Walk forward, into the world

Title: Walk forward, into the world
Author: Ainzfern
Genre: Ai no Kusabi – Post OVA
Code: Iason/Riki
Rating: NC-17
Parts: WIP – 7/?


Riki heaved another great sigh, cursing for the umpteenth time this evening, when he finally heard the sound of the heavy entrance gate set into the safe-house’s outer walls beginning to roll back.

“Fuckin’ finally…” Draining the last dregs of his coffee, Riki shook his head in irritation, marveling how in the hell Katze’s commitment to deliver his next batch of files and up-links for de-coding and cracking ‘earlier this evening’ had somehow managed to turn into ‘almost midnight’.

Again.

“Well,” he muttered, ejecting the disc that he had previously been working on, “He’d better have a damned good excuse this time.”

It wasn’t the fact that Riki had been left with nothing to do. On the contrary, he had been working on decoding a series of entries from a hacked section of the united industries consumer profiles list all day.

But, Riki pinched the bridge of his nose and slipped the next disc into his terminal, it was as boring as hell to do, and he had really been hoping that his boss’s arrival would have brought him something a little more interesting. At the very least, it would’ve brought a chance to take a breather, talk to someone for a while. Instead, Katze was late. Again. No phone call, not that Riki had really expected that kind of courtesy, but still, it had meant that he’d been stuck with nothing to do but this mindless repetitive shit all day and most of the night.

There were only so many exercise breaks a guy could take to shake up the monotony before that, too, became fuckin’ boring.

He swore to himself as he peripherally saw the lights from Katze’s car splash up briefly against the courtyard wall inside the safe-house compound… the next damned time Katze offered him ‘an easy job to practice his decoding techniques on’ Riki was going to tell him to cram it up his ass.

Maybe he really just needed to start pushing to get back into the field again. Katze seemed dead set against the idea of sending him out on message details but, the fact was, Riki was as fit again now as he ever had been, and being literally trapped inside the safe-house walls was starting to make him itch like hell.

He kept his eyes firmly fixed on his terminal screen when he heard Katze’s light footfalls pause at the doorway to his room, honesty still too pissed off to bother turning around the greet the man. “So, you finally made it,” he remarked sardonically as his continued working on the list of data streaming up the screen, “Don’t tell me… you had to rescue a helpless puppy from drowning.”

Behind him, Katze remained silent.

Shrugging, Riki smirked at the terminal screen. “What..? No come-back?” he picked up his empty mug, ready for a refill, and swiveled his chair around, looking up at the ex-Furniture with a sly grin in place. “That’s not like you.”

He paused then, seeing the look on Katze’s face, the silent screaming tension that was literally radiating off the man, and the smile dropped off his face. “God, Katze,” he rose slowly, suddenly concerned. “What happened, man? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost or something.”

Katze wet his lips, stepping into the room and then moving slightly to one side of the doorway. “There’s someone here to see you, Riki,” he said softly.

Swallowing hard, Riki felt his guts flip a lazy turn.

Had Katze sold him out? The look on the ex-Furniture face… He couldn’t remember ever seeing the guy look that fucked up before. From that expression alone, Riki began to grow very nervous indeed.

“Who’d you bring, Katze?” he asked softly. “Huh? I mean, should I be breaking out more coffee, or just packing a bag?”

Katze’s expression flickered briefly. “Neither, I would say,” with that, he looked over his shoulder towards the door.

From the shadows in the hallway, with steps slow and measured, an Elite Blondie walked into the room, looking at Riki with an indecipherable expression on that flawless face.

A face that Riki knew.

“God...” Riki heard his own stunned whisper, felt his eyes widen, the coffee mug in his hand dropping unheeded to the floor with a dull clunk. He reeled back slightly, shaking his head, his body trembling uncontrollably.

“Oh, my God…” he whispered again, shock being far too mild a word to describe the feelings that were rocketing through him.

The Blondie standing before him took a slow step closer, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Riki’s own. The Blondie... Riki’s thunderstruck mind could only take in the basic details. The fine white satin of his shirt, the deep blue of the sash affixed across his broad and powerful shoulders, the sleeveless black overcoat, the rich fabric draping almost to the floor. His hair, long and thick and pale and beautiful.

And his eyes...

“Iason?” Riki blinked, shaking his head once more, not quite able to believe what he was seeing.

“Yes,” Iason took another step towards him. “Yes, Riki.”

Riki’s felt his breath leave him in a shattered rush, the mere sound of that velvet voice touching him like a blow to the stomach. He gasped shallowly, trying to comprehend. “But… But you’re dead.”

“No,” The tiniest smile began to curve Iason’s rich mouth. “I survived. Just as you did.”

For an endless moment, Riki stood there silently, his eyes flicking back and forth between Iason and Katze, and behind them, standing unobtrusively just beyond the doorway, Raoul Am. He felt the rage rising in him, faster than a flash of lightening. His lips pulled back from his teeth in a soundless snarl, his eyes narrowing murderously.

“You son of a BITCH!!” He launched himself at Katze, his fists swinging towards the ex-Furniture’s horrified face. Even as Iason caught him bodily, pulling him back before he could make contact and pinning his arms to his sides, Riki continued to scream his fury.

“You lying asshole!” Riki fought wildly against Iason’s immovable hold, pushing with all his might to close the distance between him and Katze. “You fucking, backstabbing, two-faced traitor, you told me he was DEAD!” A harsh sob tore from his throat, forcing its way past his gritted teeth, “You knew! You knew he was alive this whole fucking time and you NEVER TOLD ME! I’m gonna KILL you Katze, I swear to God, I will kill you!”

“Riki,” Iason’s voice murmured directly into his ear. “Riki… please.”

That single plea, that soft entreaty, halted Riki’s struggles immediately. A strangled sound escaped from his aching throat as he turned in Iason’s arms, looking up with agonized eyes into that perfect face. He swallowed hard, his eyes closing painfully, as his legs failed him and he sank to the floor, Iason smoothly going with him, still holding him closely.

“You’re here,” Riki whispered, one hand lifting to Iason’s upper arm, closing over the rich fabric.

“I am.”

Riki blinked again, slowly, mindless of the wet warmth that trickled unnoticed down his cheeks. “You’re really here.”

“Yes.”

Slowly, Riki’s hand closed bunching the fine satin of Iason’s shirt up in a white knuckled and shaking grip. “Don’t leave again.”

“I won’t.”

“Okay,” Resting his hot forehead against Iason’s warm and solid chest, Riki allowed himself to relax at last. He felt Iason’s arms shifting around him, moving to cradle him rather than imprison him, and he sighed and nodded. “Okay then.”

Behind them, quite unheeded, Raoul Am and Katze quietly withdrew and closed the door behind them.


TBC…