Entanglement

Kobayashi Daisuike is eighteen and already has three years as a yakuza thug under his belt. Little fazes him, pain is his life, either the giving or taking of it and each encounter leaves him wondering if there isn’t something more. Something to fill the ache.

Sakata Ruka lives a plush yet desperately lonely life as a part-time model and street racer. His life is one conquest of pleasure after another. Yet lover after lover has not satisfied the hunger in him, the need to be truly loved and cherished.

When pain meets pleasure which will win?


Chapter 1


Daisuike was in a foul mood. Things had been going downhill for quite some time now and he wasn't sure how to stop it. Sitting alone in the booth he looked out at the late evening bar crowd. The new boy, Kenta was busy filling drinks and waiting tables. At least he was one of the few things working out well. The seventeen year old was street smart and a very impressive fighter for no older than he was. Daisuike sighed; not that he was that much older, he just wished other things were going as well.

Work was getting boring. Maybe that was too harsh a word. He was just frustrated by the stupidity around him and tired of dealing out pain to these idiots. It never ceased to amaze him just how monumentally stupid some people could be. He spotted the one of the other clan members across the room. Fujimaru Tanaka fit the common conception of what a yakuza thug should look like. Tall, burly and sporting a dark suit over a brilliant pink shirt, his dark hair was slicked back as he laughed with some of the other men as they played a game of poker.

He didn’t talk to Fujimaru anymore, not if he could help it. Not since he’d been promoted above him. Fujimaru had been very vocal in his resentment that he was being replace by his younger charge. The resentment was still there, simmering just behind muddy brown eyes.

Waving Kenta over he decided it was best to forget it, "Can you get me a refill, please?"

Kenta nodded, "Sure thing."

Daisuike watched him for a moment, his thoughts turning to his brothers. There were an odd bunch when he really thought about it. Jiro, the oldest was also his boss. He could see Haru from where he sat as he tended the bar. Akira was at Ryuunosuke’s practicing for their upcoming concert. Two yakuza, a bartender and a rock star. He shook his head a wry twist to his lips. He guessed it could have been worse.

“Here you are sir.” Kenta set the drink down.

“Thanks Kenta. Have you met my brother Akira yet? You guys are close to the same age.”

“I’ve seen him when he’s come in here but no, I haven’t met him. He’s the one with the purple hair, right?”

“Yeah that’s him.” Daisuike nodded then took a long swallow of his drink. It was perfect. He looked over at the bar seeing Haru watching him. Raising the glass he smiled and got an answering grin. Haru had asked him what was wrong earlier, but he hadn't even been sure himself. He was a little envious sometimes that Haru had decided to do his own thing, instead of following Jiro and joining the clan. Daisuike knew it was the only thing available to him. Never having even gone to high school made getting regular jobs worse than difficult, it was impossible. He would never have made it in normal society anyway.

It wasn't like he didn't enjoy working with Jiro, it just seemed that sometimes the job, the clan became his life to the point nothing else really mattered. At those times he always took a step back and let himself have time to re-evaluate. Like right now.

He knew why he enjoyed the job so much, even though the thought sometimes sickened him. There was just too much pent up rage, anger and frustration in him. Doing what he did let him get rid of it when it got to be too much for him. All the people close to him really had no idea just how depressed and upset he was; he was too good at hiding it. He had to hide it. There wasn't anything he could do about the things his mother had done. He needed to just get on with his life, but every time he tried to it seemed like something else would remind him. Having Akira around didn't help. He loved his brother and cared for him deeply, but sometimes he was just too emotional and Jiro and Haru couldn't deal with it. That left him to try and comfort Akira when the panic attacks or night terrors hit. He just wished there was someone he could turn to for comfort, someone he could confide in.

He shrugged it off taking another long drink of the rum and coke. He was going to need to go home and get ready for bed. He would need to check on another shopkeeper who was getting behind on his payments in the morning. That and Jiro had mentioned something about needing to see if he was being tailed or not. Daisuike wondered if the local cops had set up the surveillance or if it was the Anti-Organized Crime Division out of Tokyo. It was kind of exciting in a way, reminded him of those spy thriller movies, except he would be the bad guy.

He chuckled humorlessly at that thought. He was a bad guy. He did bad things. Any normal person would think so, hell he thought so too. It was kind of funny in a way. He could walk down the street, any street and no one would ever know he was a cold blooded killer. It was funny and scary. It made him leery of people. You never knew if the person standing next to you on the train platform was a serial killer, a wife beater, a pedophile. He shook his head. Every time he got to this line of thought he knew it was time to take a break and do something different for a while. Maybe Hayate would go clubbing with him tonight. That would be fun. He hadn't been out for . . . over a year. Had it really been a year? He was a little shocked. He hadn't though it had been that long.

Maybe he should go watch one of Akira's concerts. The boy was so excited about being in the band it was almost painful to watch sometimes. It would make Akira happy and he didn't mind in the least spending time with Reiko. She was interesting to talk to and made for good company. Or he could just go somewhere by himself, be spontaneous. Jiro would laugh at him. He never did anything spontaneous. Ever. Maybe it would help get rid of this gnawing pain in his middle, this empty feeling that seemed to be growing stronger every day. He nodded to himself.

That was what he would do. He would go out. Just himself. He would go out and have a good time. Go to a club, dance, maybe drink a little and just forget things for a while. Now that he was thinking about it, it did sound like a very good idea. Tomorrow, he would go out tomorrow night. That would give him time to get an outfit together and let Jiro know what he was doing. He'd have to see what clubs there were around. He didn't normally pay attention and he didn't really want to go somewhere that he might be recognized. He took a deep breath sitting back and looking around the bar. It was fairly busy even this late. He felt better now that he had a plan in mind. It felt like something had lifted. A weight he hadn't been aware of. He really was working too hard. Maybe he should ask for a day off now and then.

Getting up he headed over to the bar smiling at Haru. "Yo, I'm going home. Be careful on your way home."

"Will do. You too. Get some sleep Suke, you look exhausted."

"I will, ja ne."

Daisuike yawned stretching as he rolled over. He blinked sleepily. He needed to get up and make breakfast for Akira. Sitting up he looked over at the clock. His eyes widened in shock.

"Shit!" It was almost noon. "Why the hell didn't anyone wake me up!"

He scrambled around shoving the futon back in the closet and yanking clothes on. Walking into the living room he spotted Jiro on the couch watching TV and frowned.

"What's going on? Why didn't you wake me up."

Jiro shrugged. "You needed the sleep and I decided not to go out today."

Daisuike looked toward the kitchen his eyes narrowing. "Did you try to cook?"

"Ano . . ."

"Jiro! You know I don't like you using my stuff." Going to the kitchen he sighed and started the water to clean his pans. “What about that shopkeeper . . .”

“Hayate is taking care of it. Haru said you looked really depressed last night.” Jiro turned to look at him and Daisuike focused on scrubbing the pan trying to avoid the knowing look. “What’s going on Suke?”

“Nothing, I’ve just been . . . tired.”

Jiro nodded and turned back to face the TV. “Why don’t you take a few days off? Go to Tokyo or something. I know how much you love shopping. Go buy yourself something.”

“Ano, actually I was thinking of going out tonight. Going to a club or a rave or . . . something”

Jiro turned back to him eyebrows raised, “Really? You should. Maybe you’ll finally meet a nice girl.”

Daisuike snorted. “Sure. You ever tell your girl what you do?”

“Actually, she’s related to someone in the Sumiyoshi-kai. She said she’d already figured out as much.”

With a sigh Daisuike went back to scrubbing the burnt on food. He’d had a few girls confess their feelings for him, but he’d just never cared. Work had always been more exciting and he’d been more than happy to let it be his life. That and he just wasn’t, hadn’t ever been, attracted to anyone. Not enough to do anything about it. That and the few women he did know were nothing but trouble.

***

Daisuike decided to stay in Kobe, he didn't want to get too far out of their territory. It had just been so long since he'd gone and done anything that wasn't clan related that he was having a hard time shaking the mentality. He stopped at a club that he passed often but it was too crowded. He headed for another one but the drinks weren't very good. The third one was an upscale bar that had a nightclub upstairs. He ordered himself a drink and went upstairs to see what it was like.

Daisuike kept to the side of the dance floor just watching as he sipped his drink. The deejay was pretty good, at least keeping him interested in the music. He didn't normally listen to techno unless he was working and it involved him needing to concentrate. It was kind of nice to listen to and not be getting bloody.

Daisuike went back downstairs when they started playing some R & B. He wasn't a big fan of the music and besides, it was slow dance time. Nothing is worse than standing around by yourself while other couples danced together. Going back to the bar he ordered another rum and coke. Maybe going out had been a bad idea. He now had a pounding headache from the music and the urge to hit something. Time to go home. Maybe Jiro had something for him to do. This had been a complete waste of time and he didn't even know why he'd bothered.


***

Daisuike grimaced as he washed his hands. He really wished people would just give up sometimes. It made his job so much messier when they didn't. At least this hadn't taken as long as he thought it might. He nodded to Hayate on the way out making sure to turn off the music that was blaring in the background.


"You going to take care of it?"

"Yeah, Kenta is coming to help."

"Good. Call me if you have any problems."

He shook his head slightly as he passed the room with the hooded figure tied to the chair. He'd think twice before trying to rip them off again. Stupid really, to borrow from the yakuza then try to back out of paying. Heading out of the abandoned apartment building he threw the bloodied clothes into the nearby dumpster.

Climbing into his silver and black Land Rover he gripped the steering wheel for a moment. It hadn’t helped. He still had the odd sensation that he was trying to crawl out of his own skin. Normally he would find release as the blood flowed, but lately it just didn’t help. Something was missing. Something he couldn’t quite define.

He shook his head and started the truck, the turbo diesel rumbling to life. Maybe he would try going out again tonight. Who knew maybe there would be a fight and he could get rid of some of this excess energy that way.

He called Jiro on the way back to the apartment and told him he was going to go out again for the night.

“Alright, just try not to be too late. Kind of wish you’d at least come home and cook dinner. All Akira ever wants to order out is Chinese.” Jiro groused.

“I’ll whip something up when I get home. Just don’t try to cook anything, please.”

“Hai hai! I’d much rather leave that to you anyway.”

Daisuike chuckled as he hung up the phone. Just a few years ago and they wouldn’t even have been speaking to each other. Not that they’d been fighting. No. It was more that they were embarrassed to be around each other. At least now that he worked under Jiro things were better. Though it had really been Akira who had drawn them together and made them family again, made them realize what it meant to be family. Nothing quite accomplishes that like tragedy.