now take him, help me, I need you!”

Something is very wrong.

But Aoi looked so desperate.

Toshiya wrapped Uruha's arm back over his shoulders from where it had slipped, and followed Aoi through the gloom. Aoi knocked on a door.

1508.

“You're late. Get him inside.”

It was the only greeting their benefactor offered: he stepped back from the doorway to allow them through. Once they were huddled inside his apartment – just as miserable as the corridor, in Toshiya's opinion, not that it mattered – he closed the door behind them firmly, produced a new-looking silver key from his pocket, and locked it. He pocketed the key again, stuffing it down deep.

“Don't want to be disturbed,” he said shortly.

“Hi,” Toshiya said nervously. “I'm Toshiya, this is—”

“I know who you are. You should lie him down. Put him on the couch.”

They hurried to obey; partly because the strange man spoke in such a voice that allowed no arguments, and partly because, slight as he was, Uruha was getting heavy. They lowered him down gently, and Aoi kissed his cold cheek.

“Do you have a blanket?” he asked, “We need to keep him warm, we—”

“No. Sit beside him; you can keep him warm that way.”

“Yeah,” Aoi said, sounding slightly dazed as he sank into his seat, “Yeah, I—”

Their helper nodded at Toshiya.

“You too. I want all three of you sitting on the sofa. Now.”

Quickly, Toshiya did as he was told. He felt his legs might have buckled beneath him anyway; the fear within him gave a queasy kick. He was shaking, but he took Uruha's icy hand and started to rub at it, trying to warm it up.

“Don't you need to take pictures of us,” he asked after a long moment had passed, “For our new IDs?”

The man shook his head slowly.

“No,” he said. “I'm sorry. No photos. No IDs.”

“What?!” Aoi's head snapped up, “What?! But you said – we need to cross the sea, we need to get into Korea; I was told that you were the best for it!”

The man didn't so much as flinch, his flat expression unchanging.

“I am the best,” he said simply, “Because I don't get involved. I'm sorry. It's nothing personal.”

He sighed, looking at them. Both Aoi and Toshiya had their eyes firmly fixed on his, as if they could control him with their twin dark gazes; as if they were trying to peer past his face to see the thoughts that lay beyond – those cold eyes that weren't exactly cold; the statue that wasn't exactly stone.

He sighed, and pulled a revolver out of his jacket. He weighed them up, the three of them on the sofa, and settled with pointing it at Aoi.

“Die,” he said tonelessly, “I think you'd better come in now.”

From the moment he first heard their voices, a cold sweat had begun to creep down the back of his neck.

Kyo's associate had given him a firearm, and it was surprisingly heavy: he'd never held one before. He had never before been in a situation where it hadn't simply been taken for granted that his strength and height advantage would do the job – he had never been in a situation where he thought he might be attacking rather than defending.

Protect the shateigashira: that was his task. And it had led to him standing in a crumbling tower block in the early hours of Saturday morning, his heart in his throat and a gun in his hand.

“Okay,” he said shakily, “I've got instructions – I'm supposed to take you back to Ky— back to the boss.”

He didn't know how it was possible, but Toshiya's face seemed to turn several shades whiter. He looked truly ill, almost as ill as the blanket-wrapped person curled up beside him, and Die felt a sickening wrench of pity and fear.

“There's no point trying to bargain with me,” he said quickly, swiping sweat away from his forehead with the back of his hand, “It's not going to work; I've got my orders.”

“Look at him, Die,” Aoi said quietly, “He's dying.”

Another twist of anxiety: another little knot of fright tied tight in the pit of his stomach.

“The boss won't let him die,” he said, and noticed hollowly how uncertain his own voice sounded. Aoi sagged, his face crumpling; he bent over Uruha's head and pressed his lips numbly to the other man's hair. He thought, however fancifully, that underneath the fever sweat and cigarette smoke he could still detect it: the familiar comforting scent of the man he had once known.

I did everything I could for you, and it still wasn't enough.

Uruha stirred in his arms, his lips moving soundlessly.

All our lives, I tried so hard to protect you.

I watched you meet her; I knew you were bound to love her.

I loved you anyway.

I loved you more, in spite of it.

“Okay,” Die said, and his voice cracked, “Okay, it's time to go. If— if you try to run, I have to shoot.”

But he held his gun loosely at his side the whole time; but he wrapped his free arm around Uruha and helped them make the difficult journey back down to the street. He did not look them in the eyes. He drove in silence.

The night they were betrayed, it was overcast and still.

To Toshiya, the hour took on some dreamy quality, like an elaborately constructed nightmare: the stars were still out there, he thought, but all out of light. They drove through a world that grew darker and darker, the three of them pressed into the back whilst Die drove and the strange man kept a keen eye trained on them from the passenger seat. Between them, Uruha huddled against Aoi; he hummed unevenly and sang snatches of songs. His voice was faint and cracked, but miraculously happy. He warbled like a bird whilst Toshiya stared woodenly out of the window; whilst Aoi held his hands and made soothing sounds.

Perhaps they had expected that Kyo might have been waiting outside for them, but when they drew up outside the house the front walk was empty and the windows were blank. They walked in silence, their steps measured even with Uruha between them; six full paces from street to doorstep, made on legs as heavy as lead.

Instead, the shateigashira was waiting inside. He looked calm, but his hair was a mess, as if he had been running his hands through it.

“B-boss—”

“Thank you, Die. You did well.”

Die quietened but bit down hard on his lip, staring at the floor. He looked ashamed.

“Thank you as well, Reita.” Kyo handed him a plain brown envelope, bowing slightly, “The other half of your payment, as agreed.” He paused, and gestured politely to the door, “Good night.”

He waited a short moment for Reita to bow in return and leave, the envelope tucked safe inside his jacket. He closed the door quietly behind him.

“Toshiya, Aoi...make Uruha comfortable. He's very weak.”

“I know that, you bastard!” Aoi shot back immediately, his face livid, “He needs a doctor!”

Some incomprehensible look flashed across Kyo's face, and then it was gone.

“There is nothing a doctor can do for him now,” he said at last. “He was examined by a professional on Wednesday.”

“But...then...?”

“Aoi?”

The small voice came from between them, from where Toshiya had lowered Uruha's body to a futon laid out on the floor, and Aoi immediately dropped to his knees.

“I'm here,” he said urgently, fumbling for his friend's hands again, “I'm here, Uru.”

“Oh...” a small smile crossed Uruha's face, “Good. I'm really c— c-cold, Aoi. Will we be there soon?”

Toshiya watched as a tear fell from Aoi's cheek to Uruha's.

“Really soon,” Aoi said. “Think about it, okay? Standing on the beach together, a-and—”

“We are there soon,” Uruha agreed, closing his eyes happily, “I can hear the waves.”

But when he opened his eyes again, there was a new lucidity to them, and he seemed to be grasping Aoi's fingers hard.

“Hurts,” he said quietly.

“I – I know, Uru. I'm sorry. Think about nice things, okay?”

“Yeah.” His grip on Aoi's fingers slackened slightly. “Yeah. Ha...” he laughed jaggedly, his voice hoarse, “Rain— raindrops on r-roses, and...whiskers on kittens.”

Aoi gave a single, harsh sob.

“Bright...bright copper kettles, and—”

Bang.

At first, Toshiya couldn't tell who had been hit: both Aoi and Uruha collapsed into a heap. He heard a scream, and realised from the torn feeling that it had come from his own throat. Aoi's shoulders gave a great, terrible shake, but the truth wasn't in his movement, it was in the quiet: that cracked, rasping little song, silenced.

Toshiya's ears were ringing. The air in the room had suddenly grown splintery and full of spikes, like broken glass: Die had both hands clasped to his mouth. His pistol was smoking slightly, but he didn't hold it: the shateigashira did.

He realised, dimly, that Aoi was yelling, and that it was a shapeless sound with no words. He didn't know how long it had gone on for. He looked at Kyo's face as if seeking some kind of answer, but found none. He could have yelled for hours.

In Uruha's last breath a hundred thousand birds took wing. They soared into the white sky and their black wings turned to brown, and he watched as the winter clouds melted away until he laughed and basked within it: the crayola royal, the cerulean deep, the blue.

Comments

[velvet-liquor.livejournal.com]

Okay, I had trouble reading the last line, and I'm also having trouble seeing my own keys. This is all blurry. I didn't expect that.
First it was like "oh god, that room... he knew.. he sent Die to fetch Toshiya..." and then "oh no, even Toshiya can feel it.." and then Die being told to get in.. and then they were going back.. and then.. Reita finally gets somewhere in the picture... and then... Kyo... and... I do think Aoi and I were synchronized, because a tear rolled down my cheek just at the same time.. and fuck... Uruha... I had really hoped he would make it alive... and in a way, I do think Kyo did something somewhat nice, because he knew he was going to die, so he just put an end to his misery, right..? But still, he kind of robbed Aoi of the last few moments he had with him.. and... I expect Kyo to be icy cold towards Toshiya... and...

Damn...

[random-x13.livejournal.com]

How... how could you take Uru away from Aoi...?

I would think Toshiya would be more pissed at Kyo for being so.... Kyo, not showing his anger that they had tried to escape... but... I don't understand...

It went by so quickly...

I can't even..

<//3

[ruki-matsumoto.livejournal.com]

I just feel as ill as toshiya right now... wow... fuck... This was very ... I don't know. I mean I understand all of them! Holy cow this is so creepy and makes me feel nausea....
I bought a tissue box just yesterday... think I spend a half of it on this chapter... ;A;

[satanicangel1.livejournal.com]

I Am Shocked! I was not expecting this, I thought maybe they would get caught in Korea but, It would not be that bad. I just feel so bad for them and I wan to cry!!! what will happen now I wonder?? HHmmmmm.

[n3uromanc3r.livejournal.com]

You made me cry!
It was so cruel how Kyo played with them like cat with the mouse all along! Why did he let them hope they can escape when he was aware of their childish plans probably from the beginning?

Maybe he just chose this opportunity to test Toshiya... but why? What kind of plans he has with the other after he locked him into that brothel...