A/N:

Not that anyone would be surprised, but I don't anything remotely cool like VF. The situations and the OC's are mine, but Yamane's peeps are way cooler.

Chapter Six––My Empire of Dirt

Hollowness engulfed him. It was pitch black nothingness, a cavern where his breathing echoed loudly and his heart beat rippled beneath him. He alone in this void, with nothing to see or touch. Or feel. He was surprised at how thin his consciousness felt in his own body. Once upon a time, in the vaguest of memories so distant that they could have been a dream, he had been strong. A pillar. A sentinel. But in the emptiness, he was water. Bodiless and adrift.

Time meant nothing. Everything was infinite and fleeting concurrently. Sound boomed like thunder, rolling around him and pushing him deeper into the abyss. Hearing himself slosh about was disconcerting. Asami had never been fond of the water, never equated himself with its boundless temerity. He was solid and stoic and dry, a mountain above the sea. He was whole and complete by himself. The water would run over him, evaporate and leave, but he would remain intact.

"Ryu!"

Sound rocketed around him. He could hear people shouting incomprehensible words. They were voices he knew––voices he should recognize but all he could distinguish was male and female. No faces, no memories, no warmth. Just sound in the nothingness. The void lurched. The voices were jarring. Something was wrong. His spirit swung as if it were strung up in a hammock.

"Ryu! Ryu!"

Maybe that was why he loathed the water. It was slippery, sliding through his hands. Uncontainable. Free. He should have loved the water, been the water. Water was strong, crushing mountains and cities, feeding the world and covering the entire expanse of history. Water could not be repressed, could not be stopped, could not be contained. And as a mountain, though strong and implacable, Asami Ryuich could be toppled.

"Get him out of here!"

Yes, something was very wrong. The darkness was wrong. It was not the comforting warmth of a mother's womb in which he floated, but the undertaker's coffin. Asami was wrong. He was not passive, he was not a will-less puppet waiting to be used. The man he used to be would not lie waiting in the void.

"Move!"

The darkness shook, his body vibrating. Asami flew forward, his head hitting the inside of his skull. Pain exploded around him. The man groaned. Groaned! Made the noise instead of hearing it.

"Shit!"

He could feel. He was warm, tightly wrapped in soft sheets. Something beneath his body bounced, shaking him. The impact of his back against the hard surface forced the breath out of his lungs. A whooshing roar surrounded the cabin and then…weightlessness. For the first time, Asami Ryuichi found himself on the brink of consciousness. The darkness was fading, like the dawn after a black storm, and if he fought, if he opened his eyes, he would finally wake.

"Ryu?" Bright white light flooded the air. He was blind, the light much worse than the empty dark. It was full of things he could not see, enemies he could not attack. A dark shadow loomed over him, framed by golden hair and the man realized he was supine. A halo. He was dead then, and this angel was guarding his soul.

"Reiko-sensei!" Head turned, the shadowy figure called out words the Asami could not understand. That was okay. Asami was content to listen to the mellifluous song he sang.

"Ryu!" The angel looked back down. His gentle hand cupped the sinner's cheek, and the man leaned into the cold touch. It soothed the hellfire in his soul. The fixer wished he could look at seraphic features of his guardian, wondered if they were as statuesque as a kouros, or soft as cherry blossoms.

"Asami-sama." Another black shadow appeared.

Asami growled at this interloper, this idiot that made the angel recoil.

"Sleep, sir," the second being said.

"I love you." The angel pressed a chaste kiss to his forehead, and an entirely different heat crashed through him. The angel was pulling back. Fear gripped his sinning heart; Asami struggled to lift his hand, desperate to see this perfect face before the darkness swallowed him. "I love you. I love you," the angel repeated. Something in Asami's stomach fluttered––perhaps wings of his own––but he could not stave off the dark.

The world went black.

***Hurt***

Asami jolted awake. His body lurched forward before he even thought to move. Sharp pain stabbed his chest, tugged on his arm. He was incredibly sore, his chest tight––each breath seemed to be more pain than it was worth. There was an IV in his arm, and a heart rate monitor taped to his sternum. He was safe. Someone had taken extreme care with his medical needs, and to dress him. Mind racing, the fixer memorized the room quickly. He had no idea where he was. His sensitive eyes wanted to blink, but the crime lord forced them to stay open––to adjust.

Blinding white light was everywhere. Sunlight bounced off the terra-cotta walls, glinting off a large flatscreen television, and fading into the white cotton sheets. The room was massive: the bed was larger than a king, grand bookcases dominated one wall, and between two open archways, a blue fountain ran down the wall.

The open arches lead to a green courtyard and he could smell the sea in the air. Wherever he was, it wasn't Japan.

Pulling the IV out and pealing off his cardio monitor, Asami pushed himself out of the bed before someone could come running in. The house felt like a resort. Relaxing. Quiet. A safe place to heal. This was entirely Kirishima's doing, the mother hen that he was.

Walking felt impossible. His joints were swollen. His limbs were stiff and his muscles weak. He had not moved in a long time, and the toxins' effects lingered. At any moment his legs would give out from under him. Leaning against the wall, the fixer slowly but surely made it to a closed door. And when he did, the breath left his body.

The open ocean spread around him, infinite and as dark as the abyss he nearly fell in. There was no land in sight, just a steep drop into a deep blue sea. A thin black rail surrounded the small balcony. If his legs were to give out, Asami would tumble into the depths and no one would ever know.

"Mr. Asami!"

Shock jolted his body. His muscles seized, and if it had not been for two strong hands, darkened by their days in the sun, he would have collapsed on the ground––never having found his family. "I've got you," the surprisingly deep voice said from behind him. Instinct pounded beneath his skin, his hand grabbing the thick arm wrapped around his chest and his elbow shot back, connecting with her meaty ribs.

"You aren't going to fall. I've got you." Mortification replaced instinct. This Amazonian behind him thought he stumbled, that his feet fumbled for purchase on the slick ground. She didn't realize that it was an attack.

"Where––?" The hoarseness of his voice scraped his throat.

"You shouldn't be out of bed." She spoke with a throaty accent; English wasn't her native language but so proficient was she that it was nearly impossible to tell. "Dr. Reiko won't be happy."

Reiko. Definitely Kirishima's doing, because only he would send the doctor along. Pride dictated that he not let this woman lead him back to bed, that he make it on his own strong legs, but truthfully, Asami depend on her strength. Had she arrived later, he wasn't sure if he would have stayed on the balcony at all. He could barely stand now.

"I'll ring for Dr. Reiko," she was saying.

"Where am I?" Asami didn't fight as she tucked the blanket around his legs. She tutted under her breath, checking his forehead brusquely. "Who are you? Where is my family?" Cliche questions, but necessary. He remembered waking––seeing Akihito and hearing that his mother called. Where was Hisana? And why had he been removed from Tokyo?

"Rajahlea." Deep lines etched her no-nonsense face, tanned and weathered from years in the sun. Her hands were calloused, laboring hands, and her eyes were dull. Unassuming. This was a woman who had kept secrets for decades, and who would continue to do so. "And you are at your daughter's house."

"Hisana's?" The words bounced around in his brain. She didn't own property. Would not have purchased anything without his knowledge. Not unless this house was purchased solely for his recovery.

"Asami-sama!"

Reiko-sensei burst into the room. His white coat had been replaced with a gaudy, printed shirt and a straw-brimmed hat. "Good to see you awake, sir." He seemed flustered, but smiled. Cursorily reapplying the heart monitor, Reiko-sensi looked at Rajahlea. "Can you get Mr. Takaba?" he asked in perfect English.

The woman walked into the courtyard. "You gave us quite a scare." Reiko shined a penlight in his eyes. "We weren't sure if you would pull through."

"What did they use?" His tongue flicked over his dry lips. The saline bag had kept him hydrated, but he felt dusty. Decrepit. Like the doctor had pulled him from the edge of death. But there was business to attend to, and Asami would be damned if he let any discomfort keep him from working.

"Pavulon and tetrodotoxin." Reiko-sensei sat in a wicker chair beside the bed.

His mind fired rapidly. "This should have been lethal," the fixer replied, eyes narrowed. It was some Frankensteinian death cocktail, one meant to cause as much pain as possible. That explained why he felt like his every neuron had been set alight. "Who did it?"

Asking why he was alive was pointless. Reiko-sensi would tell him if was pertinent. The who mattered more than the why, because whys would not make second attempts. Or go after his family.

"We don't know," Reiko-sensei shrugged. "Asami-sama is tracking down leads now––"

His brow quirked. "Asami-sama?"

Hisana.

"Ryu!"

Asami lurched forward again, hands outstretched. Akihito came barreling into the room, a jubilant smile, brighter than the sun, on his face. His skin was bright pink, clashing with his blond hair. They hadn't been at the house long if the photographer was only burnt, not tanned.

"Thank God you're awake!" The boy skidded to a halt by his bed. High pitched yipping cried out. A white fur ball jumped excitedly when she heard the change in the fixer's breathing.

"Akihito." His boy was breathing heavily. A roar rushed through his ears, encapsulating all sound. All he could see was a blond head and shaking hands that reached for him. "Akihito." Asami could only say that name. But, it was enough. That name was his anchor, his peace. Whatever had happened suddenly became insignificant because his lover was standing beside him, unharmed. "Akihito."

The boy pulled Asami to his lips. Teeth clanking, their mouths crashed over each other with desperate need–– as if Akihito was sucking Asami's soul into his own body. His lips were raw. Blood trickled out of the rips, down into their mouths, and neither cared. "Ryu," the blond repeated. Eyes shut, he rested his forehead against the fixer's. "You're back."

"Of course, Akihito," his own voice was hoarse. Gently stroking wet cheeks, Asami pressed another kiss to the soft lips. Akihito was crying. "We haven't reached the abyss yet."

His boy pressed a kiss to the inside of his wrist. "To the abyss and back," he promised. The photographer's melodic voice was triumphant, his eyes danced. In that moment, pure and unadulterated joy radiated from him. At last, all was right in the world.

Pulling Akihito onto the bed, Asami tucked the blond's head beneath his chin before he spoke again. Ueda and Nakao were standing not too far off. Reiko still sat beside him. And Ruger yipped from the floor. Not the council he expected when he woke.

"Where are we?" Asami rapidly assessed the situation. Hisana was nowhere to be seen. Kirishima and Suoh would have been with her––watching over her. In Tokyo, at Sion: in the lion's den. She could not stand against the rats the scurried in the shadows. They nearly destroyed him; she would be food for fodder, even with his best men protecting her. "I need to get back to Tokyo. Where is my phone?"

"No!" Akihito shouted. He scrambled off of the bed and firmly pushed Asami back down. "You aren't going anywhere."

"Akihito––"

"I'm afraid that Takaba-san is right, sir," chimed in the old doctor. Blue eyes glanced at the fixer's vitals. "Asami-sama ordered us to keep you here until you have recovered sufficiently."

"You don't work for my daughter." The snarling Asami tried to get up, but he was so weak that Akihito effortlessly kept him down.

"At the moment I do," Reiko-sensei responded. "We all do."

"Why isn't Kirishima running the company?" Asami demanded. He huffed loudly, shooting Akihito a scathing glare. Breathing was more difficult than he remembered. "That's his damn job."

Reiko-sensei shook his head. "I can't speak to Asami-sama's mind. She has taken full control of Sion, and I believe she intends to keep it until you have recovered––which you will do more quickly if you rest."

"I'm recovered enough now. Ueda, get me my phone!" His weakness infuriated him. His word was law; men quaked when faced with his specter. His slim lover should not have been able to keep him in bed!

"Don't do it, Ueda!" Akihito ordered. Asami balked at the authority in his lover's voice. Akihito squared his shoulders to stare down the goons. "You both know what Suoh said. No contact until Reiko-sensei says so. No matter what."

Resentment flared in his chest when both subordinates bowed. "Yes, Takaba-san," they murmured.

"If you have a problem with it, you can talk to me," Akihito wheeled on the fixer. "Don't give me that look. You almost died, Ryu. Died. I won't let you do anything that jeopardizes your life."

"You don't get to make that call," growled Asami.

Akihito was not intimidated by the man's fury. Not after seeing him floundering for each breath. The desperation to never see it again overrode everything else. "I do today." He looked around the room. No one seemed willing to challenge him, and the fire that coursed through Asami's veins was not ire.

"At least tell me where we are." Asami attempted to negotiate around the blond's info ban. He could extrapolate quite a bit from the smallest of clues, and use it to his advantage. He would be back at Sion by the end of the week.

Akihito glanced at Dr. Reiko in askance. The old man nodded, and really, Akihito couldn't see the harm in telling Asami where they were. It wasn't like he could escape and get back to Japan. "Challaçao. It's a private island in French Indonesia."

"Why?" So the Amazon was correct: Hisana must have owned this island, because he did not. And Kirishima would not have sent him to another's home. He wasn't sure how she would have been able to afford it, but he would get to the bottom of it all––which meant playing Akihito against Reiko. They couldn't be allies in this.

Akihito sighed. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he took the fixer's hand. "Somebody tried to kill you."

He said it slowly, as if the fixer had not lived it. "I am well aware," Asami grunted. The pain meds were starting to wear off, but they made his mind cloudy. Pain was preferable to being addlepated."We discussed it yesterday."

"No, Asami-sama," Reiko-sensei stood up, head bowed. "Several men forced their way into your home while you slept. They used me to get them in."

Asami didn't bother making sure that the doctor was still loyal. He would be dead if he wasn't, which meant that somehow he alerted Kirishima to the plot. "Are the assailants alive?" Though it put Akihito at risk, it was a tangible lead.

Said photographer's face curled up. Not in repulsion––fury. "We don't really know." It nearly sounded like he wanted the assassins dead.

"Tell me the story," demanded the fixer. Something was wrong. Akihito's fury, Hisana's absence, the island. The pointed look the photographer shared with Reiko said it all: he wasn't supposed to know. Hisana had forbidden it.

"It's better if he knows the truth, Takaba-san," Reiko said at last. "If he knows, he can focus on healing."

Akihito sighed skeptically. "Fine. Whatever it takes to keep you in bed," he laughed mirthlessly. Angrily. "It shouldn't shock me that you get what you want. Again."

After the confrontation with Sakazaki, no one slept well. Akihito tossed and turned all night. Every time he closed his eyes, he could smell Sakazaki, feel the heat of his skin, the hardness in his mouth. Hisana had killed the club owner––she had been covered in so much blood that there was no other option––but that did not erase his ghost. If anything, Akihito's guilt magnified.

The photojournalist moved sluggishly. Bloodshot eyes blinked as he fumbled for the coffeepot. Fuck, his head hurt. Drip. Drip. Drip. Usually, the percolation gave him a second-hand buzz. Drip. Drip. Not today. Drip. The reverberating drip made his temple throb.

"What time is Reiko-sense coming?" Hisana didn't look up from her oatmeal. She looked about as good as he felt.

"He should have been here by now," the twenty-four year old admitted. The microwave blinked 8:38 in neon red. "He's usually punctual." Asimov lifted his head curiously when the blond opened the fridge. "It's just cereal, boy." The blue pit bull lay his head back on his crossed paws, uninterested in the sugary sweetness that was Dancing Hippo's Cereal.

"Maybe there is traffic." The long night had not smoothed out the wrinkles in their relationship. She couldn't bear to look at him, and he really didn't know what to say.

"Asami-sama," a guard––there were so many that Akihito couldn't remember their names anymore––held a phone to his ear. "Reiko-sense has arrived."

"See? Traffic." Akihito tried to lighten the suffocating solemnity.

"He has two medical students with him. Ono-sensei and Ikena-sensei."

Hisana balked. "What?" Her chair scraped against the floor when she stood up. Ludicrous. Absolutely ridiculous. Her father was too vulnerable and unstable to be exposed to new, unvetted people. Reiko-sense knew that. He never would have permitted it.

"Asami-sama?" The guard waited for her go-ahead. No one entered the condo, even known friends, without permission.

"Send him up," Hisana nodded. The goon disappeared back to the genkan. "Akihito." The photojournalist flinched at his name. He never though he would miss Mom. "Call Suoh."

"Do you think there's a problem?" He took off for his phone. Dammit, why had he left it in his room?

"Not sure." Hisana said from the kitchen. "It's definitely weird."

She could say that again. Even if it was an anomaly, Akihito would feel better if Suoh was there. The giant was the only person that Akihito trusted Asami's safety with one hundred percent.

The doorbell rang. Hisana took off to the door, tucking a kitchen knife in the band of her jammy pants. "Stay in the kitchen." No one knew he was involved with Asami, and if this was on the up-and-up, it needed to stay that way. "C'mon Suoh," Aki groaned into the phone. "Pick up."

"Takaba?" Souh's mouth sounded full.

"Two men cam in with Reiko-sensei," he whispered. "Hisana's talking to them now."

"Stay where you are."

Ears forward, Asimov trotted out of the kitchen. Akihito grabbed for his collar, but the curious dog was too fast. Footsteps made the floor vibrated.

"Takaba!" Suoh thundered.

Akihito dropped the phone to his side. Hisana didn't glance into the kitchen as she led the party past. Reiko-sensei's hand squeezed her shoulder. The two students trailing quietly behind in teal scrubs, but their gorilla-esque forearms screamed fighter, not healer.

They didn't see him.

"Akihito!"

He thought he heard the mammoth running. "I gotta go."

"What the fuck?" an unfamiliar voice echoed. There was a thump, a man swearing and then Hisana started shouting.

"Drop the gun!"

Akihito took off running. Ryu! Hisana cried out in pain, the sound of flesh slapping less reverberated. Shit, shit! The knife was on the floor, just outside the room.

"Don't you dare touch him!" That was Reiko-sensei's voice. The floor shook when something––someone––fell.

"Ryu!"

Strong arms grabbed his torso. "I've got Takaba!"

No! No! Akihito flailed. He was so close to the damn door, a meter at most. No! His family needed him. "Ryu!" He jerked and clawed at the iron bands that caged him. No! Ryu needed him! Asmiov was barking and Hisana was screaming and that was his family!

"Takaba!" Ueda hissed. "Please!"

Suoh rushed past. Goons followed in his wake, guns drawn. Ueda stumbled when bodies jammed into the hallway.

"Suoh!" Akihito breathed a sigh of relief. It was gonna be okay. He'd stop them––

A gunshot ran out. Akihito froze. Oh, God.

"No!" Hisana screamed. Was screaming. Never stopped screaming.

"Ryu!" Ueda's grip relaxed, and the blond was able to break free. Even Suoh stumbled when he barreled into the room.

"You fucking bastard!" The drywall crumpled. "I'm going to put your head through the fucking wall! Fucking bastard!" Akihito threw an arm up as he ran, lest the drywall crumble on him.

"Hisana!" Suoh reached her first.

"Kill him!" the girl ordered.

"Move!" The blond elbowed the guards who converged around the doorway, watching. Useless. "Oh fuck," he gasped wetly.

Blood was spattered everywhere, like some macabre modern art piece. One of the medical students lay still on the floor, his face bloody and bludgeoned. Suoh was pulling Hisana away from the other, leaving his face in the wall, where he hung limply. Reiko-sensei pressed fingers covered in coagulating blood to Ryu's pulse. Breathing. Uninjured. Thank God, the fixer was okay. Blood smothered the sheets but he was fine.

Why was there so much blood?

Akihito couldn't breath. It was like his lungs vanished from his chest. No. Asimov lay on the crime lord's legs, blue eyes open and a hole in his forehead. Sensing the threat, he jumped between the man and the bullet. He saved Asami's life.

"Hisana!" Suoh had to lift the apoplectic girl off the floor. Her feet slid on the floor. Fat tears rolled down her face as she clawed red gashed down Suoh's arms. She couldn't support herself, couldn't reach the murderer that she wanted to flay.

"No!" she kicked and screamed. White spittle flew on the bloodcurdling shrieked. "I'm going to kill him!"

"You've got to calm down!" he thundered. "We need them alive if we want any information!"

"I don't care! I don't care! I'll kill them all!" She was inconsolable. Nothing could have destroyed her more.

Akihito could hear Ruger whining from under the bed, terrified. Slipping past the giant, he nodded to Reiko. The doctor must have been on their side. After all, he did try to warn them. "Here," he said softly. Untucking the sheets from the bed, he wrapped them around the dog's body.

"Mom," Hisana faltered.

"C'mon, boy."Akihito hefted him off the bed.

"Oh no." The girl stopped moving. "Please…no…" Hisana fell to her knees, out of Suoh's grasp, to reach for the beloved pit bull.

"Here." Akihito knelt beside her.

Hisana pulled Asimov against her. "God, Assie. No. No. No."

Akihito wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed into his chest. Suoh issued orders. The guards began to move around them, the swirling storm around the eye. The attackers were taken somewhere for questioning. Kirishima was called. Reiko-sensei softly told Suoh the story that lead to the invasion, to the murder. Several men entered his home, taking hiss family hostage and threatening death if he didn't take them to Asami.

"I tried to warn her," he stuttered to the giant. "I tapped Morse Code on her shoulder. I think she understood." They both looked at the wailing girl who hadn't heard them. Men were dispatched to Reiko's house. Once again, Akihito was shocked by the loyalty Asami inspired.

The family would have to be moved. Again, their home wasn't safe. Their enemies were circling like sharks, and if they could not defend their strongholds, what use were they? Sensing a change in the maelstrom, watching Kirishima whisper with Reiko and hearing Suoh on his cell, Hisana forced herself to stop grieving . "You can't stay here," her voice was barely audible. "It's not safe."

"We'll move," Akihito promised just as softly.

The heiress shook her ruddy, swollen face. "No, we won't." Clouded eyes glared at nothing. "You're going to take him far away from Japan, and you won't bring him back until it's safe."

"Where?" Akihito knew Suoh was listening. They all were, and no one was subtle about it.

"Challaçao."

"Challaçao?" Asami repeated. The awkward word clunked around his teeth. His gut twisted. Hisana would have been inconsolable, still surely was, and by the way Akihito clutched Ruger to his chest, he wasn't doing much better. "Are you all right?" He reached for the boy's hand.

Akihito took a shaky breath. Blinking away tears, he replied, "As good as anyone can be."

"I am so sorry." And he meant it. Asami never would have wished suffering on the animal, or his family. "For everything.

"This is why you have to stay here. Stay safe. To get better. I cant't––" his voice faltered. "Not again, Ryu. I–I–I just…cant…"

"Okay." For Akihito, he would do it. Follow Reiko-sensei's orders and recover. Become stronger, strong enough to kill any enemy. He would do anything for his lover.

Akihito licked his lips. Maybe he was manipulating the fixer's emotions, but he was desperate. "Promise me, Ryuichi."

The golden eyed man nodded. "I promise."

A/N:

Sorry for taking so long to update anything. I know, I know, I know. I'm absolutely the worst. Every day I get reviews and favorites and kudos, and I act like I'm dead.

The good news is, I am doing ViewFinder for NaNoWriMo. I haven't decided yet if I am just doing Sunshine/Hurt, or if I will do Inverted/Hyacinthus Bloomed as well. If you have a preference, let me know!

Thank you so much for your patience. Again, I apologize for going dark for so long. Hopefully you all enjoy this as much as you used to. Love you all!