KITSUNE OVERLOAD (THE RU-UKE SERIES)

Note: What better way to satisfy my Yaoi Obsession--and yours--than to pair my favorite bishounen up with all the wonderful "semes" you could possibly think of. Yup, it's Rukawa-uke all the way!

And first stop we have…

*after a minute of drumroll and a river of drool*

…The hunka-licious ex-gangster, Hisashi Mitsui!!!

Okay, I'll calm down long enough to tell you the story ^.~

Summary: Sometimes it is enough to just be with the person you love the most...

Disclaimer: They all belong to someone else... life's that cruel =P

Fiction #01: Assuage My Tears

Author: maple freya

Genre: Yaoi / Angst / Death-fic

Pairing: MitRu

Warning: The Genre says it clearly enough, this is a DEATH-FIC. Someone's bound to die in here. Don't tell me I didn't warn you ^-^V

This is indeed a cruel world... The thought echoed on and on in Hisashi Mitsui's distraught head, almost completely blotting out the sound of the other guy's presence.

It had been half an hour since the younger guy closed his puffy eyes to slumber and he, in turn, indulged in this idle drill--watching the sleeping Kitsune's chest rise and fall in steady breathing as he dwelt in his own quiet cogitation.

It's a good thing he's calmed down now, he thought as he reached out a hand to flush a stray crease on the blanket covering his raven-haired Kohai. He then stood up from the edge of the bed, placed a chair close to the side in backward position, saddled it and sighed. He couldn't tell how long the guy had cried in his arms but he sure was glad it's all over. For he wouldn't know exactly what to do if the younger lad had gone on crying all night. It was enough torture for him to see the devastation replacing what was before a proud glint in the Junior's eyes. What more to have him weeping like a wasted little kid on his lap, sobbing and trembling in a way that not even the devil could resist pitying.

It was all too much for Mitsui's heart to take. Though, in a way, he was pleased to have seen this part of the guy that had long been kept hidden in the deepest, darkest reserves of his being.

It was as though he had just witnessed the transformation of a stone into a human being. One capable of feeling emotions that he once thought were impossible to associate with this certain guy.

It wasn't everyday you'd see Kaede Rukawa this emotional...

Then again, it wasn't everyday either that something like this would happen to someone like him. Mitsui's gaze riveted to the pale, tear-streaked face and his jaws almost bulged out in irrepressible anger. How could Fate let such an innocent face be marred with the cruelty of mankind? Those ugly bruises and deep scratches sure looked out of place on the smooth, wan skin--an utterly caustic contrast to its latently manifested sacredness.

And though the kid's countenance was as peaceful as the calmest sea, Mitsui knew it wouldn't be long until the scathing, benumbing images of that dreadful incident would begin to haunt the guy's every waking and sleeping senses. And if worse came to worst, they might even drive him deftly off the edge of sanity as well.

And who could blame him if that should happen? God, he was only sixteen years old! Just a kid for heaven's sake! He didn't deserve this kind of treatment! What were those creeps thinking when they took advantage of his solitude and abused him like a stray cub?

Mitsui's wrath subsequently rose to a ballistic level. More so when his eyes darted to Rukawa's blood-soiled uniform lying in a stolid heap on the floor. The litter of crimson-drenched cloths and cottons resting at his feet made his hands clench in tight trembling fists as vengeful fury surged through his veins. His flaring blues took in the sight of the placidly slumbering Kitsune once again as he gritted his teeth in rage.

Yes, this night would forever haunt every inch corner of this guy's memories. And yes, he would forever wallow in the feelings of shame and self-disgust that often accompanied this kind of experience.

And yeah, that would all be too much for Hisashi Mitsui to take. Even more than how he could not handle Kaede Rukawa's crying fit. He was not, after all, the kind of person who took serious matters such as this sitting down. And time, as did his dander, was calling for his immediate action.

Judging by the place where he had seen the younger guy's worn out body, he had a clear idea which gang had done this unforgivable offense on his friend. After all, the streets had been his tuft for two years--he should know exactly how these cold-blooded maniacs went about their dirty businesses. He didn't know how or why Rukawa ended up in such a dangerous filthy place, and he wasn't wasting a second thinking about it either. For no matter what the reason might be, the utterly provoking truth remained--

Kaede Rukawa had been mercilessly used up by those madmen to satisfy their raging libido. And no amount of pardon--whether it be from heaven or hell--was ever worth such an assault on an innocent soul...

Not on my Rukawa... The thought with the sentiments that came along with it fussed in his ears and caused his heart to swell more with despair than with vengeful contempt. He couldn't really tell when he began feeling this way toward the other guy, and since a part of him still refused to acknowledge it, he had not given much thought on it until now.

It still bothered him so just thinking about it, but his desire for vengeance was slowly becoming more pressing than his need to ponder over his sexuality.

He could feel it... Hear it in his head, deep in his heart...

It was a call for justice, and Mitsui--try as he might--could never ignore it. He closed his eyes tight and whispered a silent apology for what he was about to do.

His vow to Coach Anzai would have to be put aside for now. He had a more compelling business to take care of for the sake of a friend.

For the sake of... his Kae-chan...

Their groping hands felt rough upon his skin, skimming and wrenching every inch corner of his struggling body. The hoarse breaths and maniacal laughter filled his ears with the resounding rhythm of infernal mockery, wafting through his nerves, straight into his heart with the smothering echo of eternal shame.

It was, needless to say, the worst night of his life and he felt like he was the dirtiest man.

And as though in terse testimony of these bitter thoughts, Kaede Rukawa's waking senses suddenly became aware of the unbearable burning pain in his rump, resulting in a stifled groan of distress escaping his parching lips. A cold numbing sensation subsequently rushed through his nerves like electric rapids, his breath getting caught in the choking embolus clogging his throat. His face became the picture of extreme torment, mirroring exactly how he felt inside in the rarest of occasions.

He hated being this transparent, but at that moment was just not strong enough to hold the emotions back.

He shouldn't have gone to that area in the first place, but what could regret do for him now? The damage had already been done and no amount of justice could ever bring back what had so mercilessly been taken from him. Just merely thinking of it made his flesh tremble convulsively and his eyes burn with insuppressible tears. Tears of anger and frustration over not having had enough strength to save himself.

He knew it was useless to brood over how he could've changed what had already past. But he was only a man after all, and try as he might, he couldn't help but be this human...

And just imagine how much more excruciating it was for him when while in the midst of such agony, he suddenly realized the resounding silence of the room.

It was dark and deafeningly quiet...

And he was all alone.

There were five of them, all brusque and merciless, baring their teeth at him in sneers that belonged to the underworld. They hadn't changed much in the past year. They were all still bummed and lacking in bowels of compassion.

"Hey Hisashi-kun, what's up?" the utterly enthusiastic greeting boomed through the abandoned old pub, followed immediately by a succession of pats and slaps on his shoulders and an irritatingly jovial set of laughter whizzing in his ears.

This place wasn't new to him at all, and neither were these faces. These were the people he, Tetsuo and the others used to jive with every night, getting drunk, drugged and busted in this sacred place they called Haven--their beloved sanctuary.

He hadn't been here ever since he went back to playing basketball. It had been a long while and still these people remembered him and were obviously even happy to see him again.

He should at least be honored, right? But when his eyes caught sight of a familiar decrepit bicycle lying in a discarded heap at one corner of that filthy place, he knew this was no time to get acquainted with old friends. He should not forget that these were the same guys who took advantage of Kaede Rukawa and he was here for a single burning purpose--to make them all pay.

"S-Senpai...?" Rukawa managed to call out in a hoarse whisper as the tears began to push through his eyes. He knew he was acting way out of his character, but at that moment could only care less. There's just so much that a guy like him could take. And this undoubtedly was beyond what he could bear as a person. Especially now that he's on his own...

"Senpai," he called again, this time louder with intensified desperation. He forced himself up to sit on his rear--all aches now forgotten except for the one he felt deep in his heart--and surveyed the room with eyes drenched in tears.

Was Mitsui-san really in this room a while ago, or had he--distraught and dampened as his spirit was--imagined it all along?

The next attempted call got caught in his throat as the stifled sobs began rushing through in commiseration to the crystal rivulets snaking down his face...

A kick to his side sent blood surging yet again to his mouth, adding more to the puddle of red already streaming on the ground. The raven-haired avenger had only a moment to feel the warm blood trickling down his face before he felt another rattling blow to his head. His vision whirled as his legs finally gave off, bearing him to the ground in a semi-conscious state, barely able to tell anymore who or what was hitting him. His ears were filled with tinnitus and all his mind could sense were the wrathful blows being continuously delivered to his slowly numbing body.

He should've first sought some reinforcement before raiding this place. But he had been too consumed by wrath and hatred to even bother about this piece of rational thought, much less his own safety. All he knew was that these creeps were the ones who brought hell to his Kohai's life... And in his extreme wrath, he had let himself act solely on that incentive.

All he wanted was to avenge that kid's fate--for a reason that was now slowly becoming clear to his heart...

The loud crashing sound of glass against the floor made the trembling young lad gasp. The din felt rough to his ears, echoing through his head like an unworded premonition. Or was it voicing out a silent call of deliverance from the piercing pain he was feeling right now? That seemed to be what the shattered pieces were telling him...

He reached down and picked up the biggest hyaline splinter, which incidentally had the sharpest end. Upon close exposure to the soft light of the desk lamp, its pointed tip and unblunted edges glinted momentarily as though in agreement to the then dimly conceived, yet strongly felt notion seeping through his head.

He didn't really mean to break the glass and cause this much conflict within himself. It just fell off when he--frantic and confused--swept a hand on the night table in his attempt to find leverage. All he had wanted to do was stand up and search for his Senpai, or any other breathing presence to assure him that he still held ground in the realms of reality. But his legs, unfortunately, were not yet strong enough to support him in this endeavor, resulting in his breech slipping off the edge of the bed and hitting the floor hard as the half-filled glass crashed beside him in a heap of broken crystals.

And now he was staring intently at the fragment in his hand, quietly telling himself to hold on and not give in to the almost too tempting idea of escape from all the pain and bitterness he was drowning in right now. If it were all a nightmare, then how he wished he could wake out of it soon to resume his normal existence on earth.

But this was far too harsh a reality to ignore, too imposingly real to conceal behind a shawl of make-believe thoughts.

He doubted he would ever live a normal life again. This was the harsh reality from which he was seeking a way out. If he could only have someone assure him that everything was gonna be all right…

If he only had his Senpai beside him... But he was gone. Vanished without a trace. Not even leaving a single hint as to where he had gone off to. Perhaps he never really wanted to be there in the first place. Perhaps he only stayed out of pity for his condition. Senpai was only human after all. Who could possibly blame him if he chose to leave a desecrated and defiled recluse wallowing in mucky waters? He should consider himself lucky someone had actually bothered to help him despite what happened.

Yes, his Senpai had been there, that he could be sure of despite his current condition. He may have had doubts a while ago, but the smell of antiseptic wafting from his wounds, and the fact that he was now wearing clean clothes in exchange for his soiled uniform, testified this now undeniable truth a little too strongly that he was finding it hard to both accept and ignore. Up to now he could still vividly feel the warmth of his Senpai's arms around him. The gentle hands rubbing his back as the soft soothing voice whispered calming words to his ears...

He should be grateful enough to have had someone comforting him--though perhaps feigned and spurious--for a little while.

It was a pity it had to end there, though. And just when he was starting to believe there could possibly be someone with a heart and soul considerate and accepting enough to love and cherish him for who he was, and for what he had become.

Senpai clearly wasn't that kind of person, and it hurt him just merely thinking about this. Though he wasn't really a very sociable person, he too hungered for warmth and comfort like any other normal being did. And now that his Senpai, the very person he had expected--wanted earnestly--to give him this kind of warmth was gone, his chances of ever satisfying this unimposed yet greatly felt desire had just blazed down to nothing.

The truth was all he had right now. He had been abused. He was all alone. And he would have to stay this way for the rest of eternity...

With a thousand apprehensions now filling his nerves, Kaede Rukawa could hardly keep his thoughts in line with rationality. Slowly he felt himself slipping off the precipice of paranoia, plunging on straight down to blind, unreserved submissiveness--

His eyes once again snapped to his hand where he held his very freedom. The chance to benumb himself to the pain and at last liberate his soul from the sheer agony of living.

After all, what else could a guy like him lose? He had been ruined, his life had been ruined… His whole lifetime was gone.

Without further unspoken coaxing, his mind suddenly went blank as the buzzing fizzles in his ears grew louder. His pale and trembling hand moved of its own accord towards its intended destination--

And soon, eyelids slowly closed as darkness began dawning to the first rays of the sun...

Kaede Rukawa, the young devastated ace, had finally reached the freedom he was longing for... Forever.

Slightly swollen eyes fluttered slowly just as consciousness began to dawn on Hisashi Mitsui. Groaning and grunting, he pulled his sore, aching body off the floor only to stagger backwards against the wall when his vision whirled at the outset of a terrible headache. His dirt and blood encrusted hands consequently flew to his head as he slowly slipped back down to the floor.

"Don't force yourself," the order was delivered in a tone of concerned reprimand. The raven-haired avenger managed to raise his head to the all too familiar voice, and squinting in the light of morning seeping through the half-opened top of the old pub, he was able to make out--though rather blearily--the imposing image of Tetsuo crouching before him.

"Wh-What happened?" he asked in a weak voice as he tried, yet again, to stand up only to topple helplessly into the stalwart arms of his good friend when the pain in his head struck with a vengeance along with the other seething aches dispersed all over his body.

"I should be asking you that," Tesuo's voice was unusually soft, blatantly echoing the amount of concern he had for the younger guy. After positioning his panting friend against the wall, he sat beside him and asked, "What were you doing in this place?"

It took Mitsui a while to gain memory of where he was and what had just happened. With eyes still squinting to the light, he surveyed the place cautiously until his sight rested upon a bunch of unconscious and badly beaten up brutes tightly bundled together by a rope in one corner of that filthy lair--their very own.

He couldn't help but smile wryly at the irony of it all. And instead of answering his companion's question, he chuckled softly and said, "Your skills never rust. You're still without mercy."

"And you're back to your old impulsive self," Tetsuo countered chidingly, adding furthermore that his fists had nothing to do with the day's mischief, "...I didn't do that. You did."

Mitsui was rather astounded by that matter-of-fact utterance. More so when he turned to his friend and saw him looking with a hard frown at the badly marred bicycle lying stolidly beside the bound thugs.

That was when it all came back to him in a rush. A few hours back, just before he totally lost consciousness, he suddenly felt a surge of burning impetus through his nerves which got him swinging his wrathful fists on those creeps, generously pouring out every bit of his vengeful anger at them until they were all lying senselessly at his feet. That was only when he snapped off completely, wilting like a fallen leaf to the ground.

He didn't remember tying them up, though.

"I thought you'd like to turn them in," came the indirect answer to his unspoken question. "They did him wrong, didn't they?"

"They shouldn't have..." Mitsui's voice was a mere whisper, yet resounding with unrestrained wrath. "They should've just left him alone."

Silence ensued between them as both pairs of eyes kept their unfaltering gaze on the bicycle. A full minute past without anyone uttering a single word until Mitsui asked the first question that came to his mind just to break the deafening silence.

"How long have I been here?"

"You've been out for almost half the day," was the answer. "As to why I'm here... People have been looking all over for you and I thought I'd find you here…"

Mitsui turned and looked his friend straight in the eye, the expression in his dulled blues asking a silent why.

Tetsuo broke out of the stare and let out a loud sigh as though gathering up enough strength to say what his friend needed to know. Another sigh and he finally spoke, voice slightly trembling in his attempt to keep the words together--his composure and sanity along with them.

"You took him home last night, left him to come to this place and... The kid was all alone, Hisashi--"

"Hell, yeah," Mitsui exclaimed under his breath, as though learning about this fact for the very first time. Realizing this, he suddenly felt the urge of running back home and swathing his precious Kohai in a fast embrace. Now that he had successfully avenged his ill-fate and had come to grips with his sexual preferences, he could finally tell him with pride and certainty the unfurled and burning emotions in his heart.

No, his dear Kaede wouldn't have to suffer anything like this anymore. Because he, his senpai Hisashi Mitsui, would always be around to protect him from now on. Nobody would ever get to lay a hand on Kaede Rukawa for Kaede Rukawa was about to become private property--

His trail of anticipative thoughts were cut short by a pair of hands gripping tightly on his arms. As it was, he had once again tried to stand on his wobbly legs while in the course of this cogitation and would've toppled flat on the ground had not Tetsuo held him up firmly to his feet.

"I said don't force yourself!" The bulkier guy's voice was now hard and impatient. He pushed the struggling Mitsui down to the floor and, kneeling before him, held the younger guy's trembling shoulders, looked straight into his flashing blue eyes and said, "You can't see him now. The best you can do is to calm down and clear your thoughts."

That statement was met with a blank stare as Mitsui's nerves were drenched in a cold rush of vague apprehension. Slowly he opened his mouth and said, "Dou...shite?" The question came out small and almost inaudible, as though he was too afraid to hear a response.

But it came to him like an unstoppable avalanche, nevertheless, with Tesuo feeling it best to just tell him directly. "He's dead." No matter how hard he tried, the older guy wasn't able to keep the shock of those two words from crashing into his friend's dazed senses. Blue eyes seemed to literally darken as he went on, "He took his own life this morning. In your room--"

"USO!" the quivering, blanching avenger snapped, mind still not set to accept the truth. "You're lying!"

"It's all in the news," Tetsuo calmly said, hands still pressed hard on the younger guy's shoulders, keeping him in place. "The whole district's been talking about it."

Mitsui just stared on blankly at his friend's face. Tears weren't even fighting their way to his eyes. His voice failed him altogether and rationality, too, seemed to be slowly slipping from his grasp. A cold, seething numbness washed over him as he struggled to put the words together. To understand the glaring truth.

Rukawa was dead... Tetsuo would never lie about anything this serious... He was really dead. He took his own life, in his very room... And he was all alone.

God, if he had only known... if he had only realized that there was, at bay, something more important than revenge. He should've been there when Rukawa needed him the most. He should've been able to really help him, to really be there for him...

He felt Tetsuo's hands slip off his shoulders, but his gaze on nothingness never faltered, even as his usually tough older friend uttered in a quiet, sympathetic voice, "I'm sorry."

The words echoed on and on in Mitsui's head, through his hollowed emotions, his battered soul... Until it became the very words that his despairing heart was crying out. I'm sorry... I'm sorry... Over and over, it went, each time piercing him with the tormenting goads of guilt. Of regret. Of an unconditional affection that had just been doomed to be unrequited forever...

Mitsui, dazed as he was by the harsh reality of it all, felt the first tear draw a warm streak down his cheek.

Today he was supposed to tell his Kae-chan how much he loved him. He had always done so... All along.

+++owari+++

*author looks blankly at the screen* …didn't really mean to make it sound so dark and tragic… As it was, my anxieties and bitterness have all rubbed off on the poor pair. =P *sigh* This fiction is a work of art [the grave, dark side of it anyway!] so I hope you'd appreciate it, nevertheless. ^-^V

I'll try not to make the next ones as sad as this, I promise… ^.~

Ciao!