Heaven Far Away

Chapter Eleven - The Worth of Actions

“Yo, guys, I’m here.”

At the little shack that he and his friends shared, Kazuya kicked open the door and swaggered in with a smile. His group of friends looked up from their huddle and greeted him boisterously. This was all part of the plan, it was to let Chitose see how accustomed he was to this and how Chitose was in his hands here and now.

“And who is this?” According to the script, Taro looked towards Chitose with that unfriendly glint in his eyes. Oh these brothers of his were great actors!

The number one regarded them carefully before bowing to the question. “Please call me Chitose. Kazuya-kun said that he was going to show me around today.” And it seemed the last stop was here.

“So you should know that it is customary to bring about a greeting present, right?” Taro circled Chitose was if a predator sniffing out prey. “This looks to be of pure silk, how about you leave this behind with us as a greeting present, huh?” Taro slid a hand against the sleeve of Chitose’s kimono, making sure to take extra long while feeling the texture of the kimono.

Kazuya merely watched on with a smirk, he wanted to see how long it would take before Chitose’s composure would be lost. He longed to see the day when porcelain cracks and the raw insides of Chitose exposed.

“If you are sincere, then I can certainly arrange for enough kimono made for everyone here.” Chitose answered with a smile. “I’m sure Kazuya-kun could deliver it with efficiency as well.” That last little bit was directed at the host-in-training, and Kazuya could not deny the fact that his heart skipped a beat. There was no malice in those words or that look, but something about Chitose screamed danger and Kazuya remembered once again that Takumi had told him to get along with the number one.

But… he has come this far, it’s too late to turn back!

“Who the fuck asked you for an alternative?” Taro shoved Chitose back a couple of steps without warning. The number one’s eyes flashed with surprise but he caught his balance quickly. “My brothers and I only want this one. Hurry up with it!”

At this cross road, Chitose wondered if he should just walk out or whether he should start stripping. Yet he knew that Kazuya wouldn’t let actual harm come to him, the younger boy didn’t have that mind set when he brought Chitose into this situation tonight. Just as Taro was about to bark another order, footsteps could be heard running towards them and a distraught face looked at them with wide eyes.

“Mitsuii, what is it?”

“Not good.” The youth panted out, his expression was one of fear. “The Kuma group is here!”

Everyone’s body tensed and Kazuya thought his heart was going to stop. What horrible luck to have! Immediately, he dropped his mask and quickly took a few steps towards Chitose. “Quick, we must hide!” Around him, his friends were already in disarray, trying to organize a quick get away. Yet before anyone could get out of the way, Mitsuii –the messenger- at the door dropped to the ground accompanied with the sound of a gun shot.

Panic spread throughout the shack and the Kuma group was already at the doorstep.

“What is this we see? A bunch of trapped mice?” Their laughter and faces implied cruelty, and Kazuya tugged Chitose another couple of steps back. He had hoped to at least get the number one out of sight before the Kuma group would notice. “Round them up and bring them back to the base! We’re going to have some fun with them later!”

Too late, the order had already been given and the shack exploded with laughter and pitiful pleading for their lives to be spared. From all around them, Kazuya watched as his friends were dragged away.

“What is this?” The leader of the Kuma group finally landed his gaze towards the two of them, and Kazuya knew that his face paled immediately. The hand he had around Chitose’s arm tightened and his body trembled with fear.

Fuck his life, how the hell did he get so unlucky?

“When did these useless shits pick up such a chick?” The leader reached for Chitose face, the number responded by backing away and out of reach. “And with such a fucking attitude as well. Get your ass over here!”

Kazuya rigidly looked from the menacing leader back to the number one, the latter one had his face turned away and did not appear impressed at all.

“Did you not fucking hear me?!”

“I heard you.”

Kazuya knew that the remaining members of the Kuma clan in the shack gave Chitose a double take after his voice negated the claim of him being a girl.

“Fuck, it’s a man.”

“You’re shitting me.” The leader muttered with disbelief and Kazuya watched with hitched breaths as the leader’s lips split into a perverted grin. “Come here and show me that dick of yours. I don’t fucking believe this.” This time, the leader shot out his hand and grabbed Chitose’s collar to drag him forward. Kazuya thought the delicate kimono was going to give out underneath such rough treatment.

“Don’t joke with me.” Chitose slapped the leader’s hand away and straightened out his attire quickly.

Heart attack, Kazuya was sure that he was going to suffer a heart attack.

“Please, he doesn’t know anything about this part of town! Please just let him go and I’ll go with you instead.” Kazuya quickly pleaded with the leader. A part of him knew that it was all his fault that they were now in such a pinch, he couldn’t exactly make Chitose suffer these brutes’ assault.

“Out of the way, retard.” The leader brushed him aside and signalled for his second in command to step up. “Look here.” The leader was talking to Chitose again. “You either comply with me or this one gets it.” The second in command had extracted his gun and the nuzzle was placed right against Kazuya’s temple.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck… Kazuya could only chant that mantra in his head.

“Your choice.”

Chitose looked over at Kazuya and sighed in defeat. “Let him go, I’ll do whatever you want. He has nothing to do with this.”

Quite the contrary!

“No one is going anywhere tonight! But since you offered so nicely, I’ll keep you to your words!” The leader reached for Chitose again, shoving him backwards and watched as the number one stumbled over a stool and collided with the wall at the back before falling on the floor. “Now let me verify for myself!” He grabbed Chitose’s right ankle and dragged him forward, the number one’s back slid against the rough floor.

“Don’t, please!” Kazuya screeched out.

“You shut the fuck up! Unless you want me to scar this pretty face!” The leader unsheathed a knife and ran the flat side down Chitose’s left cheek. Kazuya’s breath momentarily stopped and he felt faint.

If they make it out of this alive, the owner is going to absolutely murder him.

Kazuya watched as the leader ran that knife down the length of Chitose’s body, finding the folds of his kimono; he flipped them back with a fling of his arm. The number one lay with his lower body exposed for all to see. Kazuya didn’t know how Chitose could still look so impassive at the hand that was travelling up and down a leg. Kazuya was on the verge of tears, knowing that he’s screwed up big time.

“Shit, he’s really a man.” The leader muttered and touched Chitose’s clothed private parts.

“Don’t touch him!” Kazuya couldn’t help his voice. And the next second, the gun struck him hard across his skull and for a brief second, his world was a mess.

“Didn’t I tell you to shut the fuck up?! See what you made me do?!” The leader spoke without sincerity, but the slash that his knife made against Chitose’s left inner thigh was very much real. This time, Chitose couldn’t help but gasp and recoil away from the leader out of reflex either. Blood from the wound quickly stained the inside of his kimono.

“That’s good, that’s a good voice to use. Make sure you scream lots when I fuck you senseless.” And the legs were forced apart again, the rough material of his jeans scraped against the wound and Chitose jerked at the pain that travelled up his spinal to his brain. It’s been too long. His body wasn’t used to this treatment anymore.

Fortunately, although everyone else’s luck had ran out for the evening, Chitose’s had only just begun. Outside, two gun shots jolted everyone to a stand still and the leader turned his head back towards the open door immediately. Apparently, that had more meaning to them than just two gun shots going off.

“Boss…” The second in command looked over and the leader nodded his head.

“Get them tied up, we’ll come back for them later.”

When all were gone and the air was silent again, the two hosts were slumped against each other at a corner of the shack. The Kuma group had made sure to barricade the door from the outside and left them no means of freeing themselves. Their arms were bound and twisted behind their backs and they sat in a solemn air. Ever since the Kuma group was gone, Chitose had pressed his legs together as hard as he could to place some semblance of pressure on the wound so to stop it.

Bleeding to death wasn’t in his plans for this year.

“Chitose-san… I’m sorry.” At length, Kazuya finally spoke up.

“It’s just a slash, don’t worry about it.”

Kazuya glanced over at the number one and fumbled with his words. He wanted to come clean and apologize for the entire day, but his pride prevented him from doing so. In such a situation, he still remembered Chitose as his rival in love. He was a despicable human being, but he just couldn’t help it no matter what.

“We should think of a plan to deal with them when they get back.”

“Is there no way that anyone else would find us before that?”

“… probably not. The Kuma group controls this area; I doubt anyone would go against them for us.”

“What about your friends? What’s going to happen to them?”

“I don’t know.” Kazuya admitted with a sigh. “My friends work for the Kuma group, and it appeared like they’ve done something wrong to the group. They may be on the same boat, but they are considered dead weight to the Kuma group. So if they cannot bring in revenue, then they might as well be thrown over board to lessen the load.”

“I see.”

Neither spoke again. It wasn’t because Chitose was angry at the younger or that Kazuya was angry at Chitose, but the situation just seemed to have called for silence. Kazuya slumped against Chitose’s shoulder unknowingly, and Chitose slumped against the wall beside him. From the little cracks in the door, he was able to discern the passage of time. From a dim darkness, it changed to a deep darkness. How many minutes has it been? How many hours has it been? A part of him almost wished that the Kuma people would hurry up and return already!

Besides him, Chitose could hear the even breathing of Kazuya, the little one had fallen asleep leaning against him. Chitose turned his head to look at the other, wanting to laugh at how care free he could be in this situation. However, from another angle, he saw the tear tracks that were left behind on Kazuya’s bruised face and could only smile lightly.

He supposed that the ordeal of today could be negated since Kazuya was clearly shaken up as well.

If there is unfortunate enough to be a next time, Chitose will certainly not be this understanding. Actually, when Kazuya’s friend was touching his kimono, Chitose had thought about bashing his head in for such insolence. Who the hell did he think he was, touching him like that?

That thought was cut short as he flinched at the noise that came from the barricaded door. Next to him, Kazuya quickly sat up feeling Chitose’s flinch.

“What?”

“Someone’s at the door.”

“… the Kuma people…?”

Both of them held their breath and waited for a certain fate. One by one, something from the outside was removed and the door rattled when force was placed on it. Finally, it flew open and slammed into the adjacent wall with a loud bang. Their eyes enlarged, narrowed and wanted to discern whom just came in.

“Owner-sama…” It was Kazuya who first came to his senses.

A certain fate turned out to be the right kind of fate. Chitose felt his being relax and the tensed muscles refused to cooperate even when he wanted to summon them for strength. His legs were almost stuck together with the force that he had used to apply pressure on the slash.

“You never cease to amaze me, both of you. How did you manage to get into such a situation?” From behind the owner, Bakusui entered the room with disbelief while shaking his head.

“It’s only because we need to live up to our titles, that’s why, Bakusui-san.” Chitose didn’t even know where he found the energy to joke right back with the trainer. He was tired physically and mentally, his legs were shooting with spasms because of the position he’s maintained throughout the past hours.

“But have you ever considered the strength of my heart? I’m getting old; my heart is failing more and more often these days.”

In this dirty little shack, Bakusui and Konbayoshi untied both of them with dutiful fingers.

“Aw, Bakusui-san, were you that worried about us?”

“Both of you, shut it.” The owner’s cold voice interrupted their good natured banter. It was not hard to pick up the restrained anger beneath his words. Konbayoshi rose and dragged Kazuya up with him harshly. “Hurry up and follow me.” Then he turned and half dragged Kazuya out of the shack. The host in training didn’t even have the opportunity to send a look of help towards the other two in the shack.

Bakusui and Chitose looked after them silently, and then the trainer leaned over and picked Chitose up carefully. “How is that wound?”

“I think the bleeding’s stopped, but every time I move that leg, it threatens to bleed again.” Chitose answered truthfully before placing his kimono back in place, covering his bare legs. For that split second, Chitose understood things that he wished to never understand. He didn’t know whether he tasted sadness or bitterness or perhaps even the hot flavour of anger on his tongue. In that moment, he understood that once you miss it, you will miss it for the rest of your life.

Outside was quiet as Bakusui carried him out, Konbayoshi and Kazuya were already at the car waiting for them. Inside the car, Kazuya thought the thickness of oxygen was going to suffocate him. Even after Bakusui and Chitose entered, it did not appear to be thinning out any time soon. The moment all the doors were closed, Konbayoshi stepped on the gas, sending them pressed up against their seats.

If no one’s noticed it yet, the owner was not very happy.

“Kazuya, are you alright?” From the back row, Chitose tilted his head and looked at Kazuya’s profile.

“I’m okay, Chitose-san.” Kazuya answered quietly. When the owner grabbed him, he could feel the subtle trembling of the other’s fingers. Konbayoshi must be furious right now. He had just brought the number one host into gang territory. “I’m sorry, Chitose-san, for getting you involved in this.” He figured he might as well apologize quickly, for he could not possibly dodge the bullet of blame.

Chitose lifted a corner of his lips in a make-shift smile before shaking his head. “It’s okay. I’m just curious as to how you found us.” He directed that question at the owner, and Kazuya peeked at Konbayoshi out of the corner of his eyes as well. It was a direct attempt to get the owner to talk, but the owner did not appreciate it one bit.

There was no sound.

“Did you not hear me?” Chitose leaned back against his seat and looked at Konbayoshi, the earlier concoction of emotions were not gone. And he knew that he was doing no one any favour by acting on them.

He couldn’t help it.
Allow him just this once.

“Your cell phone.” Instead, it was Bakusui who answered. “Konbayoshi called your cell phone when you and Kazuya did not return for the evening. The taxi driver picked up and told us where he dropped you two off. So we came around and took a look. What do you know? We found our lost kittens.”

What cell phone? Kazuya was about to ask but remembered suddenly. Oh that cell phone!

“Maybe it’s fortunate that we didn’t have any money on us?” He tried to joke, he tried to smile, he wanted to lighten up the mood.

“Do you think this is funny?” And the owner finally spoke. “Do you think this is all just a joke?”

“No, owner-sama, I didn’t mean it like that. I just wanted…”

“You wanted?! You wanted to what?! Get both of you killed?! What were you two thinking!? Going into such a shady place, did you expect that they wouldn’t do anything to you?!” And once he’s started, there was absolutely no stopping him. “Must I put you two on leashes because you clearly lack the brain cells to compute situations correctly?!”

Kazuya bit down on his lip hard, restraining himself from lashing back at the owner. He knew Konbayoshi was right in his anger, but the harshness of the tone did not sit well with him at this moment. However, he also knew that he was already in enough trouble; there needn’t be other incentives for the owner to take more extreme measures. So he remained silent.

“Owner, they’ve been through enough for a day.” Bakusui spoke up calmly, attempting to ameliorate this situation.

“Obviously it’s not enough if they can still joke about it!” There was just no letting up. “Both of you are not allowed to leave the club for two weeks. You are to remain inside the doors of the club unless your life depended on it. During this time, you’re to reflect upon what your actions have brought onto everyone else. Do I make myself clear?!”

“................ yes, owner-sama.” Kazuya muttered and decided to swallow his own grievances and just take that punishment.

“What’s this? The owner is acting like a parent. Are you grounding us?” However, it seemed like the number one had other thoughts.

Konbayoshi’s eyes ticked to the rear view mirror and glanced at Chitose, his frown only deepened with each passing second. “Do I need to restrict your movements to three weeks?”

“And what right do you have to order me around like that?”

“Because I am the owner.”

“Watch your mouth, kid.” Because he was unable to see Chitose’s expression, Kazuya could only decipher from the tone of Chitose’s voice. At that moment, that coldness radiating from Chitose’s voice had him shivering. “Just because you’re the owner does not mean you can order me around. Know your place.”

It was a word that both of them hated.

Today, Chitose threw that out of his mind. He knew that Konbayoshi will not utter another word to retaliate, and at the same time, he knew he just furthered the gap between the two of them. By reminding Konbayoshi of their differences, Chitose knew he was admitting defeat to himself already. Turning his head, the number one hid his expression from view. Only the hand from Bakusui on his leg reminded him that maybe he wasn’t as impenetrable as he thought.

The rest of the trip carried on in silence. When they were at Opiate, Konbayoshi exited the car first followed by Kazuya. Their doors slammed but the two remaining ones made no move to exit.

“You alright?”

“It’s just a cut.”

“That’s not what I was asking.”

Chitose dropped his gaze from the window and turned to look at Bakusui. He wondered why Konbayoshi could not see it when everyone else can read him so easily. Or maybe, the owner never intended to understand in the first place.

“You know Konbayoshi is not keen on details.” Bakusui started tentatively, planning each word along the way. “He was just enraged and did not notice. I’m sure he wasn’t serious when he said that you and Kazuya could not leave the club.” In the end, the trainer –regardless of how eloquent he may be- could not find another legitimate excuse.

And Chitose smiled, slowly.

“We both know what happened.”

“Oh come on, you don’t actually believe...”

“I cannot deny the truth.”

“He doesn’t even know himself sometimes.”

“You’re right. And at those times, it is I who know him the best.”

“Chitose…”

“Bakusui-san will help me to my room, right?”

“…. Of course.”


[Opiate – Kazuya’s Room]

It was not what he had envisioned. When he imagined the owner being in his room, it was with great desire and excitement. He imagined that they would both be lost in the same world, where they were the only two who existed. He imagined flowers and candles, he imagined chocolates and alcohol. He imagined a kind Konbayoshi and a smiling Konbayoshi. He imagined gentle touches and sweet kisses. He did not imagine an angry Konbayoshi and an unattractive him.

The owner did not speak one word ever since Chitose had lashed back verbally. Whenever Kazuya reflected back on that, he could not help but wonder whether the number one host had capabilities that were beyond just smiling and looking pretty.

“Where is your first aid box?”

“Ah?” Snapped out of his own reverie, Kazuya quickly answered before Konbayoshi’s face could grow any darker. “It’s in the bathroom. Let me go get it.”

“Just sit.”

And as if zapped by a lightning bolt from Zeus himself, Kazuya did not move an inch from where he stood. The owner had unbuttoned his coat and was already heading to the bathroom. Could he? Was it possible? Was he allowed to get his hopes up? Unknown and without a third party to give him an answer, Kazuya could only stand and wait.

Soon, the owner returned with the first aid box in his hands and beckoned Kazuya over to sit down on a sofa. His body was out of his control, this man was his God. His feet moved before his mind could even comprehend, and a few steps later, he was sitting in front of Konbayoshi. The owner was fumbling with the lid before throwing it open.

He could. It was possible. He was allowed to get his hopes up!

“Are you bruised anywhere else?”

“N… no, just my face.”

“How nice of them to target your face only.”

The owner was not gentle. The owner was not good at this. When the cotton swab touched his cut lip, Kazuya visibly flinched and hissed at the pain. Yet he couldn’t help but feel his heart swell at the owner’s efforts. The pain was worth it! Even if he were beaten ‘till a breath away from death it is worth it; just because he could be treated like this by the owner!

“I’m sorry, owner-sama. I’ve disappointed you.”

For a long time, he thought the owner was not going to reply. And when he did, Kazuya had to do everything in his power to control the smile from breaking out on his face.

“Not disappointed, just...” worried

About him or about Chitose? Kazuya decided not to dig too deep and just enjoy the moment as he could.

“I’m sure you didn’t mean for it to happen.”

If only you knew… if only you knew.

To be continued...