Post by Kohaku Fujihara =^.^= on Aug 7, 2020 16:04:43 GMT -5
Mawarimichi
“I’m sorry to bail so quick without warning, but there’s some urgent business back home I need to tend to. I’m not sure how long it’ll take. Soon, hopefully, but I can’t make any promises. I apologize, deeply, for doing this without telling you in person first. I feel like I’m letting you down, but this just can’t be avoided. Good luck with King. Please be careful. I’ll be back when I can.”
The voicemail message left on Silvio Leon’s phone was unmistakable. It had the perfect timbre of regret and contrition and concern, with just enough detectable fondness. It was abrupt, but apologetic, and not something anyone would have found overly suspicious.
That, Kazuchika thought as he slipped Kohaku’s phone back into the pocket of its sleeping owner, was exactly how he wanted it.
Several hours later…
Kohaku’s ears popped, and he yawned, blinking, trying to shake a heavy fog out of his head. He couldn’t recall when he fell asleep, and he tried to remember what he’d been doing. Kaz had shown up again, hadn’t he? Yes, that’s right, he’d shown up and actually apologized.
He could see Kaz’s face in his mind’s eye, sorry and frowning, saying how wrong it’d been of him to try and force him down a path he obviously didn’t want yet. That he’d try to think of something to tell the boss. That he was going to be returning to Kyoto, and he had brought a bottle of fine sake for them to share as a parting gift..
Kohaku gasped, sitting up abruptly. The comfortable chair he had slept in wasn’t the recliner in his living room, but a first class seat on an airplane. The world below was nothing but sea. His head swiveled sharply to the right, eyes wide, mouth agape.
Kazuchika Watanabe smiled at him in a decidedly feline manner.
“Oh, you’re finally awake. I was starting to get bored.”
“Kaz… what… HOW…”
“Sleeping powder in your sake. You would not believe the amount of trickery and persuasion it took to get you past airport security, much less on a plane. You would’ve been impressed if you were awake.”
Kohaku did not look impressed. He looked outright apoplectic. Part of him- a rather big part, actually- wanted to tear the smug, catlike man to pieces, but he knew that doing so on an airplane probably wouldn’t be the wisest course of action. Instead, he set his clever mind to work on something more constructive.
Like it or not, this plane was going to land in Kyoto- Kohaku was fairly certain of that, given what Kaz’s goals had been this entire time. However, given his abductor’s air of confidence, he probably had it in his head that, being outwitted and dragged back, Kohaku would just consider himself beaten and stay home.
He would let Kaz continue to think that. Play along for the rest of the flight, act the part of the sulky and angry- but defeated- rival. Once they touched ground, though, he’d have more options. And if there was one thing that Kohaku had always been extremely adept at, it was twisting available options in his favor.
Frowning, Kaz reached over, touching Kohaku’s hand. He pulled it away sharply, folding his arms to his chest.
“Don’t be like that. I know you’re angry at me and will probably be angry at me for a while. But this is what’s best for you, for everyone. Once you settle back in, it’ll be just like old times. You’ll see.”
He smiled, hopeful. Kokaku turned away, keeping his gaze out the window, the faint reflection of his face hard and cold.
His compliance may be an act, but his anger and hurt at his old friend? That was, and would continue to be, very real.