Hunted

How could that guy just run off like that? Come home with someone, kiss and cuddle, and then take off? At least there was a chance of seeing him again later that evening. Then again, it was probably partly his own fault - and maybe he could pin a bit of it on Takuya too. That was good; Kiyoshi liked pinning things on his yellow-haired countryman.

Back to the arcade and see if there was more money to be made, then. Hopefully, Kyun was still there; he had forgotten all about the Korean for a moment by the War of the West machine, and couldn't really tell Nele he had to go back to let his friend know he was going home. Then again, knowing Kyun, he was probably engulfed in some game anyway. Maybe hadn't even noticed he was gone yet.

"Looks like you're alone, kid." Someone spoke from immediately behind. Looking back, he recognised the large man from the previous day. The tax man. Seconds later, the smaller partner of the tax man stepped out on the other side of Kiyoshi to block his way. The big guy smirked and took a step toward him. "What should we do with this one, Jyotis?" The sound of a lighter being flicked on came in response, but the brute ignored it. "I believe we have a tax to collect..."

Was that some kind of joke? In the middle of the day in a rather crowded street? Realising there wasn't much chance of running, he stopped and gazed at the bigger fellow with disbelief. "It's not funny. Come on, leave me alone. Please." He had half a mind to just hand his wallet over, but the 'What should we do with this one' bit left him unsure of whether even that would be enough.

Only amusement could be seen in that assessing gaze. "That's not going to happen. I wouldn't go through all this trouble of finding you just to leave you alone. Oh, and I should probably tell you that I charge interest for people who blow me off." He moved closer and lashed out, slamming a fist into Kiyoshi's stomach. "Where's your friends now, huh?"

'Not here... there's just all these people walking past...' Kiyoshi looked desperately at people around them, but nobody seemed inclined to lend a hand - at least not yet. The evening before had given him back a little faith, but he was far from convinced someone would step in again. As air finally refilled his lungs, he muttered, "You haven't met my friends yet. If you had, you wouldn't do this."

"Jyotis, if anyone tries to interfere, stop them." The big guy shoved Kiyoshi up against the nearest wall. The scrawny guy was already pacing to the side and pointing that dead-fish stare at other people walking by. A big fist roughly grabbed Kiyoshi by the neck and pushed him up so he was barely supported by his toes. "Money doesn't matter anyway. I'd rather provide you with a learning experience. It was incredibly stupid to fuck with me."

"Fuck with you? I didn't do anything!" Wondering for a moment whether to fight back, the Japanese decided that it would be a bad idea. He had tried that a few months back with a smaller guy with a similar approach, and that had hurt for weeks. It didn't feel like a good time to die, especially not having just started getting to know that funny redhead.

The big guy gently – mockingly – ran his hand over the victim's face. "You're right. You wouldn't have fucked with me if it wasn't for those two pieces of roadkill, but you're going to be paying for their mistakes anyway. Let's see... Where should I put the message? A split lip should work for now." That decided, the hand was pulled back into a fist. All Kiyoshi could do was close his eyes and grit his teeth as the fist came at him, nailing him in the jaw.

That hurt, but not as much as he had expected. Being released a moment later, he was almost tempted to spit the guy in the face - after all, he was just denied the martyrdom he had expected. However, he thought of Nele again, and figured he'd pass. Not even the twisted satisfaction and Takuya being nice to him for a week was worth that guy's full force onto his body.

"Now I've got some other people to collect debts from. I'm glad we had this chat, I really think we made some headway, right?" The big guy laughed and started walking away, his scrawny friend falling into line behind him. "Catch ya later!"

~~~~~

Kyun's heart sank a few inches when he received Kiyoshi's phone call. Apparently, that guy from the day before had shown up to hit him. The Japanese had even been worried enough to ask him to get home by way of a detour, so it was obvious this meant some kind of trouble. That be damned, though, the Korean was furious. Punch Kiyoshi! Nobody got to do that!

He had hurried home only to find Luo and Takuya there, not taking it overly seriously. Well, compared to Kyun that is. They were already discussing what happened with Kiyoshi, and seemed up to speed on what the guys looked like. However, there didn't seem to be a revenge plan yet, and that bothered the smaller Korean greatly. Did that mean that just because the cute fellow wasn't bleeding, beating him up was okay? At least they realised that sticking together was a good idea for the near future.

A couple of hours later, the phone finally rang. Good. Finally something to get his mind off his worries. At least they were all gathered at this point, so he shouldn't have to worry much about splitting up to pick up Julian. Kyun just couldn't wait to see that purple-haired fellow again. With a smile on his face, he pulled out his phone and answered it.

~~~~~

"Something happened..."

As vague a statement that was, the situation was much clearer. Julian stood in the center of his bedroom, staring down at the mess. It looked like a tornado had hit and it was very unsettling to find when he lived alone. Who could he call? Really he had no one who he wanted to disturb, but his newest acquaintance had already told him to, so...

With a sigh, he stepped over a fallen lamp to check his dresser. "A break-in," He said into the cordless phone. Everything in the top drawer was a wreck, but nothing was missing. "I guess it was Rick, because all he did was give me a lot of cleaning to do."

There was a bit of hesitation, before the response came. "Rick what?"

"He trashed my bedroom. Few things are broken." It was so hard to remain calm about it. The idea that someone – even if it was just that jerk – had broken into his home and done something like that... Still, he tried his best to keep the unease from creeping into his voice. "But nothing's missing as far as I can tell."

"Damn." There was plenty of sympathy in that voice, but also something else. A touch that made Kyun sound very upset, whatever caused that. "Still want to come tonight? I understand if you'd rather wait... or I could come help you out?"

He hesitated as he tried to think of a way to word it without sounding like a scared rabbit. "Actually... I'm not so sure I want to be here at the moment. I highly doubt he's hanging around or anything, but it's kinda creepy. Besides, I do still want to see you."

A light sigh was heard before Kyun spoke in a serious tone. "I really want to see you too. Though, there's something you should know... a friend of mine was beaten up today. So there will be a certain lack of privacy around here, but at least it should be safe." He paused, then added hastily, "and we've got three rooms!"

"Beaten up? That's terrible! I hope he's alright..." Julian frowned to himself as he absently straightened some picture frames that had been knocked down. Must have been a stressful day for Kyun. "Normally I'd tell you that we can reschedule so you could take care of your friend, but would it be selfish of me if I wanted to see you today anyway?"

"Selfish? No, not at all. He's alright, given the circumstances. If I understood him correctly, he wants someone else over tonight as well. With burglars and violent jerks out there, perhaps it's a good day for a 'the more the merrier' philosophy, anyway." He paused for a bit, then lightened up considerably. "Do you know where the Kirin Chinese restaurant is? Could meet up outside and pick up dinner for everyone while we're at it."

Couldn't help but smile at that. Nothing better than a great guy like Kyun and food to make all his worries disappear in an instant. Okay, maybe he was just simple-minded. "Are you kidding? I love that place and it's close enough to walk, too! How soon should I be there?"

Kyun seemed to share his enthusiasm too. "Half an hour? They've got a nice garlic and chili chicken dish... that good for you?"

"Absolutely! It's one of my favourite meals from that place." He was far too excited to hang around that depressing crime scene, so he made his way over the rubble to leave the room. With a relieved laugh, he cradled the phone between his neck and shoulder as he started getting his coat on. "Good, now I don't have to clean yet. Half an hour it is. I'll see you then!"

~~~~~

This is a collab, written together with Chlover. You can find her author profile here: http://original.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=26260

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Passing_Breeze: I'm sure Kiyoshi agrees with you... :) Here, have a cookie! Or was there anything else you wanted?