Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.

Timeline: Two years after Hong Kong.

Warnings: violence, smex, language, death of major character.

Please review, I would love your opinions! Thanks!

Akihito panted heavily as he dropped forward onto Asami´s chest, taking in the scent of his lover´s sweat with a deep breath. He finally let go of the big hand he had pressed for minutes now which gratefully cupped his cheek now, only to pull Akihito´s head towards the lips and tongue of its owner.

With a deep kiss both men calmed down their breathing when Akihito jerked away in distress as he felt Asami pull out. "No!", he gasped and quickly reached for his bottom to hold off the fluids that would start dribbling out any moment. Before he could get off his lover and to the bathroom the older man grabbed both his arms and pulled them away and the boy a bit further up his body. As his golden eyes stared into his soul Akihito clenched his fists and tried to look away in shame. He could already feel the liquids drip down his thighs and onto his lover´s belly when he noticed how hot his face felt.

"Look at me", Asami commanded.

Akihito found the golden eyes again, clenching every muscle he had trying to prevent the unpreventable, giving Asami a furious gaze in the process. He only received a lustful smirk in exchange and was pulled into a kiss again. Resigning he let go.

"That´s right, let it all come out on me", Asami whispered into his ear. „You belong to me, remember? And by you I mean every single thing that is in your body."

"Jerk", Akihito answered quietly, too exhausted to fight back anymore. With his last bits of strength, he pulled his body aside and laid his head onto Asami´s chest to hear his heartbeat. Surrounded by the scents and sounds of his Crime Lord he drifted away in seconds, only still awake enough to feel the strong, hot arms pull the cover over the two of them.

Bright daylight filled his vision when Akihito saw a blurry figure pass him in the morning. Still half asleep but in reflex he grabbed Asami´s pants leg to make his lover stop.

"Already?", he asked.

„It´s seven thirty, sorry, Kitten. I´ll be back in a week. And you, be good, understood?"

"Yes." Akihito quickly swallowed the `save trip´ he would have said after that in his morningly delirium. Agreeing to be good like a dog was already too much submission for one day.

One last deep kiss and he watched his lover shut the bedroom door behind him. With a sleepy sigh he curled up in Asami´s pillow.

It had been three days without word from Asami or Kirishima and Akihito slowly grew tired of being followed around by Suoh all day. Turning left at the corner of a tall office building he stopped and waited for the bodyguard who had been walking twenty meters behind him for about two hours by now. When the man turned at the corner and stood right before Akihito, he held up his arm in front of Suoh´s nose.

"I do have the tracker on my wrist, just as Asami ordered, so why don´t you turn around and go back home because I am about to start working and I can´t have a tail when I´m hiding or anything!" By the time he got to end of the sentence Akihito was already yelling at the surprised bodyguard.

In this very moment Suoh´s phone gave away a quiet beep. Suoh answered and Akihito turned around relieved to start walking away, with a happy smile on his face for finally being rid of his tail, when Suoh grabbed his arm with a concerned look in his eyes. He hung up and simply said: "Takaba-san, I will need you to come with me quickly."

"What is it? What´s wrong?"

"Let´s talk in the car."

The two men returned to the car quickly that was parked two streets down, and Suoh drove fast. Akihito finally, after two minutes of driving and asking, got an answer: "That was the hospital on the phone, they have Asami-sama and have tried all other numbers on the emergency contact list."

Akihito did not understand. He was silent for a moment, then asked again: "What does that mean?"

"Asami-sama is in the hospital, that´s all I know right now. I am getting us there as fast as I can."

That was all the answer he got before Suoh started to dial his phone again, hanging up and dialing again a few times.

In his worst nightmares, Akihito had dreamt about Asami being shot, though these dreams had been gone by a few months now. After all, the Hong Kong incident was two years past by now. The few minutes to take them to the hospital felt like hours. In his thoughts Akihito was seeing images of Asami, bloodied and dying in his arms, pained golden eyes to haunt him and his lover´s deep voice muttering absurd things.

By the time he got out of the car, he felt so dizzy and sick that he threw up on the pavement as soon as he had stepped out with both his feet. Suoh held his shoulder as soon as he had gotten around the car, offering Akihito a bottle of water after he managed to stand up straight again. Wordlessly he took a few sips and started walking towards the entrance, closely followed by his bodyguard.

When they got to the station, a nurse held up the two men. Akihito asked for Asami´s room number and only got the answer to wait for the doctor to arrive. He was about to protest when a small, middle aged man in a white coat came around the corner to ask for Asami Ryuuichi-san´s family.

"Asami-san has suffered some quite serious injuries, he has some bone fractures, severe burns all over his body, cuts and bruises, he is now stable but only barely. We are now trying to fight his dehydration, starvation and some infections along the wounds. To make it bearable for his body we had to set him into an induced coma, in which we will keep him for the next few days, until the healing process is a bit farther along. If he survives that - which we will be monitoring very closely - he has a good chance of a full physical recovery. Have you understood that so far?"

"Yes", Akihito said quietly. He almost whispered. All his energy had left his body with only this little word.

"If you would like to see him, I will pick you up here in thirty minutes, my team and I are still working on a few wounds."

Akihito only managed to nod. There was no more voice within him left. As the doctor turned around, the young man felt his knees wobble away. A firm grip held him in his position as it tugged under his right arm for support. The fragile body only achieved a few steps to the side onto a chair in the corridor where Akihito felt tears coming up into his eyes in angry disbelieve as soon as his thighs touched the seat. Trembling he asked Suoh: "These wounds sound like torture, don´t they?" "Yes, Takaba-san." "Who did this?!", Akihito screamed in pain, grabbing Souh´s collar, only to let go a moment after realizing. Suoh didn´t make a move, he had expected Takaba to be very upset. Akihito dropped back into his seat, shaking from head to toe in anger but also a bit in fear. "If you don´t need me to your support here, I will try to find out immediately, Takaba-san." "Go."

For a few moments Akihito only sat there, staring at his clenched fists. If Asami should die now the last thing he would have called him was a jerk. Tears of fear flushed his body and he buried his face into his hands, sobbing uncontrollably.

As he entered the brightly lid room that lay in silence for the exception of beeping from heavy machinery hooked up to the mess of a body, Akihito´s chest was stinging with anxiety. The first few moments he couldn´t even breathe when his body came to realize it and switched back on the boy´s reflexes.

Asami looked dead already though Akihito could hear the beeping of his heart. He sat down beside the bed, taking his big hands into his own trembling ones. The hand was frighteningly cold, showing a dark ring around the wrist that was scratched open a bit to see blood stains. Akihito couldn´t believe his lover was still alive, so in fear he got up and laid his head on Asami´s chest to hear his heart for himself. There it was. Even through the thick bandages Akihito could still hear the heartbeat. This belonged to him, he thought. Asami had given him his heart long ago even when he had always been unable to speak it out. No one took what was his, Akihito thought, shortly afterwards realizing that the voice in his head sounded an awful lot like his lover.

He sat back down again and whispered, staring at the hand that lay strengthless in his both: "I love you. Don´t you dare to die, bastard, because I love you too much to ever be able to let you go. You belong to me and I love you so don´t you dare."

After hours of only watching his lover breathe, holding his hand, saying I love you over and over, Akihito felt anger heat up in his gut. He needed to know who did exactly what to his everything to put him into this vegetable state. Since he couldn´t do anything about the who in this very moment, he decided to find out more about his injuries.

After a few very nice words to the nurse that had held them up Akihito entered Asami´s room again with the folder that contained his file. He sat down on the sofa next to the bed and started reading. His heart ached and his jaw became stiffer every second as he went through a list of endless injuries Asami had suffered through, when he read it at the bottom of the page. Rape. He stared at the word for a moment, lifting his eyes to his lover. Someone had laid their hands on his lover. How dare they. HOW DARE THEY! Furious, Akihito screamed out his lungs, slamming the file against the wall. Then he only stood there, trying to catch his breath but couldn´t. The doctor rushed in to see what was going down, only to be pushed aside as Akihito rushed out of the room and down the corridor, dialing his phone.

"Nothing yet, I am very sorry, Takaba-san. It also seems Kirishima is still missing."

"Find him! Find them! And leave them alive for me!", Akihito yelled into the phone before hanging up.

He punched against the next column in his way when he was shaken up by the stinging pain running up his arm from his trembling fist. Catching the arm with his other hand he fell to his knees, bursting out in tears again. It didn´t matter the slightest bit that he had just successfully scared away all hospital staff, visitors and other patients. Asami´s doctor laid his hand on his shoulder and knelt down across him, watching the boy with concerned eyes.

"Now, let´s get you fixed up. Asami-san will need you the next few days", he said in a calm voice.

Akihito suddenly felt the doctor had just completely scrutinized his soul. This man suddenly seemed to know him inside out. For a moment Akihito was scared but when the doctor started to smile he couldn´t help the feeling of trust playing into it. He was helped up and led back into Asami´s room where the doctor sat him down and started bandaging his sprained wrist.

"He is your lover, isn´t he?", the doctor asked calmly.

Akihito couldn´t answer. Even if he would have been able to speak in this moment he couldn´t have allowed anyone to know about them. So he just kept on staring at his wrist.

"You don´t have to answer. I am sorry if I was impolite. It really is none of my business." Then he paused for only a glimpse of the moment. "Just... keep up. You need to care for yourself now because you are no help to Asami-san if you are injured or hurt. I know this can be hard, I see these things every day in here, but if you don´t take care you cannot be strong for him and he needs you now. So I am going to need you to be strong for him, do you understand?"

Akihito nodded. The message had struck him right in his heart and he felt his chest tightening again. He needed to pull himself together. He needed to stand up for the man he loved.

"I will have a pillow and blanket brought in here for you, it might be good for you to rest for the night."

The doctor obviously knew Akihito would never leave to sleep at home.