Title: Sinners

Author: Ladya C. Maxine

Rating: R

Summary: see chapter one

Warnings: see chapter one

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade or any of its characters. All original characters belong solely to me. I am not making any money off of this. I write only to entertain.

A/N: So, here we are again, one year further on. Remember (for those of you who somehow missed the memo): the first nineteen chapters have been completely rewritten, so if you haven’t reread those some things might not make sense in future instalments.

Thursday, January 27, 2004

Time: 11.55

“Whoa, whoa! Leave some for the rest of us.”

Wiping the sweat from his jaw, Tala shrugged but stepped aside to give Michael his turn at the punching bag. It wasn’t common for him to be down here in the station’s gym, but Michael and Eddie had practically abducted him from his office that morning.

“You’ve been cooped up in here for the past two days,” Michael had said over Tala’s protests. “And it’s doing you no good. You look stressed.”

“That could be because someone is keeping me from my work,” Tala had argued, but to no avail.

“The best place to take out that aggression is the gym!” Eddie had said, himself and Michael already dressed for the occasion. “You can borrow some clothes from our buddy Ginta; you two are about the same size. And there’s a football match afterwards that we’re all gonna watch. You’ve got to unwind every once in a while, buddy.”

And so it came to be that Tala found himself in the gym, and was surprised to discover that the two had been right. It had been a while since he’d done any sort of exercise, but once he’d gotten into it he found himself enjoying working out his muscles rather than his brains, for once. The jogging on the treadmill, and the tedious repetitions of lifts on the machines, had brought some calm to his troubled mind, but it was the punching bag that offered the best stress relief therapy.

“No offence,” Michael said in between his punches, “but you’re tougher than I thought you were. Physically, that is.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Tala said dryly, drinking from his water bottle.

Michael grinned, grabbing hold of the swinging bag to still it after his rep.

“Aw, come on. You’re not exactly a heavyweight, so can you blame a guy for assuming you to be a bit on the fragile side?” Michael held up his hands when Tala answered that with a glare. “Alright, fine. Didn’t mean to insult you, Rambo.”

Michael took a seat on the bench, wordlessly indicating it was Tala’s turn on the bag, but Tala remained seated. Neither spoke for a long time, preferring to stare around the large room, which was unusually busy for this time of the day. Eddie had joined a few other officers on the pull-up bar, and Steve had walked in some twenty minutes ago and was now doing his daily 250 bench-presses in the corner, being spotted by a burly female office who Tala knew by face but not by name. The machines down here weren’t exactly state of the art, but more than just a workout place, the gym was appreciated as a retreat from the bureaucracy upstairs.

“You found anything yet?” Michael asked, towel around his neck and his cap on his bent knee.

“Nothing,” Tala sighed.

“But you’ve been going down to the archives for the past two days. If you can’t find it in there, it probably can’t be found anywhere. Are you sure you can trust Kon, though? I think he just cracked.”

Undoing his hair from the stubby ponytail he’d tied it back in, Tala sighed again as he replayed what had happened in the hallway of his apartment that Monday night ...

(Flashback)

The yellow eyes turned to him and they were almost feral with accusation.

“Because I want to hear the truth from you.”

Tala didn’t know what to say. Ray was standing right in front of him, watching him with slit pupils, extremely agitated. Still feeling Hiwatari’s hands on him, Tala pretended to clear his throat of something.

“And what makes you think I’d know anything about this?” he asked, willing his eyes not to shift guiltily.

“Because you know who it is. You know who Kai’s been seeing.”

Could it be that Ray had figured it out? Would Tala be insulting the other’s intelligence by keeping up his fake ignorance?

“Ray, look ... It’s not what—”

“It’s Brooklyn, isn’t it?”

Tala stopped mid-sentence.

“B-Brooklyn?” he echoed, relieved, but also confused. “You mean, Brooklyn Kingston?”

Ray nodded, biting the nail of his thumb as he watched Tala closely for any hints as to whether his suspicions were correct.

“That’s … ” Tala said, trying to organize his thoughts; trying to wrap them around this unexpected accusation. “That had never crossed my mind.”

“I’m positive,” Ray said stubbornly.

Though no longer under fear of being the prime suspect, Tala was still ready to dispel the notion. Even though he knew that he was the unwilling fifth wheel in this twisted relationship, he couldn’t easily accept the idea of Hiwatari and Brooklyn Kingston, of all people. It puzzled him as to how Ray could even consider it.

“I know it sounds weird,” Ray said, seeing Tala’s reaction, “but that’s only because I never told you everything. I ... I never thought I would have to.”

Before he could say more, however, Ray clenched his eyes and pressed the palms of his hands against them. With a groan, he collapsed against the wall and it was all Tala could do to catch him and lower him to the ground slowly. Kneeling before the distressed neko-jin, Tala suddenly felt another, even more searing stab of guilt so powerful that it would have brought him to his knees had he not already been down.

‘Ray, what have I done to you?’ he wondered, hugging the sobbing man. ‘I’m so sorry, Ray. I’m so sorry ... I never meant for you to be hurt by this ... ’

“It has to be Brooklyn,” Ray hiccoughed at last, apologetically wiping his tears from Tala’s arm. “There’s no one else Kai was ever interested in, in that way.”

“In what way?”

“It came more from Brooklyn’s side than Kai’s, but Kai knew about it.” Ray took a deep, shuddering breath and looked up at Tala. “Yes, it’s true that Brooklyn and Kai were major rivals, but what people found really strange in the first place was that Brooklyn was so interested in Kai. Competing for grades is one thing, but Brooklyn soon became so ... obsessed with the idea of beating Kai. Tyson was the first to bring it to my attention, but I didn’t think anything of it until I realized that Kai was also unusually intent on their rivalry.”

“Just how intent were they?”

Ray looked to be in pain as he answered.

“Kai would never tell me, but I noticed the way he started looking at Brooklyn. It was a look of hate, without a doubt, but what scared me more was that he’d look so determined to ... I don’t know, it was like they each wanted to break the other. Like they didn’t want just victory, but to completely dominate the other.” Ray pull back from the hug, gripping the front of Tala’s shirt. “It sounds sick, and I didn’t want to think of it at first. All these years I forgot about it, until last night. When Kai was leaning over me, he gave me that look. He’s never looked at me in that way ever, but I recognized it as the same look he’d give Brooklyn back in university. And the way he suddenly became so rough ... He unintentionally hurt me, just because he was thinking Brooklyn.”

Kneeling between the neko-jin’s legs, Tala almost lost his balance when Ray pulled him back into another hug. Though no longer sobbing out loud, Ray’s body was shivering as he rested his sore head on Tala’s shoulder.

“All these years,” he said in a soft, defeated voice. “After all these years ... For a few minutes, I thought Kai had finally returned to me, but ... I’m not that stupid as to believe that we’ll ever have a happy ever after, but I had at least thought that Kai still loved me as much as I still love him.”

“I’m sure he still does,” Tala said. One part of him couldn’t believe he was actually encouraging this relationship, but another part of him—the part governed by guilt—wanted so badly to bring some sort of comfort to the tortured man.

“If he does, then why would he be thinking about Brooklyn when making love to me for the first time in five years?” Ray whispered, staring over Tala’s shoulder with lost eyes. “Kai knows how to get around without being detected. I even ... I can’t help wondering whether he escaped just to finish off what he and Brooklyn started. What else could he have been doing this past week? Brooklyn lives up on Hokkaido; Kai could have been up there as well, and only came to visit me afterwards ... ”

Stroking the long hair to try and placate the other, Tala listened attentively at Ray mumbled on. Something had sparked a match in Tala’s head, and the flame was just beginning to burn brighter when it was doused by the feel of a wet lips against his. Tala pushed the other back, holding him out at arm’s length. Only when he tasted a slightly alcoholic tang on his lips did he realize that Ray might have been drinking.

“I’m sorry,” Ray muttered, genuinely ashamed and covering his mouth with the back of his hand. “I don’t ... I’m not like that to try to ... It just ... hurts so badly. You’re the only person I can talk to about this. Lee doesn’t like it when I talk about my sexuality, and it’s not something I feel comfortable discussing with Mariah ... Please, don’t hate me for this, Tala. I should go to the police, tell them what happened, but I ... I don’t know what to do ... You’re the only one I have left ... ”

“I don’t hate you, Ray,” Tala assured, wiping the tears away. Watching the man struggling with his feelings, morals and loyalty was almost like looking at his own reflection. Brushing back black hair, Tala pulled Ray into a more upright sitting position. “I’m sorry.”

“What for?” Ray asked, sniffling.

‘For accidentally taking away the one person you loved the most,’ Tala thought, but said, “I’m sorry that you’ve been put in this position.”

Ray nodded, but looked none the better. He stared off to the side, golden eyes haunted, his hands fisted as though imaginarily clutching onto something. Overwhelmed with guilt, Tala took the other by the face and touched their brows together.

“Tala ... ?”

“It’s okay,” Tala said softly even as lips tentatively touched his. “I’m sorry ... ”

He didn’t know who he was apologizing to anymore. Was it Ray? Or Bryan? Or even himself? Taking control of the kiss when Ray was still too careful to do so, Tala kept his eyes closed, fearing that Ray would otherwise read who it was that was really on Tala’s mind as their tongues met.

(End flashback)

“Looks like I’ve started some weird comfort sex therapy craze,” Michael chuckled, albeit looking away slightly jealous. “If you’re not careful you’re going to find yourself with yet another admirer.”

Tala made a dismissive sound. Of course, he had left out anything that would implicate either him or Ray; the account he’d given Michael had simply been that Ray had showed up at his apartment, slightly inebriated and ranting about a sudden revelation he’d had that Hiwatari might be targeting Brooklyn. Michael had managed to weasel the more salacious details out of him, though.

“I didn’t meant for it to happen,” Tala said under his breath, picking at his hand wraps. “And we didn’t have sex. We only kissed, and Ray knew that I was only trying to calm him.”

“You do know that being so testy only makes you cuter?” Michael said, ducking when Tala playfully snapped his towel at him. “So, you’ve spent the past two days digging through all of Kingston’s files for any evidence supporting Kon’s theory.”

“Yeah,” Tala said, flexing his fingers and wrists as he stood, ready for another round on the punching bag. “Although so far, I haven’t found anything to support it.”

Michael offered to hold the bag still for him, continuing with their conversation as Tala started punching.

“But if Kon was drunk, why are you so interested in following up on this?”

“Because,” Tala said in between punches, “Because something Ray said got me thinking back on our visit with Brooklyn. Given the fact that Kingston did know details about the Dox case when he father supposedly keeps him away from any news of the outside world makes me wonder if perhaps he is getting information from an outsider ... ”

“Sneaking into that palatial fortress wouldn’t be something beyond Hiwatari’s abilities,” Michael acknowledged, “seeing how he managed to break out of the mental hospital with all its security measures, but why would Hiwatari tell Kingston about Dox if all he wants to do ‘dominate’ Kingston? You don’t give away your game plan to the opposing team.”

Tala delivered a few more loud strikes, mulling over the possibilities.

“Unless ... Maybe Hiwatari is not telling Kingston about the murders. It could be that he’s talking with Kingston about the murders. Discussing them ... ”

“You’ve gone back to suspecting that Kingston is Dox, haven’t you?”

“You were there, Michael. You heard what Kingston said about the Dox murders being so much more dramatic than Hiwatari’s own killings. It sounded almost as if Kingston was proud of the crimes. You don’t think it’s strange for someone to talk so highly, so proudly of such vicious slayings?”

“No normal person, no. But even though Kingston’s got a few screws loose, that doesn’t automatically qualify him as a prime suspect.”

Tala gave the bag one final punch, making Michael take a step back to keep his balance. He wasn’t angry at Michael’s pessimism; just frustrated because he too doubted the idea, despite being convinced that there had to be some truth to it.

“Squabbling while on a date, ladies?” asked a lazy voice that almost made Tala spin around and punch down the speaker. “Can’t decide who gets to be the bottom?”

“I see the swelling has gone down, McGregor,” Michael said, not bothered by the slight as Johnny approached them. “Oh, and your nose is looking better as well.”

Shirtless and proudly exposing a tattoo of a red and yellow lion on his chest, Johnny tightened the strings on his boxing gloves with his teeth and shrugged. Indeed, he was no longer wearing the bandages on his face. Though still slightly discoloured, his nose was back to its normal size as well.

“Always been a fast healer,” he said to Michael. “If you two are going to gossip like a couple of maids then do it off the mat. Besides, it’s not like Ivanov here needs to use the punching bag. A balloon should be challenge enough for him.”

Not to be baited, Tala didn’t dignify that with a response. The Scotsman had remained worryingly silent the past few days. The subject of Hiwatari hadn’t resurfaced between them, even within the shared privacy of their office. It was too much to hope for that Johnny had abandoned the matter, but Tala couldn’t figure out why the other hadn’t said anything to anyone yet.

“Big talk for someone whose nose is still healing,” Michael said, taking offence on Tala’s behalf. “Tala isn’t as delicate as he looks.”

Judging Tala’s built with a critical eye, Johnny scoffed.

“Talking from personal experience, Parker?” he said, taking up position before the bag and landing a strong left hook. From his footwork it was obvious that Johnny had experience as a boxer. “Besides, how tough a guy can he be if he needs other people to talk for him?”

“Leave it, Michael,” Tala said, unwilling to get into a confrontation. He tugged at Michael’s elbow. “Let’s go see what Eddie’s doing.”

“Sorry to hear about you and the Lieutenant, Ivanov,” Johnny said, loud enough to turn a few heads. “Not an easy thing to juggle, is it? Work and private life?”

Confused mutters flitted through the gym as others paused in their workouts to watch the building tension between the two redheads, but Tala ignored the curious eyes in favour of Johnny’s, which gleamed at him with a familiar contempt that had been conspicuously absent the last few days.

“Back down, McGregor,” Michael said, bumping chests with Johnny, sizing him up. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, as always.”

“Why don’t you let the Commie have his say in this, Parker?”

“He’s not worth it,” Tala said, ignoring Johnny, already stepping off the mat.

He looked back just in time to see Johnny whisper something to Michael’s back as the American was about to follow Tala. A look of outrage distorted Michael’s features and he spun on his heels, delivering what was more a punch than a shove to force Johnny back a few steps.

“Michael!” Tala shouted as Johnny smirked at the response. “I said leave it!”

By the time everyone else realized what was going on, Johnny had retaliated with a strong hit to Michael’s shoulder.

“Fight!” someone hooted. “Parker vs. McGregor, Round 2!”

Tala was jostled to the front of the small circle that quickly formed around the two. Hollering and clapping, the other officers spurred the fighters on. Unwilling to just stand there and watch the two beat each other to pulp, Tala took a step forward, but was pulled back by Steve.

“Michael can handle it,” he said while Eddie cheered Michael on from behind.

“The nose, dude! Michael, sock him in the nose!”

Johnny didn’t have any friends in here; everyone was cheering on Michael, but Tala pulled free, refusing to let this go on. With the approving chants of Michael’s fans in his ear, Tala ducked a wide swing from Michael and planted himself between the two, who had already managed to bruise each other’s arms and chests pretty good.

“Stop!” Tala yelled, facing Michael, who was still trying to reach past him to get to Johnny. “You don’t need—”

Tala saw Michael’s eyes go wide, but before he could turn around a blinding pain struck him in his right flank, knocking the air right out of him. As his knees buckled, he heard someone shout his name, effectively silencing the crowd. Someone caught him, and through the bright spots dancing before his eyes he could tell that this person did not have red hair like Michael. And that voice that had called him hadn’t been Michael’s either ...

As the initial shock wore off, Tala blinked several times and was mildly surprised to find himself on the floor, being supported by none other than Bryan, who was angrily demanding why no one had stepped in to break up the fight. Around them were nothing but guilty faces. A concerned face came into view, kneeling next to Bryan.

“Tala? Say something,” Michael urged, sprinkling some cold water on Tala’s face. “Snap out of it.”

“What happened?” Tala asked woozily, trying to sit up but Bryan wouldn’t let him.

“Johnny landed a cheap shot.”

“McGregor,” Bryan said, in a very threatening voice.

“Hey, he jumped in,” Johnny pointed out from somewhere beyond Tala’s line of sight, unconcerned and remorseless. “By the time I saw him it was too late to pull back.”

“Bullshit!” Michael said. “I saw you, McGregor. You were aiming for him!”

“You seriously think I’d pull off something like that in front of a crowd of officers? It was an accident, plain and simple.”

“We’re not going to discuss this here. If the rest of you have time to cheer on schoolyard fights, you must have time to grow up and behave yourselves like the supposed officers you are,” Bryan said scathingly to the others, some of whom mumbled their apologies while other simply walked away sheepishly. “McGregor, Parker, if I catch either of your in this gym at any point in the next month you will be banned for good. Leave.”

Eddie and Steve had to convince Michael to leave Tala’s side, more aware of Bryan’s dangerous temper than Michael was at the moment. Johnny didn’t give any of them much thought and simply walked off in the direction of the locker rooms.

“We should get you to the hospital,” Bryan said, letting Tala sit up slowly.

“It’s just a punch,” Tala said, and ate his words when the motion sent a lance of pain up his spine. “A solid punch. How does it look?”

Bryan lifted his shirt and Tala heard him hiss.

“You’re in for a world of pain for the next couple of days.”

Already in pain, Tala found some relief as Bryan carefully helped him to his feet, but some of the braver souls still loitering around were watching them closely now. Certainly, one or two odd rumours about him and Bryan must have been floating around headquarters since his arrival, but Johnny’s public statement had emboldened others to be more openly critical of their relationship. Not wanting to give the Scotsman yet another victory, Tala steadied himself and pushed away Bryan’s hands.

“I can walk on my own,” he said.

Wearing sweatpants and a plain shirt, Bryan had clearly come down to the gym for his own routine workout, but he followed Tala as he limped towards the locker room. Despite putting on a brave face, Tala couldn’t keep it up for long and once they were within the privacy of the narrow corridor he grabbed on Bryan’s arm and leaned over, one hand on his knee.

“We need to take you to the hospital,” Bryan insisted, bearing most of Tala’s weight by keeping an arm around his waist.

“I’ll put that off until I start pissing blood,” Tala said, shaking his head.

“Fujita, where are you ... ?” Bryan asked, having dialled someone on his phone without Tala noticing. “I need you down here in the gym’s locker room immediately ... Yes, there’s been an incident ... Good.”

“Who was that?” Tala asked, finding the strength once more to take a few steps at a time.

“Sergeant Miriam Fujita. She’s an experienced field medic. If she says so, you’re going to the hospital, and I will drag you there by force if you continue to be so stubborn about seeing a doctor.”

Tala was just about to argue, only to be beaten to the punch by raised voices coming from inside the locker room. He and Bryan entered to find Michael and Johnny, who, by some unfortunate chance, had encountered each other once again. Eddie was there, refereeing the confrontation, trying to remain impartial as he kept a hand against Michael’s chest while verbally warning Johnny to stay back.

“Hopeless,” Bryan spat, leaving Tala in the doorway to step in once more.

“Hey, need help?” Steve asked. Seeing Tala wincing as he gripped his back, the stocky man offered a supporting shoulder and lead Tala over to the closest bench. “How’s your back? You need anything?”

“Bryan has someone coming down to look at it,” Tala said, releasing a long sigh of relief as he sat down. “Someone should check Johnny for steroids, though.”

“McGregor’s always been strong. You need your stuff? Which locker is it?”

Tala handed him the key and pointed in the general direction.

Bryan had managed to cow the other two into letting him in on the discussion, determined to get to the root of the cause. Although Michael was accusing Johnny of having struck out with deliberate intent to wound, Bryan wasn’t letting the American off that easily, holding him partially responsible for flying off the handle in the first place. Johnny stuck to his version of the story, though with the Lieutenant on his case it was a lot harder for him to keep up his earlier nonchalance. Eddie didn’t have to say anything: he had his hands full keeping a hold on Michael, who was getting more and more irritated the longer Johnny maintained his innocence.

Someone lifted up his shirt and pressed something wet and cold against the burning skin, making Tala jump.

“I’ll get your stuff, but keep this on for now,” Steve said, pressing the towel he’d soaked in cold water from the sink against the contusion. “Damn, you’re going to be feeling that one later. Really sorry, Tala. Should have held you back.”

“You tried,” Tala said, taking over holding the towel in place. “I should have known better than to turn my back on McGregor, though I’d sooner expect him to stab me in the back, not punch me.”

“Tala,” Michael crouched down before him as Steve left to get his things. Somehow, Michael had managed to slip away from the other two, who too preoccupied with getting in each other’s face to notice. “You okay?”

“People should stop asking that if they’re going to worry over me all the same,” Tala sighed, arching his spine, testing how far it could be manipulated without causing the new flare of pain. “Bryan’s ready to whisk me off to the ER at a pin drop and even Steve’s playing bedside nurse to me.”

“McGregor’s refusing to take responsibility,” Michael said. “I saw his face, Tala. I saw the way his eyes narrowed when he realized it was you. I don’t care how much he swears on his grandmother’s grave: he suckerpunched you intentionally.”

“Why did you hit him in the first place?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Michael said, skirting around the subject. “He’s been itching for another fight with me for days. I shouldn’t have dragged it out like that, though. If I’d finished him off sooner you wouldn’t have had the chance to get in harm’s way—”

“Michael, you owe me for this,” Tala said, lifting the towel to show the blackish-blue blotch against his otherwise pale skin. “I’ll leave it to the others to worry about the injury. What I want to know is why you overreacted like that. Whatever Johnny said, it couldn’t have been worth all this—”

“He asked me whether we’d done it in the backseat of my car, okay?” Michael said softly but fiercely, almost snapping the visor of his baseball cap in half as he clenched it in his fist.

“ ... He what?”

“I don’t know either, okay, but he must have seen us in the garage when we ... You were telling me to walk away, and I was gonna, but then Johnny asked me whether you’d been as demanding while I was doing you in the backseat.”

Tala looked to Bryan, worried. Reading his thoughts, Michael took him by the shoulders when he tried to stand up.

“He hasn’t said anything about that to the Lieutenant. He probably knows that doing so will also land him in hot water for making the remark in the first place.”

Sensing Tala’s eyes on him, and not liking the contact Michael was making with Tala, Bryan walked over, silently forcing Michael to move away. Johnny and Eddie followed, the Scotsman not looking as full of himself as he’d been before. He glared at Bryan, who overruled it with an impatience clearing of the throat.

“Didn’t mean to hit you, Ivanov,” Johnny said over Michael’s protest that the apology was insincere. “A part of me must have realized you were there, but I guess I got too carried away to care.”

“Bullshit,” Michael coughed with little discretion.

“At least I apologized,” Johnny argued, daring to smirk in Bryan’s presence, which riled Michael up all over again.

“Here, kid.”

Steve had returned with Tala’s bag and change of clothes, but when Michael took a threatening step towards Johnny Steve had to dump the items to lend his bulk since even Bryan’s warnings were beginning to fall on deaf ears. Tala grabbed his clothes, but was unable to catch his open gym bag as it slipped off the bench and landed on its side, spilling most of its content. With a sigh and a groan, Tala carefully knelt down on the floor and began gathering his belongings.

Bryan, most of his attention on the ongoing debate but mindful enough to notice Tala’s actions, knelt down to pick up one of the items that had slid towards him. When Tala saw what Bryan was reaching for, his blood ran cold.

Hiwatari’s red cell phone!

It must have flown out of the side pocket on impact without Tala noticing. The phoenix sticker seemed to glitter warningly as Bryan’s fingers closed around the phone, though the Lieutenant wasn’t really aware what he actually held in his hand as he threatened to suspend both Michael and Johnny if they didn’t make grudging peace soon. But even as he turned to hand the phone back to Tala Bryan’s eyes began to stray downwards to his hand—

“Ugh! I feel like I’m teaching kindergarten all over again!” said a loud female voice from the door, effectively capturing everyone’s attention to where a sultry dark-haired woman stood frowning at them with crossed arms. She was dressed in a miniskirt, leather jacket and high heels: not exactly standard office wear. She’d obviously been called away from somewhere. “And at least those kids knew to shut up when told to by an adult.”

“Miriam,” Bryan said, passing the phone to Tala without giving it a single glance or second thought. “If your method of teaching was so effective you wouldn’t have been forced into making a career change.”

“Kids these days are too cuddled and pampered,” Sergeant Miriam shrugged, entering and singling out Tala, who quickly shoved the phone deep into his bag. With no introduction, she had him stand up for her to examine the injury. Everyone quietly waited for her assessment as she frowned at the size of the bruise, carefully prodding around it. “Lucky for you, this wasn’t a direct hit to your kidney. Are you having trouble breathing?”

“Not anymore,” Tala said.

“Nausea? Abdominal pain? Drowsiness?”

“None.”

“Looks to me like it’s just bruising,” Miriam said, “so just go home and rest up for a while. But if the pain doesn’t lessen by tonight, or if any of the other symptoms occur, get yourself to the hospital at once.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tala said, glad that she hadn’t ordered him to a hospital straight away.

“You need me to deal with these two as well, Lieutenant?” Miriam asked Bryan, nodding at Michael and Johnny, who both looked unsettled by the thought. Her question was most likely a rib, but her no-nonsense expression made it hard to tell for sure. “I don’t think their parents would mind if I gave them a few dozen sharp raps on the knuckles.”

“I’m sure you’d rather get on with your anniversary lunch,” Bryan said, managing a wry smile. “Ozuma must be wondering where you are.”

“The idiot’s probably late himself,” Miriam said, flipping her long hair back. “Anyway, you boys sort yourself out before you end up embarrassing us all.”

The heels of her boots clicked loudly as she strode out, and her words did resonate with the others, though Bryan already had it all planned out.

“Take a week’s leave, the both of you,” he said, and was immediately met with opposition.

“But Dox—” Michael said.

“I already lost precious time thanks to my nose injury,” Johnny argued even louder. “Balcov, we’ve already had enough obstacles thrown our way; suspending us will only cripple the investigation even more.”

“You two won’t be getting much work done anyway if you’re only going to be at each other’s throats the whole time. I’m not suspended either of you, McGregor, despite my better judgment, but I don’t want to see your faces for a few days. Take your work home, and get yourselves sorted. I am in charge of this station, which includes keeping things under control. I won’t have you two distracting others from their tasks. Now change, get your things from your offices, and leave.”

Michael looked devastated, but he nodded, putting back on his cap.

“Sorry, boss,” he mumbled. “Sorry, Tala.”

Without even looking at Johnny, Michael grabbed his gym bag and marched out. Stunned, Eddie and Steve could only follow him with hurried goodbyes.

“You’re driving me into a corner here, Balcov,” Johnny said, neither challenging nor regretful. “If you keep cutting me off like this I’ll soon run out of conventional means to do my job.”

“That hasn’t stopped you in the past,” Bryan said. “If it weren’t for your expertise I would have sent you back to Scotland with a formal letter of complaints disclosing your conduct to your superiors, so you’d better drop the tough guy attitude and be professional about this.”

Johnny gave a one shoulder shrug. With a sighed “Whatever”, the Scotsman disappeared around the end of the row of lockers.

Finally alone again, Bryan surprised Tala by pulling him into a gentle embrace.

“Scared the wits out of me, walking in to see you collapsing like that,” Bryan whispered into Tala’s hair. “It sounds stupid now, but at the time I didn’t know what was happening. It could have been even worse, perhaps fatal ... I thought for a moment it’d be too late to work things out between us.”

Resting his head against Bryan’s chest, Tala closed his eyes, allowing the hand running up and down between his shoulders to calm them both.

“Please come home, Tala. I’ve been worried since the attack of Wolborg, and now with your own injury ... I won’t be able to sleep if I can’t personally keep an eye on you. If you want I’ll sleep downstairs and you can have the bed, but don’t push me away anymore. I’m worried about your safety.”

“My safety ... ” Tala repeated, gripping the thin material of Bryan’s T-shirt.

What Bryan said made sense, and Tala would want nothing better than to return to a warmer, more welcoming place, instead of his empty apartment where he didn’t even have Wolborg or Yuka to keep him company. But it would put Bryan at risk. Hiwatari was biding his time, not being as forceful as Tala knew the man could be, but something as drastic as moving back in with Bryan, whatever the reasons, would be flirting with danger.

“It’s still too soon,” Tala said. “I don’t want you to worry about me, though, Bryan. I understand your feelings, but I’m not completely helpless. I survived our years apart, and they weren’t easy. If I start to rely on you all the time again ... ”

“I not trying to suffocate you,” Bryan said, lightly kissing Tala’s lips as he spoke. “I don’t think of you as helpless, but I am responsible for everything that happened. Anything that will help you, make you happy, I’ll do it.”

“ ... I will make you happy again ... ”

“A few more days,” Tala said, abruptly pulling away from the tempting mouth. “Things are still too confusing right now.”

Bryan wouldn’t let him go without one last kiss ... unknowingly, on the same spot where Hiwatari’s bite mark had been. Tala shivered, reminded of his infidelity. He wasn’t encouraging Hiwatari’s attraction to him, but the man had touched him, kissed him nonetheless, while making Tala lie about it all to Bryan.

“I have to shower,” he said, pushing Bryan back. “I wanted to visit Wolborg after work. Since I’m going home now, I should pass by the clinic to check up on him.”

“He was doing better yesterday,” Bryan said, passing Tala his clothes so he didn’t have to bend down. “He’s still too weak to stand up, but he was able to lift his head when I walked in, and wag his tail a bit. You want me to come with you?”

“Bryan, I’m only doing this whole separation thing so that we can both focus on our work. Just ... I’ll call you if I need something, or if something happens.”

“Yeah, alright.” Bryan finally gave in, heading for the door, only to stop. “By the way, what was that thing I picked up earlier? Looked like a phone.”

“It’s Ray’s,” Tala said without thinking, turning away to hide guilty eyes, pretending to be arranging the clothes slung over his arm. “He left it behind in the restaurant when I lunched with him and his friends the other day. I’ve been carrying it around with me since until I get a chance to give it back to him.”

Luckily, Bryan bought the made-up story without question.

“Later, Tala.”

Tala smiled, though it slowly melted once he was all alone. His back wasn’t hurting as badly anymore, but he still kept a hand against the lockers as he made his way to the showers.

‘So many lies ... ’ he thought sullenly. ‘Lie after lie, about everything ... Lying to Bryan, and Michael, and Eddie and Steve and Emily ... Lying to Ray, even encouraging his moral when I’m the reason behind all his misery ... Even lying to myself ... And for who? Hiwatari?’

Even when under the shower, letting the warm water run over his sore back, Tala stared emptily at the tiles. It took him a while to stop thinking about Bryan; about how much he wished his lover was with him now, gently scrubbing his shoulders and back for him, but now his mind just felt blank, and he didn’t know whether it was because he was genuinely out of ideas, or whether he was too exhausted to bother coming up with any. His back begged him to take a day off, but recalling the front page headline of Oliver Polanski’s autopsy that morning, he banished the thought.

‘Dox won’t be going on holiday anytime soon,’ he told himself. ‘If must stop before he strikes again—!’

White light exploded before his eyes as a fist cruelly grounded itself into his bruised flank. The pain was so intense Tala couldn’t cry at first, instead making a strangled sound as he struggled to remain standing despite the almost paralyzing agony. For a moment, pain was all he was aware of until a voice whispered into his ear.

“Letting your guard down again, Ivanov?”

“Mc ... Gregor ... ” Tala gasped, squirming to get away from the offending hand. “Get off!”

But the fist only pressed down harder and the pain travelled further up Tala’s spine.

“You really are helpless on your own,” Johnny’s voice mocked. “Not tough at all when you don’t have Balcov or the Yank to cover for you. No, don’t bother shouting for help. We’re not going to be joined by anyone anytime soon: the rest are all back up in the gym, watching the football match on television. We’re going to have this entire room to ourselves for at least another forty-five minutes.”

Tala couldn’t even attempt a headbutt, or a reversed elbow to the side of the other’s head: any more strain on his injury felt like it would most likely kill him. The pain was so incapacitating that when Johnny finally removed his fist Tala could only lean against the wall, gasping in agony, frighteningly aware that he wouldn’t be able to ward off any attack should Johnny decide to finish off what he’d started out in the gym.

A hand reached around to dangle something red before him.

“You’d think you’d be more careful hiding this, especially after Balcov held it in his own hands,” Johnny said, swinging Hiwatari’s red phone away from the spray of water. “I saw what it was, but didn’t think much of it until I noticed how nervous you looked about Balcov handling it. Then I saw the sticker. Interesting choice, a phoenix.”

The shock was almost enough to numb him entirely. Staring at the phone with wide eyes, Tala’s once blank mind was suddenly assaulted with the images of bodies, all of them Hiwatari’s victims.

“It’s ... Ray’s ... ” he tried, one last, desperate time.

“Yeah, I heard you tell Balcov as much. It would explain the phoenix sticker: Kon refuses to give up on Hiwatari,” Johnny said, and Tala knew he was only stringing him along. “Funny thing is, though, that there’s only a couple of messages on here, and one of them reads: ‘Had to hang up. Someone was trying to trace our call. Destroy and get rid of the first phone and keep this one. Same number. Polanski had been signing autographs just a couple of blocks away from where we both lunched. Next time, act faster. Your car is parked on the other side of the wall on your left.’ And it was sent on the morning of Polanski’s death. Isn’t that strange, Ivanov? Why would anyone send a message like this to Kon?”

Tala didn’t get a chance to answer. Almost slipping as he was forced to turn around and pinned back against the wall, he knew that things were even worse than he had first feared.

Johnny’s eyes were narrowed, cold and dangerously hateful. He was wearing only a towel around his waist, yet looked more intimidating than a fully armed soldier. Still clutching the phone, Johnny grabbed a handful of Tala’s hair, forcing them to meet eye to eye.

“Hiwatari gave you this,” Johnny said.

Tala said nothing, and was punished with a punch to the abdomen that resonated straight through to his bruised kidney. That one injury was his debilitating weakness, and Johnny knew it; he wasn’t going to give Tala any chance to recover, let alone defend himself.

“Hiwatari gave you this, didn’t he?” Johnny repeated, shoving the phone in Tala’s face.

“ ... Yes.”

He hadn’t expected any good out of this, but even so Tala was horrified when Johnny flung the phone against the wall, smashing it to pieces, destroying Tala’s one link to Hiwatari and Johnny’s only concrete proof of that link.

“What are you—!”

“What am I doing? What am I doing?!” Johnny sneered, grabbing Tala by the throat. “You have been communicating with a murdering psychopath for over a week, and you have the nerve to question me? You blatantly lied to me, the same way you’ve been lying to everyone else, about your involvement, and you are questioning me?! When you were supposed to be tracking down Dox, you were sending secret messages to Kai Hiwatari, meeting him in appointed places, and you have the fucking guts to ask me what I’m doing?!”

Another punch to the stomach, hard enough to bring up the coppery taste of blood at the back of Tala’s throat. Spitting out bloody saliva to prevent himself from choking on it, Tala could barely draw in fresh breath before Johnny’s fingers clamped down on his throat with even more force.

“How dare you try to pull off something like this, rookie? Who the fuck do you think you’re fucking around with here?? Did you really thing you were smart enough not to get caught?”

Tala was beginning to lose strength in his legs due from lack of oxygen. Johnny let him sink to his knees, but then released him, leaving him to hack and gag on the tiled floor over the shower drain. Peering through spraying water and wet hair, Tala stared at the scattered pieces of the phone. The cover with the phoenix sticker lay right side up, unscratched but now useless.

“You ... idiot,” Tala coughed. “You don’t ... know ... what you’ve done!”

He saw Johnny crouch down next to him out of the corner of his eye, and tensed when a finger was lightly placed on the bruise with the wordless threat of further torture.

“I don’t know what sort of twisted deal you have going on with Hiwatari, though doubtlessly it must have something to do with him being able to fuck you whenever he pleases, but this ends here,” Johnny said.

“It’s not that ... simple. If I don’t ... People will die if I don’t ... The phone was ... ”

“Aw, you poor thing,” Johnny cooed with mock sympathy, stroking Tala’s with the condescending voice of a master talking to his dog. “Did the big bad man make you take the phone? Did he threaten to do evil things to innocent people if you didn’t let him have his way?”

“He still will,” Tala said, trying to pull away from the hand. “Johnny, please ... Think this through! I was only going along with Hiwatari’s plans for the time being. I want him back in police custody, but I couldn’t just—Ah!”

The finger jabbed itself into the wound in a torturously twisting movement, forcing him to gnash his teeth together to stop himself from screaming.

“I know, I know,” Johnny sighed, getting to his knees. “You didn’t mean any wrong. You’re too much of a ruddy goody two-shoes, which is exactly why Hiwatari must be having so much fun wrapping you around his little finger. On the other hand, you’ll be neck-high in shit if this ever leaks out.”

“ ... If?” Tala asked, blinking away tears. “What’s stopping you?”

“You’ve been hampering me with my case,” Johnny said. “It’s not like Hiwatari to pull of something as bold as that escape and not throw it back in our faces. I was counting on his taunts as a starting point, but so far we’ve heard nothing from him. And now I know why. He was too busy enjoying quality time with you. And, as if you haven’t been a big enough thorn in my side, now you’ve gone and gotten me banned from headquarters for a week, further preventing me from doing my job. So, rather than blow the whistle on this whole charade, I could also cash in on that debt you now owe me.”

“You ... You want me to lead you to Hiwatari.”

His vision jarred when Johnny struck his in the back of the head, as if trying to knock some sense into him.

“Don’t be moronic. I could have just traced the numbers in the cell phone, or even follow you around until you finally met up with him again, but Hiwatari isn’t as easy to trick.” The hand in his hair slid to the back of his neck as Johnny moved to kneel before Tala, staring down at him with a contemptuous but scheming look. “As someone who knows Hiwatari well, I know it’s useless to chase after him. Try and run after him, and he’ll always be one step ahead. I don’t want you to lead me to Hiwatari: I’ll use you to draw him to me.”

A hostage? Was Johnny really going to kidnap him and expect Hiwatari to come to the rescue?

“It won’t work,” he said, needing to steady himself when Johnny released him for no apparent reason. “Hiwatari can’t be bothered with something like a kidnapping.”

Johnny laughed somewhere above him; a low, patronizing snicker.

“I’m not taking you anywhere,” he said with his usual punkish superiority, but what made Tala jump was that the man was suddenly behind him.

A hand grabbed his right cheek.

“No!” Tala gasped, throwing a fist back, but his speed and flexibility were affected by his injuries.

Pushed back down, he felt slick skin against his as Johnny straddled him from the behind. Hands grabbed him by the hips; one of them squeezed his badly bruised side, causing more than enough pain to keep him down despite his body’s automatic response to defend himself.

“You can’t ... Johnny, you can’t be serious ... ” Tala said, trying to pull free as his hips were raised, forcing him to his knees. “This is ... This is ... ”

He could hear Johnny’s heavy breathing, and noticed the moment of hesitation of the hands holding him. They loosened, only to tighten again when he tried to squirm away.

“I never had to resort to this before,” Johnny confessed, speaking in a low voice that gave Tala the brief hope that the man was already reconsidering his plans. But the feel of wet fingers experimentally caressing the curve of his buttocks dashed his hopes. “As long as you’re around, Hiwatari will not let himself be distracted by anything else, not even the law. The only way to get his attention is through you.”

“Stop this,” Tala urged, forgetting about the hands when his entire side suddenly burned with pain as he doubled his efforts. He could do nothing! For the first time in his life since the death of his father, he could do nothing at all to defend himself. All he could do was plea in a breathless voice, “Stop this now!”

“I’m not doing this for my own pleasure. I came here determined to solve this case,” Johnny said. Something hard pressed against Tala’s cleft. “I beat Hiwatari once, and I will do whatever it takes to win again. I won’t lose this case, Ivanov, do you hear me? You almost fucked it up for me, so now you’re going to help me win at all costs!”

‘How ... ?’ Tala wondered, gripping at the slippery tiles beneath him with numb fingers, though very sensitive to the shower of water raining down on them both. ‘Why? ... I only wanted to do the right thing ... I did what I had to do to keep others safe ... I only wanted to protect as many people as I could ... Why am I being punished for that? ... Why am I always the one who gets punished?’

“Relax,” Johnny said, forcing Tala’s back into a painful arch by roughly thumbing the contusion. “You must have done this hundreds of times before.”

Unable to fight back, not even in spirit, Tala shuddered as he was roughly penetrated. Tears sprung to his eyes and he sank down to his elbows, completely unprepared and still unable to wholly believe that this was happening. He heard Johnny grunt and his toes curled uncomfortably when the other moved, clumsily thrusting a few times before finding a rhythm. The pain didn’t last very long, but there was absolutely no pleasure either. The sensitive bruise stretched painfully with every thrust, forcing gasps and whimpers out of him.

Worst of all, though, was the burning shame. Mortified beyond belief, Tala didn’t even dare speak throughout the assault. As the pace picked up, he lowered his head, squeezing his eyes shut and praying for it to all be over soon. All he heard was the shushing sound of the running shower, the sound of their flesh slapping together, and Johnny’s laboured breathing. He focussed on the pain of his wounds in an attempt to not feel what else was happening, but as Johnny neared his peek the thrusts became even harder as the other selfishly sought his gratification.

‘Bryan ... Help me ... Why aren’t you here? You promised you’d ... ’

A few feet away, the red sparkled on the broken phone cover caught his eye.

‘You promised ... me happiness ... ’

Desperately stretching out an arm, knowing he’d never reach it, Tala stared at the phoenix sticker through wet eyes. A sharp sting made him hiss; he’d been torn. A thin tendril of blood appeared in the water flowing past between his legs, spiralling down into the drain. Blood red, like the phoenix’s feathers.

‘ ... You promised ... ’

“Fuuuuuck yeah,” Johnny groaned.

A hand pulled Tala’s head back and teeth sank into the side of his neck; exactly where Johnny had seen Hiwatari’s bite mark; exactly where Bryan had tenderly kissed minutes earlier. Tala’s pained moan came out broken as his body rocked beneath Johnny’s six or seven more times. He watched several more tendrils of blood float by and then, finally, mercifully, it was all over when Johnny stilled with a loud groan, pressing up hard against Tala one last time.

Once released, Tala staggered on all fours before weakly pushing himself up, but sitting was still too uncomfortable. Resting his weight on his hip, he kept his eyes down, averted. A sticky hand grabbed at his chin but he still refused to look the other in the eyes. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to after this.

“Can’t believe you actually bled,” Johnny said, sounding both bemused, still out of breath. “Didn’t expect it would actually feel that good ... You keep this a secret, Ivanov, cause I’m not a fag. This is a business deal, got it? Your past secret affairs with Hiwatari will be forgotten, and what we do from now on will stay between us. If either of us gets caught, the other will be dragged down. If we get caught before we get Hiwatari, all those people you were trying to protect will bleed a hell of a lot more than you just did. You do your job right, and we’re all set. If you don’t, I’m afraid we’re going to have to hold another little meeting just like this one, again and again, until we get results.”

“Just go away,” Tala whispered, finding that his thighs were still trembling too hard for him to even get to his knees again. “You idiot ... If Hiwatari ever finds out ... ”

Smirking lips pressed against his, just to seal the shameful deed.

“That’s the whole point,” Johnny said, cruelly nipping Tala’s lower lip. “I’ve made my move: now it’s his turn. All you have to do is spread your legs for the greater good, and there will be no problems between us. I’ll even publicly recant what I said about you and Balcov, hm? Never thought I’d say this, but I guess working with you just might turn out to be a satisfying experience after all.”

“Fuck you!”

Johnny chuckled as he stood, rewrapping the red stained towel around his waist.

“I already did. Make sure to clean up in here before you leave. See you around, partner.”

Bleeding, bruised and sore all over, Tala didn’t raise his head until the wet smacking of footsteps on tiles faded. Humiliated and disoriented, he looked up into the onslaught of thousands upon thousands of droplets of water, blinking repeatedly but barely feeling anything. All he could see were the hazy lights through the water, but nothing else felt real.

Johnny knew ... Johnny would tell everything to everyone if he didn’t cooperate ... If that happened they’d never be able to prevent Hiwatari’s vengeful slaughter ... It had to be kept a secret, just as before ... Only now, Johnny was involved ... Johnny was ... Johnny had ...

Tala hunched over, throwing up violently.

Johnny had ... He had been ... Just now, he’d been ...

Wiping his mouth with a badly shaking hand, Tala couldn’t deny himself the truth any longer.

He’d been raped.

Inside him, what little innocence had managed to survive the loss of his father; the one little piece he’d struggled to keep intact all these years, cracked, and he was sick all over again.

Tbc ...

A/N: ... Yeah. Pretty dark way to pick up after such a long time, but the story has to keep moving. If it makes you feel any better, try imagining what Kai might do to Johnny if and/or when he ever finds out ...

Read & Review, please.