The Promise and the Threat

Masa stood outside the apartment door ringing the doorbell as he fidgeted. He could feel Fuji glaring at the back of his head, but he didn’t care.

“They are probably asleep, Masa. Ruka’s going to be upset.”

They’d been to the hospital already and found out Ruka and Daisuike weren’t there. It had kind of pissed them both off that they’d snuck out and not told anyone. But, if Suke was home that meant he was probably cooking breakfast. He knew it was kind of early but he was starving and though he knew Ruka was going to yell at him, he was craving some of Daisuike’s food. He eaten pretty much everything he thought he wouldn’t get in trouble for while they were in the hospital. He couldn’t have them coming home to spoiled food. He rang the bell again when there was no answer. He stumbled back as the door was suddenly yanked open, cringing hoping Ruka didn’t smack him.

“I’m sorry! I know it’s early but-“

“Masa?”

Masa blinked a few time and looked up. He hadn’t known Daisuike very long, but something about the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes was very wrong.

“Masa.”

Masa stepped closer not sure what to do. Daisuike stared at him for a moment and Masa had the disturbing feeling that Daisuike didn’t see him at all.

“Daisuike . . . what’s wrong? Where is Ruka?”

At the mention of Ruka’s name Masa thought Daisuike was going to faint or something. He suddenly got horribly pale and grabbed at the doorframe.

“I . . . I . . .” Masu reached for Daisuike starting to panic. Fuji stepped past him grabbing Daisuike and pulling him into the apartment. Masa followed shutting the door behind him. He could smell the tantalizing aroma of breakfast, but right now his mind was anywhere but food. Fuji made Daisuike sit at the table.

“Daisuike what is going on?”

Daisuike looked down at the phone in his hand. He wanted desperately for it to have been a nightmare. Ruka was going to walk through the bedroom door any moment and smile at him.

“He’s gone.”

Fuji frowned and gestured for Masa to check the apartment. “Daisuike, I need you to tell me what happened.”

He looked up as Masa walked back into the livingroom and shook his head his eyes widened as he looked around. Ruka was not in the apartment, but what did Daisuike mean he was gone?

“Daisuike, where is Ruka? What the fuck is going on?”

Daisuike looked down at his phone before slowly opening it and holding it up for Fuji to see. Fuji frowned at him then took the phone. He gasped his eyes widening with shock.

“Oh shit! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! This is what you meant?” Fuji stared at Daisuike.

“Fuji . . . what’s wrong . . .” Masa was starting to freak out.

Fuji ignored him. “We have to call the cops. How the hell did they get him out of the apartment?”

“I don’t know. I was only gone maybe twenty minutes.” Daisuike sounded a bit lost, his voice soft.

“We have to call the cops right now.”

“No. No cops. I’ll deal with this.” Daisuike looked at Fuji, his eyes finally focusing. Fuji was a little startled to see the sudden change. It was like he went from being a panicked boy to a cold blooded killer in the space of time it took him to blink. It rattled Fuji a bit and he wondered just who Daisuike was, thinking back to the night Ruka had crashed and the finely controlled ferocity he’d displayed. Just what, and who, had Ruka gotten himself mixed up with?

Daisuike snapped the phone shut, the panic replaced by an eerie calm. He got to his feet. "Can one of you drive? I have phone calls to make."

"What the hell is going on Daisuike? I want answers!" Fuji stalked to the door, not waiting on the other two. Daisuike was silent as they headed down to the parking garage.

"Where are we going? Daisuike, what happened to Ru-kun?" Masa's panicked voice was making Fuji even more nervous. He was scared something terrible had happened to Ruka.

"Why aren't we calling the cops! Ruka has been kidnapped! We need to get them to help form a search team. I hate them too usually but this is important!" Fuji finally snapped at Daisuike as they got to Masa’s car. He took the back as Daisuike slid into the passenger seat.

"It's too fucking important to trust to the cops. I said I'll deal with it. It's my business anyway." Daisuike had sent a text to Hayate and was waiting for a response. He kept his eyes forward as they pulled out of the parking garage, thinking of the places Fujimaru might go. He'd been held in a small warehouse that had obviously been a make-shift set up. No, Fujimaru would take Ruka somewhere else. He flinched as his phone rang. He didn't recognise the number and took a deep breath before he opened it.

"Moshi moshi. Kobayashi here."

"Suke-kun! My favorite knife tester." Fujimaru crooned a wicked grin on his face as he sat next to Ruka in the back of the car. "Or should I say, my favorite thing to test my knives on."

"Shut the fuck up. Where is Ruka? What do you want Fujimaru?"

"You've gotten a lot less eloquent since the last time I saw you dear boy." Fujimaru idly let the tip of his knife trace a line down Ruka's cheek, not breaking the skin. Yet. "It's very, very simple. You find me, and you'll find your pretty boy."

"Just tell me where you are you-"

"Ah ah don't tempt me to mar this handsome face here. I said you find me. I know how smart you are Suke, why don't you show me you can do more than just look pretty while carving up someone. See you soon. I hope."

Masa and Fuji sat still, neither moving both fearing to even breathe. Ruka was in the hands of someone completely insane and Daisuike was the reason?

Fuji finally snapped kicking the back of Daisuike's seat, "What the fuck is going on! I'm demanding answers Kobayashi!"

"What has Ruka gotten into. . ." Masa curled in on himself gripping the steering wheel. Both felt sick and were honestly scared for their friend's life. This wasn't just a simple kidnapping as it had seemed.

***

Ruka shuddered as they drove, having heard the conversation and Suke's responses. He sat there, trying his best not to move. If he didn't think about the knife, it wasn't there and then there was no fear.

***

Daisuike sat there for a long moment. Fujimaru wasn't dead. Jiro hadn't taken care of him. He felt the jolt to his seat at Fuji kicked it but wasn't paying attention to him. He had to think. Fujimaru had Ruka and it was entirely his fault. He clutched the phone so hard it started to hurt his hand but he ignored it. After a moment he opened the phone hitting speed dial. He started talking as soon as the other line picked up.

“You lied to me.”

“Suke? What are you talking about?”

“Fujimaru. You lied to me. He’s alive.”

"Daisuike if you go after him I swear by all our ancestors I'll beat you within an inch of your life."

"Fuck you Jiro. Why didn't you tell me he was still out there? I could have done something to protect Ruka." Daisuike couldn't keep the almost pleading tone out of his voice and he heard Jiro sigh on the other end.

"Because I knew you would try to go after him. I couldn't have that, not with you still healing from what he did to you."

"I don't care! You could have at least warned me."

"I'm sorry Suke, I thought he'd left the country."

"You thought . . . you thought! Jiro!"

"I'm sorry Suke I never thought he would come after you again and certainly not after Ruka."

"I'm going to find him and I'm going to kill him."

"Daisuike calm down-"

He snapped the phone shut. Jiro was not going to stop him. He’d trusted Jiro to have taken care of it. Jiro had lied and now Ruka’s life was in danger.

"Daisuike I swear to god if you do not tell me what the hell is going on I'm going to drop you off in the middle of nowhere and find Ruka on my own with the cops!" Fuji kicked his seat again yelling at him.

"Quit yelling at him! He's trying to fix this!"

"I don't give a fuck anymore Masa, he knows shit and won't say anything! Ruka could be dead for all we know right now!"

Masa went oddly quiet and still not even wanting to think of that possibility.

Closing his eyes for a moment Daisuike let his head drop. Shifting around in the seat so he was facing both of them he slowly raised his head.

"I do owe you an explanation. I'm yakuza, my father is the kumicho of the Kobayashi-kai. I wasn't in an accident. Fujimaru tried to kill me last month, it’s why I was in the hospital so long. While I was in there he kidnapped my younger brother all over a shipment of drugs. I'm assuming that Fujimaru was not happy to learn I survived. He's using Ruka to get to me, which is what this is all about. He wants me dead, simple as that." He turned back around staring out the windsheild. "If you want to kick me out fine, I completely understand. But I could really use your help to get to Ruka before Fujimaru has the chance to hurt him."

***

Fujimaru was pacing. They'd gotten to the warehouse without incident. He’d had one of the guys give the boy a sedative. Fujimaru couldn’t care less about him, he was just a way to get to Daisuike. He'd been hoping that Daisuike would at least call him back and yell at him. He loved to hear him get all emotional. He smirked walking over to where the boy lay on the cot.

Fujimaru knelt beside him checking the straps that held him in place. The blindfold was still on as was the gag. He took them both off. Wasn’t like anyone was going to hear him and the blindfold was kind of pointless anyway. It looked like the sedative was taking affect, his eyes had that slightly unfocused look to them. Fujimaru smiled at him.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure he’ll be here soon. If there is one thing I know about Daisuike it’s that he’s extremely stubborn and persistent. I’m almost sorry I have to kill him. Though I am looking forward to seeing him again. I was a bit rushed last time.” Fujimaru took out his knife and held it up so Ruka could see it. He looked over the wickedly curved six inch length. “I spent a whole hour just me and him and this knife. You’ve probably seen my handiwork.”

***

Masa sat there quiet for a moment before sighing, "Why does Ruka always get involved with the weirdos?"

"At least we like this so called weirdo." Rubbing his chin he looked at Daisuike, "Let's get one thing straight, we aren't doing this for you, we're doing it for Ruka. You're gunna have to work hard on earning our respect and trust back after this. But we will help you." Pulling out his phone he sighed, "How much muscle you need? Actually how much muscle can you handle? If we mention it's for Ruka we can get the entire circuit going. No one messes with one us and gets away with it."

Masa moved to open his own phone grinning, "Should we get the boys from Sendai involved too? They really liked Ruka and respected his driving skills and they got their circuit too. . ."

Daisuike nodded slowly, it was much more than he'd hoped for in reality. "If you want to call your friends that is fine, but I need to make sure of their location first. After Akira was kidnapped Reiko had tracing software installed in all of our phones. I had her do Ruka’s too. Just in case he crashed again or something. Give me just a minute to pull up the application."

"Alright. We'll get everyone on the ready." Fuji nodded to Masa who was already calling. "We'll give the signal and the local to meet at when we're ready. Don't be surprised when you get several hundred racers ready to kill some fuckers." Fuji wasn't joking either. Their circuit had nearly hundred guys, and if they called Sendai and Tokyo they'd be golden. Tokyo was even double their size at least. Flipping his phone open he started calling some guys he knew.

***

Ruka kept silent even though he felt sick. He wasn't going to let this guy get to him. Closing his eyes he just focused on his breathing trying to go into his own little world and ignore the outside one.

Fujimaru’s laugh was too close and he felt something cold and hard tap his leg. He opened his eyes to see Fujimaru leaning over him.

"Am I boring you prince charming. I bet you enjoy the noises he makes just as much as I did. You know it took hours for me to get him to make noise. But when he finally broke . . . it was music to my ears." Fujimaru smiled. "He pleads so nicely too, I can't wait to hear it again."

He stood smirking down at him for a moment before it faded into a frown his eyes cold and hard. "I should have slit his throat before I dumped him outside that warehouse."

Ruka kept his eyes averted refusing to respond to him, simply clenching his fists refusing to give in. This man was going to pay for the things he was saying. Even if all he wanted to do was scream at the guy he wouldn't. Fujimaru was enjoying the taunts and if he responded then he'd just enjoy that. He'd never react to this man.

***

"I've got it!" Daisuike's heart was pounding so hard he could barely focus as he stared at the screen. "Oh shit. This is bad. Call your guys off! They are in the heart of Fudoka territory. It would be a bloodbath. Ruka would be dead before we could get there."

He stared at the screen. What was he supposed to do now? He knew where they were but he couldn't get to them. Not without alerting all of the Fudoka-kai. He'd be killed before he could reach them. Getting out was going to be a problem too.

Masa and Fuji stared at Daisuike unsure of what to do. What could they do?

"Wait, you said your Yakuza right? Isn't there codes and stuff? I mean, these guys came onto your territory, stole your people and brought them back to their own turf. Isn't that pretty bad or something? Don't they gotta return them?"

Fuji wasn't sure how the real Yakuza work but in the movies stealing people and crossing boarders without permission was pretty bad.

Daisuike shook his head. "Fujimaru is rogue, he doesn't really swear allegiance to either. If I cross into their territory I will be violating the codes. Shit! There's no other way around it. If I don't go he is dead."

Fuji hissed for a moment clutching his hair, "Daisuike I know this is the last thing you want to do, but I think you need to do this diplomatically. They were taken from your territory, you have to go through their territory. Why not talk to the headquarters? It's the only option. If you go Daisuike you'll die and so will Ruka. This Fujimaru might not kill him, but-" Fuji paused for a second,

"If you die Ruka has no point in living at this point. That's how in love with you he is."

Daisuike stared at Fuji. The thought of Ruka not wanting to live simply because he wasn't there . . . he looked down his eyes going to the ring on his finger. He couldn't-wouldn't be reckless.

"You are right. Now is not the time to be foolish. I'll call them. They know who I am. If anything they will give me permission to come onto their territory and fix this little problem."

"You can't go alone Daisuike. You have to have back up. Lots of it. Please, at least get your gang together if not the racers. We know guys in that area who are racers. Unlike the Yakuza we're a giant family no matter where we live. Please?"

"I'd rather not get my guys involved. It would look too much like we were invading their territory even if I did call first. No, the fewer the people the better." He looked at the two of them. "I'm not going to ask you to come with me. I have no idea how many guys he has with him, but I'm confident in my abilities. Though now I'm very glad I thought to bring my knives. Just . . . ano, you won't tell Ruka will you?"

Fuji glanced at Suke, "You think this is something we'll keep from him? No, we won't tell him though, you'll be telling him. Something this important you don't keep from people you love."

Masa grabbed Suke's hand taking the phone from him, "I'll call the guys. The Yakuza can't get pissy if a bunch of racers show up, ne?" He grinned getting the address down into a text going to send it out to everyone.

"You aren't going to alone and you need backup Daisuike. It's the least we can do for Ruka since you're the most important thing in his life."

"H-hai, thank you. I . . . just-thank you." Daisuike leaned back in the seat letting Fuji make his calls. It made him feel good to know that Ruka had friends he could truly rely on. He was going to have to find some way to pay them back for their help.

Fuji smiled at Daisuike shaking his head as he spoke into the phone. He smiled once he got off the phone, Masa hanging up right after him.

"Jun is sending for his boys."

"Daichi is sending for his as well. Which means. . ." Fuji cringed looking at Suke a bit, "Is 50 guys too much? I doubt Daichi will keep his mouth shut. He'll tell his boys which will tell their friends. . .We might end up with even more once this is over."

"I have no idea guys. Here let me have my phone back so I can call." Taking the phone he called up Isao first to get the right number then called the headquarters. He was on the phone for a lot longer than he thought explaining the situation to the wakagashira on the other end of the line.

He sighed as he finally closed the phone. "Well, they aren't happy, but I have permission to be in the territory."

"Unlike you, we don't need permission." He smirked, "Alright. Masa, let's go and get Ruka back okay?"

"Osu!" Masa chirped as he started off, speeding down the road heading towards the location that they had told the others.

"Is there anything else we need Daisuike? People, weapons, cars? Well I think we got enough of those actually. . . Fujimaru wouldn't be able to keep up with us either."

"I think we are good. Fujimaru never liked to have too many guys with him. He never trusted anyone, mostly because no one could stand him. That and he thinks everyone is just like him." Now that they were on their way Daisuike's nerves were starting to get to him. He really didn't know how he was going to handle seeing Fujimaru again, but something told him he needed to do this. Need to face what had been done to him and face the man who had done it.

***

Ruka sighed softly wishing he was somewhere else. He could picture himself inside his apartment drinking some wine with Suke's head on his lap. In his mind he could even feel the soft silk stands between his fingers and he desperately wanted to be back with his lover.


Fujimaru was pacing. What was taking Daisuike so long? Even with having to contact the Fudoka-kai it shouldn’t be taking this long. The little shit hadn’t even bothered to call him back. Stalking over the the cot he grabbed a handful of Ruka's hair yanking his head up to look at him. "What do you think, lover boy. Think your pretty little killer will come for you?"

Ruka tried to hold back the slight whimper as his hair was grabbed staring up at Fujimaru. Glaring at the man he made no move to struggle or fight him. It would be pointless.

"I think Daisuike will do what he knows he should do." He paused, his lips twitching slightly, "And he'll be smart about it too. I have no doubt in my mind he'll come for us. However I also know Jiro will be coming as well and I know for a fact that your life will end after this night."

Fujimaru growled, "You just keep thinking that and when you see what happens when he gets here you'll realize I was right."

He jerked his hand out of Ruka's hair sneering at him. "Jiro doesn't have the balls to kill me. He had the chance once and didn't take it. Which is why we are here together now."

Going over to the table nearby he picked up one of the tazers and his phone. "Maybe we need to motivate him to get here faster."

Watching him stalk towards the table, his eyes widened for a split second and he tensed. He had an idea of what Fujimaru planned to do and he felt sick. He had to make sure he didn't scream. He wouldn't-couldn't do that to Daisuike. Biting his lip he closed his eyes again trying to go back into his own little world.

Flipping the phone open Fujimaru dialed Daisuike's number making sure to put the phone on speaker.

"Suke-kun, I'm beginning to wonder where you are."

"Close enough you fucking bastard." Daisuike’s voice was brittle and echoed oddly in the warehouse.

"My such language Suke. You've learned some new words since last I saw you."

"What do you want?" The impotent rage in Daisuike's voice made Fujimaru smile. He'd forgotten how much fun it was to infuriate the younger yakuza.

"Oh I think you know what I want. I want you here so I can watch you bleed. Remember how much fun we had last time Suke. You were such a good boy. Not saying anything, enduring your beating just like your mother taught you to. Such a spectacular woman your mother, teaching her son to take a beating like that with out uttering a sound." The smile widened hearing the labored breathing on the other end. "That had to be where you learned such endurance, such fortitude ne Daisuike? What-where is the cursing Suke-kun? Aren't you going to call me some crude names again."

Fujimaru chuckled as the silence stretched out. "Hmm I wonder if you'll be so quiet this time. Or maybe this time we'll just go straight into the really fun part. I wonder if you'll scream and cry for me again. Will you dear boy?"

He smirked as the line went dead his eyes watching Ruka wondering how long it would take for him to start screaming.

Ruka clenched his jaw trying to keep his breathing even. This sick fuck was too much. How could anyone get off on giving someone so much pain? To think that this man had caused Daisuike such pain- Ruka wouldn't stand for it.

Lifting his head off the cot, he stared directly at Fujimaru his eyes cold and hard. His voice was deceptively soft an odd lilt to it. "I'm excited to see Daisuike fillet you and you drown in your own filthy blood."

***

Daisuike stared at the phone his hand trembling. His whole body felt numb and cold. It took him several minutes to regain his composure enough to look up. He was beginning to wonder if he could do it. Could he really face Fujimaru again? He had to. Had to.