Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

2014

Aquamarine eyes narrowed in utter annoyance, the ruckus filling the air was echoing off the walls of the numerous surrounding alleyways, a loud succession of gunshots that hadn’t let up in the long seconds that had passed, he may have been used to situations like this one but he was beyond it right now; it was always one thing after another, he didn’t understand why trash didn’t know their place.

“Shit.”

Sanzu Haruchiyo was unsure just how things could have escalated to this degree when the enemy were a bunch of tactless morons, but he wasn’t internally complaining too much, he hadn’t liked these assholes from the very beginning; it was beyond time that they were put in their grave after trying his patience so many times up until now.

“Oi, you good?!”

“Tch, their accuracy sucks!”

“Says you!”

The pink-haired man arched an eyebrow, here they were getting shot at and the Haitani Brothers still argued like a couple of kids, he should’ve expected as much considering how long they’d been stuck on this assignment, which had completely blindsided them from day one. Ran was significantly more irritable with how little sleep he’d managed since they’d been constantly on the move hunting the targets down, Rindou complaining about the other executives never getting stuck with missions such as this back-to-back like the three of them, the pair going back and forth about matters that didn’t amount to jack shit. Originally, this assignment was supposed to have been short and sweet, a single hour and be nothing more than a simple conversation; needless to say, it’d been two fucking weeks of hunting these cowards down instead as they’d made a point to dodge them for as long as they were capable. They’d been all over Japan, hitting up major cities, passing through small towns, going in endless circles chasing them, all to wind back up in Tokyo, as much as he enjoyed a game of cat and mouse, this one had tested even his patience. He was more than ready to speed up this drawn-out game, not end it, he’d be dragging that part out for as long as humanly possible with the way they’d been fucked with.

“Oi Sanzu; got any bright ideas?” the younger Haitani pressed, his voice teetering on exasperation.

They’d been stuck in this shootout for a solid five minutes and as short of a time as it sounded, a fair bit had already gone down, six bodies on the ground and unconscious for the time being, three still shooting. Bonten’s number two didn’t respond, shoving a new magazine into his handgun as he considered their options. They’d already taken down over half of these low lives, but the confined space of the alley was only making it difficult to get clean shots, too many corners to hide around, the enemy could’ve already run off had they not gotten bold enough to think they could take on the three of them and live. All of this could’ve been avoided if they’d just paid their fucking dues and instead, they’d slighted Koko; this should’ve been his shit to take care of, not theirs. Regardless, they had to wrap things up quickly before the authorities showed up, a good number of them may have been in Bonten’s pocket but not all of them, keeping those uninformed about the criminal side of things would let them continue to move freely in the public eye.

A soft hum left him in thought, throwing a quick glance around the corner at the targets before easing back, those idiots weren’t bothering to watch their back and should someone just happen to come up behind them…

‘Bang.’

A wide grin formed on his lips, that would work just fine for the time being. He’d take the ringleader’s head back to Mikey after he had his fun, there were plenty of their warehouses close by where he could do so, and the Haitani Brothers could bail out no sooner did they have answers they needed. It’d been far too long since he’d had to put lower ranked scum in their place, those that had been with them for a while knew better, the new ones too starstruck by their boss that they couldn’t do jack without being given step by step instructions, but then there were those who’d become complacent, it’d be a while before another bunch got there so he’d have to enjoy this for all it was worth. His head turned to swivel between the pair briefly, giving a short sign that he’d handle it and just needed them to cover long enough for him to end things, quick nods in affirmation coming from the both of them. He had to be quick about this, find the shortest route before the enemy realized only two guns were being fired back at them, otherwise they were in for an even bigger headache. His footsteps may not have been silent, but they didn’t have to be this time around, the banging noises sounding all around kept him from blowing his cover as he sped off, ducking into another alley to begin the process of circling around to the enemy’s side.

‘What a waste of time.’

Koko had wanted them to collect what was owed to their organization, that was originally the mission, and it should’ve been a simple hour at most conversation, leaving with a duffel filled with cash and heading back to headquarters to present it to the treasurer, as was the usual routine on the twelfth of every month. Upon arrival to the location, it’d become clear relatively quickly that the trash had turned tail and bolted, taking the loan (including interest) with them which had forced the three of them into the current situation. They hadn’t had much time at all, Rindou dashing into the driver’s seat while Ran put his phone to his ear with intent to touch base with the treasurer about what had happened, himself sending a bombardment of texts to a multitude of their people in order to get a solid trail to follow and within seconds, they were speeding down the streets of Tokyo in what would wind up being the biggest headache the three of them had dealt with in four months. They hadn’t had much of a chance to avoid it, not only had they already been out but they were the best choice out of all of the executives, which had been proven time and time again over the last several years they’d all been working together.

It always seemed to be them dealing with these types of matters, Mocchi never did jack shit except complain, drone on and on about how the lack of rivalry made for a boring time, Akashi only knew how to spend money like he was some kind of aristocrat even though the fucker was useless and didn’t contribute fuck all. Koko kept them more than just afloat, he was always coming up with new ways to make money, new business ventures, the newest being the lavish hostess bar the Haitani had invested in, hiding the prostitution ring within plain sight. Kakucho was just as valuable, always taking care of the tedious tasks that he himself wasn’t interested in handling, the face aspects of Bonten for the public eye which freed him up to do what he did best. He was number two for a reason, not only was he the most loyal to their leader out of the whole organization but he’d been watching his back the longest out of everyone, well before Bonten, before Kanto Manji, and even before Tokyo Manji Gang. His memories may have been messy with the way that things had changed back then but one thing certainly had not, Sano Manjiro was and always would be, a king. The Invincible Mikey was still undefeated to this day and was awe inspiring, there wasn’t anyone else out there that would go beyond the limits for that man like he had over the years, he’d do anything if it meant supporting him; by extent, this trash had disrespected the king and that shit absolutely wasn’t going to fly.

‘Now.’

Sanzu didn’t hesitate, coming around the corner and raising his handgun with practiced ease, squeezing the trigger without regret. The loud bang that followed the first shot had the other two enemies abandoning the shootout with the Haitani Brothers and whipping their heads around, two pairs of eyes blown wide with shock while they watched the third remaining member of their group collapse after taking a bullet to the chest. He’d purposely avoided vital organs and would do so with the other two, his katana was calling to him and it’d been quite a while since he’d brought his old friend out to play, he’d have a grand ole time slicing these pricks up for the next several hours…or days. The pink-haired man didn’t waste a second nor let the enemy get the upper hand, firing another two shots without batting an eye, a crazed grin forming on his scarred lips no sooner did they hit the ground with pained howls and giggled quietly to himself, maybe he’d kill just one right now so the other two knew that he meant business before he kicked them so hard that they blacked out.

“You stood against the king.” He drawled, his voice filled with malice; his hand rose, aiming the gun at the closest piece of trash. “Thought you were more when you were nothing but pawns.”

Another dark giggle came from him, inaudible over the screams filling the filthy alley and he made to squeeze the trigger again, his aquamarine orbs gleaming sadistically with anticipation. He’d been waiting months to get rid of this filth and they’d finally opened up the door that gave him the opportunity to do so, stealing from Koko was the same as stealing from Mikey and he’d make damn sure they knew it even beyond their last wheezing breath.

“Do you have to be so dramatic every time?”

Sanzu didn’t budge a centimeter at the words, the gun still raised while he side-eyed the elder Haitani with amusement, that was rich coming from him of all people when out of all the executives, he was the definition of a drama queen and all about putting on a good show. Rindou sighed heavily, looking entirely aggravated, whether it was over the situation or Ran’s constant antagonizing he wouldn’t know, the man moved a hand through his hair leisurely, walking next to his brother while they approached. He took the brief moment to observe the state of things, each of their shots had purposely avoided vital organs but there was no guarantee that every man lying on the ground hadn’t been hit in a precarious spot with all the moving around they’d done, bleeding out was a possibility, so was being dead but they still had three that were breathing. The only thing that would be ruined if that were the case was his future fun, they’d have to check pulses before dragging all the bodies off to the closest warehouse, regardless of if every one of those men weren’t breathing, bodies would have to be disposed of, made to disappear. 

“At the very least, find out where they stashed Koko’s money before you shoot them.” Ran continued with composure, his lilac eyes filled with boredom; he could’ve scoffed, he may have been impulsive but not so much that he’d fuck himself into being forced to listen to the greedy bastard bitch. “I’d rather not listen to his complaints by coming back emptyhanded.”

“Been on our ass every day for the past two weeks.” The younger added with a grumble; he slipped his hand into his pocket, pulling out his buzzing phone and tapping at the screen with a single hand.

As much of a pain as it was, it looked like they would have to get the answers before he could indulge in his fun because there wasn’t a single doubt in his mind that the treasurer had been the one to send the text Rindou was currently engrossed in. He’d been blowing them all up multiple times a day since they’d gone on the hunt, text messages, phone calls, video chats, the impatient fuck couldn’t take a hint that they were busy; if he wanted this done right, then he should’ve left them in peace to do what they had to do to wrap things up. An over-the-top sigh left him in exasperation, but the pair were right, they needed answers, Mikey would be less than pleased if he offed the enemies before they could get that six hundred thousand back and he sure as shit didn’t want to listen to Koko’s complaints; what happened nine months ago was a prime example of what would happen should he do as he pleased, rather than what was needed.

“Very well.” He agreed grudgingly; he shifted his hand just barely, redirecting the gun to point in the direction of the man’s dick rather than his head, his smile widened dangerously. “Tell us where you stashed it.”

“Shinjuku, in Shinjuku!” the man exclaimed, his voice teetering on hysterical.

“Traitor!” another voice bellowed, sounding pissed to high heaven.

“You’re a dead man!” a different voice barked.

“Fuck you, like you wouldn’t rat if there was a gun…”

He arched an eyebrow, the squabbling between the three would’ve been entertaining had they not been on the wildest goose chase of their damn lives in the past two weeks, but his patience was worn down to nothing, he was leaning towards pistol whipping the fucks into an unconscious state as soon as they gave up the location. Both his companions seemed to be on the same page, they were just as sick of this shit as he was and they needed to get a move on before the sound of sirens broke through the stillness, the Haitani Brothers could collect the money and get it back to the treasurer before the night was out. He’d use his time getting to know their new friends, he wouldn’t be making it back to headquarters until he had everything that he needed from them, and it’d take a few days at the least, he had nine new buddies to befriend and that itself would take a fair share of time; Mikey deserved a thorough and enlightening report after all.

“How unsightly.” Ran mused, his voice distasteful; the younger of the two scoffed with a roll of his eyes, his lilac eyes that matched his brother’s pair still zeroed in on his phone.

“Get on with it Sanzu.” Rindou spoke, his tone irritable; the pink-haired man hummed quietly in acknowledgement, shifting the gun again just barely. “Koko’s about to lose his damn mind so we need more than a district.”

“Yes, yes. I know.” He retorted airily, the smile dropping off his face and a deep frown replacing it.

It didn’t seem as though they had the time to drag out the fun for answers since the authorities would be approaching before long, either they press to get what they needed, or they’d have to haul nine bodies off to one of the warehouses nearby. That itself would be a pain in the sense that they’d wind up getting stuck waiting for one of the traitors to come to and it’d be a guessing game on who would give up the location, they didn’t have all the time in the world but if it came to that, they wouldn’t have much of a choice. Without a word, he squeezed the trigger, a loud bang followed that was essentially drowned out by a horrid scream, the bullet lodging itself in the man’s knee; he didn’t know why in the fuck he had to do all the work to make these fucks immobile when Rindou was the one that could easily snap bones without much effort, he’d boasted about that shit all of their teenage years just for him to get lazy.

‘How boring.’

“Where’d you stash it, you worthless fucks?” he pressed lowly, his tone dangerous; he already had a feeling he knew where, men like this didn’t know anything about discretion and were entirely clueless when it came to hiding within plain sight.

“Kabukicho.” One replied, voice teetering on panicked.

“Should’ve known.” Rindou muttered, sounding just as unimpressed as he was; the younger Haitani tapped at his phone, obviously letting Koko know that they had an answer and when to expect them back. “Traffic’s gonna be a pain this time of night.”

“The redlight district is always popular on Friday.” Ran followed up, his voice expressing he was the furthest thing from surprised; Bonten owned plenty of businesses over there, it was easier to hide the gambling rings within the hostess clubs. “Ask Koko if anyone thought to collect rent while we’ve been busy, I’d rather get it all done in one go if not.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” The younger sighed heavily.

That hadn’t crossed Sanzu’s mind, the three of them were always the ones collecting “rent” and if no one had thought to do so while they’d been on this wild goose chase, it would make sense why the treasurer was so impatient for them to wrap things up. Yet again, Mocchi and Akashi were fucking useless, either of them could’ve been taking care of these things while they’d been busy. Kakucho always stayed at Mikey’s side during times like this when he had to be away to take care of various matters, he was the only one that the pink-haired man could trust to actually watch their boss’s back, he’d been disappearing a little more often than usual lately, but he’d expected as much, that day was approaching faster than anticipated. He’d be skipping out next month, as he did every year to be Mikey’s shadow for the day in question, the Haitani Brothers would have to take care of these things on their own and maybe this time, Akashi would do something to help instead of drowning himself in alcohol like he did every fucking year.

‘Worthless piece of shit, should’ve offed him myself when I had the chance.’

Thinking about that wouldn’t do him a bit of good, he hadn’t taken the opportunity and now he was stuck dealing with the prick until he kicked the bucket, zero chance that he’d be taken out since he didn’t do anything that could be seen as dangerous, the most he could hope for was alcohol poisoning. With a heavy breath, he fired the gun without so much as a glance, a different sounding scream filling the air upon the bullet’s impact, followed by another with the third shot; now they wouldn’t have to worry about the pricks running away.

“Where in Kabukicho?” Sanzu drawled, his voice demanding; again, whatever patience he’d possessed at the start of this was nonexistent, they’d been jerked around for too long and he was going to snap if they didn’t get answers. “You have three seconds before I gauge out your eyes.”

He’d do it regardless no matter what the filth chose to do, but a satisfied grin formed on his lips at the babbling answer that came from all three enemies, now all that was left to do was have the time of his life for the next few days, he’d be dragging this out for all it was worth.

“Fucking finally.” Rindou complained with a groan; the elder of the two breathed a sigh of relief, there was no doubt he was already prepared to sleep through the whole weekend after they finished this. “Shit took too long.”

“Being stubborn did nothing to help you.” Ran commented, his voice every bit of bored. “Just put off the inevitable, you were doomed from the start.”

‘Tch, and he called me dramatic.’

His aquamarine-colored eyes rolled as he lowered the pistol, mentally preparing himself for the drawn-out process of carrying (dragging) nine separate bodies to the closest warehouse and he was much too sober for how much of a pain in the ass it would be; what remained of his pills were in the car and…

“Rindou, get the car.” He instructed, his head turned to face the man in question; not only would he have his shit but transporting the bodies would be a piece of cake, it didn’t matter if the trunk was a tight fit, the trash would fit even if they had to break bones to make it happen. “Need to get a move on.”

“I’m surprised we haven’t heard sirens yet.” The elder hummed, his voice thoughtful.

“Hideki’s buying us some time.” The younger followed up with a scoff, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world; he tucked his phone back in his pocket quickly, catching the set of car keys with ease. “Don’t think they’ll all fit though Sanzu.”

“Tch, they will.” He retorted, a sadistic gleam in his eyes; he pressed his boot against a man’s elbow lightly, applying the smallest amount of pressure. “You’re the one that used to go on about snapping bones like toothpicks, can shape them however we went.”

There wasn’t any other option, he wasn’t going to make two trips and he sure as shit wasn’t carrying nine limp bodies that would be nothing but deadweight, everything had been a clusterfuck up until now and he was going to make things as easy for himself as possible. First things first, Rindou had to get the car, he and Ran could knock these bastards out while they waited, all they’d been doing was being over the top with their howling and screaming. You’d think he was skinning them alive when all he’d done was shoot them, the legs were nonvital to begin with so they were just being a bunch of pussies, overly dramatic pansies that certainly wouldn’t shut up unless they were knocked out cold, he’d be sure to gag every one of them once they were all settled in; there wasn’t a chance he could listen to this for a few days when he only had enough pills left to make it through the night and tomorrow morning. It was absurd that they were making so much noise, it wasn’t going to change anything and they were certainly going to die by his hand so it didn’t make a lick of sense why anyone would go out of their way to be so dramatic when they knew that there was no avoiding the end; why not accept it in stride and die with a little bit of honor?

‘Ridiculous, it isn’t like there’s anyone that can hear…’

His eyes went wide when it all clicked into place, the trash hadn’t had the time to actually stop to stash that cash, they’d been on the move the whole time they’d been chasing after them, they’d passed it off to someone else to do for them and led them on to protect the trueringleader of this fiasco. This extended outside of Bonten and was more complex than they’d ever thought, it hadn’t been a simple grab and go, it’d been planned out which could only mean one thing; they were about to be ambushed. No sooner had he realized just what was in the works, he caught movement from the corner of his eye and instantly whipped the gun in that direction with intent to pull the trigger.

“Ran, Rindou! It’s a-”

His words were drowned out by the heavy stream of shots being fired from multiple directions, none of which Sanzu nor his companions had time to pinpoint, they’d jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire; they were furthest thing from being prepared to combat something such as this. His adrenaline was shooting through the roof as he booked it as fast as he could, throwing himself behind the closest corner, his back meeting the wall.

‘Fucking shit.’

If he would’ve known they’d wind up in a situation like this, he would’ve brought more ammo, only half a magazine in his handgun, one full clip in his pocket, and he knew his fellow executives had to be worse off as they’d covered for him earlier. His head swiveled in all directions, finding the Haitani Brothers with relative ease, both of whom were on the far other side of the alleyway, the trash had managed to separate their group and handicap them. Rindou had taken a bullet to the leg and the shot had been the furthest thing from clean from what he could tell with the distance, the dark expression on Ran’s face told him as much as he looked over his brother, his own bleeding arm not even on his radar. He could feel a sharp sting lingering around in his side, glancing down to see red seeping through his dress shirt, he’d gotten lucky enough to only be grazed but that would only help them so much. The younger Haitani was spitting venom that couldn’t be heard over the continuous sound of fire bouncing off the walls, unable to heave himself to his feet which ultimately meant that he wouldn’t manage to make it out of the fray without support.

‘Damn pissants, fuck!’

His head was going a million miles a minute while he racked his brain on what they could do, they didn’t have the means to stand their ground, low on ammo, an injury that couldn’t be ignored nor overlooked and would only make more problems for them should they make attempts to take out the scum. Their only option was running but even that would be difficult considering that Rindou wouldn’t be able to do so on his own, Ran sure as shit wouldn’t leave his brother behind and if they were going to get the hell out of dodge, he’d have to cover long enough for the pair to make it back to the car. A limited number of bullets, no ideas on how many enemies had appeared, no clue if any of the ones they’d taken down had regained consciousness, no inclination to how many numbers he’d be stuck facing and if he ran out of bullets, they would certainly be in a rough spot. An inaudible giggle left his lips, leaning his head back against the wall.

‘Challenge accepted, pricks.’

He focused his gaze back to the pair, shots were still going strong and drowning out any chance of calling out to his companions, but it was almost as if they could tell he wanted to grab their attention, both heads turning in his direction. The younger’s face was filled with contempt towards the enemy, looking pissed to high heaven and the elder’s expression would’ve matched had he not been capable of holding composure in stressful situations, they were just as aware of how tough of a spot they were in right now. His hand rose, signaling to them that he’d cover for the time being, Ran nodding in understanding. Out of everything, covering for them wouldn’t be the hardest part, making it across the alleyway without being turned into Swiss cheese was and he’d essentially fucked himself, nothing on the other side of him except a dead end; he didn’t have anywhere to go except forward once his fellow executives made it to safety. Four minutes at most, if he could hold out that long without running out of ammo then the brothers will have made it to the car and then he could bolt, fire shots as needed and with a little luck, make it out of this mostly unscathed.

‘Tch, what a pain.’

Regardless of how much of a drag this was going to be, he didn’t have any other options, it was the only way all three of them were going to live to see the next day. Bonten’s number two gave one final nod, silently urging Ran to get a move on and sidestepped closer to the corner, waiting until the shots thinned out just enough before whipping his gun around, firing a few of his own off. Four minutes, he just had to make it four minutes, save at least five bullets for the dash across the alley and when he made it, take off full force to the car; they’d escape by the skin of their teeth, and he’d take out as many of these fools as possible. He was conscious of just how many times he squeezed the trigger, glancing every few seconds towards the other side of the alley to see just how much progress his companions continued making as the seconds ticked by, his piercing eyes narrowing when he noticed an enemy making attempts to go towards the alley in question, firing off a shot that dropped him like a fly. The short moment he was distracted bit him in the ass and he threw himself back around the corner, a slew of curses falling from his lips over the searing pain in his shoulder, red painting more of his dress shirt.

A breath of total frustration left him as he discarded the empty magazine, jamming his sole remaining clip into the gun and readied himself to return fire again, two more minutes, he just had to make it two more fucking minutes. Once they were out of this shitshow, he’d be gathering a shit ton of their people to annihilate these bastards, they wouldn’t be getting off easy, he’d torture them for weeks after what they’d pulled. He didn’t let himself hesitate, he could hear his pulse thumping in his ears and feel just how hard his heart was pounding from adrenaline as he whipped around the corner once again, returning fire with intent to drop as many enemies as possible. Thin them out, make it easier for himself for when it was time to fly like a bat out of hell, they’d regret crossing Bonten when this was all over, their betrayal wouldn’t be forgiven, and he’d make an example out of every damn one of them so no one would ever have the audacity to oppose them again. He wasn’t bothering to avoid fatal shots this time around, purposely aiming for skulls and organs with each squeeze of the trigger. Some of the trash they’d taken out at the beginning had regained consciousness and were firing back, all of whom had shit accuracy to begin with but there were already too many bullets flying, even with each body he dropped they didn’t seem to be thinning out which could only mean one thing, more were joining the shootout.

‘Shit.’

They were making attempts to back him into a corner and if they were doing so to him then there was just as high of a chance that they were already in route to pulling the same thing on the Haitani Brothers, if they hadn’t already; they’d meant to separate them and had succeeded. Four minutes he’d meant to be used for his companions to get to safety and instead, those four minutes had given the enemy the upper hand against them, if he didn’t go now then he was fucked. Seven shots left, no more clips, his other handgun in the glove compartment of the car, the odds were certainly against him, but Sanzu Haruchiyo wasn’t the type to just roll over when shit got hard, he may lose the battle, but he’d make damn sure he won the war. He didn’t hesitate, didn’t give his head time to come up with questionable scenarios and just went with it, abandoning the shootout and darting across the alley as fast as he could move. He didn’t stop nor did he slow down, not when he felt the air stir around him from bullets whizzing passed him, not when footsteps equivalent to a pack of elephants filled his ears, not even when he felt what was very clearly a bullet lodge into that same shoulder that had already been shot.

‘Fuck me!’

Faster and faster, he knew the path as they’d just come that way possibly fifteen minutes prior when they’d been chasing down the pricks, taking the turns without skepticism. His hand rose at the sight of an enemy coming out of one of the side alleys, firing off a single shot that hit him dead center. He wasn’t in a good spot; his adrenaline may have been climbing higher and higher but that wouldn’t do a damn thing for him when he ran out of ammo. A shot fired off from some distance behind him, a sharp hiss leaving him when the bullet grazed his leg but still, he didn’t stop, he was almost there, and they could get the fuck out of-

‘Fucking shit!’

Sanzu nearly lost his balance when the car came into view along with fifteen men that were very clearly enemies, the brothers nowhere in sight and if he hadn’t been in a tough spot before, he certainly was in one now. He made to duck into a side alley to avoid the bastards, a slew of curses falling from his lips when another shot rang out, pain in his thigh that was nothing like the last several times he’d been grazed or shot.

‘Damn it!’

A bullet may not have lodged itself into his leg that time and as great as that could’ve been, his phone taking the hit was the worst thing that could’ve happened, communications were down now, he wouldn’t be able to get in contact with anyone until well after he ditched these assholes. No backup, six bullets left, more enemies than he could fathom, no transportation, no ideas about Ran and Rindou’s current state.

‘Fuck!’

Fuck was right, he was fucked and unless he could ditch these losers, he’d be even worse off than he was right now because there was zero chance that he’d been shown any mercy. He had to come up with something, his stamina would eventually crash, adrenaline couldn’t keep him going forever, and if he was going to get out of this alive then-

Sanzu was almost knocked clear off his feet when he felt a bullet lodge itself into his chest and didn’t have to guess to know that it hadn’t come out the other side, it was fucking stuck, just like the one in his shoulder and had it been any further to the right then it would’ve hit-

Another hit, hardly any of these shots were clean and the next bullet had made a home in his shoulder blade.

‘Damn it, I’ll skin every one of these fuckers alive.’

If he made it out of this alive, he’d definitely make it happen, but he wasn’t naïve, things weren’t looking good for him.

Chapter Text

“It’s starting to look like I’m going to have to buy you a sleeping bag.”

The woman’s head lolled up at the voice, her lavender pools filled with confusion, she’d been so engrossed in what she was reading that the only thing she’d registered was a familiar voice speaking.

“What?” she questioned, her voice expressing just how lost she was; the older woman rolled her eyes, not looking surprised whatsoever that she’d been off in her own little world.

“Falling asleep at your desk again, huh?” she guessed, sounding disapproving; she immediately shook her head, she hadn’t been asleep, just focused. “Geez, do you ever go home?”

“Yes.” She retorted easily; she’d gone home just four days ago to refill the automatic feeder in the kitchen for her cat and do some basic things around the house, she was on the cusp of something great and didn’t want to waste a second.

“Once a week doesn’t count.” The other argued, a stern look on her face. “You need more than two hours of sleep a night.”

“My thesis-” the twenty-three-year-old began.

“Will be here when you come back.” She interrupted, placing her hands on her hips. “It’s a holiday weekend, take the time to get some real sleep for once.”

“I will, I just need to finish editing what I have so far.” She explained, her voice on the same page as a child being scolded; she really didn’t want to lose the flow that she had going but she knew for a fact the woman in her doorway wouldn’t let her hear the end of it if she didn’t go home this weekend. “I literally have four pages to go.”

A heavy sigh came from the older woman, an exasperated expression on her face.

“Doctor Ikeda, I get that your research is important to you but taking care of yourself matters just as much.” The secretary reprimanded lightly; she nodded in understanding, she wasn’t running herself ragged or anything, she just couldn’t sleep with how much was racing around in her head and it’d drive her crazy if she didn’t do something with those thoughts. “You’re constantly on the move. If you’re not seeing patients then you’re hold up in here, when was the last time you went out and had fun?”

Yuki pondered over the question for a moment, the last time she’d been out had been…

‘Hm, was it for Akari’s birthday? Or Choyo’s?”

She was unsure exactly how long it’d been, either five or eight months but that was neither here nor there; she went out sometimes, her friends were aware of just how busy she was with work and her research. They were just as busy, all of them having just graduated university in the past year. Sometimes she wished that she was still there but not often, a person didn’t realize just how competitive people with high intelligence could be when it came to being top of the class until they were at each other’s throats like rabid dogs. Although she’d only cared about getting her medical degree, being on the receiving end of dirty looks had gotten old rather quickly, especially considering she’d been the youngest person in her first year at fifteen. She’d made some friends though, all of whom were the “normal” age for university, and they’d looked out for her during her years there since she’d been so young; she couldn’t count the number of times that Kaori had gotten defensive with those sorority girls.

“You can’t even answer that because all you do is work.”

“Midori-san.” She attempted, she instantly shut her mouth at the stern look from her secretary.

“You need a vacation.” Midori stated; her tone was just the same as her grandmother used to get with her when she was pushing herself too hard, Midori had four children so pulling out the “mom voice” was a piece of cake for her. “And not to do research, a real vacation. Go have fun for once.”

“But the clinic-” she argued weakly; she sealed her lips once again over the disapproving expression on the woman’s face, it was beginning to look like arguing wasn’t going to do her a bit of good.

“A week isn’t the end of the world.” The secretary spoke, her voice matter of fact. “All of us would be thrilled to see you take a vacation, you push yourself too hard Doctor Ikeda.”

The young woman bobbed her head lightly in understanding, her days off when the clinic was closed for the weekend were never actual days off, she always used them to research and work on her thesis so it would (hopefully) be finished by the time the next conference came about; as much as she didn’t care about what people thought, she really wanted to rub her success in Shimizu’s face, guy was a pompous jerk. Back to the more pressing matter, she couldn’t fathom closing the clinic down for a week just so she could take a vacation, her patients needed her, and her staff shouldn’t have to miss out on a week of pay so she could relax; that wasn’t right nor was it fair. She knew that voicing that to Midori right now wouldn’t do her a bit of good though because the woman was insisting that she take time for herself, and she hadn’t been the only one to do so over the last several weeks, apparently all of her staff were on the same page about how she did “too” much. The secretary begun hovering more often when she realized just how long she was staying after closing time, always pressing her to go home nowadays. Agreeing was the only thing she could do, and it would urge the woman to go home to her family rather than wait around for her to wrap things up, she nodded again.

“You’re right Midori-san, I’ll think about it.” She promised, her voice sincere; the woman pursed her lips, eyeing her with suspicion. “I’ll look through my planner and find a week that’s clear, can’t just drop everything and go on vacation.”

“You’d better, you’re only young once.” The secretary commented thoughtfully. “You need to enjoy these years, not work yourself half to death.”

Yuki nodded once again, silently hoping it would be enough to hold off the woman for the next few weeks until she (hopefully) finished her thesis and maybe once she had, she’d take a day or two off. The next four days would be odd enough since it was a holiday, the clinic was always closed on Saturday and Sunday but an extra two days was going to throw her off; she’d have to spend that time researching otherwise she’d drive herself mad. She always had so much going on, working at the clinic, occasionally getting calls from the hospital about referrals and she always wound up dropping everything to run over to meet her newest patient, her charity work at the orphanage close by; her research was the sole thing that was for her, as odd as it sounded, it relaxed her and was her version of a break. She could feel a breakthrough coming with it too, which was why she was so engrossed in it presently, she’d been working on this since her first year in university. Her grandmother had always been her motivation to accomplish great things and she deeply hoped that the woman was proud of her, wherever she was; the woman who raised her would most certainly be on the same page as her secretary though when it came to her lack of sleep, she could just imagine the scolding Gran would give her over it.

“Thank you, Midori-san, I’ll keep that in mind.” She assured, her voice earnest; the woman nodded in approval, seeming relieved that she’d finally “broken through to her”, she couldn’t be sure how many times the woman had complained about her stubbornness.

“Good, I’ll see you Wednesday and those circles under your eyes had better be gone.” She spoke, her tone adamant; the young doctor internally cringed, she’d have to make sure to start hiding those because it was doubtful that she’d get more than a few hours a night, just as it’d been for the last several months.

“I’ll see you Wednesday, goodnight, Midori-san.”

“Goodnight, Doctor Ikeda.”

Her shoulders went slack when the door of her office shut as the woman exited, finally relaxing somewhat now that she was alone and turned her attention back to the slew of papers across her desk, rifling through them to figure out where she’d left off. She preferred having physical copies of everything as well as digital in the case that something should happen to cause her to lose either, having a backup plan was important and she wasn’t about to let eight years of research go up in smoke. She may have only had four pages to go with editing but that was only for her physical copies, she’d have to update the digital version as well which would take another two hours on top of finishing the papers on her desk. Her secretary would’ve killed her if she’d confessed to that part, not to mention everything else she’d left out. She still needed to go through her new patient files that the hospital had sent over, another two hours added to the two for editing, plus she needed to check on the progress of all those lab tests she’d put orders in for, and reply to all the emails she’d received over the past four days; she really needed to stop putting those off but emails were her least favorite thing to deal with.

‘Just get it over with.’

The woman pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, reluctantly gliding a single finger over the mousepad of her laptop to wake the computer, the screen swapping out from black and could’ve groaned aloud at the sight, those fifteen emails staring back at her. Her chest heaved with a heavy sigh, scrolling her way down the screen to the first and clicked on it, her lavender pools filled with boredom. Replying to other doctors was probably her least favorite thing to do and it was undoubtedly why she hated checking her email, she’d rather not talk to any of them unless it was to do referrals and the like. Every single one that she’d dealt with thus far were constantly looking for any reason to scrutinize her, people said age was just a number but that was a load of bull, she was forever on the receiving end of endless judgment because of how young she was. Shimizu was a different case even though he was only twenty-seven, his whole family were a bunch of doctors, so no one gave him crap. She couldn’t count the number of times he’d instigated heated discussions solely because he didn’t like her, he’d been the youngest doctor in Tokyo at twenty-three at the time and she’d stolen that title from him at nineteen, right after she graduated university, it was an absurd thing to hold a grudge over.

She’d flown through university faster than most, knocked all her courses out and did her internship at a clinic just like the one she herself had opened up two years ago. The older couple had met at university, both of whom were studying to became doctors and they became good friends, they opened a clinic together after a few years of working under various doctors, eventually falling in love and marrying. They were amazing people, great doctors that cared deeply about their patients and their clinic itself was to help the underprivileged, money had never been a motivator for them, it was all about helping people; she still to this day found that admirable. As much as the woman wished she could do the same for all her patients rather than a handful of pro-bono cases a year, she wasn’t nearly established enough nor financially secure to do so just yet, but she would be one day. Being able to go to the orphanage and check up on the kids was good enough for right now, they didn’t receive nearly enough funding to provide proper medical care for all the children, so she made a point to always make time for those trips, always dragging a bag of over the counter medicine in for the staff to keep in stock; her next trip there would be coming up next week so she’d need to get a head start.

Her finger just barely slid across the mouse pad, moving the curser and clicked on the send button, her reply for a patient referral being whisked away, her face filled with boredom while she clicked on the next email. She could’ve sighed in relief, it wasn’t anything that needed a reply, merely information about the next conference, the when and where, a reminder for everyone to reply to the upcoming email when it concerned attendance, she was sure that email was in her inbox too. She took a moment to pull her planner out, flipping through the pages and marking the day in question, making some short but thorough notes before snatching her phone off the desk, doing the same thing digitally, going as far as setting a reminder even though it was a good two months away. A single click of the mouse, hitting the yes button on the screen to RSVP to the conference, send, email whisked away into thin air. Another click, the sound of her typing filling the dead silence as she went on in great detail about what she would be covering during her panel/lecture, click send, whisked away. She’d only covered four out of fifteen emails and she was struggling to push through it, silently reminding herself that if she put it off then come Wednesday, she’d have an overabundance of them to reply to rather than the eleven she had left.

‘Ugh, why me?’

How she wished that Midori could reply to these tedious emails for her but unfortunately, they were out of her realm, she had to count herself lucky that the woman could reply to all the ones that came to the clinic’s emails, otherwise she would’ve ripped the hair from her head. Yuki knew she wouldn’t have been capable of running things smoothly without the secretary, she made her life so much easier by scheduling all her appointments, dealing with the clinic’s email, returning patient phone calls, dealing with insurance. She communicated everything the nurses, lab techs, phlebotomists, etcetera, needed to know day by day; she was blessed to have the staff that she did, all of them were amazing people. As wearisome as the emails were, it was the last thing she should’ve been complaining about and should’ve been the least stressful thing workload wise but her distaste for them put it at the top of the list, it was the only thing that she regularly procrastinated on. It would’ve been one thing if she didn’t have to reply to ninety percent of them, she would’ve been fine just reading through them but no, she had to deal with stupidity like-

‘Ugh, what does he want?’

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, an email from none other than Doctor Shimizu Makoto, she hadn’t spoken to the arrogant jerk since they’d gotten into it at the last conference four months ago so what was his issue now?

‘…what?’

Had she read that right?

Doctor Ikeda,

It’s been a while since we’ve last spoken, I hope you and your staff are doing well. I apologize for my attitude at the last conference, clinical hours at the hospital seem to put me in a bad headspace and I’d just recently had to give a young couple some unsettling news, so I was the furthest thing from lighthearted that day. I sincerely apologize and hope you can find it in you to forgive me for the way I spoke to you, it was unprofessional and unbecoming of our profession. If I’m being honest, a complex case was just handed off to me as the last four doctors and their teams were incapable of coming to conclusions about it, from reading through everything about it, it seems to be in your realm of expertise, and I’d love to collaborate with you on it, even a joint partnership if you’d be willing. Attached is a file with some basic information about what I’m working with, please read through it at your earliest convenience. I eagerly await your reply.

Sincerely,

Doctor Shimizu Makoto

Her lavender orbs were scanning the text meticulously, reading through the email a solid six times before she gathered herself enough to click on the attachment, her head cocking to the side as she looked over the information, strands of white slipping free from the claw-clip her hair was still partially pulled up with. The woman could feel her heart practically breaking the more she read, children always pulled at her heartstrings and this one was hardly three, she bit into her lip in thought. She may not have been able to stand Shimizu, but personal feelings couldn’t be mingled with work, especially with the field they were in, saving lives was what was most important, and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t try to help this little boy. She could overlook her distaste for the man long enough to help a child, he may have been a jerk, but he was good at what he did, just as great of a doctor as any that were in regular attendance to the conferences in Tokyo.

‘Be the bigger person, that’s what Gran would say.’

Yuki nodded to herself absentmindedly, mentally preparing herself for what was surely going to wind up being a few weeks, if not months of constant migraines since she’d be dealing with the last person that she wanted to put up with on a daily basis moving forward. Regardless, she typed out a pleasant response, accepting his apology and agreeing to work on the case with him, requesting that he send over copies of all the information relevant to it when he had a spare moment. She truly hoped she wouldn’t regret agreeing to this as she pressed the send button, all but signing herself up for an impending nightmare. She rubbed her temples slowly, scooting her chair back away from her desk and moved to her feet, she needed some coffee to get through the next few hours after something like that; she’d definitely been blindsided. She slipped out of her office, making her way down the hall towards the employee breakroom, quiet ticks of the clock and her footsteps cutting through the silence. She pushed open the door with ease, flicking the light on and stopped before the coffee brewer, pressing a button to turn on the machine. Filter, coffee grounds, water, quiet drips while it took forever to brew.

‘We need a new one.’

She’d been wanting to invest in a new brewer for her staff for a while, maybe she’d even get an expresso machine, she could use a good latte every now and then. She stood up on her toes, grabbing the closest mug she could reach and went about filling it up when the coffee was finally finished after a long nine minutes, she’d take the whole pot back to her office if it would remain warm, but instead, she’d be stuck making multiple trips throughout the night. The woman stepped out of the breakroom, her head turning when she noticed the yellow hue in the direction of the front entrance and let out a grumble, the lights were left on.

‘She probably thought I’d be leaving right after her.’

The electric bill had been outrageous this year, between the freezing winter and burning hot summer, she couldn’t catch a break, air running full blast or heat turned up; she bowed her head, strands of white partially obscuring her face as she began trudging her way towards the lobby of the clinic. She took a sip of her coffee as she moved behind the desk, flicking the lamp off and circled around towards the switch for the overhead lights, maybe investing in solar power wasn’t such a bad idea, the startup would be expensive, but it could save money in the long run.

‘Lots of businesses are going-’

Her finger paused hardly two centimeters away from the switch, freezing in place, her eyes as wide as saucers at the sound of the door.

‘Oh no.’

Oh no was right, Midori hadn’t locked up behind her because she’d been under the impression that she would be leaving minutes after her and as naïve as she wished she could be that her secretary had come back because she’d forgotten something, she knew that wasn’t in the realm of possibility. The loud slam had her almost jumping out of her skin, her heart pounding wildly at the click of the lock as she spun around to face-

‘…’

Her breath all but caught in her throat at what was before her, a dumbfounded look on her face as she returned the stare from across the room, aquamarine eyes zeroed in on her form. Yuki could feel just how high her adrenaline was climbing, fight or flight was making attempts to urge her to do something but not only was a gun pointed right at her, the owner of it looked as though he was seconds away from collapsing.

‘H-he’s been shot.’

Shot was an understatement, and it undeniably hadn’t been a single time, his white dress shirt was drenched in crimson red. She couldn’t tell how many times he’d been shot with the distance between them but enough that he’d lost a significant amount of blood, he was as white as a sheet and there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that his body wasn’t in a good place, either he’d pass out or pass on.

‘He needs a blood transfusion.’

Whoever he was, he did need a blood transfusion, otherwise he certainly would leave this world before it was all said and done, he’d lost too much blood. He needed to be checked that none of those bullets were still in his body, that they hadn’t hit any major arteries or organs, fluids, stitches, the whole nine yards.

‘Blood type, I need to know his blood type.’

Getting the question out was the difficult part, her tongue was heavy, her mouth thick with spit, and she was already struggling enough to get air into her lungs since there was a gun pointed right at her, one wrong move and he’d shoot; whoever he was, he’d obviously been through something and was certainly not in a place where he was going to willingly trust anyone. She didn’t know how he’d managed to move with how much blood she assumed he’d lost, let alone run; his long rosy-pink locks were disheveled, beads of sweat on his brow, his chest heaving for breath, the hand holding the gun was trembling. Regardless of how bad of a state he was in, his expression wasn’t showing a sliver of fear, his aquamarine eyes were staring at her so intensely that he could’ve burnt holes straight through her with that alone, his lips pressed into a thin line.

‘Diamonds.’

It was a unique feature and paired with how high her emotions were running right now, she doubted she’d ever forget it, scars at both corners of his mouth in the shape of diamonds. She’d never imagined herself being in a situation close to this before and with the way things were looking, she wasn’t so sure that she’d make it through the next few minutes. He was ready to shoot her, and he would if he perceived her as being a threat to him, as nonthreatening as she was and appeared, that wouldn’t be enough to spare her a bullet, especially taking into consideration whatever he’d just been through. She wasn’t managing to force down the lump formed in the back of her throat so she could get words out, he was going to die from blood loss before the night was over if she couldn’t get her vocals cords to work. Most of Japan’s population was blood type A but taking a risk like that wasn’t worth it, not only could it cause life threatening reactions, but his life was already hanging in the balance to begin with. Her heart quite literally skipped a beat the moment she took a single step forward so she could better assess the damage, his finger immediately moving to the trigger, and she froze instantly; she was unsure how she was going to prove she didn’t mean him any harm.

‘Blood type, have to know his blood type.’

“I-I’m a doctor.” Yuki spoke, her voice anxious; she bit into her lip when his eyes narrowed dangerously, his expression the furthest thing from trusting, the gun still pointed right at her. “Y-you’ve lost too-too much blood. You ne-need a-a transfusion.”

She shouldn’t have been surprised that he didn’t say a word in response, but she was on some level, his life was hanging in the balance right now and anyone else would’ve been desperate to get assistance, would’ve been a babbling mess to the point of being the furthest thing from comprehendible. Yet, this man was holding nothing but composure, he was bleeding out and it still wasn’t enough for him to ask for help.

“I-I can help you.” She continued, trying to steady her words; if she were in his shoes, she wouldn’t want to trust someone that couldn’t even speak without stumbling over their words but then again, he was armed. “Y-you’re going to b-bleed out if…”

This stranger had been fully prepared to kill her, and it didn’t sink in nearly as fast as it should’ve, his finger squeezed the trigger the second she took another step towards him. Her stomach practically lurched no sooner did it register, her eyes threatening to pop out of their sockets, a quiet click breaking through the silence and had he not been out of bullets, she would’ve died just now. Her heart was pounding harder than it ever had, she’d never been more afraid in all her days but pulling her eyes from his was impossible, she was locked in the most intense staring contest of her life with someone that had just seconds prior tried to shoot her. The woman didn’t know what she was doing, why she hadn’t tried to run or get to her office so she could call the police, he’d broken into her clinic and tried to kill her so why was she trying so hard to help him?

‘Doctors save lives.’

Did he even want to be saved? She couldn’t be sure, the mistrustful expression on his face hadn’t faltered up until he’d tried to shoot her, dropping so subtly that she wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t been locked in this staring contest with him; he hadn’t expected to be out of bullets.

‘What can I do that would…’

Her eyes went wide all over again when the gun slipped from his grasp, crashing to the floor and his legs buckled, she watched in what was practically slow motion as he fell, not even attempting to catch himself as he collapsed onto his stomach; the blood loss had finally gotten to him. Her coffee mug slipped from her fingers, and she bolted, not even registering the sound of the china breaking apart upon impact as she dropped to her knees beside him.

“What’s your blood type?!” she pressed, her voice frantic; she didn’t have the time to test for something like that right now, every second counted. “I can save you, what’s your blood type?!”

He was still conscious, and she had to get an answer out of him before the worst happened, his head had turned towards her no sooner had she made it to his side, the mistrustful look in his eyes nonexistent as he struggled to keep himself from passing out. He wouldn’t manage much longer, willpower could only do so much and if he was as stubborn as she thought he was, he was the type that would refuse to die, if he wanted to live then he’d tell her something.

“Shit, fuck, shit.” She rambled; she wasn’t much for swearing but her composure was hanging by a thread, only threatening to unravel when she grabbed his wrist to check his pulse.

‘No, no, no!’

“What’s your fucking blood type?! Tell me!” Yuki demanded, her expression the furthest thing from her normal; her soft face was contorted into a glare as she stared back at him, aquamarine and lavender locked. “I don’t give a shit if you don’t want my help, you’re not dying in my clinic, I won’t let you! So, tell me what your blood type is!”

The white-headed woman had never spoken to a patient in that way before, but she didn’t feel the least bit guilty, he was being stubborn and if yelling at him was the only way to force him into telling her what she needed to know then she didn’t have much of a choice. She’d never met someone so obstinate; he hadn’t spoken a single word to her in the time that they’d been in each other’s presence, and it wasn’t looking like he was going to be able to. She’d run out of time, she was losing him, the far-off look in his eyes told her as much, his body had tensed up the moment she grabbed his wrist but now it was lessening, he was about to pass out and if he did before she knew what his blood type was, it was guaranteed he wouldn’t wake back up.

“Damn it, stop being a stubborn fuck and tell me!” she exclaimed, her tone uncharacteristically heated. “Let me save you, what’s your blood type?”

Her chest was heaving with short breathes and she was doing her utmost best to hold onto whatever bit of composure she still possessed, he wasn’t making this easy for her, he wouldn’t tell her anything; she’d become a doctor to save lives but how in the fuck was she supposed to save someone that didn’t want to be-

“AB.”

Her eyes went wide in shock, he’d just barely gotten the two letters out before falling unconscious and had it not been so quiet a pin-drop could be heard, she never would’ve heard his voice.

‘AB.’

The rarest blood type for a person living in Japan and he’d passed out before she could press if it was positive or negative, AB positive was the universal recipient, but AB negative could only receive from negative blood types. The only thing she could do was find all the negative blood types she had in stock, regardless of if he was positive or negative, she had what she needed.

‘Have to hurry.’

“Don’t worry, I’m going to save you.”

Chapter Text

Yuki was unsure what to even think as she collapsed back against the wall, sliding her way down to the floor, her head bowing as she inhaled a slow breath, white obscuring her face. The last several hours were running through her head at top speed and coming down from the adrenaline that had kept her going this long wasn’t going to be slow nor steady, she could already feel the impending crash. Even with her mind going a million miles a minute, her brain felt like a pile of goo, and she’d never wanted sleep more than she did right now; Midori would’ve been thrilled to hear that she’d manage eight hours for the first time in weeks.

‘I…I did it.’

She didn’t know how she’d managed if she was being transparent, she’d been entirely on her own without any staff to support her, no other doctors and no nurses. She’d done everything herself and she truly wished she knew how she’d pulled it off without a hitch, she’d done the IV, the fluids, oxygen since he wouldn’t be breathing on his own during the procedure, anesthesia for sedation and numbing, the blood transfusion, monitored all his vitals on her own, dug eight bullets out of him (multiple fragments that had broken apart), and stitched him up. Hours of delicate work, she’d had to scramble to find everything that she would need as fast as she could move and although the location wasn’t ideal, she hadn’t been able to be choosy in the moment considering he’d been on death’s door. The clinic wasn’t nearly as sterile as she would’ve preferred for something of this nature, she’d have to keep an eye on all the incisions to make sure they healed properly and didn’t get infected, her patient would be her main priority.

The only reason that she’d even had all the equipment she needed was out of being paranoid of not being prepared for a worst-case scenario; those worries had been what saved this man’s life. She’d had quite literally everything she needed tucked away in one of the exam rooms she’d fashioned as a makeshift hospital room. The idea had come to her after she’d done her internship with that lovely older couple, listening to their stories concerning their accomplishments and failures, the moments they wished they could do over. Each story that didn’t have a happy ending always had the same type of theme, they hadn’t had a piece of equipment that was necessary, the ambulance hadn’t arrived quickly enough, they hadn’t had a medication that would’ve turned things around, etcetera; it all came down to them not having access to what would’ve been helpful to them in the moment. Being prepared for the worst-case scenario, it was paranoia in a sense but her mind being at ease had most certainly been worth the headache of remodeling a room, investing in everything available in a hospital to monitor vitals and the like; she’d covered all her bases and doing so had ensured that she could handle any situation that was thrown at her, including this one.

‘He’s stable.’

She could breathe knowing that he wasn’t at risk, and she could take a well-deserved nap, he wouldn’t be waking up any time soon with how heavily sedated he was so she wouldn’t have to worry about him trying to run off and ruin all her hard work. He would recover, none of his organs had been hit and some of the shots he’d taken had gone through clean, he’d been lucky that blood loss was all he’d gotten after being shot so many times, it was a miracle all those bullets missed his organs and main arteries; she didn’t know how one person could’ve survived everything that he had and still been determined not to ask for help. The woman had been so close to calling any one of her colleagues after he’d first passed out to get assistance with the procedure, but she hadn’t had the time to spare, especially when she had to go about the task of trying to move him from the floor. She’d had a time doing so on her own with how little strength she possessed, and he was much heavier than he looked, almost double her weight in solid muscle, he looked to be around eight or nine inches taller than her; she silently thanked whoever was smart enough to add wheels onto chairs, otherwise she never would’ve made progress.

Procedures and surgeries weren’t something she felt super confident doing, so she’d been an anxious mess on the inside while she went about the nerve-wrecking process of saving his life, she felt like she’d held it together quite well considering that she’d had zero time to prepare for it. She may have been a doctor, but she prayed that she’d never wind up in a situation where she’d have to perform surgery on the fly like this again, she could handle a lot but what she’d had to do tonight had been toeing the line. She hadn’t had a second set of eyes or another mind on her side, she’d had to figure out everything on her own and if she’d screwed up even the smallest thing then he could’ve died. Yuki didn’t even want to think about how uncomfortable explaining a situation like that to the authorities would’ve been, explaining that a man broke into her clinic already shot up and bloodied, she’d tried to save his life even though he’d tried to take hers, only for the both of them to fail. Something like that could’ve caused her to lose her medical license depending on who heard the story, and she already knew she would’ve been berated by the medical community, especially when an autopsy showed that it was solely blood loss. She didn’t have to think that way though, she’d saved him and that was what mattered.

As tired as she was from how long she’d been engrossed in the procedure, she couldn’t sleep just yet even though the couch in her office was calling to her and she certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable if she wasn’t within earshot of the heart rate monitor; she needed to hear those continuous beeps, or she’d lose her mind. Her next priority was figuring out her next move, she was unsure what she was supposed to do now that he was stable, when emergency surgeries like this had to be performed in the way she’d been forced to do, the family was always notified as soon as it was feasible. The phone she’d found in his pocket was done for and smashed to bits, obviously having taken a bullet so she couldn’t use it to try to find out if he had family or anyone that she could contact for him. He hadn’t had anything else on him aside from that gun, no wallet, no car keys, nothing she could use to identify him and the only thing she’d had to go on was that he was a businessman of some type.

As ruined and unusable as his attire was now, it’d once been upscale, designer clothing so he obviously had money and was probably someone of importance; that didn’t help her though, the woman didn’t know how she was going to figure out who he was. She’d been racking her brain for anything that could be helpful towards that, but she continued coming up emptyhanded, his phone was destroyed and without an ID or driver’s license to look at, she was stuck. She didn’t have any other way to identify him and although he certainly could’ve been a businessman or part of the upper class, she knew for an undeniable fact that she’d never seen him until he’d shown up unannounced in her clinic. The only thing that she could think to do was keep an eye on the papers, if he was someone of importance like she thought then it would be front page news that he’d gone missing and it would spread online like wildfire, keeping an eye on the news would be helpful to her as well.

Aside from that, Yuki felt entirely stuck on if she should call the police. Bluntly speaking, she didn’t see what good it would do, it wouldn’t accomplish anything and the whole ordeal was over with. He hadn’t forced his way in, the door had been unlocked and since it was a clinic, it was open to the public so that couldn’t be seen as breaking and entering. He may have held her at gunpoint and attempted to shoot her, but what did that matter since there hadn’t been any bullets in the gun; she couldn’t even prove it, the cameras were outdated and didn’t work. Furthermore, he hadn’t threatened her, not really, he hadn’t said a word to her other than the two letters that told her his blood type. He hadn’t made advances on her, he hadn’t touched her, was calling the police really worth the headache that would surely follow doing so, especially when it may not accomplish anything? As crazy as it probably was, she didn’t see the point in it and the only thing she wanted was to make sure that he recovered; she was sure that Gran would be rolling in her grave over this.

As sure as she was that her grandmother would be scolding her to high heaven, she was going to go with her gut and her gut was telling her that calling the authorities was unnecessary. As a doctor, her patient needed to be her priority, all lives mattered in her eyes, regardless of who the person was or what kind of life they lived. Law enforcement would only impede on his recovery, he wouldn’t get the care he needed if they decided to arrest him, so it seemed she’d decided what she was going to do. She’d give him the best care she could, she’d keep an eye on how he was healing, she’d be able to manage his pain, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he’d be in a fair bit when he finally did wake up once the sedatives wore off. Once he had, she could urge him to tell her what she needed to know to get in contact with his family, she was sure they must’ve been worried about him since he didn’t make it home.

‘What could’ve put him in that position?’

The woman was at a total loss on what he could’ve been doing to end up on the receiving end of so many bullets, someone had been trying their hardest to take his life and had been determined to do so no matter how many times they had to fire shots. It was a miracle that he hadn’t taken fatal shots, it was mindboggling that he’d managed to escape from that situation without passing out from blood loss, and what was even more astounding was how stubborn he’d been to keep his mouth shut. He hadn’t planned on telling her anything, she couldn’t be sure what changed his mind except perhaps it sunk in for him just how close he’d been to death’s door, it was the only thing that made sense to her considering that stare of his had been the furthest thing from friendly. She could understand where his wariness must’ve come from, especially during that moment considering he’d just barely seemed to have escaped from whoever was trying to kill him and coming face to face with another person during a fight or flight state had surely thrown him off; she’d just have to be patient with him, he wouldn’t trust her right off the bat and she couldn’t expect him to.

Yuki let out a slow breath, making her way up from the floor and turning her head in the direction of her patient. He was out and would be until either late in the evening or the following day, his body had been through a huge ordeal and paired with the sedatives, there wasn’t a chance he’d regain consciousness anytime soon. Even if he did wake up, it wouldn’t be for long, nor would he be aware enough to process anything going on around him with how floaty his head would surely be; she’d made sure to use something on the stronger side since she hadn’t had any guesses to how long the procedure would take her. It’d taken hours, much longer than she’d originally anticipated because she’d been on her own without a team to support her and the first thing that she’d had to do was the blood transfusion before she lost him. As anxious as she’d felt, she’d pushed all of that to the side and remained levelheaded through the whole process, holding her composure had been vital to success; she’d done it too and now, all he had to do was rest and heal.

She slowly made her way closer to the hospital bed, her lavender eyes taking in the readings on the monitor for a brief moment before flicking to the nameless patient, studying him deeply. She’d never seen a man so…

‘Get it together.’

…pretty.

‘Gosh, what’s wrong with me?’

She was positive her friends would’ve had a heyday teasing her over thinking along those lines, Kaori would’ve defended her against Choyo’s playful jabs about needing to lose her v-card and Akari would’ve definitely backed Choyo up as she always did, attempt to urge her go on a date with any one of the guys she could set her up with. It wasn’t like she’d even know what to do to begin with if she did go on a date, not to mention she’d seen her friends go through heartbreaks and it didn’t seem worth it to her. She was married to her work, her studies had always been her focus during her time at university, dating was the last thing she was worried about, and it wasn’t like she’d even have time to maintain something with another person since she was always busy; she didn’t see being a virgin as a big deal…kinda.

‘Ugh, stop it.’

Getting back on topic, there was nothing wrong with admiring something/someone and pretty was an understatement when it came to this stranger. Long rosy-pink hair that fell well below his shoulders, thick lashes that would make any number of women envious, piercing aquamarine eyes, she’d never seen someone so beautiful, nor would she ever see it again once he left her clinic; she could’ve gotten lost simply staring at him. Her pulse was certainly above normal, her heart pounding just hard enough that she questioned why it was happening, she’d admired men plenty of times before now and never had a reaction like this whilst doing so. Her head cocked to the side at the thought, her lavender pools flicking here and there, counting four piercings on each ear, black hoops. Out of everything about him, the biggest curiosity had to of been the black ink on his right forearm that she’d noticed, a Hanafuda full moon card. All in all, he was stunning to look at, so much so that she didn’t even realize her hand rising of its own accord, making to brush strands of pink off to the side, warmth building on her cheeks.

“So pretty.”

Her fingers paused hardly an inch away from his cheek and she took a step back, vigorously shaking her head from side to side with hopes to screw her head on straight, he was her PATIENT; she needed to get her act together because she undoubtedly wasn’t acting anything like herself.

‘Professionalism, maintain professionalism.’

It shouldn’t have been something she needed to remind herself of to begin with, she’d never had to do so before now and she’d seen plenty of attractive men long before this day; it was the lack of sleep getting to her, no question about it. This may not have been how she’d planned to spend her weekend, but it didn’t matter now, a wrench had gotten thrown in her plans. It wasn’t too bothersome and wouldn’t disrupt her routine terribly, she practically lived at the clinic already, she had everything that she needed to get by for a few days and it would give her the chance to get caught up with all the things she’d had to neglect since her secretary was forever trying to rush her out the door. Her patient would be her main focus and she’d still have plenty of time to work on her research, right after she got some much-needed sleep.

‘Blood pressure’s 122 over 73.’

Normal.

‘Pulse is going at 79.’

Normal.

‘Oxygen’s 98.’

Normal.

‘Temperature 98.4.’

Normal.

‘…coffee.’

Needed.

“Definitely buying an expresso machine after this.” The white-headed woman muttered, her voice filled with exhaustion; she pinched the bridge of her nose, willing the impending headache to go away before it got started but she doubted she’d have much luck.

At the very least, her patient was doing well and although he hadn’t woken up once yet, she wasn’t too worried, his body had been through something traumatic, it would take time for him to get there. Logically speaking, she knew that was the truth of things but convincing her emotions of that was another story entirely, as many times as she’d told herself that she didn’t need to hover, she hadn’t been capable of stopping herself. She wasn’t able to sleep unless she could hear the beeping of the machine, keeping doors open so it would carry down the hall hadn’t been enough to ease her worries even though her office wasn’t far at all from her over-the-top hospital room. As ridiculous as it was, she’d wound up dragging the bed down the hall to her office along with the heart rate monitor, it’d taken much longer than she’d initially anticipated but at the very least, there were wheels on both. It’d been the only way she’d managed to fall asleep and once she did, she was out like a light.

She’d slept for nine hours for the first time in months and waking up had been no easy task when she’d come to, her head had been so groggy that she’d struggled to keep herself conscious, drifting in and out of sleep for another hour before finally fully waking up; the couch in her office had never been so comfortable until then. As she’d expected, the nameless man was still unconscious and hadn’t so much as moved an inch from the time that she laid down until she woke up, still right where she left him a little ways from the couch. The white-headed woman had laid there a while longer, her gaze zeroed in on her patient and watching him sleep, her gaze dragging to the monitor every few minutes, continuing to keep an eye on his vitals up until she knew that she had to get up before she lost the battle against her bladder. A quick trip to the restroom, a stop in the breakroom along the way back to start a pot of coffee, going back to the lobby to the clean up the mess she’d made when she’d dropped that coffee mug, cleaning up the floor of the stranger’s blood and retrieving the handgun. As much as she didn’t like them, it looked expensive and she couldn’t just throw away someone else’s property, she’d placed it on her desk after returning to her office with two cups of coffee so she wouldn’t have to make another trip for a while.

Since then, she’d tried to keep herself as occupied as possible outside of checking his vitals and threw herself into her work as though it were any other normal day, it would have been if she could stop herself from looking away from her work to stare at him literally every five minutes. She’d finished replying to those emails, checked up on the progress of all those lab orders she’d put in (completely forgetting it was the weekend so none of them were done), worked on her thesis, looked over all the files for her new patients she’d received through referrals, put together a list of the medicines she planned on donating to the orphanage during her monthly visit, made two pots of coffee, cleaned out her desk, reorganized her filing cabinets, did some research and went back to working on her thesis, not to mention she’d checked his vitals once every hour; it was the furthest thing from a normal day and she was losing her mind, she had to of been. There was no reason she should be hovering this way; it wasn’t going to make him wake up any faster and she should’ve already been preparing herself to expect the worst, she couldn’t be naïve. Regardless of saving his life, she needed to keep in mind that he’d tried to take hers and although it merely could’ve been because he was in survival mode in the moment, she needed to keep her guard up until she knew he wasn’t going to try to harm her.

‘Get it together.’

Her thoughts were scrambled, contradicting, there wasn’t a chance he’d be able to do much of anything when he first woke up and by the time he could after the sedatives were completely out of his system, she’d have already proven she didn’t mean him any harm and could be trusted. She could call his family, let them know he was alright and being treated, she’d get him to a point where it was safe for him to go home once he wasn’t at risk for infection and the like, she even wouldn’t care to give him some pain killers to take with him since he’d certainly be in pain for a while. That was something else she could work on for the time being, find what he’d need to take him with him once he got to that solid place, she’d make that pot of coffee and get started on it. The young doctor nodded to herself absentmindedly, placing her stethoscope off to the side and made her way to the door, moving a hand through her white locks, shoving strands out of her eyes. She’d never been so tired as she was and it had to of been a combination of how she’d been go-go-go for the last several weeks, plus the high stress situation she’d been forced to handle, maybe she did need a vacation after this.

A quiet grumble came from her, staring at the brewer with impatience while it took forever to brew, she finally understood why her staff were always dragging in the morning during the last three months, this was ridiculous. If someone would’ve told her sooner, she would’ve already invested in something else and instead, she’d had to find out the hard way, Midori always brought her coffee to her, so she’d never known just how long the wait for it was. If she ordered one online today then it could be here no later than Tuesday since her account had two-day shipping, the clinic would still be closed for the holiday but when everyone came back on Wednesday…

‘…uh oh.’

“Uh oh” undoubtedly wasn’t even close to being able to express just how big of a problem she was about to have, her staff would be returning for work on Wednesday which wasn’t going to give her secret patient nearly enough time to heal up, she very well couldn’t explain anything about what had happened or she was positive her employees would lose their minds; she could already imagine Midori would be the first to make an attempt to call the police. Again, she didn’t want that for neither the man nor her, so she absolutely had to make sure that no one found out about him, she just didn’t know how she was going to pull it off. Her secretary constantly had to pop in and out of her office for any number of reasons, dropping off paperwork, delivering messages, letting her know someone had called and was on hold, there was no way she could hold her off for days. Not to mention, she had patients that she’d have to see every day for any number of hours, she wouldn’t be able to give the one in her office her full attention and if something happened to him during the time that she was away from him then she’d never be able to forgive herself.

The woman racked her brain for ideas on what she could do that would keep this secret from being exposed, the brewing pot of coffee completely forgotten while she strode out of the room to go back to her office. She had to pace, it was the only way she’d manage to gather her thoughts enough to figure out what she should do and just like with her work, she was particular about it, she had a route that she walked every time; she had to keep routine, or it’d just be a waste of her energy, she wouldn’t come up with squat if not.

‘Why me?’

Up until now, her life had been so easy, and nothing had ever thrown her off, every day was the same as all the others since she’d graduated university, she’d enjoyed things being that way. It was a comfort that she hadn’t known since her grandmother had passed, she’d been forced into navigating life herself without guidance, trying to formulate her own routine and it’d taken much too long to get there. Then, all of a sudden, this man just shows up in her clinic on his deathbed and everything was disrupted, she hadn’t been able to focus hardly at all on anything she usually could; she shook her head violently from side to side. She was being dramatic, everything was just a mess right now because that was how life worked, she couldn’t always be prepared for the unexpected and it was just something that she had to learn to accept, regardless of if she wanted to or not. Things may have been disastrous right now when it concerned her day-to-day life, but it wouldn’t stay that way, just until he was able to be on his way once he was healed enough, everything would go back to normal after that. Well, as normal as it could be since she’d have to deal with Shimizu for that case, as great of a cause as it was for, she still wished she hadn’t felt the need to agree.

‘He’s still the same insufferable moron.’

Yuki pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, between thoughts of Shimizu ticking her off and her worries about her patient, she didn’t know how she was going to figure anything out without fighting against the urge to bang her head off her desk; what a nightmare. She stepped back into her office, fully preparing herself to pace the floors of the clinic for at least thirty minutes while she turned everything over in her head, pausing mid-step at the sound coming from the heart rate monitor, the pause between the beeping was shorter which meant-

‘Resting heartrate changed.’

Her head shot up no sooner did it register, her lavender pools locking onto her patient that had very clearly woken up during the time that she’d been away and felt her own heart skip a beat, aquamarine staring back at her. As unfocused as his eyes were from the aftereffects of the sedatives having not worn completely off, he’d still managed to not only find her gaze but was making attempts to get up when he wasn’t in any state to do so. She rushed to his side without missing a beat, her hands rising to pause his movements, her face expressing concern.

“You can’t yet.” She began, her voice filled with unease; he’d pop the stitches if he was careless, he needed to rest and let his body heal, the palms of her hands met his shoulders lightly. “It’s too soon for you to-”

Her words trailed off and a gasp barely passed through her lips before his hand encircled her throat, her eyes blown wide over how much coordination he still had even being impaired from the sedatives, the other hand snatching her wrist before she could even attempt to back off. A wheezing breath left her at the squeeze around her throat, he was pressing right against her carotid artery with intent to make her pass out, he hadn’t hesitated whatsoever and found it with total ease; he knew what he was doing. A strangled noise left her, her free hand tapping against his shoulder weakly, the dark spots appearing in her vision were less than welcoming and her legs were threatening to give way under her. She had to get something out before she fainted, he was going to injure himself if she wasn’t around to stop him, his brain must’ve still been in fight or flight to some degree.

“I…I’m…a…doctor.” She breathed, forcing the words out as loudly as she could; the woman wasn’t sure if that would do anything to help her, the twitch of his fingers around her throat wasn’t a good sign and she was anticipating he’d even go as far to snap her neck since he obviously considered her a threat. “Please…l-let…me…help…y-you.”

His piercing eyes were still zeroed in on her doe ones, even as he was strangling her to the point where her vision had almost completely tunneled, she wasn’t going to hold out much longer, her knees were going weak, and she couldn’t get a decent breath in. No sooner did she believe it was the end of her, the pressure around her throat eased up, blood flow returning to her brain, and she sputtered for air, swallowing choked breathes while her vision worked towards stabilizing.

‘Shit…shit.’

That had been much too close of a call, she’d been right on the verge of collapsing and she didn’t want to consider how much damage he would’ve caused himself without her deterring him, he could’ve bled out all over again if he popped those stitches. Her head lolled up just enough that she found his stare zeroed in on her, that same mistrustful expression as before written on his face, he hadn’t released her throat nor her wrist, so she knew she had to be cautious with her next words. She managed a silent breath, trying to calm her heart down long enough to gather her thoughts, having a good bedside manner was important to building trust with patients and the first part of that was always an introduction of some kind.

“I’m Doctor Ikeda Yuki.” She spoke, keeping her tone as even as possible; his fingers twitched against her throat again, the grip on her wrist barely tightening and from the way his eyes were still dilated, his cognitive function wasn’t where it needed to be for him to put the pieces together on why he was there.

‘Fuck, he’s still too impaired to remember what happened.’

“Y-you were sh-shot, twelve times.” She followed up quickly, her voice swapping to anxious; he didn’t even flinch over the news, and she would’ve been confused why that wouldn’t have any effect on him if he hadn’t been on another planet right now. “I-I did a blood transfusion be-before you could bleed o-out.”

Her heart was pounding harder than it ever had while she stared back at him, waiting for a response of some kind and she could’ve breathed a sigh of relief when his fingers loosened around her wrist; she just had to assure him that she didn’t mean him any harm and he was giving her the opportunity to do so without speaking a word. He’d relaxed somewhat, not completely but it was still a good sign that she could make some form of progress with him, it wouldn’t be possible if she couldn’t mirror that. With a slow breath, the tension in her body melted away, her arm going limp in his hold, the other stilling at his shoulder as she cautiously moved to sit on the edge of the bed next to him, leaving enough space between them that he wouldn’t feel smothered. His aquamarine pools were entirely focused on her, his pupils just as dilated as she’d known they would be with how strong of a drug she’d had to use but even with that, he was entirely stone-faced, his level of composure was almost scary.

“I had to remove bullet fragments, you’ll heal but you can’t be moving around just yet or you could tear the stiches.” She explained honestly, her tone gentle; the woman had been right, he’d just needed reassurance and some time to process everything around him, the grip around her throat loosening proved as much. “I couldn’t get you to a hospital, but I don’t care to…”

Yuki could’ve bit her tongue off when she noticed just how dark his eyes had gotten, the mentioning of a hospital had done so which meant that he absolutely did not want to be in one, she had to recover before he decided to strangle her to death.

“…take care of you here.” She finished, somehow managing to keep herself from stumbling over her words; she seemed to have dodged a bullet once again, the palm of his hand not pressing fully against her throat any longer but still making no movement to release his hold on her. “I have everything I need here to look after you…is that alright with you?”

The young doctor didn’t know why she’d even bothered asking, he wasn’t planning on saying a single word to her, impaired or not, and he didn’t give her so much as a nod or a shake of his head as an answer. She just had to be patient with him, she’d bombarded him with quite a bit of information all in a span of three minutes so it would take him a while to process, especially since his cognitive function wasn’t where it needed to be just yet. The sedatives were in the process of wearing off, there was little chance that he was still numb after how long had passed since she’d finished patching him up but if he was in pain, he wasn’t making it easy for her to figure out, his expression entirely impassive.

“I um…need to check your vitals again…since you’re awake.” She spoke, her voice slightly skeptical; he didn’t even blink in response to her words, his stare burning holes straight through her. “W-when we’re done…I-I can give you-you something, for the pain.”

Relief completely washed over her when his hand slipped away from her throat, the pads of his fingers brushing along the sensitive skin lightly and his piercing eyes dropped their staring contest to look her over, raking from the top of her head all the way down to her feet. She could almost feel the pink streaking across her cheeks in her silent embarrassment of being studied so intensely, and she resisted the urge to squeeze her thighs together, ignoring the growing warmth between them as best she could; she needed to get a handle on herself, he was her PATIENT. There was absolutely zero reason for this, and she had to maintain professionalism, she was a doctor right now, that’s where her head needed to be. Regardless of telling herself that, her heart was going haywire the longer his eyes were focused on her, her face burning hotter when his aquamarine orbs found her lavender ones again.

‘Breathe, you have to breathe.’

“Vitals first.” She repeated softly, her voice barely above a whisper. “I can give you morphine after.”

His fingers released her wrist immediately at the mention of the opiate and that was enough to tell her that he was indisputably in a significant amount of pain to go from being ready to strangle her to trusting her enough to give him a high-class drug like that, he wasn’t going to be able to do much of anything once that was going strong. At least now, she didn’t have to worry about the possibility of him not waking up since he’d done so of his own accord, the only thing she had to do was keep earning his trust and get him to a place where he was healed enough that he’d be able to manage on his own after he left. She was in store for several long hours, but it wasn’t like she wasn’t used to it, she may have been exhausted but that coffee she’d started had to of been done…hopefully.

Chapter Text

He inhaled a sharp breath through clenched teeth, his free hand pressing against his side where he’d taken the most recent damage, and although he absolutely had to get a move on to escape from the enemy, he dared not take a single step, leaning his head back against the wall of the alley while he waited. Bonten’s number two couldn’t recall just how many times he’d been hit with how many gunshots had rung out since this all began but one thing was for certain, his body was going to either go into shock or he was going to bleed out if he couldn’t patch himself up relatively soon. He already felt the effects catching up to him, his adrenaline had kept him going this long but it wouldn’t for very much longer, his body was already starting to shake, the gun trembling in his hand.

‘Damn it.’

The pink-haired male knew he was in the worst position he could be in right now; everything had gone entirely leftfield to hell in a handbasket at the drop of a hat and it wasn’t looking like things would get any better. His phone was fucked and wouldn’t be of any use to him since it’d taken a bullet, he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of his fellow executives and didn’t know if they’d managed to get away or had been cornered. He only had a single shot left if he remembered right, no clips and his extra handgun was in the glove compartment of the car that he’d never see again should he live through this day, he couldn’t get to any of their safehouses without transportation. The rest of Bonten didn’t have a clue what had transpired and the only chance they had was if either the Haitani Brothers had gotten out a phone call or text for assistance, or if Koko put two and two together when the estimated time of arrival came and went without contact from them but by then, it’d be too late; he’d never imagined the day going this way.

‘Those pricks won’t take me alive.’

If it came down to it, he’d use his last shot on himself, he wasn’t going to be tortured into giving the enemy anything that they could use against Bonten and he’d protect Mikey with his last breath no matter what it meant for him; everything he’d ever done was for the benefit of the king and if his death would do the same, it was what he’d had to do. He wasn’t going to jump the gun just yet, he’d hold out as long as he was capable until he had no other choice, but he had to make sure he didn’t waste this shot until then, his priority right now was to escape somewhere he’d be capable of hiding out then patching himself up once he was safe. The man side-glanced through the pink partially obscuring his face at the sound of multiple rushed footsteps, keeping himself hidden in the darkness the buildings provided to the alley, watching with bated breath as a small mob of enemies bolted passed his hiding spot without so much as a glance.

‘Trash.’

Sanzu could make out a slur of various statements being thrown out there, all of which supporting that the scum believed he’d head off towards the southside of the city and it gave him an opportunity, he had to find somewhere to go before he lost the small window he’d been given. His head lolled just barely in the other direction, no signs of any enemies, he eased himself away from the brick and took silent steps towards the end. He needed to move faster but at the same time, he had to be cautious since he was unsure just how much damage he’d taken, more bullets had buried themselves in his flesh than had passed through and gone out the other side; he didn’t know if any of his vitals had been hit.

‘Phone.’

If he could break into a building that had a phone, he’d be able to get in contact with the others, he knew Mikey’s number by heart and even if he didn’t answer, he knew his boss well enough to know he listened to every single voicemail as soon as he received it. Their people would swarm the area and take out the scum, find the Haitani Brothers before the worst happened and if he didn’t bleed out before then, get him to their physician to be patched the rest of the way up; all he had to do was find a fucking phone, he’d never thought he’d have to rely on a landline again. He had to get it in gear, his head felt groggy and vision was off, he was beginning to lose the battle against his crashing adrenaline, so he had to make these next few minutes count. His lips pressed into a thin line, his piercing eyes darting from one side of the street to the other, ensuring that there wasn’t another soul around before taking in the various buildings in his bleary line of sight. He was struggling to read the signs, maintaining his focus long enough to do so was growing more difficult as the milliseconds ticked by, his head turning in all directions more times than he was aware of until he abandoned it altogether, sliding around the corner with intentions of going into the first nonresidential building he came across. He couldn’t dawdle around any longer, he was losing coordination and each of his steps felt unsteady, the lightheadedness trying to overpower the little adrenaline he had left.

‘Shit.’

He could’ve slew out a number of curses in frustration when he lost his balance just enough that his shoulder collided into a door, a hiss leaving his lips instead as his head swiveled around…a clinic. His hand fumbled to find the doorknob, fully prepared to shoot the lock off and could’ve breathed a sigh of relief when it turned without resistance; some idiot had left it unlocked after the day came to an end and there was zero chance that anyone was in there at eleven pm. Sanzu pushed open the door without hesitation, stumbling inside and slammed it shut behind him without a second thought, turning the lock to bolt. Find a phone, call Mikey, patch himself up as best he could while he waited for their people and-

‘Fucking shit.’

His hand rose without skepticism, even without his vision being in the best spot, he wasn’t so far gone that he couldn’t see what was very clearly a person on the other side of the room, lavender staring back at him. He stone-faced no sooner did the eyes meet his, his hand may have been shaking but he wasn’t going to show any fear, he’d shoot without remorse regardless of not being in the best shape. His finger moved to the trigger at the sound of a single step, and he managed to blink away the blurriness long enough that he could make out the face those eyes belonged to.

“I-I’m a doctor.”

A woman.

“Hi, Midori-san.”

As melancholy as Sanzu felt during the time he’d been drifting in and out of sleep from the heavenly embrace of morphine, the sound of her voice had stirred him enough that he’d completely forgotten what he’d been thinking about previously, if he’d been thinking about anything at all. It was difficult to keep track of how much time was passing from the state that he was in, no sooner would the opiate’s effects begin to lessen, she was right there at his side, pushing a dose into the IV and the effect was immediate; she was clearly doing so every four hours on the dot since he hadn’t been in ungodly pain since he’d first awoken however long ago. His eyes fluttered half open, immediately zeroing in on the petite figure across the room.

“I’m so sorry to bother you…”

Her name was Ikeda Yuki, she’d introduced herself once before, the plaques scattered around the office space were engraved with her name and had kept it from slipping from his mind, she was a doctor and apparently, she’d saved his life.

“…I know you’re probably busy with the children…”

He wasn’t sure what her deal was, why she’d gone out of her way to save him, especially after he’d tried to shoot her, but he wasn’t going to get any answers about that any time soon, if ever. As soon as he could move around without putting himself and the stiches at risk, he was out of this place, it wasn’t looking like it’d be as soon as he wanted with the rate he was healing.

“…And I hate calling on your day off…”

He hadn’t spoken a damn word to her aside from when he’d told her his blood type and she wasn’t pushing for him to speak to her, she hadn’t seemed to know who he was, nor asked him anything about himself, if she wasn’t asking if he was in pain then she was quiet most of the time. He’d watched her practically the whole time he’d been in her presence since he didn’t have anything better to do and she almost always had her laptop in front of her, her slender fingers typing away at a rapid speed, her doe eyes flittering over the words as she typed them out; she had a habit of rolling her lip between her teeth when she wasn’t typing, which told him that was when she was thinking deeply.

“…I’ve just been thinking about what you said…”

She was certainly young to be a doctor and looked as though she could be his age, most were still in university if they chose to attend but she’d already established herself. She was in her early twenties at the most and with the number of plaques situated around her office, she wasn’t just freshly out of university, she’d been in the medical field for some time and even he found that to be impressive. She’d referred to this building as her clinic, meaning that she’d opened it herself and that was even more impressive than just being a young doctor.

“…You know…”

His aquamarine orbs found her face, not bothering with subtlety while they raked over her form, she wasn’t going to notice since she was so engrossed in her phone call and even if she did, he knew what her reaction would be.

“…About how I’m pushing myself too hard…”

She was petite and delicate, just barely five foot tall, she didn’t wear heels and had been walking around the office space in just her knee-high socks, the babydoll dress falling halfway down her thighs; she’d been wearing something more business casual the night they unexpectedly met, along with a white coat that signified she was a doctor. She kept her hair loosely pulled up in a claw clip, the shorter strands framing her heart shaped face, more snow-colored strands hanging free the further into the day it got until she would finally remove the clip and when she did, that halo of white would fall almost to her hips. Her doe eyes were a shade of lavender surrounded by dark lashes, her skin a lighter ivory color and pretty pink lips; he could already imagine just how quickly the Haitani Brothers would’ve tried to jump on her.

“…So, I was thinking…”

Not only were they shit out of luck, but he’d already seen plenty enough that he could have a considerable amount of fun with the doctor depending on how long it’d take for him to fucking heal. She was a shy little thing, blushing at the drop of a hat, gentle voice and soft expressions forming on her pretty face, the total opposite to the types of women he’d seen day in and day out since Bonten had made it to the top. He couldn’t count the number of times pink had risen on her cheeks when she noticed him staring at her, holding his gaze despite the shyness reflecting in her lavender pools, only to tear her eyes away (this last time she’d made it twenty-three seconds) and go back to whatever she’d been doing before she’d caught him eye-fucking her without regret.

“…That if you and the rest of the staff were alright with it…”

Regardless of if he decided to indulge in a game of cat and mouse with the pretty little doctor, he was going to kill her before it was all said and done, he very well couldn’t risk her telling anyone about him after he left, news of one of Bonten’s executives being shot up couldn’t be public knowledge; he could only imagine the aggravation that would come from that.

“…I wanted to close the clinic until next week…”

‘…hm?’

His eyes fluttered the rest of the way open, his head tilting against the pillows with interest as he watched her, she’d been walking the same path on the other side of the room during the time that she’d been on her phone call, circling her desk and he hadn’t realized until now that there was a reason for it. She paced when she was anxious and needed to gather her thoughts, to keep herself levelheaded and even with the worried expression on her face, her voice hadn’t faltered, maintaining both composure and professionalism. He was curious what she was going to follow up with, he hadn’t been listening up until now and had only registered her voice filling the dead silence.

“…I know it’s sudden and I’m sorry for asking out of the blue like this but…” the woman spoke; she paused, listening intently to whatever the person on the other end of the call was saying. “I’m more than happy to compensate everyone for the rest of the week…Midori-san, it wouldn’t feel right of me to just expect all of you to go that long without pay.”

‘How noble. What will you do next, Doctor? Solve world hunger?’

“I understand that you all want me to take a vacation but…” she continued, sounding reluctant to agree to whatever the other woman was saying to her; she bowed her head, her free hand pinching the bridge of her nose. “Yes, yes alright…of course, we’ll reopen Monday.”

It seemed that she didn’t want anyone to know about him either and that should be enough time for him to be at a point where he could walk out of there on his own, leave no trace of himself behind after he snapped her neck or strangled her; no one would be able to tie anything to him or to Bonten.

“Thank you, Midori-san. Please let the rest of the staff know for me.” The female requested, her voice earnest; her head rose from her hand, moving it back to brush strands of white away from her face and turned, pausing mid-step when her lavender pools found his aquamarine ones.

‘How long will you make it this time?’

Exactly eight seconds of staring at each other before a light pink hue rose on her cheeks, it was almost impossible to hold back the smirk threatening to form on his lips when fifteen had passed before it was streaking over her cheeks and nose, the worried expression she’d held for the whole of her conversation swapping out to bashful by twenty-one, all for her to look away shyly by twenty-seven.

‘Shy little thing, aren’t you Doctor?’

“Thank you, goodbye.”

Sanzu wasn’t even sure that she’d waited for a response unless the woman on the other end had said goodbye before her, the phone was hardly away from her ear before her thumb tapped at the screen and she placed it on the desk, her head just barely turning back in his direction, her cheeks flushing darkly. He couldn’t not indulge at this point, he’d have so much more fun with her once he could move without putting himself at risk and from her behavior, she wouldn’t make a single attempt to stop any of his advances, she was much too timid for that.

“Are um…you in pain?” she questioned, her voice expressing concern; despite how bashful she was over his constant staring, she was always capable of pushing it off to the side when it came to her profession.

He didn’t say a word, still observing her just as intensely as he’d been since he’d come to minutes previously and she threw a glance towards her laptop before turning her attention back to him, the blush on her cheeks still going strong.

“I’ll um, get you another dose.” She spoke with traces of worry; she didn’t bother waiting for responses anymore since he’d made it obvious that he didn’t plan on speaking to her, simply checking the time before disappearing for a few short minutes to grab what she needed, sometimes she’d come back with a cup of coffee in her free hand.

Again, he didn’t speak or even acknowledge her with a nod, following her movements as she crossed the floor of the office to slip out of the room, but not before throwing another glance over her shoulder at him. No one had ever looked at him as intensely as she did unless they were on the receiving end of his blade or gun, the whores too afraid to look him in the eye even being on cloud nine. She truly didn’t seem to know who he was nor what he was capable of, otherwise there was fat chance she’d maintain composure as she did with how reserved her demeanor was, she hadn’t hesitated once around him aside from her clear embarrassment over the way he watched her. His favorite instance had to of been the night prior, he’d woken up in the early hours of the morning to find her passed out on her belly on the couch a few feet away from him, her snow-colored hair a disheveled mess and barely audible breathes leaving her pretty lips. He was unsure just how much time passed while he watched her, observing how long the pause was in between her breathes, the movement of her chest rising and falling beneath her, eyeing the subtle shifting of her dress climbing higher up her legs with every shift of her body, his eyes raking over every small dip and curve in his line of sight.

She was unlike the women he’d grown used to seeing on a day-to-day basis, as high class and beautiful as most of them were, they were whores, nonetheless, willingly offering themselves to whoever would pay their rate and pretend to enjoy the pathetic bastards that wouldn’t last longer than two minutes in their cunts. There was no lying that the doctor was breathtakingly beautiful, her eyes holding an innocence on the opposite end of the spectrum to the women in the hostess clubs, she was the definition of pure in not only her pretty face, but her profession of saving lives out of the goodness of her heart.

‘The next Mother Teresa.’

As ridiculous as he found that shit, it wasn’t a stretch that’s who she truly was as a person, he hadn’t noticed any signs or gotten any inclination that she was putting on a front. Even in her most vulnerable state when she’d awoken during the time that he’d been watching her, her persona hadn’t swapped out to something else and was consistent with the behavior he’d observed thus far from her. Her doe eyes groggy and filled with sleep as she slowly regained consciousness at the sound of the alarm she’d set previously, soft moans coming from her that told of just how sleepy she still was while she struggled to come to. It was the sole moment he hadn’t been capable of holding back, the hint of a smirk on his lips over the pretty sounds she made, dropping precisely at the moment her head lolled up to meet his stare, the befuddled expression on her face swapping to one of shyness when their eyes met. It’d thrown her off just enough that she hadn’t moved from the couch for close to five minutes, simply staring right back at him and dropping her eyes bashfully every few seconds before she pulled herself together enough to scamper out of the room to retrieve a dose of morphine.

‘Actually knows what in the fuck she’s doing.’

She may have been shy but she’d done a much better job with his care than Bonten’s current physician would’ve done, the man was a complete fool and the only reason he’d even been brought on was because Akashi had taken it upon himself to find them a doctor and given the bastard the job before talking to Mikey about it; he didn’t know how in the fuck that old man was still breathing after pulling shit like that. If she wasn’t a woman, he probably would’ve considered speaking to the king about replacing that guy when he made it back to headquarters but there was zero chance that a pretty little thing like her would’ve made it a week without being harassed, let alone been able to handle being in a criminal organization with how soft natured she was; it was a shame, she was skilled and knew what she was doing. She obviously had a variety of medications and such in stock since she was giving him morphine for pain, not to mention she’d performed surgery on him without him ever knowing so she had high class drugs in her possession, along with top-of-the-line equipment.

She would’ve been immensely valuable to them but none of the executives had time to babysit, and he couldn’t trust that Akashi wouldn’t fuck up because that’s all the fucker knew how to do. He couldn’t trust that any of the lower ranked scum wouldn’t harm the woman and they wouldn’t have been able to spare an executive to constantly watch over her, they wouldn’t have been able to trust anyone else to do so with integrity. Kakucho would’ve been the best choice since he took his orders seriously, but it wouldn’t be possible since he was constantly taking care of the face and public aspects of Bonten. Koko would’ve been next, but he was always too focused on finding ways to rake in more money every single day and forever had his face buried in his phone, looking into different investment opportunities so it was unlikely he’d even pay attention to her. Neither of the Haitani were even an option, the pair of them would most certainly compete against each other on which of them could seduce the woman first and they didn’t need that kind of shit going on right now, especially after the last instance with that female lawyer. He wouldn’t even include Mocchi in the running, he was almost as useless as Akashi. As second in command and Mikey’s shadow, he already had an abundance of duties to attend to on a regular basis so that was that; he’d just have to kill her.

‘What a shame.’

It was, a mind like hers would’ve been so valuable and because of the hole between her legs, Bonten would be missing out on a great investment, there wouldn’t be any way to deter the low-ranking scum from crossing lines, even with as many women as they owned in the hostess bars and such that they could indulge in whenever they pleased. The only woman that had walked around freely without fear was Akashi’s bitch and that was only because literally everyone knew who she belonged to; bastard had made a point to make it known.

“Vitals first.”

His face didn’t budge, a look of total boredom gracing his features as the pretty little doctor returned his stare, her own features gentle. Sanzu didn’t do anything to protest, letting her do as she pleased without argument, indulging the bullshit was the only way he’d get the morphine and he was beginning to feel the pain creeping up on him. Her lip was rolling between her teeth in concentration, her doe eyes bouncing between the clipboard she’d been using to keep track of the numbers and the new readings she’d get with each task she performed. The tinge of pink on her cheeks was still there but she maintained her focus, not hesitating while she went through the motions with practiced ease, making her notes in between each. He could’ve sighed in relief even before she pushed the needle into the IV, morphine was a gift from the gods that he’d never be able to get enough of, it’d be sad day when he wasn’t getting it any longer; she hadn’t bothered offering him anything else, it’d been morphine from the get-go.

‘Yes.’

It was a challenge to maintain composure every time it hit when he wanted nothing more than to collapse in bliss over the warm feeling in his head, it was the best drug he’d ever experienced out of all the ones he’d done thus far. The damn doctor back at headquarters didn’t even have a medical license anymore since he’d been caught red handed selling prescriptions for profit and couldn’t get ahold of shit like this easily, having to go through the networks and various channels, jumping through hoops. Bonten’s number two wholeheartedly wished he could take her and all her beautiful drugs back with him, she would’ve been so damn valuable to have around and on call for whenever he needed. If she weren’t so easy on the eyes, then it wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but the woman was stunning which would indefinitely be a problem when it came to keeping her unharmed/breathing. Between the scum and the Haitani Brothers, there wasn’t a snowball chance in hell that she would be left in peace if they saw her at headquarters…

‘At headquarters.’

That was the only thing stopping him from taking her, the location wasn’t ideal, but he didn’t necessarily have to take her anywhere, he could leave her exactly where he’d found her. Her clinic already had everything she needed, from the equipment to the medications, she was already established and had a full staff, patients and such. It was just like what the Haitani had done recently with the lavish hostess bar hiding the prostitution ring within plain sight, only hewould be hiding his own personal doctor within her own business and not a soul would know a thing about her. As valuable as she could be to the whole of Bonten, he wasn’t going to compromise as he’d done with quite literally everything else. With how often he was disappearing to complete assignments and take care of business per the king’s orders, no one would bat an eye over him slipping away every now and again, he only had to practice light discretion when he needed to swing by to visit the pretty little doctor.

‘Doctor Ikeda Yuki.’

His pretty little doctor.

‘Mine.’

The only thing he needed to do was put his foot down with her and he wouldn’t be able to do so for quite some time since he’d be recovering for the next several days, trying to do so now could only sabotage what he wanted. The regular shy expressions on her face and the constant pink running over her cheeks when she looked at him said everything he already knew, it may have been unconscious, but she’d been eye-fucking him just as much as he’d eye-fucked her. He had plenty of ways to work towards what he wanted without the need to threaten her, she was reserved, shy, so very easy to manipulate and with the way she looked at him, she wouldn’t make real attempts to stop his advances. He’d give her a little at a time, he’d take things slowly over the course of the next several weeks to build rapport with her bit by bit until she was so hooked on him that she’d never consider betraying him. He’d be able to come and go as he pleased to get his drugs or patched up as needed, no one would know about her, and she’d stay his little secret.

‘To think I was going to kill her.’

He thanked the morphine for opening up his mind to the possibilities, he would’ve just killed her and stolen what he wanted, that would only bring him short term happiness and by doing things this way, he’d have anything/everything he wanted for the long run. A doctor on call, his own personal pharmacy for whatever drugs he needed/wanted, a pretty woman that belonged to him and him alone, he’d never have to share her or wonder who’d fucked her in between his visits with her. Disregarding the way that she looked at him, she was showing no signs of having a partner, he’d only seen the phone in her hand once this whole time, she wasn’t acting antsy about needing to go home or anything of that nature, there was no ring on her finger, so he wouldn’t have to kill anyone that would be a threat to what he wanted. The only thing right now that Sanzu knew he needed to figure out was how he was going to go about this game, he had so many options on how to do things, each of them would open up different doors and although they would all lead to the same destination, he wanted to thoroughly enjoy cat and mouse for all it was worth this time around.

“You should be feeling better now.” Yuki spoke, her voice filled with compassion; his piercing eyes flicked to her form to see her placing the clipboard off to the side until their next round of vitals, taking a single step away from the bed.

‘Have to start building something with her.’

As melancholy as he felt, Sanzu was quick about it, snatching her wrist before she made it out of reaching distance to pause her steps and his unexpected touch had her swiveling around to face him, her doe eyes filled with alarm. The doctor obviously thought something was wrong and seeing as he’d never touched her aside from when he’d first woken up, he wasn’t surprised to see panic on her face as she moved back to his side, taking a seat on the edge of the bed directly beside him.

“Was it not enough? Are you still in pain?” she questioned, her tone right back to concerned; he’d made a move too soon before he had a solid plan on which route he wanted to take with her, he’d wanted to give it a considerable amount of thought before taking initiative but it was too late for that, he’d just have to roll with the punches. “I can get more if…”

‘Slow, a little at a time.’

His free hand moving to brush strands of white out of her eyes caused her words to trail off and her cheeks to flush in all of two seconds, her lavender pools filled with shyness simply over his touch. His head tilted against the pillows to stare at her from another angle, lightly trailing his fingers over her cheek to the curve of her jaw, his eyes never once pulling from hers as he did so. Her pretty face was the definition of embarrassed, pulling her eyes away for hardly three seconds only to flick back to his, looking up through dark lashes. She’d made no movement to slip away from him, her skin only growing warmer under his touch as her blush darkened, her lips had parted as though she had something she wanted to say but no words passed through.

‘Too shy to say anything, aren’t you Doctor?’

This would be all too easy for Sanzu, she behaved like a schoolgirl with a crush, how she’d managed to become a doctor with behavior like this was a mystery, but the specifics of that weren’t important. It’d take very little effort to get what he wanted, she was far too reserved to stand her ground against him and he’d be having the time of his life playing with her for the foreseeable future, the next several weeks would be a fun time. Bonten may have benefitted from having her, but he wasn’t going to share, if that prick Akashi didn’t have to then he surely wouldn’t be.

‘Oh?’

It took everything he had not to react when her free hand reached towards him and he forced his eyes not to pull from hers even though he was positive he knew what she was about to do, his scars had always been a target for curiosity; he was surprised she’d gathered enough courage to-

‘…’

He didn’t know what to think when she avoided his scars entirely, her fingers brushing locks of pink behind his ear, her butterfly touch tracing over one of the hoops in his ear, the look in her eyes entirely mesmerized as she stared back into his, almost as though she was admiring him rather than eye-fucking him.

“So pretty.”

The soft little murmur that came from her lips was almost inaudible, but he’d heard it, the expression on her face hadn’t faltered which told him she didn’t even seem to register that she’d said it aloud; she’d called him pretty.

‘Oh Doctor, are you really going to make this so easy for me?’

There was no turning back, she was his pretty little doctor now.

Chapter Text

Doctor Ikeda,

I was so very happy to get such a quick response from you and I apologize for not getting back to you sooner, the holiday has put me significantly behind on a number of things, I’m sure you’re going through something similar at your clinic. I can’t express how thankful I am that you agreed to work alongside me for this case, it’s quite the tough one and I truly believe that with our combined efforts, we should manage to find some answers and come to conclusions about it by putting our heads together. I’ve attached copies of all the information relevant to the case, some of it is repetitive as they’re from the various doctors that had a go at it before us. I have pages worth of notes I’ve compiled concerning my thoughts about it and once you’ve done the same, I would love to get together with you to discuss them. I know of a wonderful restaurant in Ebisu where we could-

“Could you be any more insufferable?” the woman muttered to herself, irritation in her voice; she rubbed at her temples, willing the approaching headache to go away, Shimizu had put it in motion with this ridiculous email and she already knew that playing nice with him was going to be a trying time for her.

Yuki wasn’t so sure what she would rather deal with at this point nor which side of him was any less of a pain, his over-the-top fake politeness or his argumentative and demeaning attitude. It was obvious just how hard he was trying to pull the wool over her eyes, but she wasn’t an idiot. He’d only reached out to her because he couldn’t solve this case himself, he didn’t want to admit defeat, so he’d rather team up with her and get partial shared credit than none at all; she was sure his family had something to do with it, the Shimizu’s had never once given up on a case and he was expected to do whatever it took to keep that record going strong. Regardless of how unbearable being around the man would be, especially considering she’d chosen to do so of her own freewill, she’d have to suck it up because saving a life was far more important than her ego. As great as the money was, she hadn’t become a doctor for a high pay day, watching her grandmother wither away to nothing had been the start of it all. The doctors hadn’t had the answers, they hadn’t been capable of doing anything for her except managing her pain and when she finally passed on after years of torment, the white-headed woman started working on her thesis about that disease; she was going to find the answers one day.

Moving on, she needed to save all those files he’d sent over before she replied to his irritating email, make physical copies of them after, and get to work on studying them at her earliest convenience. She already had so much on her plate and more only continued adding to it since she’d gotten herself caught up in too much at once, she didn’t know how she was going to manage. She had this current situation with the shared case, she’d had to push back her visit to the orphanage so now she had to find another day soon this month where she’d be capable of going, she had to make time to continue her research and work on her thesis so she could (hopefully) have it done by the next conference like she’d been trying to do for years, she’d spent the whole of today on phone call after phone call as she rescheduled every single one of her appointments for the rest of the week herself since she’d closed the clinic, so much for a vacation.

‘…coffee.’

Not only had that new coffee brewer for the staff room come in right on schedule but she’d ordered one to keep in her office with hopes that it would keep her from being interrupted nearly as often, she felt like she’d made a mistake though seeing as now she was drinking coffee practically the whole day to keep herself awake with how exhausted she was; she was going to wind up with a caffeine high before the end of it all. There was so much that she needed to see to, and she couldn’t give any of those things her entire focus or all of her attention as it were, they may have been priorities but none of them were at the tiptop of the list; that spot was taken.

‘Don’t look, you’re being a creep.’

Yuki bit into her lower lip, rolling it between her teeth with thoughts of why it was best that she did not look for a little while longer, she couldn’t continue on like this and had to find a way to stop the slightly obsessive behavior so she could actually get things done. There was absolutely no reason for her to behave this way, she had to focus on the things that mattered and although her patient certainly did matter more so than anything else going on right now, it wasn’t an excuse to hover around him. He needed to continue resting without her distracting him, the incisions were healing and showing no signs of infection, it was looking like he was almost in a good place where she’d be able to stop the morphine and swap it out for a painkiller in the form of a pill. She had plenty of those in stock and she’d certainly be sending him on his way with a prescription once he was at a place where he could leave, that was the goal after all, to get him healed up so he could go back to his regular life. He wouldn’t be staying at her clinic forever and she had to come to terms with the reality that she’d more than likely never see him again, she had to be okay with it because there was honestly zero reason why she should be antsy about it. Yes, she would naturally worry because she did so towards all her patients but with him…

‘It’s different.’

As cliché as it sounded, it was different with him, and the young doctor was aware that it made her seem desperate but what else was she supposed to think after he’d touched her in what was very obviously meant to be an intimate way? She bit harder into her lip at the memory of his hand brushing strands of white from her eyes, his featherlight touch ghosting along her cheek, his aquamarine pools hadn’t pulled away from her once during that time and her heart was readying itself to give out simply from that alone. The female needed to remind herself that he hadn’t been sober since before she had to perform surgery, morphine was a strong opiate and half the time, people didn’t remember much of anything with how floaty it made their head feel, disrupting their cognitive function and the like. There wasn’t much of a chance that he’d remembered doing so considering he hadn’t made attempts to do it again, she couldn’t answer why he’d done so to begin with taking into account that he still hadn’t spoken a word to her, and it’d been days since he'd first woken up after the procedure; he was high with how strong that stuff was and she couldn’t take anything he did in that state as being meaningful.

‘There’s no reason for this.’

There wasn’t one, as a medical professional, she was supposed to have been maintaining said professionalism this entire time and instead, she was doing things that were entirely leftfield from her normal, she almost didn’t know who she was. She couldn’t count the number of times she’d gotten lost in her head daydreaming about him when she was supposed to be focusing on her work, she’d embarrassed herself probably well over a hundred times when he’d catch her gazing at him and during the moments that he’d be staring at her, it’d take everything she had not to shift around because of the sticky sin pooling in her panties. As beautiful as he was, that wasn’t an excuse to lose her wits, she was a doctor and she’d already seen her fair share of attractive men, so she should’ve had no problem keeping herself held together.

‘But they weren’t him.’

Her lavender orbs flicked away from her laptop at the thought and flittered in the direction of the hospital bed, trying to be as subtle as possible when they locked onto the pink-haired man, the tension in her body melting away at the sight. He was still sleeping, as he’d been for a couple hours now since she’d given him that last dose of morphine so she needed to keep her butt parked in this chair until he came to on his own, rest was the most important part, and it was almost as though he could sense her presence during the moments that she approached him when he was asleep. She didn’t need to compulsively check his vitals anymore once an hour as she’d done before, he was entirely stable now and she couldn’t continue to disturb him as she’d wound up doing more than a few times since she couldn’t seem to keep her distance. The internal struggle had only gotten worse since he’d touched her and she’d never been intimately touched by a man, he’d caressed her cheek as though she was as fragile as glass and would shatter under his touch. Her emotions were in a frenzy during the moment, her pulse racing and heart pounding so hard that it was a wonder that he didn’t hear it, she couldn’t recall what had been going on in her head as she’d practically blanked simply out of how flustered she felt.

The woman couldn’t count the number of times her friends had pestered her about dating over the years since she’d become an adult, even before then when she was a teenager, but they hadn’t been nearly as adamant about it since there weren’t very many teenagers on campus at university. Kaori had been so defensive that most men hadn’t been willing to even attempt to approach her and as much as she still backed her up when Choyo and Akari started on her about it, even she would make comments about how there wasn’t anything wrong with casual dating. Akari was a social butterfly and friends with an abundance of people, she’d made so many attempts to introduce her to someone she felt would be good for her and as much as Yuki appreciated the thought, she’d always been more focused on her career. Choyo was always starting the argument that she didn’t have to be in a serious relationship to date, there was no reason why she shouldn’t go out once a week or so, how nice it was to get to know someone, and her career shouldn’t have impeded on her social life. As right as all her friends were, dating was something she had zero experience in and didn’t know the first thing about, she wouldn’t know what to talk about or what to do; she’d been a frazzled mess when her cheek was touched so how was she supposed to get through a kiss, let alone sex?

Just the thought alone was enough to cause her face to flush and thighs squeeze together, the silent embarrassment of what his intense stare did to her, the way his aquamarine pools would zero in on her and watch every move she made, studying everything about her. She was anxious every time she noticed his unrelenting gaze and trying to ignore the ever-present arousal was a challenge, thoughts swimming with scenarios that she’d gotten lost in a multitude of times. Her pulse would race at the thought of him being close enough that his lips would brush hers, her heart would pound at the idea of his hands slipping under her dress, her face would burn over the imaginings of him between her legs…which only continued to get worse the longer she was around her PATIENT!

‘Stop it!’

It was too late, her face had to of resembled a tomato from how hot it felt and ignoring the warmth that had settled in her panties was impossible, she didn’t know how she was going to manage to get through the next few days without losing the battle against her raging hormones. There were too many factors at play, outside of the fact that she was a virgin, he was beautiful to the point that her brain quite literally turned to mush just from looking at him for too long, her dream guy didn’t even compare to how gorgeous this man was. She’d never felt so bashful in all her life and although she was managing to push her shyness off to the side to attend to her duties as a doctor in order to give him the best care, it wasn’t letting up nor fading away as the days went by. It was as though the longer they were around one another, the worse it would get, and it didn’t help anything that when she wasn’t looking at him, she could feel his eyes burning holes through her. At first, she’d been sure it was out of wariness considering he’d not only tried to shoot her in the beginning but had almost strangled her to the point of passing out, it’d become clear though that he’d moved passed feeling distrustful of her.

His stare wasn’t out of keeping his guard up or even curiosity, he was looking at her in the very way that she was looking at him, obviously imagining the same things that she herself was with how his gaze continued raking over every inch of her and because he was on a powerful opiate, she couldn’t take it with anything but a grain of salt. He was impaired, his mind nowhere near where hers was since she was sober and it was doubtful that he’d be looking at her the same way once he was off the morphine, even more doubtful was that he’d remember the last several days which undoubtedly meant that she needed to pull herself together. She had to get him off the morphine and onto another painkiller that he could take with him when he left her clinic, maybe some muscle relaxers to take as needed, anti-inflammatories for the swelling; her mindset had to be one of a medical professional. Her train of thought hadn’t been anything close to what it should’ve been, and she’d already internally scolded herself on an infinite loop for the graphic images that continued floating in her head, she had to remind herself that the feelings she was having towards a patient was unacceptable.

What was worse, the woman didn’t know what she would even do if he wasn’t at a solid point by the time Monday rolled around, she couldn’t put off opening the clinic any longer than that because not only did her staff need their hours, her other patients certainly needed her. Her life couldn’t be on pause simply because of one person and she shouldn’t have even considered doing what she had; she should’ve gotten an ambulance transport as soon as he was stable after surgery, she should’ve called the police because even if she didn’t tell them about him trying to shoot her, he’d been shot, and the authorities would’ve needed to follow up on that. She’d made a huge mistake that she couldn’t correct with how much time had passed and getting in contact with the authorities now wouldn’t have done anything except make things a mess for her; her patient had silently made it clear he didn’t want to go to a hospital, and she didn’t want to imagine how infuriated he’d be if she made attempts to get him to one. If he wasn’t in a place where he was healed up enough to resume his daily life by Sunday evening at the latest, she’d have to figure something out, no one could know about him or what had happened last Friday, lest things become even more complicated than they already were.

A weary sigh left her in complete frustration with herself as she entered the medication room to grab a dose of morphine, she’d gotten herself into quite the huge mess and it was only getting better by the day; she didn’t know what she was going to do. She hadn’t been home in nine days now, she was sure that her cat was almost out of food and desperately needed his litter changed out, she’d thrown on her last clean dress yesterday, she’d practically cleaned out the cupboards and fridge of the breakroom, and she so badly wanted a shower. The young doctor knew that she’d run herself completely ragged by now since she was at a point of wanting to be home but there wasn’t anything that she could do about it, she couldn’t leave her patient unattended, even just popping out for an hour wasn’t plausible since she couldn’t trust him on his own. He’d come far already, he hadn’t needed fluids for a while, she’d taken him off the heart rate monitor as well, he still had the IV solely for the morphine injections and that was about to come out no later than tomorrow, all she was really doing now was managing his pain and waiting for the stitches to dissolve, that was still days away though.

‘Maybe I could…no, don’t be stupid.’

Not only was it unprofessional but it most certainly wouldn’t send a good message to him, taking a patient to her house was out of the realm of being socially acceptable, not to mention she didn’t even know his name or a thing about him aside from his blood type. It was the furthest thing from being smart, it was highly unsafe as well, but could she even make that argument considering she’d been alone with a complete stranger since Friday? He hadn’t made a violent move against her since she made her intentions known that she wanted to help him, he’d developed some form of trust towards her since he wasn’t trying to deter her from checking his vitals and such, he may have not spoken to her yet but that hadn’t been bothersome to her. This could also be the best move that she could make, if he wasn’t at a place where she felt confident that he could manage on his own, then being tucked away at her house would keep her staff from finding out about him and it’d be more comfortable for the both of them; she was sure he wanted a shower just as much as she did and she could cook a real meal for once…or order takeout.

‘Am I really doing this?’

Yuki didn’t know how she could even ask that, especially considering she’d already grabbed a few bottles worth of the medications she’d need for the upcoming days and for her patient to have when he left her, already having doctored all the records so no one would know they were missing from the medication room; there was no backing out and the only way was forward.

‘It’s just a few days, just like how it’s been here.’

Her hands were entirely full as she reentered her office, it almost sounded like she was starting a Mariachi band where the primary instrument was maracas with how many pill bottles were being shaken with each of her steps, keeping as secure of a hold as she could on the syringe of morphine while she dumped the contents onto her desk with a heavy sigh of relief. She’d get them tucked away into her purse and after her patient woke up then they could be on their way so long as he was comfortable with doing so, she couldn’t give him this last dose until after they made it, otherwise he’d be deadweight and there was zero chance she could move him should that happen. The woman eased her laptop shut before grabbing her purse off the hook, opening it up and tossing one bottle after another into it, the front pocket was the safest place for the opiate. She closed up the main pocket and zipped open the front one, making to tuck the syringe in, pausing her movements when she felt the warm hand pressing against her hip from behind her.

‘Breathe, you have to breathe.’

The white-headed woman warily turned to look back over her shoulder, her heart fluttering no sooner did lavender meet aquamarine, she hadn’t known he was awake upon her return but then again, she’d been so focused getting things packed to keep herself from hovering. She was pleased that he wasn’t struggling to keep himself held upright, he’d walked around a little yesterday after she’d pushed him to do so, his expression had been the furthest thing from happy with her since she’d refused to give him morphine until then. As dilated as his pupils still were, the usual impassive expression he directed at her was nonexistent, his lips pressed into a thin line and hinting at displeasure; she noticed he always did so when he was in pain, but it shouldn’t have been wearing off yet. Her lips parted to speak but she didn’t manage a single word when his hand tightened around her hip just enough that he could guide her to turn to face him, warmth building on her cheeks when it registered that she was sandwiched between him and her desk, hardly a foot of space separating them.

‘Get it together.’

She was struggling to remember how to breathe at the light squeeze of his hand, her eyes darting away from his shyly, trying to gather herself enough that she could find the right words. Her heart could’ve given out right there over the light push against her hip that had her lower back bumping the desk and his fingers hooked under her chin, urging her to meet his unrelenting stare.

‘Breathe, breathe, breathe.’

She didn’t know how she was even managing to think with how intense his gaze was this time around, she hadn’t expected whatsoever for him to get so close to her, his face had hovered so close that if she stood up on her toes then it’d be just enough that she could-

‘No, stop it!’

“I-I um…w-we’re…I mean…” the woman hesitated, trying her utmost best to steady her voice; her mouth felt thick with spit over just how deeply he was studying her, his piercing eyes leaving hers only to drop to her lips.

‘Breathe, fuck, shit.’

“W-we’re going to go-go to my house f-for a few days.” She stammered, her tone anxious; it seemed that had been the last thing he’d expected to hear, his gaze darting back to hers no sooner did she have the words out. “I-I mean…it-it’s just a precaution, in case y-you need more time. I have to reopen Monday and um…I need to feed my cat.”

‘Get it together, come on.’

“I-is that…okay?” she continued, her voice filled with worry; she wished she knew what this man was thinking, his expression hadn’t faltered whatsoever aside from swapping back to his usual neutral look and he hadn’t shown a single sign of discomfort, a simple head movement would satisfy her at this point. “I-if you’re not comfortable with that, I-I can always-”

She sealed her lips when his hand gave her hip a gentle squeeze, the pink on her cheeks darkening a shade and breaking away from his stare was impossible, not only hadn’t he released her chin, but she could’ve sworn he was hovering closer to her; he was. Strands of pink were slipping over his shoulders as he leaned closer to her, almost pressed right up against her and she’d entirely forgotten how to breathe when she felt his warm breath ghost over her lips, she didn’t know how she’d keep herself in line if he got any closer to her. He was breathtakingly beautiful and out of everything she’d admired about him, as nerve-wracking as being under his gaze was, his eyes had to be her favorite thing about him; he looked at her as though he was trying to see straight into the depths of her soul, it was no wonder she blanked practically every time she was on the receiving end of his stare.

‘So pretty.’

“Are you always so shy, Doctor?”

Yuki wasn’t sure what was more prevalent in the moment, her heart threatening to give out or the blush overtaking her face as she stared up at him in a combination of dumbfounded and total awe, her eyes as wide as saucers. He’d just spoken to her, after four days, he’d finally said something to her and the sound of his voice had done more to her than she’d ever expected, her panties were soaked. Her face was flushing furiously over the question, this man had the audacity not to speak to her for FOUR days and the first words out of his mouth were meant to tease her, she’d never felt so flustered in all her life. She was reeling in shock from just how unexpected it was, so much so that she was grasping at straws with hopes to figure out what to even say in response and she could’ve swallowed her tongue when his thumb brushed across her lips, his head just barely cocking to the side to observe her from another angle.

‘Breathe, you have to breathe!’

“I-I…umm…it-it’s just…” she responded, stumbling over her words despite how hard she was trying to pull herself together; she’d certainly made a complete fool of herself and would continue to do so unless she could reel herself in. “Y-you haven’t…”

This man had to of known the effect he had on her, between the knowing look in his eyes and the small smirk that formed on his lips from her babbling, he was already fully aware of what he did to her, she could almost feel the confidence pouring off him as his aquamarine pools held her lavender ones.

“I’m sorry, what was that; Doctor?” he pressed, his voice the definition of teasing; her face was on fire in embarrassment, her thighs shifting closer together absentmindedly in response. “Am I making you nervous?”

“N-no.” she managed timidly; the pink-haired man didn’t look convinced whatsoever, the smirk on his lips widening as he released her chin, placing his hand flat against the wood of the desk and essentially caging her in. “You-you’re still healing, you shouldn’t-”

“I can’t feel shit right now, Doctor.” He interrupted; the woman felt a shiver move through her when his hand slid away from her hip to the curve of her waist, she was positive her panties were ruined from how wet she was, and he was so close that even just a subtle shift in her weight would have him pressed up against her. “If we’re going, we should now before it wears off.”

As confused as she felt over just how much composure he had, she didn’t bother questioning it, it’d been the same when he’d been bleeding out and refusing to ask for assistance, his expression hadn’t faltered then, and it wasn’t faltering now despite that he was still impaired. Although the high wasn’t nearly what it would be had she just given him a fresh dose, his brain was still floaty, and he’d been able to express that it was still strong enough in his system that he couldn’t feel any pain. He was right about needing to get going before it wore off, she may be able to get him off the morphine starting tomorrow but he’d still need pain medication for the upcoming days, he’d been shot twelve times after all. She’d hoped he’d be in a good spot come Monday, figuring he’d want to get back to his regular life but now she found herself hoping that it’d take a little while longer just so she could get more time with him since he’d finally chosen to speak to her; she couldn’t imagine just how antsy she’d feel being at work for ten hours rather than looking after him should that be the case. She nodded in reply rather than the alternative of trying to force out words that she knew she’d struggle with, his aquamarine pools taking her in for a brief moment before he took a step back from her and she somehow managed to resist the urge to whine in protest when his hand left her waist; the upcoming days were going to be a rough time for her.

Had they not been so pressed for time, she certainly would’ve struggled to keep herself held together numerous times over the course forty minutes, everything from leaving the clinic to the drive to her house would’ve been a time and a half, and the only thing that saved her was keeping herself in that professional headspace paired with her patient keeping his hands to himself. Every bit of that composure was threatening to shatter no sooner did she lock the door behind them, her lip rolling between her teeth when his gaze found her form for what had to of been the thousandth time since he’d woken up Saturday night, she was unsure just what to do now that they were tucked away in her home. She’d never had a man over before, the last one having ever been in the house was her grandfather and he’d passed away when she’d been hardly six, she’d never imagined just how out of place she’d feel in her own home simply from a visitor. She just had to stick with what she’d been thinking about before he’d unexpectedly woken up, she could get him settled, take care of everything for her cat before she ordered some takeout for dinner, start some laundry for herself and her guest (her grandmother had never had the heart to throw out anything belonging to her grandfather and she knew for a fact any of it would fit, she’d have to return the clothes she’d found for him at the clinic on Monday), showers for both of them, get him settled into the guest room and she could finally pass out after she gave him that last dose of morphine.

‘Have to keep it together for just a little while.’

The sound of patters was enough to settle her down and pull her out of her head, her gaze pulling from his while she knelt down just enough that she could nuzzle her nose against her sweet boy’s; she was sure that her cat was furious over how long she’d been gone, she usually didn’t leave him for longer than five days and it’d put her behind on her usual routine with him. He certainly needed brushed, he was constantly shedding, and she’d find black fur quite literally all over her house every day.

“I know, you’re hungry, aren’t you?” the woman murmured, her voice apologetic; Kuro was undoubtedly upset with her, meowing and much more talkative than usual, nuzzling his head everywhere that he could reach while she turned her attention back to the man. “I um, I’m going to feed him, and I’ll order some takeout for us…is that alright?”

Yuki didn’t know why she was even asking; this was her house to begin with, so she didn’t need to ask for permission to do anything here, she must’ve still just been frazzled over how much had happened today that she hadn’t anticipated and was struggling to ground herself. Pink was streaking over her cheeks all over again as he looked at her in the same way he had been for days, giving her a short nod in reply without saying a word, she hoped they weren’t back to not being on speaking terms but pressing him wasn’t in her best interest; her cat was going to lose his mind if she didn’t feed him right now. She pulled her eyes from his bashfully, ducking her head while she scampered down the hallway towards the kitchen with her sweet boy at her heels, the heavier footsteps filling the silence by the time she’d turned the corner and she exhaled a slow breath, trying to calm her nerves with reminders that everything would be as it’d been at the clinic, the only difference being the location. It took less than three minutes for her to refill the automatic feeder, Kuro immediately buried his face in the bowl with enthusiasm while she got fresh water for him, keeping her ears open for the pink-haired man. She could hear his footsteps as he wandered around her house, the morphine seemed to still be managing his pain, so it gave her the chance to get some things done while he explored.

Laundry started, takeout ordered, fresh sheets on the bed in the guest room, her things tucked away in her bedroom along with all those pills and that last dose, she’d have to remove the IV tonight, so she gathered up everything she’d need for that and set it off to the side until later; there wasn’t much else she could do until laundry was finished or dinner arrived. She breathed a deep sigh, turning her phone off and placing it on charge for the night, her fingers pinching open the claw-clip and freeing the rest of her white locks, brushing the shorter strands away from her eyes. She needed a game plan for the upcoming days, to figure out what she was going to do for when she had to go back to work if he wasn’t ready because although she was entirely fine with him staying at her house, she would worry herself half to death since she wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on him for ten hours at a time. If she wasn’t the sole doctor at her clinic then shortening her days wouldn’t be questionable, her nurse practitioners could do quite a bit to help lighten the load on the days she absolutely had to leave early but she tried not to do that often, hiring another doctor on was an option she could consider but she felt it would be suspicious to some degree since she’d taken a ”vacation” completely out of the blue.

‘There’s nothing I can do that wouldn’t raise questions.’

There wasn’t and she’d already done so much already that had been the biggest curveball ever thrown at her, doctoring the inventory so no one would know that high class medications had been essentially stolen, she’d performed a surgery without contacting anyone afterwards, she’d cleaned up the evidence of what her staff would see as a break-in, she’d kept a total stranger in her clinic for days, only to take him to her house to hide his existence. She’d have to go into work Monday early enough that she could hide all the evidence of another person and what she’d done, clean everything out from her office, get everything back in her make-shift hospital room and lock up the door until she had the time to actually put things back the way they’d been beforehand. The young doctor was doing things that she’d never dreamed of and as optimistic as she wanted to be that things would continue on as they had after her patient was on his way, she wasn’t naïve enough to believe that as truth. Things would never go back to how they’d been before Friday unless she wound up with amnesia and had the event completely wiped from her brain, she may not have known how it was going to affect her life moving forward, but it undoubtedly would.

Regardless, Yuki knew that she’d done the right thing, she wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if she hadn’t, she’d gone into the medical field to save lives and that’s what she’d done. She’d saved someone’s life and with the precautions she’d taken, no one would know aside from her and her pink-haired patient, she didn’t need nor want recognition for doing what she felt was right. She was worrying herself for nothing, this wouldn’t drastically affect her life in any way shape or form, she was just overanalyzing things. Once they parted ways, it’d be like it never happened, she’d go back to what she’d been doing and he’d go back to his life, they’d never see each other again, and that was that. The occasional thought about one another was the extent of it, maybe see one another on the street in passing but even that was slim chances with how crowded of a place Tokyo was.

The white-headed woman paused from pulling the last box from the delivery bag when she felt the warm hand press against the curve of her waist, her cheeks flushing as she looked back over her shoulder, lavender meeting aquamarine.

‘Just a few days.’

Chapter Text

For the first time since he’d spoken to her the day prior, she was the furthest thing from being flustered from his words, a purse on her lips and her hands on her hips, her neck craned back to stare up at her patient, her expression nonnegotiable.

“Two.” She repeated, her tone expressing that she absolutely refused to budge; his lips were pressed into a thin line, that displeased look she’d grown accustomed to seeing over the last few days they’d been together was still going strong, regardless of her trying to put her foot down with him.

“Four.” He retorted lowly, his voice teetering on exasperation; she shook her head, absolutely not.

“You’ll overdose, no.” she reasoned, stating the truth; she was the medical professional here, he’d overdose if she gave him four pills three separate times a day, this was heavy duty stuff. “Two now, you can have another dose in six hours.”

“Twenty milligrams is nothing.” He argued, sounding irritated; she could’ve scoffed, the opioid was stronger than morphine in some cases, he didn’t need to be teetering on the brink of death right after she’d saved his life and regardless of how aggravated he was with her, she wasn’t going to bargain about this.

“You can’t have more than sixty in a day; it could kill you.” She explained, her voice matter of fact; if he’d just take the pills and wait for them to kick in, he’d see that she wasn’t joking around about how strong they were, and it’d stop him from demanding a larger dose next time.

“My tolerance-”

“Isn’t a factor.” She interrupted, her voice swapping to stern; if he was really going to continue to press her about this then she’d only give him one, he didn’t want to test her when it came to narcotics. “Twenty milligrams, two pills every six hours.”

“Doctor-”

“You wanna make it one?” the woman asked, her tone warning; despite how soft her features usually were, her gaze was hardened, proving that she meant business.

She was sure he was questioning why he hadn’t snapped her neck back at the clinic, he was positively fuming over her refusal to give him what he wanted and even if he debated on doing so now it wouldn’t do anything to help him. All those pills were locked up in her safe, the combination only accessible in her mind and she’d made sure not to open it when he was around, she was glad for that now because he surely would’ve taken too many pills if he had access to them. A quiet squeak left her in surprise when the palm of his hand slapped against the wall right next to her head, stepping so close that there wasn’t even a foot worth of space separating them, her heart going into overdrive from the way he was looming over her. Her mouth felt thick with spit the instant his free hand reached towards her throat and although she’d been sure he was about to strangle the life out of her, his fingers hooked under her chin instead, urging her to meet his piercing eyes. Remembering how to breathe was proving to be a challenge, the intensity of his stare had her shifting her weight from one foot to the other, trying her utmost hardest to ignore the slick that had settled in her panties; if he thought he could seduce her into giving him what he wanted then he had another thing coming because she definitely wasn’t going to-

‘Fuck, breathe.’

There was no question the thought was in his head, the way his aquamarine pools were raking over her from head to toe told her as much, whether it was simply out of wanting to get his way, she couldn’t be entirely sure considering the number of times his stare had roamed her form. He was entirely aware of the effect he had on her, being high hadn’t blinded him to it from the get-go because although his cognitive function was impaired then, he functioned much better than most people. It seemed that she was dealing with a person that either abused drugs or had chronic pain to the point that he had regular prescriptions to manage it, she wasn’t going to judge him by assuming one or the other. During the moments he was high, he was still capable of holding his composure, never slurring his words or talking so fast that it was obvious; he would’ve come off completely sober if it weren’t for his pupils dilating. He’d even been capable of retaining full memories during those moments, he could pay attention if it was something he was interested in observing and he remembered much more than she’d anticipated; some of the things he’d made comments about had surprised her, like the name of her secretary, he’d learned it when she’d been on that phone call. She couldn’t put it passed him not to know just how attracted she was to him, not only was he observant but she couldn’t hide it to save her life. He was going to try to use that to his advantage to persuade her to relent to whatever it was that he wanted in the moment, and he’d gone as far to test it last night after they had settled in.

Yuki had never been more thankful for hot water than she was tonight, she’d felt absolutely disgusting after how long she’d gone without washing her hair and she was going to have to start making a point not to spend more than two nights away from home if she wound up in the zone with her researching; it’d taken much too long to both detangle and wash her hair after how many times she’d had to use dry shampoo. A content sigh left her, running the brush through her hair one more time just to ensure she’d gotten all the tangles out before stepping out of the adjoining bathroom, it would take forever for her hair dry with the length of it, but it wasn’t so damp that she’d soak her pillow should she lay down for bed in the next few minutes. It’d been a long day and the only things that she had left to do were give her patient that last shot of morphine, remove the IV, clean the area, slap a band-aid on it and call it a day. She doubted she’d even hear Kuro running the halls like he usually did in the dead of night with how exhausted she was, her couch in the office may have been her regular sleeping spot but she’d undoubtedly missed her bed.

‘Just have to get a few more things done, that’s it.’

She quickly punched in the code to the safe, opening it up and placed all the prescription bottles in it, easing the door shut until the alert sounded that it was secure again. She didn’t have very many valuable things in her home, mostly documents, but she’d wanted a safe nonetheless. It was helpful when it came to keeping all those pills safe while she was sleeping, she wanted to make sure her patient was educated on just how strong they were before she gave him free reign of them and tonight would not be the night considering he was about to get his last dose of morphine. She carefully removed the syringe from her purse, sliding over to her bedside table to collect what she’d previously gathered up for the IV removal and her lip caught between her teeth when she felt the pads of his fingers lightly graze her neck, easing her hair off to the side, the other hand pressing against her hip. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that this man knew what he was doing, disregarding that he hadn’t even bothered to knock or announce his presence, he didn’t seem to care if she wanted personal space or not; she was pleasantly surprised at how many times he’d reached out to her today but that wasn’t the point.

‘Do I even care?’

The white-headed woman didn’t, had it been anyone else then absolutely, but it wasn’t, it was him and whatever it was about him that had ensnared her, it hadn’t just up and disappeared. The reactions she had to his touch were something she’d never experienced before him, she may have never dated but he hadn’t been the first man she’d ever admired, what she’d felt towards all of them combined was nothing in retrospect to the pink-haired male. She’d been on that page for a few days, but it hadn’t completely sunk in until now, becoming abundantly clear no sooner did her heart start fluttering, his chest lightly brushing against her upper back, fingertips softly caressing her hip, the other hand sliding her white locks off to the side. She bit harder into her lip when his cheek pressed against the side of her head, the warm breath in her ear sending a shiver through her; she didn’t think she had the courage to look at him even though he was most certainly looking at her.

“Doctor.” He murmured; her face burned hotter in response, the way he continued saying her professional title was the definition of teasing and it didn’t take a genius to come to the conclusion that it was his intention, he was trying to embarrass her.

‘Slow breathes, calm down.’

“Y-you don’t have to keep calling me that.” She mumbled, her voice filled with shyness; it took every ounce of willpower she possessed not to shift around in his hold over the soft hum he let out while squeezing her hip lightly, her knees centimeters from knocking together. “Yuki’s fine.”

As informal as it was considering they didn’t know anything about each other, she honestly just wanted to hear how her name would sound when it rolled off his tongue, she knew she had to of been thinking like a creep at this point. She was just setting herself up for disappointment, he’d go back to his regular life and getting attached to someone that she knew she’d never see again wasn’t a smart move on her part, unrealistic expectations that she set would end in heartbreak. The things her friends had regularly told her over the years were starting to make sense, if she would’ve dated long before now, even just casually, she wouldn’t have swooned over him as quickly as she had. All these small things that he was doing wouldn’t have gotten to her so easily, her heart skipped simply over him looking at her, she’d forget how to breathe just from his hand on her hip, hearing his voice drenched her panties and she’d internally begged more than a few times that he’d kiss her; she shouldn’t have been getting so worked up over nothing.

She needed to pull herself together, she didn’t want to come off as desperate, but it was hard to maintain that mindset when she was looking at him, he was beautiful, and the deepness of his stare always entranced her. She couldn’t even remember what her dream guy had looked like after seeing him because it certainly had become the man currently touching her, everything about him was flawless. His rosy-pink locks that fell well below his shoulders, his aquamarine eyes that practically pierced her soul, the four small black hoops on each of his ears, the diamonds at the corners of his mouth, the gentle way he’d squeeze her hip or carefully brush strands of white from her face, the intense way he watched her as though she were the only person in the room (even though she technically had been); she’d swooned long before now. The doctor managed to put the syringe down in the nick of time, she surely would’ve dropped it with the way his hand slid across her belly to her other hip, locking around her middle. She almost swallowed her tongue when he fully snuggled up against her back with his lips hovered at her ear, his free hand sweeping snow-colored strands over her shoulder.

“You’re my doctor, aren’t you?” he whispered directly into her ear, his tone sensual; warmth had settled between her thighs in response and her knees were almost going weak from his voice alone, her tongue felt much too heavy to form any words.

‘He’s trying to give me a heart attack.’

“I want to be close to you, Doctor.” He followed up, his voice implying; her breath hitched when his arm squeezed around her belly lightly, her cheeks flushing darker when his free arm joined the other, his face moving into her neck. “You’ll let me sleep next to you, right?”

If he hadn’t been before, there was no doubt that he indisputably was trying to give her a heart attack now with a request like that, her heart was threatening to go into overdrive from nerves alone and she almost felt at a point of overheating simply from how hot her face felt. Her ears were burning in embarrassment, her mind conjuring up a number of scenarios all in a span of three seconds and not a one of them were anything close to PG, she hadn’t even had her first kiss yet so how would she manage to sleep next to a man without having a panic attack, let alone the perfect one latched onto her? She didn’t think her face could flush any darker, she’d never anticipated anything close to this when she’d decided that taking the precaution to go to her house rather than staying at the clinic would be for the best. He just continued throwing her for a loop, she’d never imagined he’d warm up to her so quickly and regardless of the fact that he was teasing her for all its worth, she couldn’t find it in herself to make attempts to shut it down.

“O-okay.” She mumbled, her voice bashful; another quiet hum left him, seeming pleased that she’d folded so easily to what he wanted without a fight.

Yuki wiggled around in his grasp until his hold on her loosened just enough that she could turn to face him, his arms still wrapped loosely around her waist and making no movement to fully release her. Despite the red hue on her cheeks, she placed her hand lightly against his shoulder and the other against his chest, avoiding touching any of the areas he’d been shot, craning her neck back to lock eyes with him.

“You need to sit down so I can give you this last dose.” The woman urged gently; his head cocked to the side with interest, his aquamarine pools holding her lavender ones. “I need to remove the IV when we’re done.”

He was silently questioning her, she could see it in the way he was looking at her and if she didn’t clear things up for him now, she had a feeling he wouldn’t make things easy for her, he’d think she was trying to cut him off when that wasn’t it whatsoever.

“I’m replacing the morphine with something else; I know you’re still in pain.” She continued with compassion; she didn’t want to invalidate his feelings because although he’d moved around more than she’d ever anticipated he would at this point, she could see from his expressions that it wasn’t without significant trouble, he was pushing himself to. “I want to start you on it while you’re with me, so you’ll be used to it by Monday.”

She could tell that as much as he didn’t like it, he did understand on some level why he couldn’t be on the morphine any longer, and she was thankful that she wasn’t going to have to go into a big spiel about why it wasn’t for long term use, the dependency it could cause, etcetera; he was smart enough to know that he had to use something else for pain management. He was obviously reluctant to agree but gave a short nod regardless, his arms never slipping from her waist as he maneuvered the two of them around until he was able to take a seat on the edge of the bed, pulling her to stand between his legs. Her cheeks went warm all over again over how close they were and being face to face with him was more impactful than she’d thought it would be, they were around the same height now and she could see details about him that she’d missed before; his nose was cute. Her patient seemed to be on the same page as herself in some respect, his gaze focused solely on her face, taking in her features, studying her with the utmost dedication; it was almost as though they were seeing each other for the first time all over again. She could’ve gotten lost staring at him, and she almost had up until one of his hands left her waist, her eyes pulling from his to pay attention to her movements while she grabbed the syringe, uncapping the needle end.

Her persona swapped to professional without so much as thinking about it, holding total composure while she injected the opiate into the IV, effect was immediate just as it always was, his arm relaxing around her just enough that she knew it was working. She made quick work of removing it from his hand, going about the aftercare meticulously and covered the site to protect it during the healing process, he hadn’t so much as flinched the whole time she’d gone about the process from start to finish.

“Finished.” She commented; a pleasant hum left him in acknowledgement, her doe eyes quickly finding his when he tugged at her waist with just enough strength that she was pressed flush against him.

“Lay down then.” He followed up easily; his tone told her that arguing against it would do her no good, he wasn’t going to budge about wanting her right next to him. “I don’t want to make you, you’re a delicate thing, Doctor.”

Yuki nodded without argument, unable to hide just how flustered she felt as she climbed up onto the mattress after switching off the lights, following his own movements as he made room for her and laid down on her side facing him. A quiet scoff left him in displeasure, it was indefinitely over how much space she’d left between them, but she didn’t get a chance to say anything before he latched onto her waist and drug her across the sheets until there wasn’t an inch of space between them. Her pulse was racing all over again over his boldness, high or not, he hadn’t been fooling around about wanting to be close to her and as high of a priority as figuring out what it meant was on her list, it’d have to wait until tomorrow.

“Um…goodnight…” she began with uncertainty; she’d figured it’d be uncomfortable to some extent and the lack thereof was strange in of itself, she felt entirely thrown off from how natural it felt.

“Go to sleep.” He muttered unenthusiastically; she sealed her lips, nodding into his chest, his hold on her was so secure that she wouldn’t be able to slip away from him should she want to and trying to argue with him about how he needed space so she didn’t unknowingly brush up against any of the incision sites wouldn’t go over well.

‘Tired.’

Exhausted was the more appropriate term, she was sure she’d manage eight hours at the least tonight and if she was lucky-

“Haruchiyo.”

Her eyes fluttered open at the sound of his voice, her lips parting in confusion.

“What?” she asked softly; the word came out before she had time to think about the best way to respond, a heavy sigh coming from her companion over her question.

“Not repeating myself.” He mumbled with a grunt, his voice slightly annoyed; she sealed her lips all over again, her body going limp in his hold when his free hand moved to petting her hair. “Go to sleep, Doctor.”

‘Haruchiyo.’

She took a small step back without so much as thinking about it, another squeak leaving her when her back bumped the wall and his eyes practically lit up with amusement when pink returned to her cheeks the second his thumb traced her bottom lip. The doctor was indisputably at a rock in a hard place, she couldn’t pull herself together when he was so close to her nor could she screw her head on straight long enough to create distance so she could think, he’d only blocked off one side so if she really wanted to, she could slip away from him. She looked up through her lashes to find him staring at her so intensely she could’ve forgotten who she was, his eyes were mesmerizing and as hard of a time as she had maintaining eye contact with him, she continued trying her best to hold it for as long as she could, his eyes were her favorite thing about him. The thought of creating distance disappeared no sooner did it show up, she’d blanked all over again just from staring at him too long, standing her ground against him was looking like a pipedream since she just continued losing her train of thought and the like from that alone.

“Doctor.” The pink-haired man drawled playfully, his voice coming out lowly; her face flushed hotter, he was hovering closer to her, his gaze zeroed in on her lips, strands of pink slipping over his shoulders and lightly brushing the sides of her face the closer he got.

‘Don’t cave, be strong, don’t cave!’

“N-no, two, only two.” She stammered anxiously; her words didn’t seem to even faze him, a smirk forming on his lips when she batted his hand away from her chin, only for it to slip around to press against the small of her back and tug her right up against him.

‘Oh god!’

She couldn’t fold, no matter how flustered she felt nor how close he was to giving her what would be her very first kiss, she couldn’t give in to what he wanted, and she wouldn’t; he’d overdose and likely die if she gave him forty milligrams in one go. He wasn’t going to give up though, she could see that he was just as stubborn as she herself could be and the only way that she was going to be able to get him to drop it was if she offered some kind of compromise. He was much too determined to get his way so regardless of how dangerous it could be, it was the only thing that she could do, she wouldn’t have to follow through with it once he realized that she wasn’t trying to short him pain relief once the pills kicked in. She just had to word things carefully, make no promises so he couldn’t claim that she’d lied to him once he wasn’t on another planet because he most certainly would be in the next half hour after he took the pills. Her pulse was racing at the feeling of being pressed against him, the blush on her cheeks darkening shade by shade the closer he inched towards her lips, her free hand moving of its own volition to tangle in his shirt, the other resting at his shoulder.

“Haruchiyo.” She spoke, her voice barely above a whisper; his aquamarine orbs were gleaming as he took her in, seeming all too pleased at how close she looked to giving into him.

“Yes, Doctor?” he responded with a hum; she felt like she’d gone completely stupid simply over his hand leaving the wall to cradle her head, white slipping through his fingers as he guided her face closer to his.

“Y-you shouldn’t, we sh-shouldn’t.” she began, her tone anxious; she didn’t know why she’d even bothered speaking words of resistance, he’d made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t going to stop just because it stepped outside of the doctor-patient relationship dynamic.

“We shouldn’t.” he repeated quietly, sounding entirely collected; despite agreeing with her, he hadn’t stopped closing the distance, so she knew for a fact that he did not care about trying to maintain whatever professionalism was left between them. “Tell me to stop.”

Yuki was internally screaming at this point and could’ve fainted with how lightheaded she felt, there was no way she could face that challenge head-on nor come out of it victorious if she tried her hardest, it was taking every ounce of her willpower to resist temptation, his lips were hardly three inches from hers. As unbecoming of her profession as it was, she couldn’t force herself to say no, the line had been blurred to the point that having purely a doctor-patient relationship wasn’t possible anymore because she hadn’t kept a businesslike approach to things. She’d been too caught up in whatever infatuation she was feeling towards him and hadn’t been able to turn it off, it’d practically made all of the decisions for her, and it was why she’d wound up in this mess. She should’ve called an ambulance as soon as he was stable after surgery, she shouldn’t have hidden his existence by putting off reopening her clinic after the holiday, she should’ve called the police, she shouldn’t have taken him to her private home, she should’ve done things as a doctor and instead, she’d done things that a desperate teenage girl with a crush would’ve done. She’d opened herself up for this to become what it had and although it was ethically wrong, she was teetering right on the edge of not caring which told her that she absolutelyneeded to take a step back from this, lest she complicate things further for herself.

“You can’t, can you?” he gathered, his voice knowing; the pink on her cheeks spread further across her face, running over her nose and silently answering the question for her.

The white-headed woman wanted to feel ashamed of herself because morally speaking, she should’ve felt some form of guilt, forming relationships with patients wasn’t the norm and, on some level, she did feel the smallest bit of remorse for crossing lines to some degree. She may not have been the one to initiate that first intimate touch, but she didn’t try to stop it either, she’d reciprocated it which made her just as guilty as him. More than anything, she wanted him to close the distance and kiss her, he was already so close that he could do so with ease, but should that boundary be crossed over, she had no guarantees that it would stop with that. Whatever this was between them had been mutual from the get-go, entirely consensual on both sides, he wanted the same thing as she and the only reason he hadn’t gone there yet was because he was waiting for her to say it, he’d pushed her to tell him to stop and she hadn’t. Now, all that was left for him to do was pry the words from her lips and aside from the rough shape he was in, there wouldn’t be anything holding him back.

“W-we shouldn’t.” she repeated with unease, hinting at just how nervous she felt; his expression didn’t falter, reflecting nothing but confidence as he leaned down closer to her.

“You already said that, Doctor.” Haruchiyo pointed out, sounding teasing; she was doing her utmost best to steady her breathes while her fingers curled lightly in his shirt, clinging onto him tighter, his lips were almost brushing hers there was so little space between them. “You don’t mean it.”

He’d called her bluff without batting an eye which just proved without a shadow of a doubt that he did see the way she looked at him, but she couldn’t say it aloud, it would only make it more real if she did, meaning it would only hurt more when he left; she didn’t know how she’d managed to get so attached to a total stranger in less than a week’s time. The woman couldn’t manage anything in response, her throat had fully dried up, and her heart doing summersaults over his soft breathes ghosting over her lips, feeling too scatterbrained to do much of anything except hold his intense gaze.

“You want me to do it for you, huh pretty girl?” he murmured sensually, his hand slid from the small of her back and wrapped fully around her waist to keep her securely pinned against him.

Her heart straight skipped a beat from his words, her pulse going haywire while she gazed up at him longingly, she’d never felt so overwhelmed by her emotions that she felt lightheaded and that was exactly what he’d done to her. The dizzying feeling in her head was only growing stronger the harder she swooned for this man, outside of her friends and her grandmother, no one had ever called her pretty before; she had zero chance to protect herself from heartbreak this far into things, he had her hook line and sinker.

“That’s it, isn’t it?” the pink-haired male breathed, his voice low; Yuki didn’t realize she’d responded to the question until it was too late to stop herself, a barely audible whimper leaving her lips, silently pleading with him to close the distance. “I will, just give me what I want.”

‘What does…?’

“That’s fair, isn’t it Doctor?” he pressed, sounding agreeable to compromise; she waited patiently for a follow-up from him that would clear things up, a curious look in her lavender orbs as she attempted to bring herself back down to earth long enough to piece things together. “Four.”

‘…fuck no.’

Whatever spell he’d cast on her broke in the instant everything connected, her hand pressing against his shoulder to create distance and the other releasing his shirt, a purse forming on her lips while she attempted to slip from his grasp.

“Two.” She retorted, her tone adamant; Haruchiyo’s persona swapped out just as quickly as her own did, looking infuriated that she was still refusing to budge even with his attempts to sway her with his damn seduction tactics, narcotics were something she didn’t play around with, and she was not going to let him be careless with them.

“My tolerance-”

“Isn’t a factor.” She repeated, cutting him off before he could argue with her; she didn’t have much of a choice at this point, she had to offer something else to get him to relent and once he realized that she wasn’t playing around about these pills, he wouldn’t bring this up again. “Two, twenty milligrams every six hours.”

“Doctor-”

“Muscle relaxers in between if it’s not enough.” She interrupted, her voice heavily annoyed; his lips pressed into a thin line as he looked down at her, his hand having released her head and grabbed her forearm when she’d begun making attempts to create space, he wasn’t budging about letting her go.

‘Stubborn man.’

“Fine.” He huffed, sounding entirely reluctant to agree; she herself let out just as huffy of a breath, her soft face the definition of aggravated, she’d just been thinking minutes previously that he’d try to seduce her into getting his way, she should’ve seen it coming before then.

As gentle as she was, she was heavily considering suffocating the man with a pillow the next time he tried to pull something like this on her even though she wouldn’t make it very far with that, he’d combat her in a heartbeat, high or not. She should’ve known better, and she’d walked right into that one, whatever it was that she felt for him was behind the wheel over half the time and it didn’t help anything that in the rare instances when she was capable of holding composure, he could overpower her with ease if he so wanted to. Her patient wasn’t in the best shape and had still managed to pause her movements, his arm wasn’t budging from her waist, and she couldn’t slip her arm out of his iron grip; there was no doubt that he’d have no problem snapping her neck or strangling her to death should he choose to.

“Doctor.”

“I need to get your pills.” She muttered in response, keeping her eyes low; she needed to be professional about things, no more caving to his charm or those piercing eyes of his, protect herself from the unavoidable heartbreak that would come from not being guarded.

His hand retreated from her forearm, the other stayed wrapped securely around her waist without showing any signs that he was going to release her, and she shoved at his chest weakly, not managing to make him budge an inch. She just may attempt to suffocate him; he was practically rubbing in her face that she couldn’t fight him off if she tried her hardest and something inside her was dangerously close to snapping.

“I need to get your pills.” She repeated quietly; she craned her neck back to look up at him as she spoke, trying to remain levelheaded. “If you want them…”

Yuki froze in place no sooner did she look up to find herself face to face with Haruchiyo, her words trailing off when her lavender pools met his aquamarine ones, his free hand moving back to cradling her head, not giving her time to register anything until it’d already happened. Her eyes were blown wide in response and her heart was threatening to leap from her chest, she hadn’t expected him to follow through with kissing her after she hadn’t budged on the number of pills, but he had. He’d closed the distance without giving her a chance to argue with him and pressed his lips to hers without missing a beat, she didn’t know what possessed him to do so nor did she try to come up with answers, she’d gotten her first kiss. She’d just managed to take a handful of his shirt and mold her lips with his a single time before he pulled out of the kiss, a whine leaving her in protest, her eyes fluttering open. A sly little smirk formed on his lips as he stared down at her, keeping just outside of her reach while she regained her bearings, sliding his fingers through the white.

“You only get one.” The pink-haired male spoke; she stared up at him slightly dazed, a dumbfounded look on her face. “You can have another in six hours, Doctor.”

Chapter Text

His head cocked to the side, a single finger dragging lightly along her arm until it reached her shoulder, brushing strands of snow off behind her so he didn’t have a single thing obscuring his line of sight, taking in the soft features of her sleeping face. Sanzu couldn’t be sure what the time was, not that he cared to begin with, he knew he’d been awake for quite some time, his sleep schedule had been nonexistent even before the instance where he’d been shot and trying to get on something consistent was proving to be a challenge. However, his pretty little doctor was regularly lying down for bed around eleven since they’d settled in at her house and he wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to see the usual pink blush spread over her cheeks when his arm would wrap around her to hold her through the night. He was undoubtedly making progress with her, more than he’d anticipated he would this early on and needless to say, he was thoroughly enjoying cat and mouse like he’d hoped he would.

‘Shy little thing.’

He couldn’t count the number of times that she’d blushed over the course of their time in her home, eyeing him bashfully and making half-hearted attempts to avoid his advances; the only time she’d truly stood her ground against him had been over the new pain medication she’d switched him to after the morphine. He hadn’t expected her to argue against him, nor threaten him as she had, she’d refused to budge about how large of a dose he could have and wouldn’t even consider hearing him out about his tolerance. It’d taken quite literally every ounce of willpower he possessed not to strangle her in the moment when all he wanted was to wrap his hand around her pretty little throat and squeeze until she was gasping for air, watch panic fill her doe eyes as she struggled against him, watch the moment of acceptance where she’d give up because she couldn’t overpower him. Those moments were some of his favorites, he yearned to see the panic and fear on people’s faces when they knew they were going to die, and Bonten’s number two had never had to hold himself back; this time he had for the sake of his plans.

He'd gone about making attempts to coerce the woman and he’d been sure that it would work, the way she was forever looking at him had been the deciding factor and although he’d wanted to wait a while longer before going there, he’d been willing to if it meant he’d get the dose he needed to manage the pain. He’d been positive that he had her where he wanted her, she’d been looking at him with hearts in her eyes and silently begging him to give her what she wanted, her lavender pools dropping over and over to stare at one thing and one thing only, his lips. She’d wanted a kiss, something so simple that she could’ve made happen herself, but her reserved nature kept her from taking initiative, she hadn’t made a single move to suggest she wanted more than that from him and it’d been a sacrifice he’d been willing to make to get a larger dose, even though he’d wanted to take things slower and wait a little longer before giving into that temptation. Building it up, dragging it out for as long as possible, teasing her with his closeness but not making the move himself, getting her to a point of desperation that she’d be willing to do anything to have what she wanted and he’d almost succeeded, he’d been impulsive and jumped the gun before he’d gotten her to that point.

Sanzu had been so sure that he’d won the moment he’d dropped a pet name on her, her stare had become even more intense as she gazed up at him and she’d behaved as though being called “pretty girl” was the best damn thing that had ever happened to her. She was affection and attention starved, she’d melted into his touch the very first time he’d reached out to her, her doe eyes constantly looking in his direction and staring directly at him until he noticed, submitting to (most of) what he wanted without a fight, her shy behaviors and soft whining just supporting that further. He wasn’t sure exactly how long she’d gone without companionship outside of her career, but it had to of been a long while considering she behaved like a teenage girl would around their first boyfriend, and he was eating it the fuck up for all it’s worth. She was already head over heels for him in a single week, and he could only imagine how brokenhearted she’d be when he had to leave her side so he could touch base with the rest of Bonten’s executives, being absent in her life for a little while would benefit him in the long run and he knew as much.

As reserved as she was, she did have some spunk and he realized that no sooner did she flip on him when he’d pushed to get what he wanted, the lovestruck expression on her face swapping to annoyed and circling back to what had been going on before he started sweet talking her, with her saying that she would not be giving him more than twenty milligrams every six hours. The pinkette had been sure he was at a point when he wasn’t going to be capable of holding back, he’d already anticipated he’d end up snapping her neck before the day was out, he refused to show it but the level of pain he was in was a solid nine out of ten; he needed a larger dose than what she was willing to give. Just when he truly thought it was going to be the end of his game, she’d said she’d give him muscle relaxers during hour three of each dose if it wasn’t enough, she’d been willing to offer him that compromise. He’d agreed because he knew it was the best he was going to get and she wasn’t going to budge about the narcotics, he could see in her pretty face that she was aggravated with him over trying to coerce her and that was when the idea came to him.

Sanzu was positive he knew what kind of kiss she’d been longing for but since she’d refused to budge on what he wanted and only offered him a compromise, she wouldn’t be getting it. She hadn’t seemed to expect anything from him either after they put the matter of the pain medicine to rest, making attempts to slip out of his grasp so she could retrieve it as promised. He could see from her refusal to look at him that he was on thin ice, he’d sabotage everything he was working for by his own hand if he wasn’t careful and moving forward, he would be far more cautious about how he did things when it came to his pretty little doctor. She’d offered him a compromise so it was only fair that he offered her something as well, it would keep him in her good graces because as it were, he wouldn’t be able to get by right now without her beautiful drugs. Her doe eyes were filled with surprise over his advance, appearing so dumbfounded that it took her a few long seconds to respond after he pressed his lips to hers and the moment that she melted into it was when he pulled back, an innocent little kiss that had her whining for more and her entire face flushed; the woman was so very easy to please.

By the time that first dose kicked in, the executive realized that the white-headed woman hadn’t been blowing smoke about the pills, the high hit him like a truck and masked every bit of the pain he was feeling, so much so that he didn’t need those muscle relaxers she’d mentioned. He’d never seen something as beautiful as she was, her extensive knowledge about all the drugs in her possession already made her perfect and paired with her physical beauty, the woman was flawless. She was exactly what he wanted at his side, something stunning to look at, something reserved that would never go against him, something fragile that relied on only him for protection, something that would be dependent on him and him alone. Ikeda Yuki was all his, he refused to share her with the other executives and low-ranking scum of Bonten, Mikey would be the only exception to that as the king could have anything he wanted but for the upcoming months, he’d be keeping his pretty little doctor hidden away until he didn’t have any other choice but to make her existence known to the others. He’d be enjoying his time playing with her for all it was worth and if he was lucky, she’d never know he’d manipulated her from the get-go; he doubted things would turn out that smoothly, but he could dream.

‘To think I was going to kill her.’

His head tilted against the pillow and arm tightened around her middle as he tugged her body closer to his, she was a heavy sleeper, flipflopping sides without shaking the mattress and he loathed coming to when she wasn’t facing him. He’d had to manipulate her body to do so a number of times in the days they’d been sharing a bed, she’d fall asleep before him after he’d drag her across the mattress to snuggle up against him, she always went about keeping her face hidden in his chest out of shyness, trying to hide her blush. He didn’t think he’d ever shared a bed with a woman and actually felt content with it, as many women as he’d fucked, he’d never slept next to one without being balls deep in their cunt first, save for her. Sanzu couldn’t count the number of times he’d silently talked himself down from spreading her legs open so he could taste her, how many times he’d almost lost against the need to see her face down ass up for him, how many times he’d wanted to fingerfuck her until she was crying for him to split her open, how many times he’d had to resist the urge to bend her over and tease her until she was begging him to wreck her pussy.

‘My pretty girl.’

There wasn’t a snowball chance in hell that he would’ve been able to hold out this long had he not been high every fucking day paired with being shot twelve damn times, he wasn’t healed nearly enough that he could fuck her without popping stitches, the incision sites were still sore and the areas where she’d had to dig out bullet fragments were worse than that. He was looking forward to the day he could split her open, she was the type he would’ve went after in the clubs, the quiet ones that were so easy to feed drinks to. They were desperate for attention and all too trusting, easy to drug when they least expected it, entirely unaware of their surroundings until it was too late; they kept some of them after a test drive, killed the others. The woman curled against him would’ve been a keeper, between how breathtaking she was and how tight he imagined she was, she would’ve been an investment not a one of them would’ve passed up on trying out. He wouldn’t have to share, not this time, she was all his for the long-haul, his pretty little doctor and secret.

He’d have to find a way to keep an eye on her when he couldn’t be around, his life couldn’t be on pause solely for a woman, as valuable as she was to him, there were matters in Bonten that couldn’t be ignored that he’d have to attend to as second in command and supporting the king would forever be priority over everything else. He already had some ideas for moves he could make that would allow him to check in on his pretty girl at his leisure, but he’d need more assurances that no one would pull up on his property. He may get stuck having to recruit someone specifically as a bodyguard to not only keep her all to himself but to make sure she was forever protected once word finally got out that she was his, he wouldn’t be able to keep the secret forever and he knew as much, someone would find out and with how many enemies he had, they’d all take a shot at his property. If it wasn’t Bonten’s enemies then it would be the average pathetic fuck passing by her on the street or colleagues in the medical community that she regularly communicated with, everyone was a damn threat to what he wanted.

‘She’ll be asleep a little longer.’

It was still much too early for her to wake up and he knew she wouldn’t of her own accord for a little while longer, he’d practically learned her routine just from observing silently and knew every move she’d make to the latter. When she’d start to wake up, she’d roll onto her stomach, sleepy moans leaving her pretty lips as she struggled to come to, her eyes would remain shut while she worked towards becoming fully conscious. Half her face would bury into her pillow, her right arm would press against the mattress, she’d make whiny breathes and noises that expressed just how much she didn’t want to get out of bed. The process had taken twenty minutes the first time he’d observed it, she’d alternated between trying to push herself up and lifting her head, moaning and whining in protest until finally, her doe eyes fluttered half open, groggy and filled with sleep. Since he’d taken initiative, it made the morning one of his favorite times of day.

‘If she does that one more time-’

The whiny moan that came from the woman lying next to him had his thoughts coming to an abrupt halt, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, simultaneously letting out a huffy breath. She was going to push him over the edge if this kept up, he’d already had to talk himself down numerous times, reminding himself that fucking her without fucking himself up wasn’t possible just yet but even that argument wasn’t going to last much longer. His composure was hanging by a thread and was going to snap before it was all over, his pretty little doctor wasn’t purposely trying to push him over the edge, she was trying to push herself to wake up and making noises of protest was all too normal of a thing for most people. However, she didn’t realize just what those pretty sounds she made did to him, every moan she let out had went straight to his cock and he was unbearably hard to the point that he was ready to pull her on top of him and make her ride, regardless of it ruining his plans. She was a damn tease whether she knew it or not, listening to her whining and watching her shift around into the lewdest positions, he’d silently cursed her numerous times because her clothing left EVERYTHING up to imagination.

‘Fuck me.’

Sanzu had silently cursed himself just as much for getting shot up so many times, he couldn’t do jack shit without risking the incision sites, he was constantly having to keep himself in check so he didn’t overdo it and there was a clear limit on how much he could handle. He’d been pushing himself to walk even when it hurt to do so, using a little more strength each day so he could get back to where he’d been before this mess and although it hadn’t even been a week yet since his surgery, he’d expected himself to be further along than he was. Disregarding his need to get back to headquarters to touch base with Mikey and the other executives so they could bring down justice on the scum that had opposed them, he so wanted to start putting things in motion with the white-headed woman that was driving him mad; he didn’t know just how much more he could handle before he snapped enough to pin her face down ass up and wreck her pretty pussy, regardless of the consequences.

‘Too soon, it’s too soon.’

Bonten’s number two was all too aware of that, he had to be patient and take things slowly, she was the type that would frighten easily, he’d push her away by his own hand if he wasn’t cautious and if that were to happen, she’d be entirely useless to him. Nurture trust with her, build upon the progress he’d already made, continue to give her reasons to desire him, keep giving a little at a time until she was hooked, manipulate circumstances as needed to get her to a point of codependency, take things slowly and everything would fall into place where and when it should.

‘Shit.’

The soft little noise that left her was almost equivalent to a purr, that was enough, he realized that trying to ignore her morning routine wasn’t going to get him anywhere, his head rising from his hand to look at Yuki. Her snow-colored locks were a disheveled mess, partially hiding her face from view, strands strewn over the arm supporting her head and along the pillow, she was lying on her belly, eyes still closed, and lips parted to release soft breathes. His aquamarine eyes were raking over her form for what was probably close to the five hundredth time this morning, taking in everything that was her from her dark lashes to the way the shorter strands of white framed her heart shaped face, the rise and fall of her chest beneath her with each breath. The woman was stunning, entirely flawless and it had to be the reason that he was teetering on the edge of snapping, he’d never desired something as much as he did her and knowing that he couldn’t indulge in her was what had to be driving him mad. He’d been around plenty of beautiful women that did the same damn thing as the one next to him so there was no reason his reaction should be any different than it usually was, the only difference was that he had to wait this time around and as impatient as he was, he knew it was for the best that-

‘Fuck it!’

The last whine had done it, he’d snapped to some degree, not even registering what he was doing in the moment as he grabbed hold of her and forced her onto her back without a word. Her doe eyes snapped open no sooner was her back pressed against the mattress, a dumbfounded expression on her face as he planted himself above her, hands resting on either side of her head and a knee forced between her thighs. Her bottom lip caught between her teeth as she gazed up at him, not seeming to know what to do with herself as he leaned closer to her, strands of pink brushing her shirt.

“Haruchiyo.”

The pink-haired male could’ve smirked over just how timid she sounded, her lavender pools were staring up at him longingly, just as she had every time that he’d given her one of those three second kisses that she never seemed to be able to get enough of. It may have been too soon in more than a few ways but just because he couldn’t go that far, didn’t mean he couldn’t play around with her since she’d driven him to the point of insanity in the last fifteen minutes with her teasing sounds.

“Isn’t this what you wanted, Doctor?” he drawled, his tone suggestive; pink was blooming on her cheeks instantly, her small form shifting against the mattress with obvious embarrassment. “That’s why you were making those pretty sounds for me, right?”

“W-what?” the woman responded, sounding anxious; he could’ve giggled over how easy she was to fluster but refrained, taking his time as he inched closer to her.

“You know what.” He retorted easily; she bit harder into her lip, her eyes as wide as saucers and glued to him. “As much as I like the idea, I can’t give you my best right now.”

Her lavender orbs only seemed to have gotten wider when it clicked for her and she realized just what he was getting at, her face was scarlet as she tore her eyes away, breaking their staring contest first as she always did.

“Am I making you nervous, Doctor?” Sanzu pressed, not bothering to hide his teasing tone; she shook her head lightly, refusing to look at him as she did so, and a small smirk formed on his lips. “Look at me, pretty girl.”

Giddiness was threatening to overtake him at how quickly she responded, her doe eyes flicking back to him practically on command and finding his gaze regardless of the blush spreading over her cheeks, that sweet pet name already held power over her. He’d already set a line for himself that he wasn’t going to cross today or any time soon, no fucking her, not until she was completely hooked on him, and he was fully healed; he’d have to find a way to resist whatever temptation was thrown at him. He was already so close to her pretty lips and only holding himself back from diving right in just to see how far he could push her, but she was too far gone to even attempt to stand against him, she hadn’t been awake five minutes yet, so this was undoubtedly the perfect time to play with her. He paused the advance when one of her arms hesitantly rose from her chest, she seemed as though she were deeply considering something for a brief moment before she slid it around his shoulders, her free hand brushing strands of pink away from his face.

“So pretty.” The white-headed woman murmured, not even seeming to register what she’d said aloud; the smirk on his lips widened in response.

‘You really are making this so easy for me, Doctor.’

A quiet squeak came from her when he slid his knee across the mattress, inching further up until it was a few measly centimeters from being pressed against her core, her face filled with embarrassment, her hand made an attempt to retreat but he didn’t let her, catching her wrist and guiding it back to his cheek. As nervous as she was acting, she still had hearts in her eyes as she gazed at him, her lavender orbs cycling through staring into his, flittering to his lips and down further, which hinted at what he already knew she wanted; as impatient as he was to taste her, it wasn’t time yet.

“Haruchiyo.” Yuki spoke softly; his knee inched closer, watching the blush on her cheeks darken at the ministration, his fingers lightly tracing the pink traveling over her nose.

“What is it, pretty girl? You want something, don’t you?” he guessed, already well aware of the thoughts that had surely risen in her head by now; the shy expression on her face was all he needed to see to know he was right, the heat between her thighs said everything that she struggled to but she would say it, he wanted to hear the words come out of her pretty mouth. “Use your words.”

Her eyes were filled with bashfulness and Sanzu was eating it up, he’d never enjoyed the game so much up until now, it only got better by the minute, and he had so many ideas on how he could drag out the fun without pushing his own patience right over the edge. She folded so easily to him, didn’t try to argue against any advances he made on her, she reciprocated them once she got passed her shyness, he’d even noticed her debating countless times about making an advance of her own but never following through, and the look in her eyes right now was the same as when she was considering those things deeply. His eyes lit up when she tugged lightly at his shirt, her arm pressing against his neck in attempts to urge him closer to her and although he’d wanted her to say it, he allowed it this time, inching towards her painstakingly slow until there was hardly any space between them. The executive had expected some form of whining to get him to relent, it seemed to align with her submissive personality and that seemed more plausible, not for her to close the distance all on her own.

‘Fuck, good girl.’

Building her up with those three second innocent kisses was what had gotten him to this point, he never would’ve made it if he’d jumped straight into it, she was so needy and desperate for more that she’d willingly stepped outside of her comfort zone. She initiated the kiss, molded her lips with his once before her composure seemed to falter since they’d never gotten passed that, hardly breaking their kiss before he took over, capturing her lips with his with the determination to make her melt for him. Her arm tightened around his shoulders and free hand moved into his hair as she followed his lead, matching the slow pace he’d set while their lips moved in perfect sync. It was taking every ounce of his willpower to hold himself back from ravaging her mouth the way he wanted to, silently reminding himself that taking things slowly was the best thing he could do for himself and as impatient as he felt to get to that place, the only thing he could do was deal with it until it was safe for him to take things further with her. Rome wasn’t built in a day and as desperate as his pretty little doctor was, building trust with her couldn’t be accomplished with anything but time.

At the rate that things were going, he estimated that he’d have the white-headed woman where he wanted in three months and as far off as that sounded considering how quickly she’d warmed up to him in just a few days, he was including all the time that he’d have to be away from her for Bonten business and the like. There were matters that he couldn’t ignore and being Mikey’s shadow was at the top of the list, there were a great many things coming up in the next few months from the Gala Koko had been planning for weeks to all the business dealings/meetings Kakucho had set up. He’d have to sacrifice time with her to attend to those dreadfully boring things but when he had the spare time to return to her side for a few days, she’d be as thrilled as a puppy was to see its owner, she was already attached enough that he couldn’t be outside of her line of sight longer than five minutes before she was seeking him out.

‘Don’t rush it.’

A pitiful whimper came from her when he broke the kiss, her lavender pools finding his aquamarine ones without pause, staring up at him pleadingly and silently begging for more, her pretty face filled with longing for him. He shifted just enough to press a kiss to her forehead, pink quickly blooming on her cheeks in response and looking away shyly.

“Good morning, pretty girl.”

‘Fucking tease.’

The single sheet covered everything from her waist down and had he been able to see anything, he would’ve already removed it long before now, but Yuki was the type that wore baggy t-shirts and sweatpants to bed, no over-the-top lingerie like the women in the hostess clubs were forced to wear. He’d have to change that when the time was right, as many times as he’d eye-fucked her over the course of the days they’d been together, it wasn’t enough to imagine just what lied beneath her clothes, what he’d seen of her legs was perfect and what he’d felt of her petite figure was immaculate. Talking himself down proved to be more difficult during every instance he touched her, the small dips and curves of her body were so very tempting to touch, he truly didn’t know how he’d managed to resist this long when she molded against him flawlessly, especially during the nights when she’d be snuggled up against him. Could he have gotten by with it without waking her, absolutely but getting by with it wasn’t the problem, not being able to stop was and he knew himself all too well, he wouldn’t be able to until he’d touched every inch of her, inside and out.

A smirk formed on his lips when a soft hum came from the white-headed woman as she nuzzled against him and grabbed a handful of his shirt, shifting herself so close that there wasn’t even a centimeter between them, he almost bit his tongue off to silence himself when her hip pressed against his dick. She unknowingly made the prettiest sounds, and he would surely never get enough of hearing them, she’d whined at him every time he’d pressed a three second kiss to her pretty lips, her lavender pools silently begging for more. She melted every single time, he’d give her one short kiss every six hours just as she did with his pills and the needy expression that formed on her face when he broke away from her always had giddiness filling him, watching the pink spread over her cheeks and pulling her eyes from his shyly. She was desperate for him, so much so that his own resolve to drag things out was threatening to crumble, cat and mouse was his favorite game to play but seeing how hooked she already was on him made him want to say fuck it. She was already his and if he could find a way to prove that to her, then he wouldn’t necessarily have to keep the game going unless he wanted to. The quiet noises she made were teasing, constantly making him painfully hard with each she’d let out and he was dying to see just how pretty she’d look bouncing on his cock, if he could wait, he’d have the means to record that first time to look back on whenever he wanted.

‘That’s worth the wait.’

As impatient as Sanzu felt, it was worth waiting around for and until then, he could still play around with his pretty little doctor without fucking her, it was all too easy to fluster her, and he was thoroughly enjoying just how fun of a time he had with the simple things; he’d never seen a woman as shy as she was. He could gather that she was the type that would beg and plead, let out soft whines and whimpers, cry in her need to cum or from overstimulation; she’d probably never had a real man before him, only boys that didn’t know how to please a woman. Seeing her reaction every morning upon waking up was a treat, it was the only time of day he’d give her more than innocent pecks since he’d stepped up that part of the game and just yesterday, she’d pouted when their kiss came to an end; she made no movements to initiate another, even with the deep pout on her pretty pink lips. The morning routine hadn’t started just yet, but he didn’t have it in him to wait any longer, easing her onto her back and moving to hover over her as he had for the past three, brushing strands of snow off to the side as he leaned down closer to her. He didn’t know why the idea hadn’t come to him until now, but it wasn’t worth pondering on, she’d be going back to work tomorrow, and he was going to make damn sure that everyoneknew she wasn’t up for grabs.

As expected, he’d been just gentle enough when he moved her that she didn’t stir, her eyes still closed and soft breathes passing through her lips, the pinkette didn’t anticipate her staying asleep much longer after he made this move. The light kiss he pressed to her nose was the first with no reaction, the next was her cheek, a small shift when he began trailing kisses along her jaw, a sleepy hum coming from her when his lips met her throat; she was starting to come to. He didn’t stop, continuing to press open-mouthed kisses along the column of her throat even as she stirred under him, soft little noises leaving her that told him she was growing closer to a semi-conscious state and he could’ve grinned when he noticed the slight roll of her hips, sliding his knee up to fully press against her core for the first time. A breathy moan left her pink lips when he found the spot he wanted where everyone would see it, sucking down with intent and almost lost his focus when her hips rocked, grinding her heat against his knee.

‘Fuck, that’s my good girl.’

He was going to bask in the moment because he was aware that as soon as she awoke, that shyness would take over and she wouldn’t make a move like that again until the next time he woke her up. Sanzu pulled back just long enough to observe the bright red hickey on her pretty ivory skin before latching onto another spot, he’d cover her in his marks so not a soul would dare to approach her when he wasn’t around to deter it. Her sleepy moans were the only sounds filling the empty air, grinding against his knee like a needy slut, heat radiating from between her legs as he trailed marks along her unblemished skin, satisfaction swelling inside him when her arm wound around his neck.

‘That’s it, what a-’

“Haruchiyo.” Yuki spoke; her voice almost came out as a purr and went straight to his dick, running purely off his need for her as he rubbed his arousal against her hip, his hand quickly finding the waistband of her sweatpants. “Haru.”

‘Fuck it.’

Fuck being patient, fuck dragging out the game, fuck taking things slowly; he didn’t have another day in him after hearing the way she moaned his name. She’d fix him when the incisions ripped, recovery time would be extended but that was the last thing he was worried about, he’d find a way to contact the others to let them know he was alive, even if he had to swipe her phone to do so; right now, the only thing on his mind was being balls deep in her tight little cunt. He pulled back from her throat to find her half-lidded eyes glazed over, only partially aware of what was happening, the pink hue running over her cheeks, she looked breathtaking beneath him, and she’d look even more stunning taking his-

‘Shit.’

It felt as though he’d been stabbed with a white-hot iron, muscles tightening and essentially cramping up when the shooting pain hit him like a truck, a slew of curses filling his head because of the shit timing, another few minutes would’ve been all he needed to get what he wanted. It seemed the gods were far from caring about what he wanted and were going to continue to screw with him so long as he was recovering, his side was almost on fire in the areas where she’d had to dig out bullet fragments. His hand retreated from her sweatpants and grasped at his side, managing to maneuver himself just enough that he didn’t collapse on top of her from the pain coursing through him, holding just enough composure to ease himself down onto the mattress next to her. His jaw locked as he clenched his teeth, keeping his expression as neutral as possible when she scrambled to sit up, his lavender orbs wide with alarm and fully awake as she looked him over, quickly making her way to the edge of the bed.

“I’ll get your pills, don’t move.” The woman ordered, her voice entirely collected; it was the same thing every time he almost collapsed in pain, that shyness nonexistent as she’d be in her doctor mindset.

‘Like I can.’

It looked like being patient wasn’t something he could afford to overlook; he’d have to find a way regardless of how tempting she was.

‘Fucking shit.’

Chapter Text

The young doctor grumbled quietly as she rubbed her temples slowly, glancing up just enough that she met the eyes of her reflection, her gaze shifting to zero in on the left side of her neck, her shoulders going slack in relief. Between slapping an abundance of concealer over the various spots and keeping her hair covering that side of her throat, not a soul had noticed that she was quite literally covered in hickeys, and she couldn’t have been more thankful for it; she certainly couldn’t handle being bombarded with questions from her staff after the week she’d had with Haruchiyo.

‘My patient!’

Reminding herself that the pink-haired man was her patient hadn’t done a single thing to stop the desires from growing inside her and he’d initiated quite literally everything between them to become what it had, she didn’t know what she was going to do when the time came for him to be on his way; she should’ve never reciprocated his advances from the beginning. It was too late to go back to correct that mistake, she hadn’t tried to stop him, nor had she drawn any boundaries to keep things between them professional and their dynamic had changed into something she’d never expected it to.

‘Breathe.’

She woke up every morning now to the pink-haired man hovered over her, his pink locks tickling her face as he’d lean in close to her and capture her lips with his, a kiss that ten times out of ten, lasted much longer than the others he’d give her throughout the day. Every day it lasted a little longer than the one from the morning prior and how natural it felt was throwing her for a loop, the action itself was domestic, becoming more intimate after he’d break their kiss to press one to her forehead and wish her good morning. She was reeling over this, he’d given her first kiss to her and there was no doubt that it was what destroyed any chance of them continuing a doctor-patient relationship, especially seeing as that kiss had also opened up other doors. He was reaching out to her practically all day, whether it was by snuggling up against her back when she was cooking a meal or laying his head in her lap when she was curled up on the couch to read, he’d sandwich her between his body and whatever was behind her if he felt she wasn’t giving him enough attention. His words were just as teasing as they’d been from the start of him speaking to her from the way he’d say her professional title rather than speaking her name, making sly comments about her shyness, suggestive and implying words while his piercing eyes roamed over her form; she’d gotten herself caught up in a pretty big mess as it were and no ideas on what to do moving forward.

The young doctor was aware that things weren’t going to stay as they were, no matter what course of action she attempted to take, her patient wasn’t going to budge about the dynamic he’d initiated between them and that was only going to make things more difficult for her when he went back to his regular life; she’d be a fool to think that whatever was going on between them would continue. As true as she knew that to be, she couldn’t help hoping that she was wrong and things would only continue to blossom between them, she shouldn’t have been thinking unrealistically, this hopeless romantic mindset was going to be the end of her. However, he wasn’t wearing a ring which meant he wasn’t married, he hadn’t mentioned anything about a family or his work, nothing about going home or wanting to get in contact with anyone, all of his focus was being directed towards her. It was giving her hope that would surely come crashing down when she never heard from him again, and she should’ve already put two and two together that this wasn’t going to turn into a love story; he was simply charming her to pass the time and he certainly didn’t feel anything real towards her…right?

“I want to be close to you, Doctor.”

‘Stop it!’

Her face was flushing furiously with embarrassment, she could almost hear his voice ringing in her ears, and she was going absolutely mad being at work right now when all she wanted to do was be with him. She was terrified that he’d downed all four pills that she’d left out for him in one go and she was going to go home to find that he’d overdosed, she should’ve just shut the clinic down for another week because she was worrying herself half to death over him. If she wasn’t worrying about him then she was daydreaming about all the kisses they’d shared up to this point, thinking about how flawlessly her body formed to his, how calming it was when his fingers would slide through her hair, the intense way he gazed at her as though she were the only thing he could see, the safety that filled her when his arm would wrap around her and pull her to snuggle up against him at night. Out of everything that got to her, waking up every morning to him hovered over her had to be what got to her the most when she finally regained complete consciousness and the first time that he’d done so had thrown her for a loop, especially considering she was still sleep drunk to some degree.

“Isn’t this what you wanted, Doctor?” he drawled, his tone suggestive; pink was blooming on her cheeks instantly, her small form shifting against the mattress with obvious embarrassment. “That’s why you were making those pretty sounds for me, right?”

The white-headed woman had thought that there wasn’t anything that could top the embarrassment that she’d felt during that moment, but she’d been wrong, so very wrong. At first, she’d been sure that she was dreaming when she felt the kisses pressing along her jaw and trailing down her throat, her head was groggy, warmth in the pit of her stomach that was begging to snap, and the dampness pooling in her panties had her shifting around for the smallest bit of relief. She found that relief instantly, the dream she was in taking an unexpected turn with Haruchiyo hovered over her and peppering love bites down her throat, she practically lost any semblance of composure just from that. She always got lost when she was gazing at him, he was beautiful even in her dreams, the quiet breathes and satisfied hums he let out when she grinded against him were intoxicating to hear and she knew she had to of been lucid dreaming when she felt what was clearly his erection rubbing against her hip; she’d been fully prepared for her dream to go in that direction. His aquamarine pools had been filled with need for her when she looked at him and right when he tugged at her sweats was when things went in an entirely different direction.

It was then that it clicked that she hadn’t been dreaming when he moved off her, her brain swapping out of sleep mode to doctor mode when she realized he was holding his side in what was obviously pain (she’d dug two bullets out of that area, multiple fragments that had broken apart upon impact so it was one of the more tender places) and as mortified as she felt over moaning his name and grinding against him like some kind of desperate slut, she pushed all that off to the side to retrieve a dose of medication for him as fast as she could. Yuki had never felt so horrified in the whole of her life, her patient was the clear opposite of bothered by what had happened, not seeming fazed whatsoever nor it even being on his radar with how much pain he was in, mumbling about the medication taking too long to kick in and muttering curses under his breath. By the time it did take effect, he was back to the way she was used to seeing him and she didn’t get much of a chance to say anything to him before he was shoving her back flat against the mattress, moving to hover over her all over again and capturing her lips with his as per their new normal morning routine.

She’d spent that whole day trying to settle her nerves and Haruchiyo had all but attached himself to her hip, she couldn’t do hardly anything without him right there and making her an anxious mess, Kuro hadn’t known what to think of the two of them. She’d made coffee that morning with him pulling her hair up in her usual claw-clip for her, watching her like a hawk while she moved around the kitchen to make breakfast for them, following from a distance while she went about her usual Sunday routine with catching up laundry and tidying up, snuggling up against her back while she made lunch, laying across the couch with his head in her lap while she cycled through some of the newer books she had and making notes about what could be relevant to her thesis, intercepting her to press kisses into her hair while she made dinner; he hadn’t left her side the whole day aside from separate trips to the bathroom and when she insisted that she needed to take a shower (alone). The type of companionship he provided was something she wasn’t used to whatsoever and as hard as she tried to keep up some form of wall as protection against how she knew this would end, she was failing miserably.

Yuki knew that she was at a rock in a hard place, especially when she had to get up this morning to prepare for work and although she’d silently hoped that he would still be asleep, she should’ve already anticipated that he wouldn’t be since he was always awake before her. As per their usual routine, she’d woken up to Haruchiyo hovered over her and trailing kisses down her throat before capturing her lips when he realized she was awake. She’d expected a longer kiss as that was the normal in the early morning when they were still in bed and he’d thrown her for a loop instead, he’d broken their kiss for air and gone right back to kissing her, murmuring quietly in-between kisses that he wanted her to stay home with him. She would’ve folded right then if she hadn’t had things that she absolutely had to take care of, hiding the evidence of what happened during the holiday weekend being priority and even trying to explain that every time they broke apart didn’t really get her anywhere. He was bound and determined to convince her to skip out on work, finally willing to compromise when she promised to shorten her day and come home early, even then he hadn’t been thrilled that she was still leaving him.

The white-headed woman had gone ahead and given him his first dose of medication while she was still there, leaving out another four for him since he was taking the one so early in the day and left out two muscle relaxers in the case that he’d need them while she was gone since she refused to let him have more than six painkillers a day. She’d quickly gotten dressed in the privacy of her bathroom when he left her side long enough to grab a cup of coffee for her, it certainly made everything feel more domestic and hiding her bashfulness about it was a no-go. She’d felt entirely anxious about the blatantly obvious hickeys that he’d left on her throat the morning prior, pulling her hair up into her usual claw-clip with the intention of covering it with as much concealer as possible but she hadn’t even made it that far. No sooner was her hair up, he was standing behind her with his arms wrapped around her belly and peppering kisses into her neck, soft murmurs coming from him that had her shifting in his hold shyly.

“I want everyone to know that you’re mine.”

‘Oh god.’

“You’re my pretty girl, right Doctor?”

‘Breathe!’

“Can’t have anyone thinking they can take you from me.”

‘Calm down, calm down.’

“Mine.”

‘Stop it!’

Yuki felt like she was bordering hyperventilating with how hard of a time she was having with slowing her breathing down, that beautiful man certainly had her hook line and sinker, so much so that she didn’t say a word in protest when he kissed another bright red love bite into her throat, leaving a much larger one than all the rest. She’d been in practically a trance on the drive to work, she’d entirely swooned for that man and her head wasn’t clear whatsoever until she walked into her clinic, worries quickly filling her head. She’d gone straight to the employee bathroom and gone insane looking for a concealer, thankfully the nurses at her office were constantly leaving things otherwise she would’ve been in a world of embarrassment when everyone arrived for the day. She’d caked on as much as she could to cover all those spots, going as far as pulling her hair out of her usual style, pulling it over her shoulder and tying it in a loose ponytail just so there was something to cover the area as a safety measure. Once she was finally coming down from that adrenaline high, she proceeded to go about hiding the evidence of what had happened, storing everything back in her make-shift hospital room and locking the door up until she had the time to actually organize everything the way it should be, finishing just in the nick of time before her staff started piling in.

The young doctor was told by quite literally every single one of her employees how glad they were that she’d taken a vacation, she’d been bombarded with questions about what she did, and her secretary rolled her eyes when she mentioned light research. It was the only thing that she knew to say because she very well couldn’t tell anyone about how she’d actually spent the last week, and it wasn’t lying either since she technically had done light research during the eight days the clinic was closed, she’d just left out bits and pieces of the rest of the truth. The older woman had scolded her to high heaven, going on about how that was the furthest thing from a vacation, and she should’ve gone somewhere or spent time with her girlfriends rather than work on her thesis. Needless to say, she was already getting pressured to take a real vacation by Midori, listening to more speeches about how she shouldn’t be working herself half to death and needed to enjoy her younger years, to take a real week off and go to the beach before summer was over, to go out to the clubs with her friends; she’d probably spent the whole of her lunch being reprimanded rather than eating. She had quite literally ten minutes left of her lunch hour, giving her secretary the slip long enough to hide out in the bathroom and the internal struggle she was having about leaving early was going to drive her mad.

‘I can’t just leave.’

Technically speaking, she could just leave. All of her high priority cases were taken care of during the morning hours and her afternoons were often spent in her office catching up on paperwork and the like, things that she could easily accomplish at home. She’d seen every single patient herself up until she hired on five nurse practitioners, and she’d had to force herself to let them take the afternoons from her because she continued getting behind on her paperwork. All of her staff were top notch, she could trust that they’d do things right so she shouldn’t have worried that something would go wrong if she left early, the only person that interacted with her in the afternoons was Midori, occasionally receiving test results from the lab that she could access at home if needed; she could’ve been working half days long before now if she would’ve just convinced herself to do so. With how long she’d been go-go-go and pushing herself, she could already imagine just how thrilled her staff would be if she’d do so for a little while and although it could’ve been considered as suspicious, it wouldn’t be seen as such with the way she’d been staying late in the past several weeks. Everyone would simply assume that she was crashing and needed a break, especially after she’d just hours before admitted to doing research during her…vacation.

‘Am I really doing this?’

The white-headed woman didn’t know why she was bothering to ask herself that question, she’d done so time and time again since Haruchiyo had come into her life, silently justifying her reasoning for doing certain things when every bit of it came down to just wanting to be with him. Trying to convince herself it was because he was her patient wasn’t working nearly as well as it had in the beginning, she knew what it all boiled down to and it was the furthest thing from simply caring about all her patients. She was attracted to him and had been since day one, whatever feelings she’d developed for him in a little over a week were behind the wheel right now, trying to convince herself otherwise wasn’t possible. It didn’t help anything that not only was he just as attracted to her from what she could gather but he was initiating intimacy with her, intimacy she’d never experienced before him, he’d given her first kiss to her and things between them were only flourishing the longer they were around one another. They were sharing the same bed, sharing meals together, he’d teasingly flirt with her, their morning kisses were almost at a point where they were teetering on becoming passionate, he was saying things about how he didn’t want anyone to think they could take her from him and all but implying that she was his…

‘Stop it!’

…girlfriend.

‘No, no, no! Get it together.’

She had to of been misinterpreting something, there was no way that he considered her his girlfriend and she was just overanalyzing the situation, that’s what this had to be. They’d only just met so there was absolutely positively zero chance that he thought of her as such, she had to keep reminding herself that he was going to leave and she’d certainly never hear from him again after, he was just using her to satisfy his boredom and pass the time until he could be on his way. The woman couldn’t keep letting her brain go to these dangerous places because all they would do to her was lead to even worse heartbreak than she was already on the route to experiencing with how close she’d let him get to her, she hadn’t even attempted to put up any defenses to protect herself from it. What was worse, making attempts to draw a boundary this far in would be useless because not only had they already established something in the days they’d spent together but saying no to him was going to be impossible for her. She quickly became putty in his hands when he reached out to her, her brain would turn into a pile of mush when she stared at him for too long, and she’d go entirely stupid when he kissed her, it was too little too late this far into it.

A heavy sigh came from her, she just had to mentally prepare herself for what she knew was going to happen and until then, she’d continue on as she had seeing as she couldn’t change anything. She didn’t want to even think about how ticked off he’d be if she said anything in hopes to draw a boundary, he wouldn’t accept it happily and it would obviously only cause friction between them up until he was well enough to go back to his life, she wouldn’t be able to handle awkwardness like that, so it seemed that heartbreak was her only option. Her bottom lip rolled between her teeth while she locked up her office behind her, rummaging through her purse for her car keys as she head down the hallway towards the employee exit and paused her steps at the sound of her secretary’s voice, looking back over her shoulder.

“You know you don’t have to go to the hospital every time you get a call.” Midori commented, eyeing her with exasperation; she wasn’t surprised the woman had assumed that was where she was going, it was the only time she usually left the office outside of closing time. “There’s nothing wrong with waiting until the appointment.”

Maybe it was because she was so mentally drained from the constant battle raging in her head about the situation that she was stuck in, but she didn’t bother saying anything in argument this time around, simply nodded in understanding.

“Thank you, Midori-san, I’m going home now.” She responded plainly; the older woman looked lost for words, a dumbfounded expression forming on her face. “See you tomorrow.”

“Doctor Ikeda.” She began, sounding hesitant.

“I’m not feeling well.” Yuki followed up, hoping that would be enough to keep the woman from pressing her; she didn’t feel well, she’d stressed herself out to the point she felt a migraine was in the works.

“Of course.” The secretary said quickly, her voice filled with concern. “Get some rest, you’re pushing yourself too hard Doctor.”

The white-headed woman nodded, not bothering to say anything in response and continued down the hallway to the exit. Members of her staff were on the same page that Midori had been on, silently assuming she was going to the hospital, and she didn’t bother offering anything that would disagree with that, simply said goodbye to those that spoke to her and left it at that. The drive back to her house seemed to go by both at the blink of an eye and as slow as a snail’s pace, it was hardly two in the afternoon and being home when it was still daylight outside was a strange thing. As odd as it was to not only leave work early but be home when the sun was still up, she could feel herself beginning to relax the closer she got to the front door, quickening her pace absentmindedly. She fumbled with her keys for a few long seconds, just barely managing to insert the correct one into the lock and made her way inside, trying to keep the noise down in the case the pink-haired man was asleep, locking up the door behind her as quietly as she could. Shoes off, keys and purse on the side table, she made it hardly four steps down the hallway before the heavier footsteps filled the silence, her heart skipped in response.

‘Breathe.’

The doctor had to find a way to do so, she was constantly getting herself worked up over nothing and if just the sound of his footsteps was making her giddy then it was a clear sign of just how bad things were going to be for her whenever he left; she knew that she’d gotten attached but it finally sinking in just how attached she was. She’d learned the sound of his footsteps, how many seconds were in between each of his breathes, his voice made her stomach flip, she doubted that she’d be able to fall asleep without his arm around her and those were just a few things out of many. Not only had she driven herself crazy worrying about him all day, he’d been practically the only thing on her mind, she’d struggled to keep her head screwed on straight during her appointments and she’d even left work early solely so she could be with him; she’d put a man above her career and that was something she’d sworn she would never do. She didn’t know what was going on with her, if this was what having a relationship was then it was both a nightmare and a beautiful dream all at the same time, she didn’t know how she was going to function without him if things were already bad this soon.

‘Idiot, you did this to yourself.’

She had and there was no going back to change anything, no time travel or anything of the sort, she’d dealt herself this hand and now she had to play it, regardless of how bad the cards were. Yuki turned the corner, making it three more steps before Haruchiyo made his appearance, pupils dilated as per usual, a pleasant smile forming on his face at the sight of her. Again, her heart skipped, and she didn’t even register just how much her pace changed, padding across the floor straight to him, taking handfuls of his shirt when she made it within reaching distance, being mindful of her movements as she nuzzled against him. A delighted sounding hum rose in his throat, slipping an arm around her waist and moving the other to pet her hair affectionately while she did her best to reel herself in; she’d reacted like it’d been years since she’d seen him when it’d only been a handful of hours, she had to pull herself together.

“I didn’t expect you to be back so soon.” He commented, his voice content; she nodded into his shirt, hiding her quickly pinkening cheeks behind her hair as best she could. “Did something happen at work?”

“No.” she muttered quietly; she felt so embarrassed, there’d been no reason for her to panic and he was totally fine, functioning how he always did so he hadn’t downed all four pills in one go, she’d worked herself up over nothing.

“Doctor?”

She shifted around in his hold shyly, unsure what to even respond with, it wasn’t like she could tell him that she couldn’t focus on any of her work because all she’d been thinking about was him, that would just make her sound like a creep. She craned her neck back to look up at him when he lightly tugged the hairband out with a single hand, his aquamarine eyes locked with her lavender ones for a brief moment before breaking their staring contest to look her over, his gaze intense as always while roaming over her. She blinked up at him with confusion when his lips pressed into a thin line, looking displeased so she knew he must’ve been in pain, he always did so when he was. Her lips parted to speak but she didn’t get the chance to say a word before he was sweeping her hair back over her shoulder, his expression even more irritated than three seconds prior as his piercing eyes met her doe ones.

“I thought I made it clear that I didn’t want anyone to take you from me, and you covered them up. Why?” He spoke, his tone flat; her brain had to of just lagged to some degree, had he just- “There’s someone else, isn’t there?”

‘…wha…he-he thinks…?’

Yuki was reeling all over again and hadn’t seen this coming from a mile away, he was upset with her over covering up the hickeys and even thought that she was involved with someone that he didn’t know about; this had come entirely out of nowhere. These past ten days continued being one unexpected thing after another and as sure as she’d been that he was just using her to pass the time, she didn’t feel nearly as confident about it as she had after hearing that come out of his mouth. His composure was almost scary, as calmly as he’d said the words, she could sense that he wasn’t calm whatsoever and obviously holding himself back from letting out whatever it was that was swirling around in his head. It wasn’t just her thinking that she was being used, he thought the same thing and as leftfield as it sounded, it appeared that he was on the same page as she was with all those things she was worried about when it concerned him. As mutual as their attraction was to each other, she hadn’t expected him to be genuinely interested in her the way she was towards him, and she was beginning to think that he may have wanted to pursue something real with her just as she did with him; he didn’t have plans of just disappearing and never speaking to her again.

‘He actually…likes me.’

“Haruchiyo.” She began with uncertainty; she wasn’t sure what to even say, she hadn’t expected anything like this, and he looked ready to explode in raw rage if she couldn’t figure this out before then. “N-no there’s not, I-I just-”

“Then why?” he interrupted coldly; a quiet squeak left her when he swiveled them around without warning, her back meeting the wall and his hands slapping on either side of her, caging her in. “I’m waiting, Doctor.”

‘Breathe!’

“I-I just…” she stammered, her voice anxious; the only reason she’d hid them was because she hadn’t wanted her staff to bombard her with questions, plus keeping his existence a secret right now was nonnegotiable since he was a victim of a shooting and didn’t want to go to a hospital or involve the police. “I-it’s not professional.”

‘Shit, fuck, shit!’

His expression clearly stated that he wasn’t happy with that answer whatsoever, she knew he had to understand on some level, and he did; he was a businessman of some kind, so he did know how important looking the part was and something like sporting hickeys was the furthest thing from that. There was a time and place for things of that nature and the field she was in was one that she most certainly couldn’t go through her day covered in visible love bites, she didn’t even want to think about the rumors that would spread through the medical community, it’d just give that Shimizu jerk more of a reason to badmouth her. Haruchiyo may have understood her reason for hiding the marks but that didn’t mean he was alright with her doing so, he’d meant it when he’d said that he didn’t want anyone to think she was up for grabs. It seemed she’d have to find a compromise with him about this before things got out of hand, as much as she wished she didn’t have to care about appearances, she did. Her heart was going haywire while she held his gaze, aquamarine and lavender locked in the heaviest staring contest they’d had yet, she could practically feel the weight of the tension hanging in the air as he loomed over her.

“I-I won’t cover them except for work, just for work.” She promised, trying her utmost best to steady her voice; she was practically on the edge of her seat while she waited for some kind of response from him, her head swimming with worries and the one at the top of the list, she was worried she’d entirely ruined her chance with him before things really got started. “I-I’m home now be-because I missed you.”

Yuki could almost see the shift in his eyes, he’d gone from looking agitated over the situation to surprised that was her reasoning for coming home early, simply because she’d missed him and as on the fence as she’d been about admitting it to him, it seemed to have been what he needed to hear to bring himself down. His shoulders went slack a few seconds after her confession, searching her eyes for a moment before one of his hands slid off the wall to her cheek, his thumb caressing her skin softly as he cradled her face. He seemed better now, he’d been collected the whole of the time even with his face expressing his unhappiness, he hadn’t yelled at her nor raised his voice, it’d been a simple misunderstanding and they’d found a way to resolve it without resorting to screaming at each other.

“You missed me?” he repeated, his tone even; she nodded lightly, leaning her cheek into his touch.

“I didn’t…like today.” She confessed in a murmur; she could already feel the pink rising on her cheeks, her stomach filling with butterflies from the way he was gazing at her. “I wanted to be home…with you.”

Whatever unease had been lingering around in him was zapped right then and there, the pinkette slipping closer, his hand sliding above her head while he leaned down enough to be eyelevel with her, his hand inching away from her cheek to the nape of her neck.

“Better come here before I change my mind, pretty girl.”

Her heart squeezed when his endearing nickname for her left his lips and as bashful as she felt when it came to taking the initiative, she’d been longing to be with him since she’d walked out the door this morning, so much so that her nerves weren’t nearly what they usually were while she inched her way closer to him. His aquamarine pools were burning holes through her, waiting patiently for her to close the small space between their faces and she could’ve melted the second their lips met, molding her lips with his once before making to pull back. Haruchiyo wasn’t willing to end things quickly this time though, moving with her and not giving her the chance to pull out of the kiss, pinning her against the wall with his body. Her heart threatened to leap from her chest when his tongue ran along her bottom lip, asking for entry and her arm wound around his shoulders so she had some kind of support, her knees going weak no sooner did their tongues meet.

‘Fuck.’

The woman truly wasn’t one for swearing but it was the only thought that rose in her mind, she didn’t have a clue what she was doing and the only thing she had to go off of was following his lead, thankfully he did, and it was showing. He’d wasted no time at all and was ravaging her mouth like it was his last meal, tracing every corner and crevice as though he were trying to commit it to memory, practically stealing her breath away. She could feel her knees going weak under her over how passionately he was kissing her, and she’d never anticipated a kiss could be so overwhelming until she’d began exchanging them with him, every soft noise of desire that left her was met with his hums of approval, drinking in every sound she made like it was all he needed to survive. She could feel warmth building between her thighs every time their tongues met, and the softest whimper rose in her throat when his fingers slipped up into her hair, clinging to him for support with how close her legs were to giving way under her. She didn’t bother stifling the whine that left her when he broke their most passionate kiss thus far, her eyes fluttering half open before slipping right back shut in euphoria when his lips met her throat.

“Haruchiyo.” She breathed; her breath hitched when his tongue ran along the shell of her ear, and she squeezed her thighs together when she realized that her panties were wet from just that.

“That’s it, pretty girl.” He murmured sensually; a sharp whine left her lips when he bit into her throat without warning, his free arm moving to lock around her waist to keep her held upright, having some idea as to how weak in the knees she was. “There we go, no hiding that one.”

Her head was slightly dazed, she couldn’t keep her thoughts straight with how much was going on at once and was having trouble keeping up with everything, if his goal had been to kiss her stupid then he’d done it long before now; she couldn’t even feel embarrassment moving through her over the lewd noises coming from her own mouth.

“Haru.”

“I know pretty girl.” Haruchiyo purred, his voice low; she felt like she was going to lose her mind, between the love bites he kept littering her throat in and grinding his erection against her hip, she was almost there. “Can’t give you my best yet, have to heal first.”

As true as she knew that was, her hormones were undoubtedly not on the same page, she was going to lose her mind well before then.

Chapter Text

The white-headed woman rolled her bottom lip between her teeth, doing her utmost best to calm her rising nerves and talk herself down, she had absolutely no reason to be anxious, and she knew as much. Her body went entirely limp in the instant his arm squeezed around her middle from behind her, his fingers sliding through her hair soothingly and she eased herself backward until she was leaned against his chest like he wanted. The only sounds filling her ears were the rings of her phone, holding it near her lips while she waited for the line to connect, biting harder into her lip when the rings quickly dispersed, signifying her call had been answered.

“Good morning, Ikeda Clinic, this is Midori.”

‘Don’t be nervous, it’s fine.’

“Midori-san, good morning.” She greeted, keeping her voice even; she had to maintain professionalism, regardless of how anxious she felt.

“Doctor Ikeda?” the secretary responded quickly, sounding worried; Yuki could understand why she’d reacted that way, it was already close to eight in the morning. “Is everything alright?”

‘It’s fine, the clinic won’t fall apart.’

“Yes.” She replied simply; she had to pull herself together, she had no reason to feel guilty about this and nothing would go wrong, it was one day. “I’m just not feeling well…”

“Doctor, you’ll have to forgive me for what I’m about to say…” Midori began, her voice apologetic; Yuki bit into her lip again, already knowing what was coming. “…but this is the result of pushing yourself too hard. How many times do I have to say that you have to take care of yourself before you listen to me?”

‘She sounds like Gran.’

“You’ve been running on two hours of sleep every day for weeks and your diet is purely coffee, you need a real vacation, Doctor.” The woman reprimanded, her voice stern; she internally cringed, she should’ve known it would go this way and insisted on making the call in private so she could save herself this embarrassment. “You can’t do everything yourself and pushing yourself the way you are is what’s got you in this mess.”

“Midori-san, I-”

“You can’t do anything for your patients if you don’t take care of yourself and this obsessive work on your thesis isn’t a priority, your health is.” She interrupted, practically scolding her in the same way her grandmother used to; her stomach was almost churning from her nerves over downright lying, the only thing keeping her from spilling the beans was Haruchiyo petting her hair affectionately, silently keeping her held together. “You’ll be staying home until you’re feeling well again, the rest of the staff and I will handle things here this week.”

‘Oh god.’

“But-”

“Doctor Ikeda.” She warned; the white-headed woman shut her mouth instantly at the older woman’s disapproving tone, she was folding much quicker than expected, she’d only planned on taking today off. “You’ll stay home and rest for once, you take on too much, you didn’t even spend your vacation as a vacation.”

‘Why me?’

“Researching the entire time, did you even sleep then?” she continued, sounding as though she already knew the answer; the young doctor opened her mouth to reply but she didn’t make it that far. “Of course not, you don’t know how to take a break and getting sick seems to be the only way you will.”

Yuki wasn’t sure how to respond, she knew her secretary was stating facts and she only spoke about these things out of concern for her well-being, she absolutely felt embarrassed on some level since her companion could hear every word because her phone was on speaker. She’d originally only planned on taking today off, Haruchiyo had been even more adamant today about wanting her to stay home with him and after how crazy she’d driven herself yesterday during her time at work, she’d relented without much of a fight this time. After what she’d told Midori when she was leaving about not feeling well, she’d known that she could get by with calling out without anyone questioning it, however, she hadn’t expected to get pushed out of her clinic for the rest of the week. She honestly should’ve seen it coming with how annoyed her secretary was with her yesterday when she confessed to doing research during her “vacation” and the scolding she’d been on the receiving end of, as much as she wanted to be at the clinic for her high priority cases, it would be good for her nurse practitioners to get that experience. She could work from home for the rest of the week, keep up to date with testing done and deal with her troublesome emails, she still needed to reply to that new one from Shimizu about their shared case.

“You’re right Midori-san.” Yuki acknowledged, her voice filled with sincerity; her head lolled back to rest against his shoulder, the pink-haired male pressing a kiss to her temple. “I’ll let you and the staff handle the clinic, I’ll work from home until next week.”

“Doctor, that’s not what I meant.” Midori groaned, sounding exasperated. “No working, period.”

“I’ll consider it.” She replied simply; she didn’t have to guess to know that the older woman was clearly not pleased with her, the heavy sigh she let out supporting as much. “I’ll be available for questions so don’t hesitate to call me.”

“Turn your phone off and go to bed.” The secretary retorted, her tone adamant. “Goodbye Doctor Ikeda.”

“Goodbye.”

The woman quickly tapped the screen, ending the call on her end in the nick of time before her companion chuckled quietly, warmth building on her cheeks in embarrassment.

“She sounds pleasant.” He commented, his voice every bit of joking; she could already anticipate that he’d have a grand time teasing her about how her secretary had mothered her the way she had, not to mention how quickly she’d folded when technically speaking, she was Midori’s boss. “I can see why you hid them at work.”

“She’d lose her mind.” She muttered shyly; her secretary would have, she’d spend hours bombarding her with questions and scolding her since she certainly wouldn’t have managed to keep this whole thing a secret. “She’s like that towards everyone, mothering us all.”

He mumbled something too quiet for her to make out and pressed a kiss to her cheek, squeezing around her belly lightly. He still hadn’t mentioned anything about his own job, nothing about coworkers or friends, hadn’t uttered a word about his family, nothing about needing to get in contact with anyone and it’d been over a week since he’d stumbled into her clinic bleeding out. The only reason that she thought could be plausible was that he was trying to lie low for the time being since he’d been targeted by someone but that just brought on more questions, questions about why he didn’t want the police involved and the like. He may have never said it, but he'd made it clear he didn’t want to be in a hospital and had he gone to one, the police would’ve been contacted because he’d been a victim of a shooting, he'd been avoiding that for some reason of another. She was curious if she should say anything or ask if he wanted to call someone, he had to of had someone out there that was worried about him. At the same time, she was afraid of overstepping into a territory she had no business in, especially with how unhappy he was the day prior over her hiding the abundance of hickeys along her throat; she didn’t want him to think she was trying to get rid of him when it was simply out of concern.

The woman had more questions than answers about the man latched onto her, she’d just learned his given name in the past few days and still didn’t know his surname, he hadn’t offered that information, and she didn’t feel she had the right to ask that. Everything concerning this ordeal was strange, disregarding all the questions she had about who he was, what he did, where he lived, the basic questions that he hadn’t offered any information about, she had just as many questions about what had put him in that horrible position that led them to meet. Everything about it was odd, he wasn’t showing any signs of PTSD from it, and he wasn’t paranoid, call her crazy but it almost seemed like he’d forgotten about it, like it wasn’t something worth his time or energy to dwell on. The man had been shot a dozen times and the only mentioning he made about it were comments about healing and the occasional word about pain, asking how long before the incisions would be in a good place and when the stitches would be gone (she’d used dissolvable ones since the multiple gunshot wounds had been on the deeper side). All in all, the incident seemed to be the furthest thing from his mind, as did his life before her and she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to feel about it.

What’s more, their relationship with one another brought on just as many questions as the latter and she was on the fence about how she was supposed to feel when it came to what was going on between them, everything had moved in a direction she hadn’t seen coming and faster than she’d ever expected. Yuki was baffled over her feelings towards him, she’d cycled through so many since they’d met, going from being afraid because he’d been pointing a gun at her to being entirely lovestruck and snuggled up with him on her couch, it’d only been eleven days. It was mindboggling looking at how quickly things had evolved between them, and she could already imagine how many people in her life would’ve been saying things about red flags and what was going on between them wasn’t normal, they just wouldn’t understand it though. As leftfield as it sounded, she knew that everything between them was real because she could see it in the way he looked at her, he was falling just as hard for her as she was for him, and she couldn’t have been more thrilled that she’d be experiencing all of her firsts with Haruchiyo. He’d given her first kiss to her, both the innocent and passionate, he’d been the first man she’d ever slept next to, the first to hold her, the first to ever leave love bites on her, and once he was healed…

“Have to heal first, can’t give you my best right now.”

…sex.

‘Oh god.’

She shouldn’t be thinking about that of all things, but it was difficult not to, especially since she was a virgin and didn’t have the slightest idea what she was doing. She knew the medical side of it, what she’d read in novels, she hadn’t even tried to watch it because she knew she wouldn’t be able to get through it without having a heart attack, the things her friends gossiped about, but she doubted any of that would come to her in the moment. Not knowing what she was doing attributed to her rising nerves, zero experience that would make it obvious that she was a virgin, and she didn’t want to think about what he would say about it. The white-headed woman truly hoped that he wouldn’t change his mind about her when she finally gathered the courage to tell him, he hadn’t seemed to figure it out on his own yet and she was anticipating that their future conversation about it wouldn’t be very comfortable for her; she’d just have to suck it up when it was time.

“Haruchiyo.” She began skeptically; he hummed quietly, his fingers sliding through her hair and pressed another kiss to her cheek, almost near her jaw. “I um…”

“Yes, Doctor?”

Her face flushed hotter, she was never going to hear how her name sounded coming from his lips since he refused to drop her professional title, it was either that or his endearing nicknames for her that were constantly making her swoon like a schoolgirl. The woman knew that she had to pull herself together, she recognized just how attached she’d gotten to him, and she couldn’t let it impede on the life she’d had before him, she’d already let it affect her daily routine and she needed to find a way to keep herself on the right path. She had things that she absolutely needed to focus her attention on, she couldn’t go through the rest of this week avoiding her responsibilities and needed to stay up to date on her regular routine; he may have been important to her, but her career needed to be above that, that’s what Gran would say. She’d have to stay on top of what she could without being in the clinic, lab results and the testing ran, keep up to date with her emails and regular correspondences with other doctors, figure out when she was going to make that trip to the orphanage, deal with Shimizu and his crap, and as much as she didn’t like the idea, put her thesis on hold as Midori insisted she do. She was being obsessive with it to the point that it had affected her everyday life, her secretary was right that it wasn’t going anywhere, she had all the time in the world to work on it and it didn’t have to be ready before the next conference like she’d been pushing to accomplish. She wanted it to be truly finished, thorough without leaving a single stone unturned and there was nothing wrong with taking the time to comb over all the fine details, it would only help her in the long run; she’d take a step back and give herself a break from it so when she dived right back in, it would be a fresh approach.

‘My life can’t stop just for a ma-’

“Pretty girl.” Haruchiyo cooed directly into her ear; she shifted around in his hold shyly, unsure what she’d even been thinking about or what she’d been planning on saying to him. “Awfully shy today, aren’t we?”

“N-no.” she mumbled, her tone the furthest thing from confident; he chuckled quietly, squeezing around her belly affectionately whilst lightly pressing a single kiss into her neck. “I-I should start breakfast, coffee.”

“So soon?” he questioned, his voice a murmur; she could’ve forgotten how to breathe when he pressed another kiss into her neck, his fingers curling around the hem of her shirt and just barely tugging it up enough that his fingertips brushed the skin of her stomach. “We just settled down here.”

‘Breathe, you have to breathe.’

“Unless you’d rather go back to bed like your secretary insisted.” He followed up, his tone implying; her panties had been drenched long before now and hearing just how low his voice would get when he was hinting towards things of that nature always made it worse. “More room.”

“Y-you can’t.” she began anxiously; his stitches still hadn’t dissolved all the way just yet, he had to be careful not to overexert himself right now and something like sex wasn’t a good move to make, especially after earlier. “The incisions-”

“Will be fine Doctor.” He finished easily, sounding sure of just that; her lips pressed into a thin line, she was the medical professional here and regardless of how many times she’d fantasized about that moment with him, she didn’t want all her hard work compromised.

“Haruchiyo.” The woman spoke gently; she’d noticed that getting stern with him when he was in-between doses pushed him, she didn’t need him getting an attitude with her so early in the day, especially since he was making the attempt to go as long as he could after the pills wore off before taking more.

Either he hadn’t heard her, or he simply didn’t care about the repercussions, which wasn’t a stretch to assume considering how many times he’d made advances on her when he still wasn’t in the best shape to do so, he continued pushing himself, and he seemed more concerned with getting closer to her. Their relationship continued evolving as the days went by, she didn’t know what to call them because they certainly weren’t boyfriend/girlfriend, but the professional realm of their relationship was nonexistent now since they’d begun engaging in intimacy. What he’d said the day prior was still circling her thoughts, when he’d pressed if there was someone else, when he’d implied that he wanted to be with her in what was obviously a romantic way, purposely leaving love bites where everyone would see them, all but claiming her as his. It was an amazing feeling to be desired so deeply by someone and she craved him just as much as she imagined he did towards her; she could see it in the way he looked at her just how much he yearned for every part of her and the internal struggle on both their ends to keep themselves in line for the time being, they were both being forced to have patience.

The doctor continued to remind herself how much longer it would approximately take for him to heal based off how much progress he’d made thus far, she had to remind him just has much that he wasn’t all the way there yet, the high from the pain medication had him convinced he was fine up until it wore off. It’d taken quite literally all of her willpower to resist temptation when he was so beautiful that it would make angels weep, ignoring her desire when she was coming to every morning with him hovered over her and pressing kisses into her neck until she stirred, forcing her hands to keep to themselves when she’d feel his erection grinding against her hip or pressing against her thigh; he was driving her mad. It didn’t help anything that first awaking this morning had been a whole different ballgame, she’d almost been pushed right over the edge by his teasing, and she absolutely had to start standing her ground against him before she wound up having to stitch him up again.

“Skip out on work, stay with me today.”

Yuki was struggling to pull herself closer to being fully conscious, but it’d been a challenge in of itself lately, she was attributing the struggle to how long she’d been go-go-go without much of a break, her body was trying to catch up on the rest she’d been sorely missing out on when her brain had been going a million miles a minute. Not only was that making it a time for her but the beautiful man above her undoubtedly wasn’t making it any easier with the way he’d woken her up the past several days now, alternating between assaulting her lips and pressing kisses to her throat, driving her to the brink of insanity. She undeniably attracted to him, and it didn’t help anything that he knew what he was doing, stealing her breath away with every passionate kiss they shared and soaking her panties from littering her throat in his marks; she wasn’t so sure how much longer she was going to manage to fight against temptation before she was pleading with him to take her. She was whining in the instant he broke away from her, her lavender eyes fluttering half open to meet his aquamarine ones, glazed over in longing for him and her head still groggy with sleep.

“Stay home with me pretty girl.” The pink-haired male pressed, his voice low; her thighs made to shift closer together, between his voice and his eyes, she didn’t know what got to her more.

“Haruchiyo.” She mumbled sleepily, trying her hardest to gain her bearings; she was still entirely too sleep drunk to have this conversation right now, she needed coffee. “Please.”

She’d meant to say, “please start some coffee” but she hadn’t gotten that out, she always had a hard time maintaining her train of thought in the mornings and it’d been much worse since she finally had gotten back on her regular sleep schedule. Forcing her eyes to stay open was proving to be difficult and she would’ve thought she was dreaming if she hadn’t watched in her half-conscious state as he shifted above her, one of his hands barely tugging up her t-shirt. She could’ve melted when he began pressing kisses to her stomach, her head growing groggier with slowly building pleasure, her hand moving of its own volition to thread her fingers through his rosy locks, watching through half-lidded eyes as he trailed kiss after kiss closer to the waistband of her yoga pants.

“Haru.” She whimpered, her voice filled with need; she was starting to become more aware of what was happening and the heat between her legs was only growing with each kiss her pressed to her skin, a knot forming in the pit of her stomach.

“I’ve got you babydoll.” Haruchiyo purred huskily, fingers hooking around the material; her heart fluttered in response to the new affectionate nickname, his piercing eyes flicking up to find her doe ones without pause, tugging her pants down just enough to expose her hips. “Have to help me pretty girl, up.”

The woman hardly noticed that she’d responded to his words without so much as thinking about it, arching her back to lift her hips enough that he was capable of pulling them down her legs and completely off her form without trouble. As groggy as she still felt, shyness was threatening to overtake her from the way his gaze was raking over her lower half, his aquamarine pools filled with desire as he took in every inch of her exposed skin. She shouldn’t have felt so embarrassed, she still had her shirt and panties on, so she wasn’t naked, and she didn’t want her nerves behind the wheel right now, not when he was looking at her like this. She’d never felt so mesmerized by his stare until now, his gaze only growing more intense with every sweep of his eyes, a thin film of slick settling in her panties as she stared back at him. Her lip caught between her teeth while his hands slipped up her thighs, firmly grasping her hips as he slid up between her legs, and he hovered closer, going back to pressing kisses to her stomach. It was taking every sliver of willpower she possessed not to move while his lips trailed along her belly, his hands squeezing her hips gently, a soft whimper leaving her lips the closer he got to the lacey waistband, her fingers curling lightly in his pink locks and eyes glued to him.

“Haruchiyo.” She whispered timidly; she wished she didn’t feel hesitant about what was obviously in the works, between her nerves over being intimately touched for the first time and the slowly building arousal, she wasn’t sure what she should be feeling considering how soon it was.

“It’s alright babydoll.” He reassured, his tone was gentler than she’d heard thus far; the tension in her body melted away within seconds of him soothing her, she almost felt as though she’d gone stupid when his aquamarine pools found her lavender ones again, unsure what to say to him in response. “All about you right now pretty girl.”

Her heart was drumming all the harder from his words, she may not have had experience, but she wasn’t oblivious, she knew what he was implying without follow up. It was early on in whatever relationship it was that they had with one another, not even two weeks of time together but that didn’t seem to matter to the pink-haired male, nor was it anywhere on his radar. Things between them were moving much quicker than expected and it was a fact that her friends would’ve been telling her that she needed to take things slow, especially since this was her first relationship, but the doctor didn’t necessarily agree with that. In her opinion things were moving as they needed to, they were going with the flow and letting things take their course naturally; she wasn’t forcing anything and the man above her wasn’t either. They were simply drawn to each other, he was regularly circling her thoughts and trying to give one another space wasn’t something either of them were succeeding at, she wanted to be near him constantly and he clearly felt the same since he was glued to her side practically the whole of each day they spent together. From what she’d seen of him, he was everything that she’d ever wanted, but been too afraid to try to seek out, and in the end, she hadn’t had to, he’d found her.

‘So pretty.’

Her breath caught in her throat the moment a hand slid away from her hip, fingers brushing along the lace almost teasingly all while inching closer to her core, her insides fluttering from the intensity of his gaze.

“Haru.” She repeated, her voice barely above a whisper; he was looking up at her through thick lashes and practically staring into her soul, lips brushing lightly along her skin. “Y-you don’t have to-”

“Want to babydoll.” He interrupted, the look in his eyes wanton; her lip rolled between her teeth, her doe eyes locked on him and giving him all of her attention, her heart was going haywire. “Don’t gotta be nervous, I’ve got you.”

Pink spread over her cheeks in response, her brain far too groggy to even attempt to come up with an argument that would deter him since he seemed bound and determined to…

‘Oh god.’

She’d only ever touched herself a handful of times over the years, most of the time she took to ignoring any arousal she felt and would let it pass, the eleven days that she’d spent with him had made it impossible to go about things in the way she normally did. Her showers were regularly spent with her hand between her legs, alternating between rubbing circles against the sensitive nerves and plunging her fingers as deep as they would go in her walls, almost biting her tongue off to keep any noises from leaving her as graphic images flooded her brain to the point she went entirely stupid in her need to cum; she didn’t know what this man had done to her but she was going to lose her mind out of need for him. Reminding herself that it was still too soon for him was the only thing that helped curb the urges, he wasn’t healed enough just yet and wouldn’t be for another week. By making this move, he’d made it perfectly clear that he was the furthest thing from being patient and wasn’t going to wait any longer; he had plans to touch her and possibly do more than that from how close his lips were to her panties. A sharp breath left her lips when the pads of his fingers met the lace barrier, a hum of approval coming from Haruchiyo when her hips rolled into his touch without pause, their eyes still locked.

“That’s it, pretty girl.” He praised, sounding pleased; a moan was threatening to spill out when his fingers moved, lightly rubbing her through the fabric while he inched his way back towards her face, a cocky smirk forming on his lips. “All this for me, hm babydoll?”

Her face burned hotter in pure embarrassment, tearing her eyes from him to look at anything else. He’d hardly touched her, and the crotch of her panties was drenched, all from the kisses he’d left on her belly and from feeling his hands on her legs and hips. If just that got to her then she couldn’t begin to imagine just how bad it was going to be when there was no barrier between his fingers and her heat, how much more frazzled she would be with his face between her thighs, how wet she would be when he was finally buried inside her for the very first time. Yuki was positive her face resembled a tomato with how hot it felt, hesitantly looking up through her lashes and meeting his piercing eyes.

“Relax.” He soothed, his voice reassuring; a quiet moan slipped out when he applied more pressure, her free arm sliding around his shoulders and clinging to him while she tentatively rocked with his hand. “That’s my good girl, let me hear those pretty sounds.”

‘Fuck, need him.’

She didn’t know what was going to make her cum, staring into those piercing eyes of his, his hand between her legs or listening to his sultry voice speaking words of praise to her. It’d been hardly a minute and that coil in the pit of her stomach was only getting tighter, there wasn’t any skin-on-skin contact, and it was still a hundred times better than what she could do for herself; she didn’t think she could make it another day at the rate things were going. Her breathes were coming out in quiet pants and soft moans, feeling undeniably lovestruck as he coaxed her closer to the edge, his fingers never moving from the outside of her panties regardless of her internal pleas for more. That heat was only building inside her with every roll of his fingers and rock of her hips, a lustful gleam in his aquamarine orbs as they roamed her form over and over until it seemed he was teetering on the edge of keeping himself in line, grinding his hardened length against her thigh.

‘…that’s big.’

“Gonna cum for me pretty girl?” Haruchiyo purred, his voice filled with desire; she let out a whiny breath, her insides were clenching around nothing and the coil in the pit of her stomach was begging to snap, she was right there teetering on the edge of an orgasm.

“Haru, fuck, please.” She sobbed desperately, she’d never needed so cum so badly in all her life; his piercing eyes flicked to her doe ones, zeroing in on the tears rolling down her cheeks. “So close, please, need you.”

“Fuck, c’mere princess.”

The female responded in less than a second, smashing her lips against his and melted no sooner did his tongue sweep into her mouth to taste her, a needy moan rising in her throat as she kissed him hungrily. She’d never needed something so badly as she needed him, desire threatening to burn her alive from the inside out, so much so that it didn’t even register that he was taking matters into his own hands, quite literally. He hadn’t gotten nearly as lost in their kiss as he usually did, both his hands moving to her hips and dragging her across the mattress until there wasn’t an inch of space separating them, his bulge pressed up against her soaked panties. A noise of protest left her when he broke their passionate kiss, her tear-filled eyes fluttering half open and glazed over in longing as she stared up at him. He’d pushed himself up to sit on his knees between her legs, simultaneously tugging his shirt over his head and tossing it outside of her line of sight, one hand grabbing the lace around her hip and the other hooking under her thigh to lift her up enough that he’d have no trouble sliding them off her, all the while words rolling off his tongue.

“Alright pretty girl let’s get these off. Gonna make sure you cum-”

‘…Haru-’

“-Shit.”

Her arousal came crashing down within seconds, scrambling to sit up while her companion eased himself away from her, his hand pressing against his abdomen, another area she’d had to dig multiple bullet fragments out of; he’d pushed himself too much again.

“Fucking shit.” He spat with venom, sounding infuriated; the doctor inched her way closer, placing her hand lightly on his arm. “You’re staying home with me today.”

Her head bobbed immediately in agreement, she certainly couldn’t leave him alone in good conscious after witnessing that, he was still experiencing shooting pains depending on the ways he moved, and it was clear to her that he certainly couldn’t keep pushing himself simply over wanting to have sex; they’d get there but before that, he needed to heal the rest of the way.

“Another week at most.” Yuki spoke, her voice taking on her usual professionalism when she was in doctor mode; Haruchiyo scoffed with displeasure, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You have to be patient, if you keep pushing yourself-”

“Yes yes, I know.” He retorted airily, sounding entirely disinterested; her lips pursed at his tone, if he was going to get an attitude with her then he could sleep by himself tonight because after everything that she’d done for him, he could at least have the decency not to interrupt her when she was speaking. “I want my pills now.”

The woman didn’t bother saying anything to argue with him, he’d gone a good while since they’d woken up without demanding pain medication, he was trying and as ticked off as she wanted to be over his tone, she’d let it go because it wasn’t worth fighting about. She could’ve rolled her eyes but refrained, striding out of the kitchen in the direction of her bedroom, grumbling silently to herself the whole of the walk. She didn’t think she would ever understand their dynamic, the pink-haired man got under her skin with some of the things he’d say and at the same time had her swooning for him like a schoolgirl; was love supposed to be like that?

‘Not like I can ask anyone.’

She couldn’t utter a word about him, nothing that hinted towards his existence or implied that she was seeing someone…were they seeing each other?

‘After what he said yesterday, that means we are, right?’

Her lip rolled between her teeth in thought, they were behaving like a couple from what she’d heard from her friends about their own relationships so it would stand to reason that she and Haruchiyo were dating, he’d implied it after all.

‘He keeps saying I’m his so that means we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, I think.’

He hadn’t asked her to be his girlfriend though and making assumptions wasn’t a smart move to make to begin with, she couldn’t just put words in his mouth either, even if what he’d implied pointed to them being in a committed relationship. She’d have to wait until he properly asked her to be his girlfriend before she could assume the title of such and she wasn’t going to press him to do so, if he really wanted that with her then he would do it without a push. A heavy sigh left her, she didn’t know what she was doing or what things were supposed to be between them, how was she supposed to figure anything out when all she knew about him was his given name and blood type? He hadn’t given up any information about who he was as a person, what his life was like, what his job was, for all she knew she could’ve been harboring yakuza or protecting an undercover detective.

‘Not like it matters what he is, already this deep in.’

That was the truth, she couldn’t deny how lovestruck she felt towards him, even when he said things that aggravated her and regardless of his life outside of her, she doubted there was anything that would change her mind about him. A huffy breath left her as she stood up on her toes, reaching to grab the closest coffee mug, pausing when the warm hand pressed against the curve of her waist, another passing her own up to grab it for her. A shy smile formed on her lips, and she looked down at her feet bashfully when his lips pressed against her cheek affectionately, his hand lightly pushing the coffee mug into hers.

“There you go princess.”

Princess, pretty girl, babydoll; he’d dropped all sorts of endearing nicknames on her in such a short time, that had to of meant he wanted her to be his girlfriend. He’d ask, she just had to be patient.

Chapter Text

Doctor Ikeda,

I’m so very pleased to continue receiving regular emails from you about our shared case and I’m so very honored to be working with you on it.

‘Suck up.’

It sounds as though you’ve come to many conclusions about it in such little time, as to be expected with this being your area of expertise.

‘Blah, blah, blah.’

Of course, the paperwork side of cases can vary tremendously from the real-life happenings, which is why I believe it best that you come to Ebisu to observe yourself.

‘…ugh.’

It will give us an opportunity to touch base together, compare notes and begin working on our gameplan on treatments and such for the foreseeable future. The boy’s parents are looking forward to meeting you, I’ve already moved forward with them concerning gaining access to all his hospital records and health records from his pediatrician so we can comb through those together when they’re made available.

‘You did this to save a life, you can deal with the pompous jerk to help a child.’

I’m sure we’ll be seeing quite a bit of each other over the next several weeks, we can work out a consistent schedule after your first visit to make it easier on the both of us. Please send me a reply at your earliest convenience on when I can expect you so I may begin making preparations for your arrival.

Sincerely,

Doctor Shimizu Makoto

“That arrogant, egotistical, insufferable…ugh.” Yuki groaned with annoyance, resisting the urge to chuck her laptop; she couldn’t stand that man and this fake persona of his, she’d rather gauge her eyes out than read his emails.

Although she’d much rather carve her eyeballs out with a toothpick than work with that dirtbag, she was sacrificing her pride for the benefit of a suffering child and that was more important to her than screwing over Shimizu; Gran would tell her to be the bigger person and that was what she was going to do, her grandmother had never led her astray during her time on this earth. A slew of mumblings came from her while her fingers typed away at a rapid pace, wanting to get the reply over with as soon as possible so she could get back to the things that mattered, she wanted to look over all the information again that he’d sent her in the case to see if she’d overlooked something or needed to adjust her various hypotheses that she’d come up with. There were numerous answers to this mystery and any number of paths that could be walked, choosing the wrong one could mean the death of a toddler aged child, so guesswork was out of the question; she’d be a thousand percent sure before making a move of any kind. She batted some of the strands of white away from her face, her doe eyes scanning over the text that she’d typed out so far in reply, not even flinching when she felt the couch dip next to her, her gaze focused on her email.

“Angel.”

The woman felt warmth building on her cheeks, another endearing nickname added to the ever-growing list; she couldn’t remember just how many times she’d swooned since he’d dropped the very first one on her days prior. She didn’t respond to his voice, she had just a few things that she wanted to knock out in the next couple of hours and her companion would have to suck it up, she couldn’t continue letting him distract her from her career nor could she continue letting herself fall for his charms; as hard as she’d swooned for him, there had to come a time where that couldn’t be her number one focus. The faster she could finish up her work, the sooner she could give him all her attention, but she had to stick with the lines she’d drawn for herself, no taking shortcuts or giving it half-hearted effort, take it just as seriously as she always had. Her head cocked to the side as she continued her reply, typing quickly so she could wrap it up to move on to bigger things, her lip rolling between her teeth during the moments she was reading it over. She could’ve swallowed her tongue when the pink-haired man maneuvered his way behind her until his chest was pressed flush against her back and she was sitting between his legs, his arms locking around her belly before she could so much as blink.

“You haven’t moved in hours babydoll.” He murmured directly into her ear; she bit harder into her lip, her thighs squeezing together while she willed the growing warmth to go away. “Take a break.”

“Haruchiyo.” She began gently; it’d been the same every day she tried to work, he’d stay quiet for a little while up until he felt she wasn’t giving him enough attention and then he’d start distracting her, if she didn’t want to be drowning when she went back to the clinic then she had to get as much done at home as she could.

“You sounded pissed off.” He noted, his tone expressing just how unhappy he was; he must’ve heard her mumbling about Shimizu, the thought of the man alone was enough to irritate her. “Do I gotta kill someone?”

“No.” she responded simply with a roll of her eyes; she appreciated that he was so defensive of her, but she didn’t want him getting riled up for nothing, there wasn’t anything that could be done about Shimizu with how loaded his family was, plenty of people looked the other way when it came to his uppity attitude.

“I will princess, just say the word.” Haruchiyo followed up, sounding entirely serious; she figured it was a man thing, all that testosterone making them defensive and territorial, he wouldn’t kill someone just because she asked him to, that would be crazy.

“It’s fine.” The woman reassured softly, hoping to soothe him; she threw a glance back over her shoulder at him, lavender meeting aquamarine. “He’s just an arrogant lowlife, I’m not worried about trash like him.”

She wasn’t sure what about that made him giggle but she didn’t need to figure it out, his pupils were dilated so he was still relatively high from the painkillers, anything could be funny when perception was affected like that. Her eyes lowered shyly when he pressed a kiss to her nose, swiveling back around to her laptop and wiggled her way further into his touch, a content hum coming from him in response.

“Then why are you bothering to respond to the prick?” he pressed, his tone distasteful; she sighed heavily, continuing with her typing, already well-aware that he was reading her response.

“We’re working a case together.” She responded, her voice grudging; she hoped it would be the first and last time she’d have to do so, she already felt as though she’d signed her own death warrant when she’d agreed to work with him. “The last four teams couldn’t figure it out and he reached out to me since it was my primary area of study, couldn’t say no, three-year-old child.”

“You’ve never mentioned what your expertise is, Doctor.” He pointed out, his tone interested; he was right back to teasing her with her professional title, she should’ve expected as much.

“I specialize in rare diseases.” She replied, her voice collected; she clicked the send button, the email being whisked away and swapped out her page to all the files relevant to the case to go over again. “Genetic ones, infection related, it’s why Shimizu was willing to reach out to me. There aren’t many specialists in Tokyo.”

A quiet murmur of understanding came from him, squeezing around her belly affectionately while he nuzzled against her, a shy smile forming on her lips as she returned the gesture. She’d never imagined this man that had pointed a gun at her on day one would be such a softy, he was like an overgrown child when it came to wanting attention and being attached to her hip, and she was living for it; she wouldn’t deny that she was certainly attention starved and he all but smothered her with it. She’d always thought that sharing her private space with another person would be a headache, but she’d been entirely wrong, it took all her willpower to keep herself from seeking him out every few seconds if they weren’t frequenting the same room and she only ever made it five minutes before she couldn’t stop herself. The pink-haired male was on the same page as herself, he hardly ever left her line of sight and during the moments he did, it wasn’t for very long at all. Since she’d been staying home from work, the longest they’d been away from each other was twenty-five minutes and that was during the moments they’d shower, he was still pushing to share that space together as well, she was forever a frazzled mess and barely managed to say no without stumbling over her words.

She didn’t want to think about it, but she was aware that their day-to-day routine together was coming to an end, he was doing better each day, which was a sign that he would be going back to his regular life relatively soon, more than likely within the next few days. They needed to have a conversation about it, she knew as much but just the thought of it had distress filling her chest, regardless of knowing that there was no avoiding it. The sole thing that soothed her about it was that he’d made it perfectly clear that he was genuinely interested in her, that he had no plans of just disappearing from her life and wanted to pursue something real with her; she was unsure how in fact that was going to work. Haruchiyo hadn’t shared anything with her about his life, they’d been together for two weeks today and she was practically where she’d started, only knowing his given name and blood type. He was a mystery to her and nothing had cleared itself up over the course of their time together, she only seemed to have more questions about him the longer that they were together, he wasn’t making anything easy when it came to figuring him out nor was he openly offering that information; if he wouldn’t do that then she didn’t know how they were going to have a conversation about him leaving.

The doctor had plenty of her own hypotheses when it came to her companion, but nothing pointed to any one of them being the answer to the mystery that was him, she didn’t know what to think. He came off as self-assured and confident in himself, never hesitating with his words or second-guessing his actions, following through without skepticism. The way he carried himself was almost with an air of arrogance, as though everyone and everything was beneath him, his voice filled with scrutiny when he’d make certain comments or observations. It almost appeared to her that he’d hardly been told no throughout his life, the few times that she’d done so he was either trying to sway her to change her mind or he’d silently pout during the few moments that she wouldn’t cave to him, all of which were concerning the opioids and his behavior about that automatically concerned her for the very near future when she wouldn’t have any say on how much he could take. He also seemed spoiled to some degree, believing he could have whatever he wanted and acting as though no one would stand against him or make any attempts to stop him, which only opened up more questions about what his life had been like before her.

Yuki didn’t know if those behaviors stemmed from his childhood or if it had to do with his current profession, if he was as well off as she assumed he was then he ran a successful business. She hadn’t had much of an opportunity to stay up to date with anything going on outside of her own little world, no time to check the papers or briefly watch the news so she didn’t know if he’d been reported missing by anyone or had been mentioned, between her work and being caught up in him, she had quite a bit on her plate already. Haruchiyo’s lack of being interested in anything going on outside of them was another mystery, he hadn’t hinted about wanting to call anyone or made a single comment about people being worried about him, nothing about work, her curiosity was more piqued by the day. She didn’t know if there was anything that would force him to address those things with her and bluntly speaking, she wondered if he even wanted to go back to his regular life considering how content he seemed to be with their arrangement. She was in no hurry to get rid of him or for him to leave, she could anticipate just how lonely her house would be without him and even Kuro had warmed up to him in the last couple of days.

‘I don’t want him to leave.’

She may not have wanted that, but it was unavoidable, life wasn’t a fairytale, nothing worked out perfectly as if did in the movies or in books, she couldn’t have things her way; it hadn’t escaped her notice that life wasn’t fair, she had to suck it up. It may not have happened yet, but she was teetering on heartbroken because she knew it was in the making, he was going longer in between doses, he’d carried her to bed the night prior when she’d been nodding off on the couch, and he wasn’t expressing many words of pain. The time was closing in faster than she’d anticipated, and she had to be prepared for when he did leave her side, she simply needed to remind herself that he did want to keep contact with her and that they’d still see each other regularly, he’d implied numerous times that she was his girlfriend, which was enough to soothe her about the matter. The white-headed woman was still waiting for him to officially ask her, but it hadn’t happened yet, she wouldn’t say that she was impatient, just that she was curious how he would go about doing it. As unimportant as an official title was, she’d never had a boyfriend and she wanted the memory that all her friends had of being asked out for the very first time, something to look back on years from now with fondness.

Although life didn’t work out the way it did in books and movies, she hoped that one thing would, that Haruchiyo would be her one and only everything, as unrealistic as it sounded and probably was, she still hoped for it. Being a hopeless romantic may have been dangerous in a sense, but she believed that the concept of soulmates and true love existed, that people were brought together for a reason, she believed that to be the case with them. What were the odds that after being shot as many times as he had, that he would’ve stayed conscious long enough to get to safety, that he’d been in the same vicinity as her clinic when he’d truly needed help, that she would’ve still been at work at the exact time that he’d stumbled in and that she’d been given the opportunity to save him when he’d been at death’s door; the odds were slim and they’d still happened, meaning that there was something beyond their understanding pulling the strings. She didn’t believe in coincidental happenings nor blind luck, they’d met for a reason, and she believed that reason was being soulmates, there was no other explanation for being drawn to each other the way they were. The only thing to do was move forward, they’d continue to get closer with time and with time came trust; she couldn’t push that.

‘He’ll tell me everything when he’s ready.’

“Are you done yet?”

Her lips pursed in response and an irritable breath left her, her fingers still typing at rapid speed; she would’ve already been if he’d stop distracting her.

“You’re taking forever.” Haruchiyo continued, his voice teetering on exasperation; she didn’t bother looking at him, this was the sixth time in two hours, he was like a child sitting in the car asking “are we there yet” a thousand times. “Finish it tomorrow.”

“That’s what you said yesterday.” She muttered, not bothering to hide her own annoyance; he said it yesterday, the day before that and the day before that.

“Doctor-”

“You promised you’d let me get everything done today.” She interrupted with a grumble; he’d sworn to her the day prior that he would, if he wouldn’t have been so impatient then she probably could’ve been done with everything Wednesday night if she could’ve worked hours straight without interruptions, it had never taken her so long to get her work done.

“Is it really that important?” he pressed, sounding entirely disinterested; a huffy breath left her, she truly was dealing with an overgrown child.

“Yes.” She replied simply; a scoffing noise left him, her lips pressed into a thin line when he slipped out from behind her, side-glancing through the white to see him stalk out of the room, looking entirely fed up with her lack of attention.

‘Ugh.’

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to give him attention but if he wanted her all to himself without interruptions over the weekend then he had to let her get this done, she was quite literally fifteen minutes away from having everything caught up, she only had to finish writing out prescriptions and send them off to the various pharmacies for her patients then she wouldn’t have to open her laptop again until Monday. She felt completely unfocused upon his overly dramatic exit and continued having to pull herself back to the here and now while she typed out one prescription after another, a task that should’ve taken her fifteen minutes wound up taking almost an hour with how many times her brain circled back to the man she’d fallen head over heels for and she would’ve smacked herself in the head with her laptop if it would’ve knocked some focus back into her. She was muttering a plethora of unintelligible things under her breath while she rushed to complete the task, sending off all the prescriptions and eased her laptop shut, her head turning in the direction of the hallway he’d made his exit through. She hadn’t seen or heard anything come from him in a solid hour, but she wasn’t going to seek him out, not this time after he’d thrown a silent fit for literally no reason.

‘Stubborn man.’

She let out a heavy sigh, pushing herself to her feet and strode in the opposite direction, Kuro was quick to jump down from the back of the couch to trot after her, recognizing that she was heading towards the kitchen. His quiet meows and paw patters were the only thing filling the air aside from her own footsteps, Fridays were when she would always give him wet food for dinner and he knew as much, he was always extra vocal then. With her sweet boy munching away on his weekly treat, she began looking through the cupboards, trying to settle on something to cook for dinner; she’d have to go grocery shopping within the next few days with the way that she’d been cooking since she had company. She usually asked Haruchiyo what he would prefer but she certainly wasn’t going to seek him out like she had literally every other time he’d gone off to pout, even though her heart was pleading with her to do so; he could come to her this time, she was sure once he smelled dinner cooking then he’d make his way to her side. She grabbed a bottle of wine to fill a glass while she set the timer on the rice cooker and could’ve groaned the second that she heard her phone buzzing, she didn’t have time for this right now.

“Answer on speaker.” She spoke with disinterest; she immediately chugged half her glass as the line connected, her free hand portioning rice into the rice cooker. “Ikeda speaking.”

“Wow, know it’s been a month but you’re really answering like you don’t know me.”

“I’m cooking.” She responded easily; a quiet giggle filled her ears, a small smile forming on her lips at the familiar voice.

“Miss you babes.” Kaori laughed, sounding cheerful; it’d been months since she’d met up with her friends and she undoubtedly missed them, she imagined that the redhead was readying herself to get them all together as she usually did. “Wanted to see how you were.”

“I’m good.” Yuki assured, her voice earnest; she pivoted around the feline, rummaging through the fridge for what she needed. “How’s everything with you?”

“Oh my gosh, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” The woman began; the doctor rolled her eyes, waiting for her friend to continue because there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she wasn’t about to get a full story. “Okay, so. You know how Akito was working on finalizing everything for the recording studio, well, he just got told like, the other day, that the building just got bought out and now he’s worried that the new owner isn’t going to honor the lease agreement that he had with the old owner. So, it’s a big mess and he’s been a real asshole to me for like, no reason. It’s not my fault that shit happened but he just keeps taking out his frustration on me.”

“You’re making him sleep on the couch, right?” the white-headed woman pressed, hoping that it had finally happened; her best friend groaned, which meant a big fat no. “You can’t keep letting him get by with that Kao.”

“I know, I know.” She complained with a sigh; the woman was head over heels for her fiancé, even though he had a bad habit of taking his frustration out on her when quite literally anything went wrong, she never could kick him out of their shared bedroom. “He keeps me warm at night though.”

“If you didn’t run your air cold enough for snow then you wouldn’t freeze.” She retorted, her voice matter of fact. “You need to put your foot down with him or he’ll just keep doing it.”

“Ugh I know, Choyo said the same thing.” Kaori commented, her voice fed up. “Guess she and Kouji split up.”

“Again?”

“Mhm.” She hummed, sounding sure. “She called and told me, asked to crash at my place. He didn’t pay the electric and their power got shut off, it was during the holiday weekend, so it didn’t get turned back on until Tuesday and she was pissed, like, ready to throw all his shit out in the yard pissed.”

“She hasn’t got that mad at him in a while.” Yuki noted, her voice thoughtful; it’d been at least a year since the last instance from what she remembered.

“I know, but like, it’ll only last another two weeks at most because they always make up.” Kaori followed up, not sounding worried whatsoever. “How much you wanna bet he’ll sway her with a trip to the spa?”

“Mmm, my money’s on surprising her with that piano she’s had her eyes on for nine months.” The white-headed woman replied; she refilled her wine glass, sliding across the floor to the spice rack while she worked on chugging it.

“Ooo good call, he’ll go all out since he fucked up like that.” She agreed, giggling quietly. “But any-who, I was thinking it’d be like, super fun if we all got together for dinner or something next week. What’s your calendar look like babes?”

“Don’t have too much going on.” Yuki responded easily; it was an average work week for the most part. “Taking a trip out to the orphanage Monday, going to Ebisu Friday.”

“What’s in Ebisu?” Kaori pressed, her voice the definition of nosy. “Is it man? Omg, did you meet someone? Please tell you finally met someone!”

“Psh, a man by the name of Shimizu Makoto.” The young doctor scoffed with a roll of her eyes; an overly dramatic groan left her best friend, she’d complained about that arrogant jerk on multiple occasions.

“What’s that jackass want?” the redhead questioned, her tone distasteful. “If he started shit with you again you best believe I’ll beat his ass.”

“Asked me to partner up with him for a case.” She grumbled, setting the heat on the stovetop to low and covering the pan. “So, I have to go to Ebisu, meet the patient, talk with the family, all that fun stuff.”

“Tch, tell the piece of shit to fuck off.”

“If a child’s life wasn’t hanging in the balance I would.” She confessed; that was the only reason that she’d agreed to work with him, and she hoped that this case wouldn’t last months like she was anticipating. “Gran would tell me to be the bigger person, so that’s what I’m doing.”

“Yeah, and Gran would’ve already beat him half to death with a hairbrush for how the bastard talks to you every conference. Should let me go to the next one with you, I’ll be your plus one.” Kaori urged, her voice implying; Yuki giggled quietly, the slowly creeping warmth in her head was helping her wind down. “I got the whole thing planned out, first, I’ll try seducing him-”

“Kao-”

“Let me finish.” She interrupted, laughing heartily; she shook her head lightly with amusement, refilling her glass again. “So, I got him thinking he’s about to get his dick wet-”

“Kaori-”

“And when he’s ready to go, I make him think I’m into some really freaky shit-”

“Oh god-”

“And once I’ve convinced him into doing the most embarrassing things, I get a shit ton of pictures and then spread them all over the internet.” She finished, Yuki facepalmed herself. “His reputation is in the toilet after that and he gets disowned by his family, Doctor Ikeda takes the Nobel Prize.”

“You’re crazy.” The white-headed woman accused, her voice playful.

“And that’s why you love me.” Her best friend finished, her own voice lighthearted. “Ugh, gotta go. Akito just got home with groceries, gotta start on dinner. But Wednesday, meet at Nara’s, five. You, me, Choyo, and Akari.”

“Sounds good, bye Kao.”

“Later babes.”

Her head turned in the direction of the calendar, sliding across the floor to make a note of the date day with her friends before the warm feeling in her head had it slipping her mind, a content sigh leaving her lips while she jotted down the restaurant name and the time on the day in question. It’d been months since all four of them had gotten together and she was sure they’d be at Nara’s for hours catching up like they always did, their routine was the same as it’d been for years, just like when they’d been in university. They’d all get together, spend hours hanging out until late, all to go back to her house for a sleepover; when her grandmother was alive, she’d have breakfast waiting on all of them the following morning and they’d all sit around together, updating the old woman on all the gossip. They’d kept with tradition after her grandmother’s passing, the only difference outside of the woman’s lack of presence was that they were usually hungover the next morning and they’d live on coffee for the first two hours after waking up. She was curious about how this get-together was going to be, Akito had proposed to Kaori a few months ago and she’d been dying to get them all together to start wedding planning, she was sure Choyo would complain about Kouji as usual, Akari was still hung up on that jerk Takumi even after he’d cheated on her.

‘Is it too soon to mention Haruchiyo?’

Her lip rolled between her teeth in thought, she wasn’t sure if she should bring him up to her friends, considering that the way they met certainly was the furthest thing from romantic or even normal, and she could already anticipate all of them pushing for a backstory if she said anything about having met someone; Kaori would explode the moment she said he’d technically broke into her clinic. It undoubtedly wouldn’t paint him in a good light with them and he’d be judged before he ever met any of her friends, she didn’t want that, nor did she want to listen to them lose their minds; he’d have to remain her secret for a little while until she knew how to navigate the situation. She let out a grumble, her head swiveling back to the bottle after checking dinner’s progress and could’ve pouted when she realized just how much she’d drank over the several minutes she’d been on her phone call, it was no wonder her head felt so floaty, she’d finished almost an entire bottle in under an hour. Despite how tipsy she felt, she emptied it out into her glass with intent to finish it off.

‘Last one.’

The white-headed woman hummed quietly to herself, taking a peek at the rice cooker and turned up the heat on the stovetop just a smidge, everything would be ready around the same time this way; she should’ve just ordered takeout, cooking was probably her least favorite thing to do after answering emails. She wasn’t much of a cook to begin with and trying to be one simply to impress a man wasn’t looking good for her, her talents were nowhere close to what her grandmother’s had been, she couldn’t cook anything aside from simple dishes; she indefinitely would not be winning any housewife awards if she ever did get married. She didn’t bother stifling her groan, chugging what remained of her wine and carefully placed the glass in the sink, being mindful of her movements while she opened up one of the cupboards to retrieve dinnerware, standing up on her toes to reach the closest bowls.

‘Ordering takeout this weekend.’

A frustrated whine left her lips, as much as she appreciated that her companion had put up the dishes the night prior, she couldn’t reach any of them without climbing onto the counter, she was hardly five foot tall. She was seconds away from slewing out any number of curses, her filter nonexistent with how tipsy she was, but in the end, she didn’t get pushed to that point. The familiar hand pressed against the curve of her waist and the heels of her feet met the floor as she looked back over her shoulder, her hand still hovering mid-air.

“Haru, help.” Yuki requested with a pout; the pink-haired male arched an eyebrow, looking highly amused over how whiny her voice had come out, a small smirk forming on his lips.

“Finally done with your work?” he assumed, his voice nonchalant; she nodded without missing a beat, his aquamarine orbs bouncing from her face to the empty bottle on the counter to the glass that had a single sip left in it and back to her face all in a span of two seconds. “Alright angel, better not open that laptop again until Monday.”

“I won’t.” she agreed softly; she’d gotten everything done so she had no reason to, it was why she’d been pushing so hard, she couldn’t focus on just him if her work was piled up like it had been. “Help, can’t reach.”

“Alright, hold on babydoll”

She couldn’t feel it from how warm she was from the alcohol, but she knew pink had to of been running over her cheeks, especially when he picked her up without an ounce of trouble and set her atop the counter, going about grabbing the dinnerware for her. Her lavender pools were locked on him while he set everything off to the side, shutting the cupboard before his attention turned back to her, their eyes locking. She was sure the blush on her cheeks was darkening as she stared at him and unlike usual, her eyes didn’t pull from his while she held his gaze, feeling entirely mesmerized from how beautiful he was; it was mindboggling just how lost she would get in him. Her heart was forever going haywire when she looked at him, butterflies in her stomach and breath caught in her throat, the whole nine yards, if this was what it meant to be in love then she’d been there since the day they met.

“So pretty.”

She was always thinking it, quite literally every time she looked at him and she hoped she’d feel confident enough to tell him she thought that of him, she’d never seen someone that captivated her the way that he did. She blinked dumbly when both his hands went to the counter on either side of her and he leaned in closer to her, her thighs shifting closer together from being on the receiving end of his intense stare. Her brain felt like a pile of goo, and she’d gone entirely stupid by the time his lips brushed against hers lightly, her arms slipping around his neck in anticipation.

“That’s all you, princess.”

Chapter Text

‘Today, it has to be today.’

It’d been right over two weeks since the incident and his time with the pretty little doctor had to come to an end, he couldn’t dillydally any longer and getting back to headquarters was the priority now that he was healed up enough that he wasn’t at risk for popping stitches. He was behind on a great many matters in Bonten, not to mention his fellow executives certainly thought he was dead, and he without a doubt was going to make a dramatic entrance just to rub in Akashi’s face that even being shot twelve fucking times wasn’t enough to take him out; he was sure the old man would shit a brick. As many times as he’d been targeted by enemies and survived slim odds, every damn one of those guys should know that he was alive and breathing; Sanzu wasn’t the type that would die easily, and he’d proven as much by cheating death as many times as he had. He was unsure what the situation was with the Haitani Brothers, whether they’d made it back to headquarters unscathed or had managed to call for backup, if they’d been forced to hideout somewhere to give the enemy the slip or dodged the enemy long enough to patch each other up.

He’d been cut off from the world for over two weeks and although he wouldn’t have had any trouble whatsoever with swiping his babydoll’s phone to get in contact with the others, he’d thought better of it. He wasn’t going to risk anyone finding out about his pretty little secret, especially not before he had her hook line and sinker, and as much progress as he’d made with her over the course of sixteen days, it wasn’t nearly where he wanted to be with her. He may have built trust with her during the time they’d been together, but it was nowhere near enough that he’d have her undying loyalty this early on, he had to continue to nurture that with her and build upon what he’d accomplished thus far. The game was still in play, and he had numerous strategies that he was going to go about, she was already showing signs of codependency, signs that suggested it wouldn’t take too much manipulation on his part. She’d be begging him to visit her before long, he could already imagine she’d blow up his phone with texts and calls, whining that she missed him, pleading with him to spend time with her; he was well on his way to becoming the center of her universe and he was going to eat that shit up.

Bonten’s number two already had plenty of future moves planned out in his head, none of which could be executed until he was back where he belonged and as unfortunate as it was, his goals that involved his princess would have to take a backseat in the interest of the organization; Mikey was above all for him and nothing would take precedence over the king, especially not some woman. After making his grand entrance and announcing that he was still kicking, he’d have to be updated on everything he’d missed on all sides of Bonten, a meeting with the others that would surely take almost if not the whole day since he’d been MIA for two weeks. Touching base with Koko about any new investments, meetings that Kakucho had set up, investors that the Haitani had managed to seduce into giving everything up to Bonten, the list went on and on; it was going to be a day, that was for sure. Along with those matters, he’d have to make time to pick up a new phone, check in on several of the businesses he was in charge of, swing by his penthouse at some point and make sure that damn housekeeper had kept up with the cleaning, go to the dealership and swap out his car since he certainly didn’t trust that it hadn’t been bugged during the time he’d been away; he wasn’t going to have time to do much of anything except breathe.

‘What a pain.’

The pinkette knew he needed to get a move on before his pretty little doctor started her morning routine of waking up, the internal battle raging inside him was undoubtedly slowing him down and now that he was in a better spot, he didn’t have anything stopping him from indulging in the woman that had driven him mad with her teasing moans and suggestive positions. The only thing keeping him from crossing the line at this point was solely willpower because he was aware that if he dove in, he’d wind up spending the whole day in bed fucking her stupid after how long he’d been forced to wait. Yuki hadn’t made it any easier for him, despite not taking initiative or making the first move unless he coaxed her to, everything about her was irresistible and the little he’d seen had pushed him to the breaking point once before. He’d been right, she made the prettiest sounds, her moans and whimpers were intoxicating to listen to and what was better was when she was begging and pleading, hearing her moan his name was even better than latter. Out of everything he’d been right about, his favorite had to be that she cried purely out of her need to cum, watching tears roll across her fair skin all while whining for more, it was the hottest thing he’d ever seen and he sure as shit wanted to see it again.

She’d been the definition of bashful that day when he’d coaxed her into letting him take her pants off and if that shooting pain wouldn’t have happened, he would’ve been balls deep in her tight little cunt. He’d been unbearably hard even before he’d touched her and the crotch of her panties was soaked when he finally did, only to get wetter while he pressed kisses to her belly, silently debating how he wanted to make her cum the first time. She’d been so damn shy, pink spreading over her cheeks and acting flustered, hesitantly rocking with his hand, she was undoubtedly the submissive type. The second she moaned his name he was done with patience, throwing caution to the wind without so much as thinking about it, the only things running through his head were abusing that pretty pussy and pumping her full of cum, fucking her until she was crying for him to stop and keep going even after she did; he'd been determined not to let anything stop him that time. Every bit of those imaginings came crashing down within milliseconds of preparing to rip the flimsy lace from her form, the pain in his abdomen so intense it made his stomach lurch and his plans for a day spent between her legs down the drain; the only good that had come of it was convincing her to skip out on work and her secretary wound up forcing her to take the rest of the week off.

Sanzu was well-aware that he had a choice to make, either he get a fucking move on now or he woke her up with his face buried between her thighs until she was crying for him to fuck her, going with the second option meant another day that the others thought he was dead and he certainly didn’t want Akashi trying to plan a damn funeral for him. Not only couldn’t he have that, but he imagined that his sweet angel wouldn’t take him leaving well, she was absolutely the type that would be clingier after fucking and he wasn’t capable of indulging in that for a few days with his current predicament. With that being the case then he didn’t have much of a choice, he had to take care of work shit and he’d just have to wait until he had time to swing by for a visit with her, he’d make the most of those days with her. He was too behind on his responsibilities and everyday tasks as of now; the cost of greatness was sacrifice but he wouldn’t have to do so forever. She was going to stay his little secret for the time-being and once she was publicly his then things would be easier in a sense, some things would be harder, he needed to start looking into getting a bodyguard for her asap that could watch out for her from a distance during the times that he couldn’t be at her side.

‘Oh Doctor, you might just end up being my favorite.’

Who was he kidding? The woman was the definition of perfect, between her beautiful drugs and her pretty face, there wasn’t a woman that could compare, none of his regular playthings came close to her. He hadn’t fucked her yet, he’d hardly touched her, he hadn’t even seen her naked and she was still his favorite. He had to keep her a secret for as long as humanly possible, if the low-lives didn’t try to get at her then the Haitani surely would, he had to have her entirely hooked on him to the point that she’d willingly gauge her eyes out if he asked it of her, that level of loyalty was the only way that he’d feel comfortable with the other executives learning of her existence. He had to make his claim known and ensure it would stay unchallenged, he wasn’t going to allow a soul within reaching distance of her if he wasn’t around to deter it. He’d have to make damn sure that he was thorough when it came to her bodyguard’s expectations and how he was to go about day-to-day happenings, he’d have to make time for that this week since he surely wasn’t going to let his babydoll go around without eyes on her longer than he had to. There were so many threats out there that could interfere with what he wanted and since he couldn’t commit himself to being at her side 24/7, he needed assurances that nothing would sabotage what he was building with her.

His aquamarine orbs were glued to her, as they’d been for almost an hour since he’d started making attempts to push himself to leave and the internal struggle wasn’t getting any easier, he couldn’t afford to argue with himself all damn day. She was breathtaking, he only continued getting lost in her with every sweep of his eyes, her doe eyes had to of been his favorite feature about her, windows to the soul that only supported just how pure she was, and she was all his to corrupt; he couldn’t fucking wait. Strands of snow were strewn across the pillow, partially obscuring the soft features of her face, her pink lips parted to release inaudible breathes…he had to get a damn move on and stop eye-fucking her.

‘Damn it.’

Reluctantly, he forced himself across the floor, silently reminding himself the whole of the time that he’d have constant eyes on her before long and wouldn’t have to worry about his plans going up in smoke since she was clearly committed to pursuing something with him, there wasn’t a soul out there right now that could pull her attention away from him and he knew as much. He kept his footsteps light while he made his way through the house to the kitchen as it would be the first place that she would go upon waking up, she drank almost a whole pot of coffee to herself every morning and it would be impossible for her to miss; he placed the folded paper next to the brewer. The pink haired man wasn’t surprised whatsoever to see the black feline slink into the room not long after him, big emerald eyes staring him down, watching him like a hawk. He’d been initially shocked when he’d first seen the cat, he’d expected a regular housecat and instead, he was faced with one the size of a small dog. He’d never seen anything like it and although he usually wasn’t one for animals, her pet wasn’t giving him much of a choice, the cat was surprisingly enjoyable. He didn’t have too terribly much time, but he took a moment to put fresh water in Kuro’s bowl, check the other for food, and scratch behind his ears before making his way to the backdoor. With one last glance over his shoulder, he slipped out of the house.

The internal complaints didn’t stop from the time he shut the door behind him and made his way around to the front of the house, locking the address in his mind before heading up the road in the direction that would lead him out of the residential area. He certainly couldn’t go to the station, his wallet was at the penthouse, so he didn’t have anything he’d need to take a train to get there or to headquarters, he’d have to make that stop for a phone and once he had access to his accounts, he’d have what he needed for a taxi. The morning was going to be a long one and he was dreading what would certainly be a headache for the upcoming hours, his silent complaints still going strong, only getting worse the more distance he created from her house.

‘Fucking shit.’

The pill bottles rattling around in his pocket were all too tempting to indulge in, his pretty little doctor started leaving them out a few days after he’d gotten slapped in the face with the truth of how strong the painkillers were, he wouldn’t be going without it even if he had been fully healed but he was aware he hadn’t made it all the way there. Right now wasn’t the best time, nothing for communication, no transportation and his handgun had zero ammo so he needed to stay on his toes in the case he got blindsided by enemies. That was something else he’d have to pick up when he made it home, a few clips and another gun since he’d lost his favorite, he’d sure as shit be getting it back, not to mention his beloved katana had been in the Haitani’s car that night; he refused to go on without it after how long it’d been in his possession and he certainly wasn’t going to replace it. His expression was the definition of agitated as he shoved open the door of the shop and stepped inside, he’d made it literally seven minutes after they’d opened so aside from the staff, he was the sole person in the building. It took all of three seconds before the manager recognized him and was bolting across the floor to greet him, stumbling over his words and being much too chipper for how early it was.

A whole hour, that was how long it took to recover everything that he’d lost when his phone took a bullet and he couldn’t have been more thankful for the advances made in technology over the years, easily regaining access to all his bank accounts, all his contacts, pictures, text messages, everything under the sun that he needed. The cost was taken out of one of Bonten’s accounts that was specifically meant for things of this nature, Koko’s insistence for multiple was a pain to keep up with but money was the furthest thing from his mind right now, he had a shit ton of things to prepare. Upon exiting the shop, his thumbs were moving rapidly across the glass, transferring what was in his head into his phone, creating the contact “Princess” with both her phone number and home address, the name of her clinic and where it was located, every piece of information he’d managed to gather over the last two weeks. With that out of the way, he could take care of the other little things before going to headquarters, swinging by his penthouse to grab the essentials and getting his car swapped for another; the others wouldn’t be there until ten or eleven, Ran wouldn’t arrive until late into the afternoon with the way he slept.

‘Hours of bullshit.’

It would be, not only would he have to be updated on everything he’d missed in the past two weeks, but they’d have to touch base about what was currently going on or in the making, not to mention he wanted to put together a team to take out the scum that had caused this whole mess if they hadn’t been annihilated already. There was always an abundance of enemies to deal with and if those guys were dead, there would be others he could take his frustrations out on, he’d been thinking it the whole time, but he truly had so much to get done with how behind he was. He had eleven stops he’d have to make no later than tomorrow evening so he could check up on the businesses he oversaw, make sure his people knew that he hadn’t kicked the bucket and throw some assignments at them with strict deadlines. He had his own side project to work on and waiting around too long would only be sabotaging himself, he’d have to make a move relatively soon and he had ideas on just what kind to make.

‘Have to go shopping later.’

Sanzu’s head was filled with one thing after another, occupying his thoughts for the whole of the time that it took for him to get to his penthouse and even when he stepped through the door, he was still running on autopilot. Thinking steps ahead concerning each situation, the best courses of action, when and where to follow through with various moves, he didn’t have to so much as think about what he was doing while he changed his clothes and collected a few clips, grabbing another handgun before he was out the door with his keys in hand, phone at his ear while he called a locksmith to repair the broken lock. The trip to the dealership was just as uneventful, dealing with the same kind of behavior as he’d been on the receiving end of during his time getting a new phone, managers stumbling over their words while they went out of their way to give him whatever he wanted, boredom threatening to overtake him while he waited around for his new ride. Finally, all the bullshit was taken care of, and he was speeding down the road, weaving in and out of cars with ease, listening to the rings coming through the surrounding speakers.

“Purimabera’s, Mizuki speaking.”

‘Ugh, this bitch.’

“Mizuki-san, I wasn’t expecting you to be in the shop so early.” Sanzu spoke with sarcasm, his expression filled with monotony.

“What a surprise, and I wasn’t expecting to hear from you, Sanzu.” The woman rebuffed, her own voice swapping out from professional to snobby; Bonten’s number two rolled his eyes, the bitch was always getting huffy with him since he’d had to start playing middleman between her and the treasurer. “You’ll have to tell Kokonoi that I’m not going to order anything until I get my payment upfront, these Gala arrangements are ridiculous, and I have to special order all those flowers he’s wanting.”

“I’ll be sure to pass that along.” He scoffed, his voice entirely uninterested; he couldn’t have given two shits about that Gala, he couldn’t wait until the damn thing was over, the treasurer had been preparing for it for weeks now but the day in question wasn’t for months, so he still had a long wait.

“I mean it Sanzu, how in the fuck does he expect me to have grevilleas and waratahs? They’re only native to Australia and don’t get me started on the-”

“Yes, yes. It’s a pain in your ass.” He interrupted airily, not caring to listen to her complaints; it was all the woman knew how to do, bitch and moan about fuck all. “Didn’t call to play peacemaker between you and Koko, I need an arrangement.”

“Ugh, whatever.” Mizuki groaned, sounding aggravated; with that kind of attitude, it was a wonder that she had any customers when she certainly wasn’t a people person. “When and what?”

“Today-”

“I’m booked, no can do.” She said easily, cutting him off; his eyes narrowed dangerously, bitch was on thin ice.

“Today.” He repeated with emphasis, his voice nonnegotiable; the woman groaned again, sounding entirely fed up with his refusal to budge about the day he’d picked. “Delivered at seven this evening.”

“I just told you-” she began with annoyance.

“You want the five grand or not, bitch.” He pressed, his tone arrogant; he was already well-aware how she was going to reply and just how quickly she’d flip a script over an offer like that.

“You said seven, correct?” she questioned sweetly, her attitude doing a whole 180; a cocky grin formed on his face, money talked for most and she was like the female version of Koko. “And is the delivery to a business or residential?”

“Residential.” The executive responded, his voice nonchalant; he rattled off the first part of the address with ease, pausing so the woman could get it on paper. “Nakameguro, near Saigoyama Park.”

“And what are you wanting?” the florist asked.

Fuck if he knew, not only didn’t he know hardly anything about the woman he was trying to win over but he didn’t know jack shit about romantic fuckery like flowers, women liked it and that’s where his knowledge stopped; he didn’t know where to even start. Every woman he’d fucked over the years he’d met in the clubs/bars or belonged to Bonten, dating and relationships were completely outside his realm of understanding, but he had to figure it out considering it was obviously the only way that he was going to get close to Yuki. He’d never had to do anything like this before, hadn’t needed to go out of his way to get on a woman’s good side or earn trust through genuine actions, he’d never even bought a present for a woman, he’d been sure flowers would’ve been something simple to figure out. Yet, here he was, not knowing what in the fuck to say in response and he positively wasn’t going to ask the florist for her thoughts about it.

“I couldn’t care less what you throw together.” He retorted, his voice entirely disinterested.

“That doesn’t do shit to help me Sanzu.” Mizuki rebuffed, her sweet persona swapping back to irritated. “I need something to go off of, what’s it for?”

“A woman.” He said bluntly; what the fuck else would it be for?

“No shit.” She scoffed. “I meant, what are you trying to say with the flowers? Sorry I killed your husband or thanks for the lay? I need something to go off so I can pick the right shit.”

“Whatever will make her fall in love with me.” The pink-haired man replied in a monotone; that was the goal, make sure she knew he was thinking about her and make her swoon for him. “I don’t fucking care as long as she can see that it’s expensive.”

“Wow, real deep.” The woman muttered, obviously not impressed with his reply; he didn’t know what the bitch expected, this wasn’t his forte whatsoever. “If you need pointers, I’m sure your buddy Ran-”

“You don’t say a word to any of them, are we clear?” he hissed, his voice threatening; he sure as shit wasn’t going to risk any of them finding out about her so soon and he knew exactly what to do to keep the florist quiet. “Another thousand.”

“I can work with that; it’ll be obvious how expensive it is, and she’ll be falling for you in no time.” Mizuki assured without hesitation; he rolled his eyes, she was just like Koko, all she cared about was money. “Can write a real sweet message to go with it that’ll have her falling hard.”

“Yes yes, do whatever you like.” He said with boredom; he had other shit to take care of aside from sending flowers to his pretty girl. “You get the money when it’s finished, I expect a picture.”

“Can do, getting started on it now.” She announced, her voice overly dramatic. “For future reference, get her diamonds if you’re trying to get her to put out-”

Sanzu didn’t care to listen to the rest, ending the call without a second thought and dialed another number, rings filling the silence. He was closing in on headquarters but still had a few minutes to spare, this phone call wouldn’t take nearly as long as the other nor would he have to go about bribery to get shit done the way he wanted.

“Boss-”

“Not in the mood for a big spiel Hada.” The executive interrupted, his tone flat; as shocked as he was sure his number one was that he was breathing since they hadn’t been in contact for right over two weeks, he didn’t have the time to play twenty questions with him right now. “Start another round of recruitment, need perfect shots and fighting backgrounds.”

“Yes sir.”

“Ten guys max.”

“Yes sir.”

“You have three days.”

“Get it done in two, boss.”

Another call finished, Hada always went above and beyond to find the best out there, as valuable as he would be towards his princess’s protection, he needed him on the other side of things. He’d have plenty of guys to choose from for that task, he may even bother to start a rotation to keep her oblivious that she was being watched day and night, she was intelligent and seeing the same face every day would be a red flag to her; he couldn’t risk frightening her.

‘Made it.’

The executive threw the gearshift in park, shoving open the door and exited the vehicle, not giving a second glance to the shocked faces of the men as he strode straight into the building without a word, his expression filled with arrogance. Face after face that he passed was looking at him as though they’d seen a ghost and he grew bored of it quickly, passing through the lobby of the building in the direction of the elevator, it was Monday, meaning that the others would be gathered around this time, as was the routine.

“Good morning Sanzu-san.”

“Whiskey, Aya.” The man retorted easily; the blue-haired secretary arched an eyebrow, not seeming fazed whatsoever that he was not only alive, but he was in a foul mood.

“Of course, I’ll get right on that.” She replied cheerfully; he pressed the up button, waiting impatiently for the doors to slide open. “The other executives are in the conference room for the weekly meeting.”

“Ten minutes.”

“I’ll get it to you in seven.” Aya chirped; he would’ve ripped the slut’s tongue out if Rindou didn’t like her so well.

He didn’t respond, stepping into the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor, turning his eyes to his phone while the doors slid shut, his thumb hovering over her pet-name; no texting her first, wait for her to reach out, she would by seven-thirty at the latest after she received those flowers, and he knew as much. He had to be patient this time around, no rushing anything and let her come to him, he had plenty going on to occupy his day until she got ahold of him. Despite telling himself that, curse after curse filled his head on the ride up and he was struggling to maintain composure, if anyone spoke to her today then he wouldn’t know about it, he had no way to follow her movements, he wouldn’t be able to make threats disappear just yet either; there had to of been men that worked in her clinic.

‘Fuck.’

More threats, threats that he couldn’t make disappear immediately because they were her employees, it’d take weeks for him to clean house without arousing suspicion and in that time, those men could be replaced by other men. It would be a never-ending cycle if he went about wiping out men from her clinic without cause but if he knew which of them were actually a threat, it wouldn’t be so difficult. He had to think things through, go about each move carefully and be meticulous in everything he did, lest he sabotage everything he was working towards.

‘Her pussy better be worth all this bullshit.’

Sanzu let out a grumble, stepping out of the elevator and simultaneously shoved his phone into his pocket, making his way down the hall in the direction of the conference room. It didn’t take long before he was within earshot of his destination, the doors were wide open, and he could hear quite literally every word being spoken.

“The fuck you expect me to do?” Mocchi’s voice rang out; his aquamarine eyes rolled at the familiar words he’d heard on a regular basis over the years.

“Something useful.” Koko retorted with a grunt; that wasn’t surprising, the treasurer was regularly fed up with the other’s lack of contribution. “You haven’t done anything to help find him.”

“How can he when there’s been no signs-”

“Fuck off Akashi, he’s not dead.” Rindou sneered, sounding infuriated; it seemed that the Haitani had made it back alive, the pair of them were a package deal and since the younger was still breathing then that meant the elder was too. “We should send out another group.”

“Scour the area again.” Kakucho added with composure; he was usually the most levelheaded out of all of them, so it was no shock to Sanzu that he was coming up with solutions. “Someone had to of seen something.”

“There wasn’t so much as a drop of blood in those alleys.” Akashi spoke, his voice filled with frustration. “No bodies, no prints, nothing to go off of. We’re wasting resources at this point.”

“Better watch your damn mouth.” The younger Haitani spat with venom; the pink-haired man moved to stand in the doorway, leaning his back against the frame and folding his arms across his chest.

“Normally, I’d say the same thing.” The treasurer followed up, his tone flat; his piercing eyes met the onyx pair on the other side of the room, and he nodded his head lightly in acknowledgment. “The search wouldn’t have gone more than a day if it was anyone else but it’s not. Sanzu’s an executive, vice president.”

“Mikey, as an advisor-”

“That ready to put me in the ground, Takeomi?” Sanzu drawled, his voice every bit of bored; five heads swiveled in his direction without missing a beat.

“Holy shit.” Mocchi exclaimed, his expression the definition of surprised. “Where the fuck have you been? We thought you were dead.”

“Apparently just you and Akashi thought I was dead.” The number two corrected with bluntness, a dull look in his eyes. “At least that’s how it fucking sounded."

"They bet against you, the rest of us knew you were alive.” Koko added with a shrug, extending his left hand in the pair’s direction. “Pay up, two hundred thousand each.”

With an overly dramatic eyeroll, he crossed the floor of the room to his usual seat on the king’s right, simultaneously pulling a bottle from his pocket, carefully easing himself into the chair as he threw back a singular pill. He had to be careful with how much he took right now considering that not only was he about to have some Grade A whiskey in his system but the next several hours would be getting caught up on everything he’d missed. He’d be listening more than talking but there was no doubt the others would want to hear all the details on what happened to him, where he’d been for the last two weeks, how he’d survived and why it had taken him so long to report back. As it were, he had a good bit of that covered, he could answer almost everything without implicating his pretty little doctor so she could remain his secret, if it came down to it then he’d just shut down questions if he saw that they weren’t going to give up pressing for more. His head cocked to the side while he leaned back in his seat, observing the faces around the table, unsurprised to see Rindou with his phone to his ear, obviously calling his brother on an infinite loop to wake his ass up. As expected, Mikey was entirely collected, his face impassive and not showing a sliver of emotion as was the normal when it came to business.

“Those pricks dead, or do I get to put together the team to take them out?” he questioned, a deadpan stare on his face.

“Bastards went into hiding.” Kakucho responded, his tone distasteful. “Been trying to pin down their location, nothing yet.”

He should’ve anticipated that he’d get to do the honors of building the perfect team to take out that trash, he’d have every single one of them hunted down and flay them living just as soon as he had his beloved katana back in his hand.

Chapter Text

Princess,

I hope you can understand why I left before you woke up and I’m sure in some way, you do. It was hard enough last week when I had to watch you leave for work, knowing that I wouldn’t see you for hours, this was even more difficult, I argued with myself for hours before I finally decided that this was for the best. It’s selfish of me but I couldn’t bear the thought of seeing you upset, let alone watching you cry. I wish I could’ve spent more time with you babydoll, but I have things that I can’t ignore, I stretched our time together for as long as I could get by with it. It must sound strange, but I’ve never met anyone that circles my thoughts in the way that you do, that I want to be right next to 24/7. I truly hope that doesn’t make me come off as crazy and that you get what I’m trying to say, there’s just something about you that I’ve never seen in another woman. The past two weeks I’ve spent with you have been some of the greatest days I’ve had in years, and I mean that with the utmost honesty angel, I don’t want any of it to end. You are an amazing woman and I want to spend more time with you, see you on a regular basis, my profession makes it difficult but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make this work between us. I hope you feel the same, those few hours I had to spend without you were miserable and if at the very least I can talk to you, I think it may make this bearable. I know what I want pretty girl, and it’s you.

Haruchiyo

Don’t make me wait too long babydoll, (XXX)-XXXX-XXXX

Her lip rolled between her teeth, her thumb hovering over the newest contact in her phone, silently debating on what she should do for what was close to the thousandth time since she’d typed it in. Her lavender eyes pulled away from the screen, falling on the large arrangement of flowers sitting on the kitchen counter next to her. The whole of her day had been filled with questions, all of which circled around the pink-haired man that she’d swooned for long before now, he’d been the only thing on her mind since she’d woken up that morning. Her heart had dropped down into her stomach when she awoke alone in her bed, it usually took a long twenty minutes for her to rouse herself enough to be aware of what was going on around her but not this time. The new routine she’d grown fond of hadn’t happened, she’d been wide awake down to the second that her hand slid across the mattress to reach for him, only to grab at empty space and the sight that met her was devastating. She’d fallen all over herself while she scrambled out of bed, clumsily staggering through the house in her haste to find him, by the time that she’d made it to the kitchen, reality had set in and her heart had never felt so heavy, he’d left.

The doctor had known that it was coming, and she’d tried her absolute hardest to prepare herself for the day that he’d leave her home, she’d never expected for him to do so while she was still asleep, never anticipated that he wouldn’t say goodbye to her after how close they’d become over the sixteen days they’d been together; the hand that she’d been dealt wasn’t a pleasant one. She hadn’t been capable of holding back, her eyes had been burning with tears when it registered that she was alone in her bed and upon making it to the kitchen, the tears began tumbling from her lashes, soft hiccups leaving her lips while she cried in the vacant house. She hadn’t imagined just how much a difference having someone in her life made until then, as dramatic as she was behaving over someone that was nothing more than a stranger, it didn’t feel that way to her and she was sure Gran would’ve been giving her an earful since she was crying over a man after that woman had raised her to be independent. Her head was filled with questions of why he would leave this way, wonderings of if she’d done something to make him change his mind about them, racking her brain for any signs that she may have missed that could have pointed to him toying with her, she’d been readying herself to go through a whole panic attack up until she spotted the piece of paper by the coffee brewer.

Yuki had managed to pull herself together upon reading it well over a dozen times, her lavender orbs flittering over the words on an infinite loop up until she’d memorized it word for word, her gaze continuing to zero in on the eleven numbers that were quite obviously his phone number. She hadn’t thought twice about typing it into her phone, labeling the contact as “Haru” and saving it, only to stare at it for close to ten minutes with her thumb hovered over it. She’d argued with herself silently on what to do, telling herself that reaching out at that very moment wouldn’t do anything since he certainly didn’t have a phone yet and that would take a few hours at the least, worrying that he could’ve just been playing with her feelings and the number may not even be his, calling herself every name in the book for falling so hard for someone she hardly knew, the list went on and on. She’d stayed trapped in her head up until she felt the brush around her legs and heard Kuro meowing at her, her sweet boy managing to bring her back to reality and she knew that she had to get with the program, she couldn’t fall apart over something like this when she had patients that needed her. With that, she’d started her usual pot of coffee and gotten ready for her workday, reminding herself of how much she had to get done.

Her day had gone by in a blur, all of her staff seemed to notice that she was off, but no one said a word about it aside from Midori, the woman couldn’t be sure what she’d even responded to her with but whatever it was had been enough to make her back off. She’d spent the morning with her high priority patients, making updates about their cases and such, she’d spent the early afternoon doing paperwork as per usual and left the clinic a little after three to make her trip to the orphanage. The children were thrilled to see her just like they always were, the staff welcoming and expressing their thanks for not only the medications she donated but for her presence itself that always uplifted the children’s spirits. The next several hours were spent doing physicals on the kids that weren’t feeling well, making her diagnoses and communicating them to the staff, writing out prescriptions for those that couldn’t be handled with over-the-counter medication, and writing out a check that would cover the cost of those medications. She’d known from the start of her charity work that the orphanage didn’t receive the funding to give the children proper medical care and money was nothing in comparison to helping those kids, she always covered the cost of everything herself.

By the end of her day, she was exhausted since she’d been go-go-go paired with how emotionally drained she was, her thoughts still circling around Haruchiyo as they’d been since she woke up that morning. She’d been home hardly ten minutes before there was an unexpected knock at her door and that’s when things took a turn she hadn’t anticipated, warily looking around the frame only for her jaw to drop and heart to skip. She was met with an array of colors, an arrangement of tsubaki, ume, akaibara, sakurasou, and rabenda, all of which had meanings of love; she hadn’t been sure what to think up until she read the message attached to it.

He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking.

You have bewitched me, body and soul.

Sanzu Haruchiyo

Yuki had honestly been stunned over not only the man leaving her his phone number but sending her flowers with clear intentions of his feelings, she’d questioned if it was even his actual number up until she’d received an expensive arrangement in a vase that shimmered in the way that diamonds would. Haruchiyo had meant everything he’d said, both to her verbally and in his letter, he wanted to pursue something real with her, but he’d left the final decision up to her. He’d left his phone number, sent her flowers but he hadn’t tried getting in contact with her beyond that, meaning that the ball was in her court now, the next move was hers to make. She had plenty of questions about it and none of which had obvious answers, not knowing how long was she supposed to wait before getting ahold of him, if there was a certain amount of time that was either too soon or too long, she didn’t know if she should simply text him or call him, she didn’t know what to say when she finally gathered the courage to reach out; she was a mess.

‘Breathe, you have to breathe.’

She’d never been so anxious in all her life, her thumb continued to shift between the call icon and the text icon, her lip rolling between her teeth while she debated the best course of action. It shouldn’t have been such a big deal, this wasn’t a life-or-death decision nor was it something that should’ve required so much thought, especially since he’d made it clear that he was genuinely interested in her. The woman didn’t know what she was so afraid of, he wouldn’t have left his phone number if he didn’t want her to get ahold of him and he surely wouldn’t have sent her flowers if he didn’t feel anything towards her, he’d even put his surname in that romantic message.

‘Sanzu…Yuki.’

Her face was scarlet over the thought, and she vigorously shook her head from side to side with hopes to screw it on straight, she shouldn’t have been indulging a thought like that when she hardly knew the man.

‘Get it together.’

She turned her attention back to her phone, she was driving herself mad trying to settle on what to do and she couldn’t continue going in circles like this, she had to make a decision. The doctor squeezed her eyes shut, a noise of discomfort leaving her throat while her thumb tapped the screen, her lavender eyes snapping open upon doing so to see that she’d pressed the phone icon.

‘Oh god!’

She should’ve texted, he could’ve been in the middle of something right now and she was about to interrupt his evening on a grander scale than if she’d simply sent a message, he could’ve been dealing with work matters or reassuring his family/friends that he was alright after being away for sixteen days; she shouldn’t have done this.

‘Oh no.’

It was too late to go back, she couldn’t just hang up. Yuki pressed the phone to her ear, silently praying that the pinkette wouldn’t answer, and it would just go to voicemail, she could hang up and send a text after for him to get ahold of her at his leisure. Three rings in and her heart was beginning to settle down, it was looking like she was about to get lucky enough that-

“Hello.”

‘Shit, fuck, shit!’

Her face was on fire no sooner did his voice fill her ear and she shifted around on the kitchen counter anxiously, her thighs squeezing together with hopes to hold off the arousal readying itself to make way; she couldn’t let that, nor her nerves be behind the wheel right now.

“H-hi.” The woman choked, trying her absolute hardest to reel herself in.

“Was wondering when I was going to hear from you, angel.” Haruchiyo responded with ease; the pink on her cheeks darkened a shade, he’d been waiting for her to get ahold of him.

‘Breathe.’

“You got my gift, yes?” he assumed, his voice knowing; a murmur of agreement left her throat, side-glancing through the curtain of white at the flower arrangement.

“It-it’s beautiful.” She mumbled shyly; she’d never received flowers before, it was the first gift she’d ever received from a man and she was still blown away over how much money he’d obviously spent on it, the vase itself almost looked like it was made of white gold and diamonds. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me, pretty girl.” He spoke with sincerity; she was glad in this moment that she was alone, she’d never felt so bashful in all her life and his voice was certainly doing more to her than she’d thought it would since the first time she’d heard it, her panties were drenched. “Wanted you to know that I was thinking of you, been the only thing on my mind since I left.”

Yuki could feel her heart skip in response, she felt the same way and she’d been worried about coming off too strong, it seemed that she didn’t need to now with how bluntly honest he was about his feelings, his own transparency kept her from second guessing her next words up until they came out of her mouth.

“When are you coming back?” she questioned; she could’ve died right then from embarrassment at how desperate she sounded, and she absolutely couldn’t let herself come off that way. “I-I mean, when um…can I see you a-again?”

“Miss me that much already babydoll?” he pressed, sounding teasing; her eyes lowered, rolling her lip between her teeth timidly. “Shy little thing, aren’t you princess?”

“I-I just…” she began, her words quickly trailing off.

“I’m teasing babydoll, I miss you as well.” He confessed with a chuckle; her stomach was filled with butterflies at the admission, that had to of meant that he wanted to see her again soon. “I wish I could give you an answer angel but I’m not sure.”

The doctor had hoped he’d be able to give her a timeframe but at the same time, she’d already guessed he had to settle back into his routine, he’d likely spent the whole day answering questions from his family and friends, clearing things up with work; she couldn’t be the center of his universe. Despite knowing that was how life work, it didn’t stop her bottom lip from protruding in a pout.

“Haru.” Yuki murmured; she couldn’t sulk over this, they were adults and she needed to handle this situation as one, not like a teenager. “I-it’s okay, I understand. Really.”

“I just need some time to get caught up, once everything’s back on track then I’ll be able to spend a few days with you.” He assured, his tone genuine. “How does that sound?”

“I’d like that.” She whispered, a small smile forming on her lips; a few days was more than she’d imagined he’d be able to give her, she’d assumed he’d visit with her for a few hours at most.

“Good, I want to be with you as much as I’m able. My life is busy but I’m willing to do whatever necessary to make time for you.” Haruchiyo promised, no hesitation in his voice. “I hope I’m not being too forward; I’ve been told I come off too strong.”

“No, not at all.” The woman said quickly, her head shaking absentmindedly. “I like you.”

‘Stupid, get it together.’

“I-I mean…” she stammered, her voice filled with anxiousness.

“I like you too, babydoll.” He professed earnestly; the warmth on her cheeks was only getting hotter, her ears were almost burning with embarrassment. “I wasn’t joking when I said the days that we were together were the best I’ve had in years.”

“I feel the same.” She agreed softly, the small smile returning to her lips; she’d never been so happy as she’d been with him, even during the moments he got under her skin with some of the things he’d say. “It’s been lonely…without you.”

“That just means I’ll have to be quick with my side of things.” He followed up, his voice reassuring. “Until then, we can talk every day. If that’s something you want.”

“Yes.” She responded immediately; she could’ve slapped herself, she HAD to stop coming off as desperate. “A-as long as it doesn’t bother y-you.”

“I think I’d go crazy if I didn’t hear from you every day.” He admitted, not hesitating with his words; the woman managed a silent breath, he was so utterly transparent about how he felt that it seemed as though she didn’t have to hold back anything from him, as though nothing was too much for him. “I want to be close to you, angel.”

‘He’s perfect.’

“I want to hear all about your day, how was work?” he pressed curiously; the smile on her lips widened, it felt domestic and entirely natural to hear those words from him, she’d never felt so content as she did when it came to him.

“It was good, I got to focus on my charity work today, there’s this orphanage…”

Her head swiveled in all directions, taking in the faces staring back at her as she observed her staff, her own expression entirely composed despite just how disgruntled several of them were.

“Doctor Ikeda.” Midori began, her own voice grudging; the woman already had an idea of what was coming, she’d put off this staff meeting until she didn’t have any other choice but to address the upcoming change. “I think I speak for everyone when I say that I don’t like this.”

“I understand Midori-san.” She assured; she’d already known that this would be a headache in more than a few ways. “I have all the faith in the world in all of you, you held the clinic together for four days, which just tells me that I don’t have to worry for our patients. I needed to see that, for my own peace of mind.”

“Keeping the clinic going isn’t what’s got us wound up, Doctor.”  Mina, a phlebotomist spoke.

“A few days isn’t the end of the world.” Isamu, a lab technician followed up.

“It’s not even about that.” Emi, an LPN added. “We’d love to see you take more time off for yourself.”

“You already push yourself so hard.” Hana, an x-ray technician said.

“I understand that you all worry about me but there’s truly no need for it.” Yuki reassured, hoping to soothe her staff before a blow up happened.

“How can’t we?” Raiden questioned, sounding defensive; her lavender eyes turned to her top nurse practitioner, waiting as patiently as she could for him to continue. “Doctor Ikeda, forgive me but that bastard Shimizu has started shit with you every conference, he looks for any reason to berate you and I’m not the only one that wants to kick his ass for it.”

“He’s right Doc, won’t lie, been wanting to put that little shit in his place for years.” Hiroto, a radiology technologist confessed.

“Especially after the last conference when he tried to argue with you in front of everyone during your panel.” Naoko, an ultrasound technician commented irritably.

“He’s a self-centered prick.” Seiji, a respiratory therapist accused.

“You shouldn’t help him with anything after the way he’s disrespected you.” Umeko, an RN strongly suggested.

“I understand you’re all not happy with me.” The young doctor began, her voice collected; this was mild considering just how much her staff disliked Shimizu, no one had gone off the deep end though and that was all she could ask for.

“It’s not you, Doctor Ikeda.” Midori corrected, her expression that of a protective mother. “It’s him, he’s who we’re not happy with because we all know exactly how this is going to turn out.”

‘What a nightmare.’

“I’ve already expected as much.” Yuki spoke with composure; her staff may not have agreed with her choice, but they’d deal with it. “I’m willing to sacrifice my pride for the sake of a child’s life, if I have to deal with the insufferable jerk to help that little boy then I will.”

“At least let one of us accompany you on these trips Doc.” Hiroto implored; she couldn’t do that, as enjoyable as having the company would be, taking one of her employees with her would make her appear weak and she wasn’t going to give the prude anything that could be used as ammunition against her.

“I need you all here, keeping things going during the times I’m away.” The white-headed woman explained, her tone gentle; she didn’t know just how often she’d be making trips to Ebisu until she and Shimizu touched base in person, she needed her staff to be prepared in the case she’d have to drop everything to run out there with how high of a priority this case was.

“I knew you were acting strangely and every bit of it is over this.” The secretary assumed, her voice adamant; Yuki resisted the urge to shift on her feet in discomfort, almost biting her tongue off to keep the words in. “It’s no wonder you’ve been so antsy the past several days.”

The woman didn’t say a word to try to argue against it, this situation had made her feel antsy simply because she’d known how her staff would react to the news, the only good thing that had happened was no one had completely lost their marbles, but they certainly weren’t happy. With how things were presently, she’d be leaving tomorrow morning to make the trip to Ebisu for the case she was working with Shimizu, the day itself was going to be filled with a go-go-go type of approach since they had so much to cover together. She’d rather not but she’d already looked into getting a hotel for the weekend, checking to see which were closest to the hospital, she’d like to find one that could be her regular for the weekends she’d be staying up there or randomized days throughout the week depending on how active she’d need to be in this case as things changed with the patient. Everything about this was tricky and she couldn’t make any guesses as to how long it would go on for, weeks or months, the symptoms pointed to any number of diagnoses. She didn’t have nearly enough information to make a confident diagnosis and would be cautious moving forward with any treatments, she wanted to run all of her own tests to compare to all the results she had on file presently; she doubted she’d be getting much sleep up until answers were found.

She’d known her staff had noticed her out of character behavior, she’d had trouble focusing and staying present during the times that she wasn’t interacting with patients, part of it was attributed to the case but the other side of that had to do with Haruchiyo. She couldn’t tell anyone about him, lest she get bombarded with questions, and it was embarrassing enough that her attention span wasn’t anything like usual all because of a man, she’d never live down admitting something such as that. She wished she could talk about him, but she didn’t know how she would even begin to explain how they met, telling people that she’d met a man because he’d stumbled into her clinic shot up and bleeding out was the furthest thing from a love story. She already knew just how her friends would’ve reacted, so she hadn’t said anything to them when they’d all gotten together for dinner the day prior, holding her tongue even though she wanted more than anything to talk about Haruchiyo and how amazing he was. Instead, she’d listened while Kaori had rambled about all of her wedding ideas, when she wanted to go shopping for dresses and her ideas about the kind of venue she wanted. Choyo had complained about Kouji not long after, that she couldn’t trust him to do anything without her holding his hand the whole time, he’d called around the time she’d gotten tipsy and begged her to take him back, sending her pictures of the piano he’d bought her; she’d gushed over how sweet he was and just like her best friend had guessed, they got back together in under two weeks. Afterwards, Akari had gotten wasted and spent over an hour crying over that loser Takumi, the rest of them comforting her and reminding her that she was too good for him.

It'd been just like old times, a reminder of just how much she missed her friends and that she needed to listen to her secretary, take time to be with them, her career didn’t need to impede on her social life, and she was beginning to see that. Out of everything that she’d enjoyed over the last several days, being able to talk to the pink-haired man throughout the day was her favorite new habit, it wasn’t nearly as nice as waking up to kisses and his aquamarine pools staring into her soul, but it got her through the day. The past few mornings had all been the same, once she was awake enough to process everything going on around her, she’d grab her phone to find a text waiting for her, a simple good morning with any one of his regular nicknames for her, today had been babydoll. She’d send him one in return and usually by the time that she made it to the kitchen to start her morning pot of coffee, her phone would be buzzing with an incoming call from him, where she’d spend the next ten minutes talking to him while she went about her morning routine. They’d text throughout the day when each of them had a free moment, he’d always let her know when his workday was over and she’d do the same, the second that she let him know that she’d made it home, her phone would be buzzing with an incoming call from him. They’d spend the rest of the evening on the phone together up until she had to get ready for bed, she didn’t know how they never ran out of things to talk about, and she didn’t think she’d ever get tired of hearing his voice.

“I know you all don’t agree but regardless, it’s what’s happening.” Yuki spoke, her voice nonnegotiable; she wasn’t going to change her mind about this, she knew her staff wouldn’t be resentful towards her, and they were only saying the things they were because they cared. “Hara, you’ll be in charge when I’m gone, hold things together for me.”

“Yes ma’am.” Raiden agreed professionally.

The white-headed woman nodded in approval, this was how it had to be until she wrapped this case up and that wouldn’t be a thing for the next several weeks, if not months; they’d have to get used to her leaving at the drop of a hat, as well as the idea of Shimizu showing up unannounced. With that out of the way, the workday was at an end, and she was more than ready to go, she sent a quick text to the pinkette before she began the journey home.

‘What a day.’

A heavy sigh left her as she locked up the door behind her and slipped off her shoes, placing her purse and keys on the side table before making her way down the hall to her bedroom, her thumbs tapping away at her phone, another text to let him know that she’d made it home. She’d originally thought that she was going to have to try her absolute hardest not to stay at the clinic in the way she had been before, but it wasn’t nearly as difficult as she’d expected it to be since she had Haruchiyo waiting to talk to her after work; she couldn’t remember just how many days it’d been since she’d worked on her thesis.

‘It doesn’t have to be done before the next conference, it needs to be thorough and perfect, that takes time, research, I can’t overwork myself the way I was before.’

It was what she’d been telling herself to feel better about not working on it, she’d dedicated years to that research and had run herself entirely ragged trying to finish it whilst balancing the outrageous workload she’d taken upon herself. So many people had told her over the years that she took on too much and she hadn’t seen that until she took a step back, she’d done so solely for the selfish reason of wanting to dedicate time to Haruchiyo and it’d honestly been the best thing she could’ve done for herself, she was starting to get rest for the first time in ages; she never would’ve made it to this point as soon as she had without him coming into her life. Their way of meeting hadn’t been anything close to normal, but it didn’t have to be, it was their normal, she didn’t feel any oddness about it regardless of the undeniable fact that other people would. She didn’t have to guess to know that her friends wouldn’t be happy with her, nor would her staff, Gran would’ve been rolling in her grave over it and although she knew that she should’ve been looking at things from a logical approach, she was finding it impossible to turn off her feelings long enough to hear it.

Her lavender eyes lit up when she heard the violent buzzing of her phone, bolting across the floor of her bedroom to it without a second thought and snatched it up, tapping the screen without so much as a glance and put the phone to her ear.

“Haru.” She spoke; a shy smile formed on her lips when the soft chuckle filled her ear, her free hand tucking a lock of white behind her ear.

“Hi princess.” He greeted; warmth was building on her cheeks solely from the endearing nickname, she’d never imagined something so simple could make her day. “What are you doing?”

“I…” she paused, rethinking her response; she’d been right in the middle of changing her clothes when he called, only dressed in her panties in bralette, she certainly wasn’t going to say anything about that. “Nothing much, have some laundry I need to get done. What about you?”

“Nothing much.” He repeated playfully, her face burned hotter in response; he reminded her of a child in the way that he always sounded like he was doing something sneaky when he got that tone with her. “Been thinking about you all day, pretty girl.”

“Me too.” She agreed; he circled her thoughts ninety percent of the time, and she didn’t know how she managed to do her work when almost all she thought about was him. “How was work?”

“Dreadfully boring.” Haruchiyo said easily, she giggled quietly; she still wasn’t sure what business he worked for or ran but it sounded like it was an office job, he never was interested in talking about his day and preferred to hear about hers. “Doing what I can to get caught up, how were things at the clinic angel?”

“Mostly good, I’m seeing improvement with some of my high priority patients.” She responded cheerfully; she took a few steps across the floor until she reached her dresser, resuming the task of rummaging through it for her comfy clothes.

“And the not so good part?” he questioned, sounding interested.

“It um…it’s not that it wasn’t good.” She hesitated, unsure of how to put it; she didn’t want him to think that any part of her day had been bad, it was simply that staff meeting that had her feeling slightly uneasy.

“Babydoll?”

“I called a staff meeting.” Yuki explained; he wasn’t going to drop it until she gave him all the details and she knew as much. “Everyone wasn’t very happy with the news; about that case I’m working with Shimizu.”

“I see.” He mused, his voice thoughtful.

“They don’t like him either.” She followed up, stating the facts. “Everyone knows what a dirtbag he is.”

“So, your staff is unhappy that you chose to work with him, and they expressed as much during the meeting today.” He gathered; she hummed quietly in agreement. “Anyone in particular?”

“Midori-san.” She said easily; the woman was protective of quite literally all of them. “They just need some time to digest it, I already knew that they wouldn’t be thrilled.”

“Sounds like you need a less argumentative staff.” Haruchiyo noted, his tone expressing displeasure; her eyes rolled, he was just as defensive as the latter. “Better start posting jobs.”

“No way.” She disagreed, the smallest traces of stubbornness in her voice. “Hara’s my top nurse practitioner, I’d never get a day off if I didn’t have him and Sohma’s the best RN I’ve got, couldn’t get by without her. They’ll get over it relatively quickly.”

“They’d better, I’d hate to have to make them disappear since they’re so valuable to you.” He retorted, his voice dead serious; she could’ve rolled her eyes again, he was regularly saying things like that.

“It’s not a big deal.” She spoke gently; as annoying as his defensiveness could be, it made her smile knowing just how protective he felt of both her and her happiness. “Thank you for caring so much, Haru.”

“Of course, princess; you’re a delicate thing.” He commented, his voice lightly teasing; warmth was building on her cheeks all over again, her eyes lowering shyly. “Someone has to watch out for your best interests pretty girl.”

The woman had thought it time and time again, tomorrow would be three weeks since they’d met and it felt like she’d known him for a lifetime, if such a thing as soulmates existed, he was hers.

Chapter Text

“That’s the model I want.”

“We have newer options-”

“I don’t give a shit; I want that one.”

“Yes sir.”

Bonten’s number two could’ve snapped the moron’s neck a thousand times over, he only had so much time to get shit done before he lost his window, and he didn’t have the spare seconds to argue over not wanting the newest model; there was a reason for everything he did as of late. The manager had been every bit of shocked when he’d strolled in the shop down to the second that it opened, paired with the fact that he’d been there just a few days prior had clearly thrown the man for a loop and as much as Sanzu normally would’ve enjoyed something such as that, he did not have the time for it today.

“None of this shit shows up on the bill, identical to the last one. Is that clear?” he pressed irritably; the middle-aged man nodded with so much enthusiasm that he resembled a bobblehead.

“I’ll make it happen Sanzu-san, I swear.”

The pink-haired man threw a threatening glare towards the store manager, he’d better make it happen or he’d rip his teeth from his mouth one by one, there couldn’t be not a single cent difference. He snatched the box out of his hand without a word, not even bothering to count out the bills as he tossed a ministack onto the counter and strode out of the building to his car. At most, he had a single hour so he had to get with the program, he didn’t have the spare time to dillydally around when he wouldn’t get another chance until next week and he certainly wasn’t going to wait that long. He didn’t have to so much as think about where he was going, taking each turn on autopilot, few cars traveling the roads of the residential areas which was all the better for him since he didn’t have traffic slowing him down. It took practically no time to make it to his destination, slowing down just enough as he passed to observe the area for any signs of life and from what he could tell, not a single light was on. With his car safely tucked away on a side street and hidden out of sight from every side of the building, it was time to get things started. He inserted the key into the lock, slowly turning it to keep noise to a minimum and could’ve grinned when the quiet click filled his ears, success.

‘There we go.’

He’d already known that the key would work even without testing this door beforehand, he’d made a point to get a mold of every one on the keyring, he had what he needed to unlock every single door from the front exit to the back and even access to the other building should he ever need to go there. Sanzu locked up the door behind him upon making it inside, keeping his ears open for any signs of life and aside from the quiet ticks of the clock, it was as silent as the grave, just as he’d hoped it would be. As impolite as it was not to remove his shoes paired with how much it would help him keep noise to a minimum, he could always wind up in a situation where he had to bolt and should that be the case, he couldn’t leave anything behind to implicate himself. He’d have to be cautious with his steps, he’d memorized almost every spot on the floor that creaked and squeaked under weight, learned the best path to walk to avoid all those places. The lack of light wasn’t much of an obstacle after how many times he’d been forced to act in a life-or-death situation with zero visibility, this was a piece of cake compared to those moments and would take no time at all so long as nothing unexpected happened.

He kept his footsteps light while he made his way across the floor, avoiding the creaking floorboards and passing by door after door until he made it to his destination, warily glancing around the frame into the room. He could’ve breathed a sigh of relief had he remembered how to breathe, his aquamarine orbs glued to that familiar blanket of snow, inching his way across the floor in the direction of the sleeping woman, silently reminding himself of the mission he’d taken upon himself that he need accomplish today. The closer he got, the more difficult it was to hold his composure, it was just how it’d been during his time sleeping next to Yuki, the woman lying on the right side of the bed on her belly, strands of white splayed over the arm supporting her head and the shorter strands framing her heart shaped face, pink lips parted to release soft breathes. It took every bit of his willpower to keep his distance from her, she always looked breathtaking, but it seemed to have hit him that much harder after going days without seeing her in the flesh; it almost felt as though years had passed since he’d last seen her and at the same time, only seconds. He wasn’t so sure he had it in him to do this again any time soon, his resolve to keep his hands to himself was hanging by a thread after what he’d witnessed the night before and sabotaging himself before he’d made the progress that he needed wasn’t an option.

With a fair amount of talking himself into it, the executive managed to pull his eyes away from his princess, zeroing in on the nightstand and locking onto the phone; this would take a few long minutes, so he had to start the process now, get it done while she was still fast asleep. He carefully picked up the device without making a sound, simultaneously slipping another from his pocket, his gaze bouncing between the two, trying and unable to spot a single difference between them from any angle; she hadn’t so much as scratched her phone and it practically looked brand new, she wouldn’t be able to differentiate between them. All he had to do was transfer everything from her old phone to the new one he’d purchased and swap them before she woke up then once he had, he’d know where she was at all times of day and night. He’d never have to wonder what she was doing in the moments he wasn’t near and could follow her movements with total ease, he had everything he could ever need to keep an eye on her and all of it was top of the line. Not only would he have her location via the phone, but he’d already synced a GPS tracker with his phone, all he had to do was hide it somewhere on/in her car; he’d always be able to find her.

The pinkette had been sure the first action he took would’ve been enough to satisfy him, it’d circled his thoughts even before he’d left her home and he hadn’t had any second thoughts about following through, going over everything he would need numerous times to make sure he didn’t forget anything and could get it all done in one go. His first day back with Bonten were hours of getting caught up on the things he’d missed, afterwards he was reaching out to some of their best guys to track down the scum that had given them the slip, filling the rest of his day up with checking on some of the businesses he was over. Hours had gone by before he was in a position where he knew his body couldn’t take anymore and was forced to call it a day to avoid overdoing it, but not before he went shopping. It took longer to get to the shop than it did to purchase everything he needed, as he’d anticipated, the manager had almost tripped over his own feet to greet him when he’d walked through the door and had bolted around the store to collect everything he wanted. A few thousand for quality and quantity that was well worth the investment, he went home that night with the intention of doing a pre-setup and testing everything to make sure it worked, simultaneously talking to his oblivious babydoll as he did so.

The following day was a little more difficult, mostly everything was finished but not all of it, and he was in a position where he had no choice but to find a way to get what he needed to follow through with his plans. He was aware that it was going to be a pain and although he had everything that he needed to make progress, he would be stuck waiting around until time was on his side, unable to move forward without sabotaging himself if he jumped the gun; he had no choice but to be patient until the right moment presented itself. It was still early when he made it, scoping out all sides of the building until he found the location of his pretty little doctor’s office, there hadn’t been a single car in the employee parking lot, so he’d gotten lucky with that. Sanzu made quick work of opening one of the windows of the room, managing to unlock it without breaking the glass since he had the correct tools to do so without problem and slipped inside her office, shutting the window behind him. He didn’t have very many options for places to conceal himself inside the room, so he’d taken to quickly exploring the rooms in the same hallway upon checking his phone for the time, he had hardly five minutes and by the skin of his teeth, found a hiding spot before the staff began piling in.

As he’d anticipated, it was absolutely a pain in his ass and time was going by at a crawl during the first hour he was stuck waiting around to make his move. The females in the clinic gossiping and yammering their jaws about everything, quite literally everything; he was about ready to jam whatever he could find into his ears and rupture his eardrums. Around the time that he was seriously debating on slitting every one of their throats, the clinic was open for business and most of them dispersed to begin their day, but not all. Two women stayed behind and were joined by three men seconds later, he couldn’t see anything going on, but he heard the different voices, none of which mattered when the words were spoken.

“Doctor Ikeda, good morning.”

“Good morning.”

His sweet angel made her appearance, and he was stuck fighting against the urge to keep himself hidden when he wanted nothing more than to look at her after going a whole day without seeing that pink blush on her cheeks and the shyness in her lavender pools; he didn’t know how he succeeded in keeping himself rooted to the spot. The next five minutes drug by slower than that hour he’d been stuck listening to the damn women in the building, reveling in the sound of her pretty voice as she touched base with the five people that he learned were her nurse practitioners, going over the patients they’d be seeing that day, listing off the surnames of the high priority patients and which person she wanted to accompany her for each of those appointments. Much to his displeasure, he didn’t even get the opportunity to take a quick peek at her before she head off to her first appointment of the morning, the small group trailing behind her and entirely blocking off his line of sight, a slew of silent curses filling his head. Her day itself sounded as though it were going to be a busy one and from what she had told him before about how her days usually went, she wouldn’t be back in her office until the early hours of the afternoon, so he’d have plenty of time to do what he came for.

Another ten minutes of waiting just to ensure the coast was clear before he slipped out of his hiding spot and cautiously made his way back into her office, shutting the door without making a sound. It hadn’t taken no more than a minute to find what he was looking for, refiling through her purse until he came across the keyring, counting a grand total of twenty keys and got to work. Bonten’s number two was thorough, going through the process as meticulously as possible, making a mold of each key one by one with plans to make his own copies later that day; he’d be capable of opening every door of her house, every door of her clinic, the filing cabinets and drawers of her desk in the room, and even have access to her car. He went as far as rummaging through her wallet, taking pictures of everything that could be of value to him, her license, credit and debit cards, the multiple passes for various hospitals. He managed to finish quickly enough, putting everything back in its rightful place before observing every part of the office space, pacing around the floor and studying every angle down to the last detail before settling, planting the cameras where line of sight wasn’t compromised, and he could capture everything that went on from every angle.

Sanzu wasn’t going to let anything ruin what he was building with his pretty girl and in order to intercept anything that could threaten them, he needed to be in the loop when it came to what went on day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second. Yuki was a delicate thing, too fragile to protect herself and much too reserved to stand her ground in the face of danger, she was far too naïve, too trusting, she could be easily overpowered, and there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that there were things that she would see as not being a big deal when they most certainly were an issue. He was going to know every word spoken, whether it was through playing back everything he recorded or watching it all in real time, the video feed was linked to go straight to his phone and could even be viewed from his laptop, set to record as soon as there was movement captured; she wouldn’t so much as blink without him knowing about it. With all of the cameras in place and hidden where they wouldn’t be spotted, he double checked his phone to make sure they were all working, wiped down everywhere he’d touched of his prints before he made his way to the window he’d entered through and slipped out, working quickly to lock it from the outside.

With that taken care of, it was time to start his workday and he made good time, arriving at headquarters well before the other executives so once again, he’d gotten lucky. He could work in peace without interruptions, he wouldn’t be stuck answering questions that he’d rather not, and he could keep his babydoll a secret from all the executives just as he wanted. It took more time than he cared for, twenty molds for twenty keys and not a one of the originals had been labelled in any way so he didn’t know which would open what aside from the car keys he’d made copies of; it was going to be a game of which key goes to what, he’d have to find a way to organize them or a way to differentiate between them. As high of a priority as that was, he had to focus on Bonten business for the upcoming hours and he’d have to wait until later for his personal life, the hours went by quickly with how busy he was until he was in the home stretch, the last matter to attend to falling into the personal category. His office space had been filled with nine men, one of which was Hada, his top guy and the rest were the new recruits he’d wanted, all of whom were practically starstruck from simply being able to breathe the same air as he.

As anticipated, Hada had been thorough with recruitment as he always was and went beyond his expectations, each personnel file he read through was highly detailed, listing everything from basic information to combat experience, levels of expertise with various weapons, all of whom were perfect shots just like he wanted, and body counts higher than fifty. It was the first time in a while that he’d only killed a single one brought to him and that was only because the bastard had been an arrogant fuck, the remaining seven hadn’t even flinched when the shot rang out, the body dropping no sooner did the bullet hit its mark. His expression had been filled with boredom while he rattled off the usual expectations, deeply studying each face with every word he spoke and only seeing raw loyalty staring back at him, not a one of them hesitating to slice off a finger when he ordered it; he's gotten exactly what he wanted. Upon the proof of their dedication, he was able to move forward with what he’d wanted them for. Sanzu was stone-faced upon pulling up what he needed on his laptop, a dull look in his eyes while he went about explaining the details of their employment and simultaneously presenting his pretty little doctor’s picture for all to see.

“This woman belongs to me, as such, I want eyes on her at all times.”

Not a single man pressed for more information than he was willing to give, not only were his instructions and orders explained thoroughly but he didn’t leave any stone unturned, covering quite literally everything to do with his babydoll. Each of the men were assigned their own day as bodyguard to Yuki, he’d cycle out all seven of them regularly to keep her oblivious and during the moments when he was with her, that extra set of eyes wouldn’t be needed which would help keep her in the dark. He made sure they were all aware that the task was covert, that he expected them to stay out of sight and avoid interaction with her unless it was a life-or-death situation, that she was not to find out about being followed on a regular basis. He covered everything down to the smallest of details before sending them on their way, he touched base with Hada about other matters before the workday was at an end and he could be on his way out. The rest of his Tuesday evening was spent on the phone with his pretty girl, listening to her sweet voice and soft giggles while he tested out his newly made keys at her vacant clinic, making note of which unlocked doors and the ones that were useless in that building.

The following day was just as busy for him, he spent the early hours of the morning separating the keys that had worked in her clinic onto their own keyring so he wouldn’t confuse them with the ones that were obviously for her home and keeping an eye on his phone, waiting for the alert with impatience until finally, it came through. He’d been awake for hours long before then, doing everything he could to occupy his time up until it got closer, once he saw her pretty face light up the screen, he was able to make his move and sped down the road without wasting a second. It only took two tries to unlock the backdoor of her home, there were significantly less keys to go through and he already was aware of which two were for her car, meaning that the remaining one was for the front door. The pink-haired man hadn’t been surprised whatsoever to be greeted by the black feline, the cat slinking into the room no sooner did he shut the door behind him, meowing a welcoming and nuzzling against his legs. He hadn’t rushed anything this time, he had hours before she’d be home so he could be especially thorough in his task of planting cameras around her home, he’d need to set some kind of timer for the hours she was at work so they wouldn’t continuously go off because of Kuro’s movement through the house.

Sanzu took his time, studying each room down to the last detail before he’d set up a camera, going room by room slowly, simultaneously checking his phone of each to make sure there wasn’t anything obscuring his line of sight. A camera in the kitchen, one in the living room, another in the unused dining room, one in each hallway, one in the laundry room, another positioned at her front door, one to watch her back porch, one in that empty guest room, one in the basement, there was another unused bedroom that housed all of her grandparents belongings but as it were, the door itself was locked and he didn’t have access to the key that unlocked it. The remaining cameras went in her bedroom, he was particular about the placement of those, putting one up just to reposition it a dozen times until he was content with the shot it gave him before moving on to the next, repeating the same process with each. It was hours of work since he was being so nitpicky about it, but it would be well worth it when he could both hear and see his princess without being right next to her, he was going to enjoy being able to watch her whilst talking to her over the phone like they’d done since she’d called him the first time upon receiving the flower arrangement.

The pinkette did a quick round of cycling through all the cameras in both her home and her clinic, all of which were running just as programmed, he’d have something to look forward to every day when he had a free moment. From what he knew of her, her routine was consistent, only going to work and going home at the end of her day, her trips to an orphanage for charity work that she did. She’d be going out with her friends after work to get dinner for what was the first time in months, so he didn’t expect her to be home for very long if she came home at all, it was possible she’d go straight to the restaurant but that wasn’t worrisome to him, one of his new guys had eyes on her and he’d be getting a report regardless of what her day entailed. He’d been readying himself to leave up until the thought came forth, and he didn’t know how it hadn’t crossed his mind before after the way his pretty little doctor had driven him to the brink of sanity during the days that they’d been sharing a bed; he deserved something after being unable to indulge in her.

He'd gone to headquarters after his little treasure hunt to knock out as much work as possible since he wouldn’t hear from his sweet angel until after she had dinner with her friends, fingering the flimsy white lace tucked away in his pocket every time she appeared in his mind as he went about his day. He got a text when her day came to an end, letting him know she was meeting her friends for dinner, and she’d text him when she was on her way home later; she’d gotten ahold of him around nine that night and they’d only talked for an hour before she insisted that she had to get ready for bed, he’d spent a majority of hours just watching her sleep until he himself passed out. Thursday had been the slowest day since he’d returned, he’d spent a good chunk of Wednesday evening catching up on shit, so he didn’t have much of anything to do in the office, he still wasn’t healed nearly enough to go out on jobs with Mikey and Kakucho had taken up the responsibility of being the king’s shadow until he was at a solid spot. It was a snooze fest of sorts and he wound up getting stuck listening to Koko go on about the damn Gala again for the whole fucking day, he was going to strangle the treasurer if he had to hear about the shit again.

The executive had never been more relieved to go the fuck home after how dull the day had been, he’d received a text from his pretty girl halfway through the drive to his penthouse that she was leaving work and once he settled in, he went ahead with pulling up the video feed of her home on his laptop, linking it to his television. Sanzu had gone through his normal routine, grabbing a bottle of whiskey to sip on and a few of his handguns to maintenance during the phone call, he’d barely settled on the couch with everything before his eyes lit up at the sight and playing around with his guns was the last thing on his mind. He didn’t think he’d ever typed so fast, wiping the screen of all the cameras aside from the ones in her bedroom, his gaze bouncing between the four briefly before finding the closest one, filling the television screen with the real time video feed. His eyes were glued to HIS perfect princess, roaming over every inch of her exposed skin, dressed only in flimsy lace that hardly covered her and more exposed than he’d ever seen her up until now. Every small dip and curve of her body was flawless, as tiny as she was, she had a perfect hourglass figure and every sweep of his eyes over her form had his slacks growing uncomfortably tight.

He managed to pull himself back down to earth long enough to swipe up his phone and dial her number, watching as she immediately abandoned rummaging through her dresser and shot across the room to her own phone to answer his call, her lavender eyes shining and a shy smile playing on her lips when she heard his voice. The pink-haired male did everything within his power to distract her in hopes to keep her half-naked for as long as possible and it worked, even after she’d found what she had plans to change into, she still made no movement to suggest that she was going to get dressed. He’d had to switch cameras to follow her through the house while she talked to him about her day, watching her start a round of laundry before going to the kitchen and filling the automatic feeder for Kuro before grabbing a bottle of wine for herself. Every move she made was only pushing him closer to the edge in the time they talked, he was painstakingly hard to the point that he made the decision that he’d send for one of his playthings to keep for a night just to get out the pent-up frustration his sweet angel continued building in him. No sooner did they say goodnight and end their call, his thumbs were moving rapidly across the screen of his phone, demanding one of his favorites be at his door within the hour, which was met with an immediate “yes sir” as expected; what wasn’t expected, was turning the whore away no sooner was she knocking.

‘Fucking shit.’

Sanzu had never been more fed up in his life and his frustration only seemed to continue building as the days went by, tomorrow would be three weeks and he was at his wits end, THREE WEEKS. He’d never had to wait so long to have what he wanted, there hadn’t been a time when he’d had to talk himself down from indulging in a woman, not one instance where he needed to be patient more so than anything else and it had to of been why he was about to lose his shit. Cat and mouse may have been his favorite game to play but not when it came to women, he’d been sure he’d be having the time of his life playing with her for the next several months and he was ready to snap after not even three weeks. He didn’t know how in the fuck he was going to make it months when he was at a breaking point before the three-week mark and all it had taken was seeing her dressed in what was essentially a fucking bikini, a lacy bralette and matching panties were what was about to push him over the edge.

“Damn it.” The man cursed irritably, tossing back his drink; he’d been pacing the floor for close to ten minutes since he’d sent the text demanding one of his favorites be sent to him, he’d gotten an immediate response that Azami would be driven to him and now all he had to do was wait. “Fucking tease.”

Yuki may have been his sweet angel, but she absolutely was the definition of a tease whether she knew it or not, regardless of her shy nature and bashful behavior. That day when she’d grinded against his leg like a needy slut, staring up at him with her big doe eyes and silently begging for his cock, her constant pathetic whining meant to push him over the edge, pitiful whimpers and breathy moans over the lightest of touches. She’d been so fucking wet for him that it put porn stars to shame that singular time he touched her and up until she started pleading for him to get her off, he’d been debating on eating her through her panties just to tease her the way she’d teased him for days. He simply could’ve ripped the crotch out with how flimsy they were and been balls deep in her tight little cunt if he would’ve been thinking clearly that day, he wouldn’t be making that mistake again the next time he was in bed with her; there hadn’t been a woman yet that had pushed him in the way that she had without doing hardly anything.

“Fuck me, damn woman.” He seethed, his voice filled with agitation; he certainly wasn’t going to cave to a helpless woman when he was supposed to be the one pulling the strings, the entire game had changed and until she was begging him to fuck her with tears in her pretty eyes then-

‘…fuck.’

Bonten’s number two didn’t know when the hell it had happened, as he’d been forced to mute his television during the time that he was on the phone with his babydoll, not having wanted her to hear her own voice echoing from the speakers because that sure as shit would’ve been impossible to explain. He hadn’t bothered to mess with the sound after their call came to an end, more concerned with getting a woman in route to him with how sexually frustrated he was from seeing his precious babydoll half-naked for the first time and not being able to do jack shit about it. However, the promise of another woman was the last thing on his mind as he stared at the television, his mouth agape for a grand total of five seconds before he pulled himself back to reality long enough to snatch up the remote and press the button to return the sound, her pretty moans filling the silence. Not only hadn’t he expected to see his pretty girl in just her underwear this evening, but he certainly hadn’t anticipated getting a private show and if it wasn’t the best damn thing he’d ever seen; he was so thrown for a loop that he didn’t even register moving back to his seat on the couch, his aquamarine eyes zeroed in on the screen.

“Shit.”

Sanzu had seen plenty of beautiful women over the years but not a one of them compared to his pretty little doctor, no woman had ever captivated him in the way that she did, he’d never wanted something as badly as he wanted her. Yuki was radiant in every sense of the word and everything about her was flawless, her eyes gleaming with innocence, the soft expressions on her face, her gentle voice. She was so damn pure it was sickening but that didn’t do fuck all to turn him off to her, it was probably what made him desire her even more and he wasn’t going to stop until she was his in every single way. He couldn’t help but silently applaud himself for his nitpickiness about the positioning of the cameras because he had the perfect fucking view of her from head to toe; she was still dressed in only her panties and bralette and as annoyed as he wanted to be over not being able to see her in her entirety, beggars couldn’t be choosers. It was just as it’d been that last time he’d touched her, quiet little whimpers and whiny breathes leaving her pink lips, a blush running along her cheeks and over her nose. She was breathtaking, her legs spread open just enough that her hand could fit between them, rubbing her clit through her panties and whining like a bitch in heat, fucking hot.

“Come on angel, show me more.” He spoke absentmindedly; his eyes lit up gleefully and although there was nothing supporting it, he wanted to indulge the thought that she’d heard him, her hand pausing the ministrations just long enough to slip into her panties. “Fuck, that’s my good girl.”

Not being able to see what he wanted didn’t turn him off whatsoever to watching her and the pleasure-filled moan that left her lips was enough for him, his piercing eyes never leaving the screen while he shoved his pants down just enough to free his weeping cock had been unbearably hard for hours. His gaze bounced between her face that was making the most gorgeous expressions to the hand in her panties, timing his strokes to the slow pace she’d set for herself, silently hoping that she’d drag it out so he could get an idea of what would get her going. She wasn’t nearly as hesitant as she’d been during the moment that he’d touched her, but she was still showing signs of uncertainty, pausing her movements out of nowhere and letting out noises of frustration, which left him wondering just how many men had failed to please her since she was struggling to get herself to the point that he had days prior. He almost felt disappointed when she ripped her hand away as though she’d given up, having wanted to see just how radiant she’d look when she finally fell apart, and his cock twitched no sooner did she make to shove her panties down.

“Fuck, come on babydoll.”

He still didn’t get his fucking wish but again, beggars couldn’t be choosers, she’d pushed them down just enough that she was content, her legs barely spreading further but enough that she quite obviously shoved her fingers inside her pretty pussy, a needy moan leaving her lips. Sanzu was ready to lose his mind no sooner did her eyes start glistening with tears, desperate whines coming from her in her need to cum while she rocked her hips with her hand, the other torturing her clit and even without being able to see what he wanted, he still got something that pushed him closer to the edge, pumping his cock with her desperate pace and damn near cumming all over himself the second he heard IT fall from her lips.

“Fuck, fuck. Haru.” Yuki whined, her tone wanton; if he hadn’t been so lost in his lust for her, he would’ve been thoroughly pleased that she was thinking of him, but he was too far gone to think about anything aside from wrecking that tight little cunt of hers.

“God damn princess.” He grunted; he’d never teetered on the edge over something so simple but the way she’d whined for him had almost done him in paired with seeing the fat tears rolling across her fair skin. “Say it again, come on pretty girl.”

“Haru.” The woman moaned, her voice high-pitched and breathy.

She hadn’t even moaned his name like that when he’d touched her and it was clear that she was on the same page as he; there was so much tension between them, she was filled with need for him just as he was for her. She was so damn frustrated that she’d certainly spread her legs for him the first chance they had, whine for him to fuck her and beg for his dick. His head was filled imaginings of just how pretty she’d look choking on his cock, thoughts of how she tasted, of the sounds she’d make when he was the one making her cum, imaginings of sinking every damn inch in her heat and the way her silky walls would squeeze around him. That moan of his name did him in, he couldn’t stop himself that time and came with a slew of curses, his eyes still glued to the screen to see that there had been hardly a second difference between their separate orgasms. Her doe eyes were blown wide, her back arching off the bed and letting out the most sinful moan he’d ever heard, a chorus of curses and his name tumbling from her lips while she fell apart; she was the hottest thing he’d ever seen and this only set it further in stone, he HAD to have her. His chest was heaving as he made attempts to steady his breathing, coming down from the short-lived high, his aquamarine orbs raking over her form as she seemed to be doing the same as he, her soft face flushed and lavender pools glazed over with that hazy “fucked out” type of look.

He could’ve stared at her like that for hours, she was a masterpiece, and he was certainly going to destroy her cute cunt the first chance he had. He shouldn’t have bothered waiting things out, she’d been his from the moment they met and as smart as it was for him to draw out the game, he had to find a way to speed it up without sabotaging himself, lest his lose his mind solely out of need for her. Sanzu just had to continue reminding himself that it would all be worth it, she’d be so hooked on him that she’d never want to leave him and the fact that she was already touching herself to the thought of him was a good sign, continue nurturing what he was building with her and-

His eyes darkened at the sound of the knocks coming from the other side of his door, tossing the stained dress shirt into the floor and begrudgingly tearing his gaze from his princess, stalking across the floor. The pinkette practically ripped the door open, his gaze hardened as he came face to face with the blonde woman, feeling entirely disinterested.

“Hey stranger-”

“Get out of my sight.” He interrupted, his voice harsh; Azami blinked dumbly, looking stunned that he was turning her away, not saying a word while he slammed the door in her face. “Damn slut.”

His jaw locked as he stared down at his phone, grinding his teeth slowly while he watched the woman move around her bedroom, feeling irked to no end over what he was witnessing and as it were, there wasn’t a damn thing that he could do to find out what in the fuck was going on, he couldn’t address it without sabotaging himself.

‘What in the fuck is she doing?’

Bonten’s number two wasn’t stupid, he knew what she was doing, she was putting clothes in a suitcase, but the question was, why was his babydoll packing without bothering to tell him a damn thing that was going on? She’d texted him back as she usually did every morning, completely oblivious that the phone she was using was not the original and he’d been in the process of getting ready to begin his workday up until an alert sounded on his phone about movement in her bedroom well passed the time she’d have already gone to work. He didn’t know why but the sudden urge to check it out had him doing so without skepticism, his brow furrowing no sooner was he faced with the sight of her packing; he didn’t know what was happening, but he had to find out before he exploded in raw rage. There wasn’t a snowball chance in hell that he was going to be able to go to headquarters when something like this had happened, she was going somewhere, and he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to know all the details about her getaway. As reluctant as he was to do so, he closed out the video feed long enough to dial Hada’s number, telling him that he’d need eyes on his princess for another ninety minutes at most before he’d be taking over and to communicate that information to her current bodyguard immediately, his top guy swearing to do just that before the call was ended.

Sanzu needed just enough time to run back to his penthouse, grab a few of his guns and a pre-packed bag for situations like this, he was glad he’d thought to plan ahead with how out of the blue this had been. Regardless of what was going on, he’d be damned if his pretty little doctor went somewhere without his knowledge and he sure as shit wasn’t going to be in the dark for however long her trip was, even if it meant keeping himself at a distance just to watch her once she settled in at wherever the fuck she was going.

‘Not letting her out of my sight.’

Chapter Text

“If he starts shit with you, you best believe I’ll kick his ass.” Kaori grumbled, sounding the furthest thing from content; the white-headed woman sighed heavily, her best friend had been losing her mind the whole time she’d been driving.

“You’ve already said that Kao.” Yuki pointed out, her voice filled with boredom; the redhead’s loud groan echoed from her car speakers for what was probably the fiftieth time since they’d been on the phone.

“And I mean it more every time.” She retorted, her tone irritated; that wasn’t a shock to her, her best friend had about gone off the deep end when their friend group had gotten together for dinner, and she’d been stuck explaining just how often she was going to have to deal with Shimizu until they closed the case. “That prick doesn’t deserve your help.”

“And I’m not doing it for him.” The young doctor said easily; she’d said that same thing at dinner as well when Choyo asked why she was willing to help a man that had done nothing but criticize her for years. “I’m doing it for that little boy.”

“Ugh, I know that.” She moaned dramatically; if she knew then she shouldn’t have bothered asking, the woman wasn’t going to change her mind regardless of her distaste for her unwanted colleague. “You’ve always been a softy when it comes to kids. Not that you aren’t already the biggest pushover in the whole world.”

“Kao-”

“It’s the damn truth babes and you know it.” Kaori interrupted, her voice blunt; it may have been the truth, but she could go the rest of her life without hearing it, she’d always had trouble standing her ground and saying no because confrontation was not her strong suit, she’d constantly had to force herself to hold it together at the conferences. “Love you with all my heart but you couldn’t even yell at someone without crying, ya softy.”

“What’s that have to do with anything?” she complained, a deep pout on her lips.

“Oh, I don’t know.” The redhead mused, her tone thick with sarcasm. “Just that gentle demeanor of yours is what got you into this mess with Shimizu, he knew you wouldn’t say no because it was a kid, that asshole’s gonna try to take all the credit too after you solve this.”

“It’s a shared case.” Yuki stated, her voice matter of fact; getting credit wasn’t important to her whatsoever, saving a life was what mattered and if Shimizu wanted all the credit, he could have it for all she cared…she just couldn’t say that to her best friend, lest the woman blow up on her. “Besides, everyone will know I contributed since he’s had to communicate with the board of directors.”

“I wouldn’t put it passed that guy to-”

“Kaori, please.” The woman pressed, holding her composure; she understood why the woman was defensive and as much as she appreciated it, it wasn’t going to change anything, she’d made up her mind long before now that this was what she was going to do. “I get that you hate him but it’s not about him, it’s about that little boy. I’d work with Shimizu for years if it meant I’d be saving a life, that’s what matters to me.”

The overly dramatic groan did nothing except cause her eyes to roll, she was well aware that Kaori understood where she was coming from and out of everything, she didn’t want her to be taken advantage of or disrespected; she felt that she had to be protective of her because as Akari regularly said, “she was just about as strong as jelly”.

“Fine.” She complained, her voice defeated; a half-smile formed on her lips, she was sure she’d have to repeat the same thing every time she went to Ebisu if she kept her best friend in the loop, she’d have to find a way to avoid this topic of conversation next time. “I’ll stop bitching but that doesn’t mean I like this.”

“Thank you.”

“You know I wouldn’t have to lose my shit if you had a boyfriend to look out for you.” The redhead commented, her voice entirely serious; the doctor could feel warmth building on her cheeks, his aquamarine eyes swimming in her head as they had for days now. “You should try to meet someone since you’ll be out there all the time.”

“For business.” Yuki emphasized, her voice was collected despite the blush on her cheeks; she wished she could talk about Haruchiyo to her best friend but it certainly would be worse than listening to her complaints about Shimizu the moment she explained how the two of them met.

“It won’t be business the whole time.” Kaori argued, her tone suggestive; the white-headed woman bit into her lip, rolling it between her teeth. “Get some drinks at the bar, meet a handsome guy, exchange phone numbers or you can skip that part and just get laid. Drunk sex is great.”

“I’d rather not.” She muttered, her voice on the more reserved side; she didn’t want her first time to be drunk nor with a total stranger, she’d already made up her mind that if things went well with Haruchiyo like she was hoping, that her first time would be with him, hopefully every time after that.

“I know, I know.” She sighed, all melodramatic; the doctor huffed quietly to herself, she didn’t know why Kaori was starting to get pushy when she’d always been the one that defended her choices. “You want it to be special and there’s nothing wrong with that babes; life’s not a fairytale though. If you would’ve told sixteen-year-old me that I wouldn’t be marrying Yasu then I would’ve laughed in your face, dated all through high school only to find out he’d cheated on me the whole time.”

“I’m sorry Kao.” She sympathized, she couldn’t imagine how hard that must’ve been to deal with; the woman giggled quietly, not seeming upset whatsoever.

“He never deserved me to begin with, doesn’t bother me anymore.” The redhead said easily. “Point is, sex is sex. Doesn’t always have to be about love, me and Akito hated each other’s guts, hatefucking.”

Yuki still didn’t understand how that worked; the pair had loathed each other during university, and it’d thrown both their separate friend groups for a loop when they started dating just out of nowhere. Come to find out, they’d been having sex on a regular basis for months before then, how two people could wind up having sex because they didn’t like each other still didn’t make a lick of sense to her; she didn’t have the time to try to understand it either. Getting back on track, she felt good about what she and Haruchiyo were building together, he still hadn’t asked her to be his girlfriend but the way he talked to her certainly implied that she unspokenly was. They were unofficially in a relationship, otherwise he would’ve never sent her flowers or called her every day, texted her good morning messages; he regularly spoke about wanting to see her as soon as he was caught up with his work, she was hoping it would be relatively soon because it was certainly lonely around her home without him. She missed their morning routine together, waking up to him hovered over her and alternating between pressing kisses to her neck and lips, she missed when he would nuzzle up against her back when she was cooking for them, she missed the sound of his footsteps walking through her house; she missed him.

The pinkette was the only thing on her mind as of late, she managed to focus on her work for the most part when she was at the clinic but even then, he was circling her thoughts on an infinite loop. She almost felt like she was going crazy simply from thinking about him, she’d thought about him so much that he’d started regularly appearing in her dreams and he’d been in them the past three nights. She’d caught herself daydreaming about him countless times and just last night she’d gotten so wound-up thinking about him after their phone call that she’d touched herself to the imaginings of him between her legs, his name falling from her lips without her so much as thinking about it, she hadn’t cum so hard in her life until then. He was the only man she wanted to be intimate with and there was zero chance that anyone could ever compare to him, she hadn’t so much as looked at another since he came into her life. He’d been her first everything and she wanted him to be her one and only, as afraid as she was that she was setting herself up for heartbreak, she couldn’t stop herself from indulging in thoughts that were of a hopeless romantic nature. As of right now, she knew that what she was feeling certainly wasn’t love but she felt like he was someone that she could fall in love with, her heart felt safe with him.

‘Wanna call him.’

Yuki hadn’t had the chance to talk to him that morning like she usually did, she’d only managed to text him good morning since she’d woken up later than planned and had to rush to get all her ducks in a row, starting her coffee after getting dressed, bolting around her bedroom to pack her suitcase. Since Tuesday, he’d call her every morning and they’d have their coffee together, short ten-minute conversations to start their day with one another, he’d omitted calling her when she mentioned she’d woken up late because she had to of snoozed her alarm in her sleep; her whole day felt thrown off because of it. Once she made it to Ebisu, she’d have to stop in at the hospital where Shimizu worked so they could touch base about their case, how they were going to move forward when it came to the patient, how often they would be working side by side; they wouldn’t be doing anything today except getting on the same page. After all those tedious things were out of the way, she’d be on the hunt for a hotel to stay at for the weekend and after she got settled in at whichever she chose, she had plans to update Haruchiyo about what she’d be doing over the weekend so long as he wasn’t busy with work.

The white-headed woman was dreading how often she’d be dealing with her unwanted partner, she already expected most of her weekends to be spent in Ebisu unless the pair of them worked out a way to work together in the middle of the week. As it were, Shimizu had clinicals regularly like most of the doctors in the hospital where he worked so unless he was able to find a way to work around that, she doubted they’d be meeting up during the week. She was going to be running herself ragged if she wasn’t careful, working seven days a week if she spent the whole weekend focusing on the case and she’d wind up having to adjust her schedule at the clinic, so she didn’t overdo it in the way that she’d been before. She didn’t want that to happen anymore, she’d had such a bad habit with overworking herself and taking on too much, she’d always been obsessive with it because she hadn’t had anything else going on in her life; she’d been married to her work. Since she and Haruchiyo were clearly seeing each other, she had to find a way to balance her time between her work and him since she absolutely wanted to pursue something real with him.

As much as she wanted to do just that, she didn’t know where to even begin with it since she had zero experience and she’d already worried countless times that she wasn’t doing anything right, afraid of making a fool of herself or coming off as desperate. She didn’t know what would be considered too much or trying too hard, what would make her come off as disinterested or aloof, every relationship was different but if she had the basics then that would’ve been incredibly helpful to her since she didn’t know what she needed to be doing this early in. She knew a decent amount from listening to her friends speak about their boyfriends and men they’d dated over the years, enough that she could get by without too much trouble but once things started getting serious, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do. Logically speaking, she knew that things between herself and the pink-haired male had moved on the quicker side, the kissing not so much but there had been more than a few times where things had leaned towards sex, they’d only known each other three weeks and she’d been willing long before now. She felt like she was going in circles in her head, if she could just ask for advice then she wouldn’t feel so lost.

“…we could always go out, club night.”

“Wha?” the woman uttered in confusion.

“Shouldn’t space out while driving babes.” Kaori stated, her voice expressing worry; she rolled her eyes, pulling into the parking lot of the hospital. “All four of us, club night. We’ll find you a guy.”

“You’re sounding like Akari right now.” The white-haired doctor pointed out; she was too, her best friend had never tried to push her into dating or tried to set her up with someone, she didn’t know what the deal was.

“Someone’s gotta push you.” She commented, her tone nonchalant; again, she rolled her eyes, she was pushing her after eight years of friendship just out of the blue. “You won’t try to find yourself someone, so we have to take on the responsibility, plus since we all have experience, we’ll be able to steer you clear of the fuckboys.”

“I’m not really interested.” The doctor confessed honestly; Yuki wasn’t interested, the only man that had her attention was Haruchiyo and he was all she wanted, she would be perfectly content only ever dating one person in her life and that man being her forever, her one and only. “I just…”

“You’re gonna be a virgin forever if you don’t take initiative.” Kaori said bluntly, not bothering with beating around the bush. “What about that one guy that-”

“Kao, I’m at the hospital.” She interrupted skeptically; she certainly didn’t want to hear her best friend to start dropping suggestions or try to convince her into letting Akari set her up on a blind date, she was going to have to figure out a way to deter them long enough that she could come up with some way to explain how she met the pink-haired man. “Gotta go now.”

“Fine, fine.” The redhead sighed, still sounding bound and determined not to drop the subject; they’d be revisiting it sooner rather than later so she had to come up with something before then, something that she could say that wouldn’t necessarily be a lie because she’d never manage to lie to her friends. “Call me if the jackass starts shit, I’ll have Akito drive me to you.”

“I won’t, but thanks. Love you.”

“Love you too babes, bye.”

The woman ended the call, slipping her phone into her purse as she stepped out of the vehicle, locking the door behind her and stowing her keys away with her phone as she leisurely made her way up the pathway to the entrance. She hadn’t been to this hospital in quite some time, she’d done her shadowing time in Ebisu before she started her internship and going to the hospital first was what made her decide she wanted to work in a smaller operation. Hospitals were always go-go-go, there was regularly so much going on that it could be difficult to keep up with, unexpected situations appearing at the drop of a hat, people being rushed out as soon as they could be to clear a bed for the next and she’d learned a good bit during her time there just by listening to both employees and patients alike. The staff felt like they never had a minute to breathe and were constantly overwhelmed by the sheer number of people to care for, patients felt like they were being overlooked and that they weren’t prioritized in the same way as others; there weren’t enough staff to manage everyone and give personalized care. As anticipated, the hospital was busy just as she’d known it would be, the hustle and bustle were entirely different than what went on in her clinic, but she much preferred things being laidback, she was able to be personal with her patients, give them the attention they needed, she could focus on properly caring for them and they didn’t feel like they were just a number.

‘Tenth floor.’

The doctor stared up at the rising numbers, occasionally readjusting where she stood to let people slide passed her as some exited at floors, others stepping into the elevator, she internally breathed a sigh of relief when she stepped out into the hall and away from the cramped space. She could feel multiple sets of eyes on her with every step while she made her way down the hall, Shimizu had already given her thorough instructions on how to reach his office, so she was thankful that she hadn’t needed to stop to get assistance from someone with how busy she could see it was on the tenth floor. The various nurses and other staff members she passed were eyeing her knowingly, which told her they all knew who she was without having ever met her and that positively meant that their boss had informed them of her visit today. She wanted to avoid unnecessary conversation since there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that the man had also talked massive crap about her to all the members of his team and she certainly wasn’t going to do anything that would give him the chance to have ammunition to use against her, she couldn’t be sure what he’d said to them about her so the best course of action was not to say anything unless necessary.

‘Seriously?’

She didn’t know why she was surprised; the man had such an enormous ego that it was a wonder his head didn’t match, who went out of their way to list all their areas of expertise on the door to their office? She could’ve scoffed but managed to refrain, knocking lightly at the door whilst silently gathering herself for what surely was going to be a pain in the butt conversation that would last much too long. She slapped on a polite smile when the door opened up, craning her neck back just enough to meet his azure eyes, easily recognizing just how fake his own smile was at the sight of her; they were on the same page, they still couldn’t stand each other.

“Doctor Ikeda, it’s a pleasure to see you again.” Shimizu greeted, sounding far too friendly for it to be genuine; it’d be an even greater pleasure when they didn’t have to deal with each other again on a regular basis and only at the conferences once every six months.

“Doctor Shimizu, the pleasure’s all mine.” She spoke, mimicking his tone without trouble; he was just the same as he was the last time they’d seen each other, his dark hair falling around his shoulders perfectly and his handsome face enough to make any woman swoon, except her. “Thank you so much for your invitation.”

“Oh no, thank you for accepting.” He rebuffed pleasantly; she could’ve bounced her head off the closest wall, she’d dealt herself this hand and was going to be stuck dealing with it until the case was solved. “I’ll admit, I was nervous to reach out to you after our…disagreement at the last conference.”

‘Dirtbag.’

“All water under the bridge.” She assured, her tone friendly.

“Please.” He urged courteously with a welcoming wave of his hand, sidestepping to allow her entry; she nodded a thanks, stepping over the threshold into his private space, observing everything in line of sight with disinterest. “Again, I sincerely thank you for agreeing. I wasn’t sure who else to contact that would have a chance at helping me crack this.”

“How could I say no when a child’s life is hanging in the balance?” she mused, her voice wistful; she didn’t know what would make it easier for them to work together, this fake friendliness they were doing or just admitting they couldn’t stand one another. “Seems that you were thinking along the same lines.”

“I was.” The dark-haired man agreed, his own voice solemn; he shut the door of the office while she made her way across the floor, taking a seat on the leather sofa in the room, it seemed he’d been occupying the space considering the table before it was covered in everything from lab tests to notes. “After finding out the last four teams came out emptyhanded, I tried running my own tests, none of which amounted to anything. I knew I couldn’t do it alone and as a specialist, there’s things you know to look for that would never cross my mind.”

“So, there’s been no changes from the results you sent me?” she pressed, her expression filled with composure; he nodded in agreement, sinking down on the clear opposite end of the couch and picking up a few of the papers, offering them to her.

“I had these done since we last spoke if you’d like to take a look.”

“Of course, thank you.”

Yuki may not have cared for the man, but she had to give credit where it was due, he was a good doctor and thorough in what he did, he did care about his patients regardless of how big his ego was. She needed to continue to remind herself that personal feelings couldn’t be mingled with work, she couldn’t let her distaste for him keep her from doing the right thing and although he’d reached out to her solely because he hadn’t had another choice, he’d still taken the high road. She had to do this, leave her bias and distaste at the door and not let it affect her work, let sleeping dogs lie and be the bigger person as her Gran would say; as she’d told all her friends and staff, she was doing this to help save a little boy. Thankfully, Shimizu was on the same page for the time-being and their first get-together ran smoothly, even with the pair of them faking the pleasantries and such. He was kind enough to make copies for her to take with her of all the newest information relevant to their case, give her a tour of the tenth floor and show her where they’d be frequenting their time together, and introduced her to the top members of his staff that he’d put together to be their support (all of whom were much too polite so she knew he’d positively talked smack about her).

As expected, they’d had a time trying to work out a schedule that could accommodate their separate lives and regular workdays, after much deliberation and effort, they managed to figure out something that worked for the both of them and everything was finalized by the director of the hospital. Starting with this week, she’d gone to Ebisu on Friday and would work through the weekend, the hospital would compensate her for those days which would give her the opportunity to take Monday and Tuesday off at her own clinic and Shimizu would be taking those same days off, so they stayed on the same schedule. The pair of them would work at their separate establishments Wednesday and Thursday, she’d go to Ebisu on Friday and the cycle would repeat itself week by week, which left her nurse practitioners all but running the clinic in her absence three days out of five; she felt guilty that they’d have to pick up her slack. Her three days in the hospital would start at eight in the morning and go until five in the evening, their patient was hospital bound and as unfortunate as it was, it helped them tremendously when it came to the countless number of tests they would have to run and the various things they would have to do on a regular basis. With their patient being bound to the hospital, it meant that she was the one making all the trips, doing all the driving and being in an area she hardly knew whatsoever.

Shimizu had offered to pay for her hotel expenses week by week, but she’d declined as politely as possible, not wanting to owe anything to the man and to prove that she didn’t need his help without coming off passive aggressively; she’d had a hard enough time maintaining their dance of being civil with one another. Their day had been a long one and afterwards, she’d bounced from hotel to hotel, trying to find somewhere to stay for the weekend that wasn’t sold out, she should’ve thought to make her reservation in advance. The doctor didn’t have too many options left at this point, she hadn’t been concerned with staying at a high-end hotel but those were the only alternative since she’d neglected to reserve a room at any of the others in the area, if any of them weren’t sold out that is. With how things were looking, she wasn’t going to get lucky without being forced to spend an arm and a leg seeing as this was the eleventh one that she’d stopped at, she was exhausted and just wanted a glass of wine.

“We have a few rooms the housekeepers are working on tidying up.” The lady at the front desk spoke, her gaze focused on the computer screen to check soon to be available rooms; she breathed an internal sigh of relief, she didn’t care how long she had to wait if it meant that she wouldn’t have to drive anywhere else. “They’re on the more expensive side though.”

“I’m not worried about that.” The white-haired woman replied easily, nodding once in affirmation; she was mentally drained after having dealt with Shimizu for so long, the rest of her day was going to be a combination of relaxing and looking over her documents. “I’m happy to wait.”

“Very well, you’re welcome to wait in our restaurant or lobby until one’s available, should only be an hour at most and we can get all your information then.” The other assured.

“Thank you.”

The doctor didn’t hesitate to make her way to the hotel’s restaurant with full intent to sip on a glass (or bottle) of wine after the day she’d had, she had plenty to look over concerning the case and with all the new information she had, she’d be capable of adjusting her various hypotheses. She wanted to be at the top of her game for tomorrow since it would officially be day one of their partnership, today had solely been working out all the details and the like. She needed to prepare herself since she’d be meeting the patient and family some time tomorrow, both parents would be present during the hours they were running tests and reviewing results, there would be transparent communication between the four of them with the child’s best interest in mind. She knew just how hard it could be to make the tough calls as she herself had gone through it with her grandmother, it would help her be relatable in the event the parents struggled to make decisions and needed advice; she was preparing for this to be the migraine of a lifetime for her.

The restaurant space itself was a little more crowded than she’d thought it would be considering it wasn’t even four, she wasn’t too concerned with food until she’d gotten herself settled into a room, so she took a seat at the bar, ordering a glass of wine for herself while she pulled some files from her bag. She sighed inaudibly, one hand flipping through the new documents as she read, the other gingerly holding the wine glass while she racked her brain of the various moves she’d have to make relatively soon. There were plenty of her own tests that she needed to run, none of which were obvious to Shimizu, and all were part of the realm of rare diseases, it could have been genetic or come from an infection; she’d have to focus on finding that out first before she could begin work on figuring out anything else. The woman was so focused on reading through the information that she didn’t even register the multiple conversations going on within the space fading off, but even that didn’t pull her out of her head, her brain going a million miles a minute while she went through everything that she’d learned in the minutes she’d been updating herself.

‘Have to have bloodwork done to find an answer for why his…’

Yuki blinked dumbly upon realizing that a warm hand had met the curve of her waist, her head immediately swiveling to look back over her shoulder and her lavender orbs lit up at the sight, warmth building on her cheeks as the pink blush darkened her face, her gaze finding aquamarine without pause.

“Haru.” She spoke softly, her expression instantly swapping from surprised to thrilled beyond measure.

She was astounded to see him in Ebisu, let alone at the same hotel as she planned on staying at and as leftfield as it was that they’d run into each other without making plans to do so, her head had quickly gone to that place of everything happening for a reason, they’d been meant to see each other on this day. It hadn’t even been a week since he’d left her home, the last time she’d seen him having been Sunday night when they’d gone to bed, so it’d only been a handful of days and she was surprised at how much better he looked in just a few days’ time. His color looked better and even the way he was carrying himself proved that he wasn’t struggling, especially with his pupils being normal sized so he may not have been using the narcotics any longer. He was dressed similarly to how he’d been when they met (minus the blood stains), black slacks and a white dress shirt, the sleeves rolled up enough to expose his forearms, his long rosy locks hanging well below his shoulders but not touching his elbows and those aquamarine pools of his were staring into the depths of her soul just like always. Her heart was all but fluttering over the pretty smile on his face, threatening to leap from her chest when his free hand moved to brush strands of white behind her ear.

“Hi pretty girl.” Haruchiyo greeted, his tone endearing; she wasn’t dreaming, he was actually there with her and as shocked as she was from how out of the blue this was, she couldn’t have been happier to see him.

“I missed you.” She replied softly without so much as thinking about her words; she didn’t feel any anxiousness filling her over the admission, the way he was looking at her told her that he felt just the same way as she and he’d always been transparent about the feelings he was developing for her.

“Me too babydoll.” He agreed, his voice earnest; she could’ve giggled like a schoolgirl when he leaned in close and pressed a singular kiss to her forehead, opting to swivel around in her seat until she could snuggle up against him, moving her arms around his middle in a hug. “What’re you doing in Ebisu, angel?”

“Working.” She responded easily, nuzzling her cheek against his shirt; his hand slid from her waist and wrapped around her back to hold her, the free one moving to pet her hair. “The case I told you about.”

“Ah, that was this week.” He mused with understanding, she nodded lightly. “You didn’t mention which hospital you’d be working at so this was a nice surprise.”

“Yeah, I’ll be up here every weekend.” The white-headed woman explained, her tone gentle; she felt like she was on cloud nine right now, her day had started out as a mess but that was the furthest thing from her mind now, she couldn’t have asked for something better. “What are you doing here Haruchiyo?”

“I have regular business meetings in the area.” He replied, sounding disinterested; she should’ve expected as much, he didn’t care to talk about his work and it made sense why with an explanation like that, he had to of had quite a bit to get caught up on, he’d even said in his letter to her that his profession would make it difficult to see each other so it was no wonder he didn’t tell her much about his days. “Finally done for the day, had just finished checking in when I saw you.”

“You stay over the weekend.” She guessed; he hummed quietly in agreement, squeezing around her affectionately.

“If I had known you’d be working here then I would’ve suggested we drive together. Shared a room.” He followed up nonchalantly; she craned her neck back just in time to see his eyes flick to the suitcase near her feet, quickly finding her gaze again. “Have you not checked in yet babydoll?”

“I um…didn’t reserve anything.” She confessed bashfully, tucking her face into his shirt to hide her embarrassment over not preparing better. “Waiting for a room.”

“Would it be presumptuous of me to say that you’ll stay with me then?” he questioned, sounding teasing; her face flushed hotter, her mind already conjuring up a number of scenarios that were bound to happen if he was in as good of spot as he appeared to be, he’d healed further since the last time they were together.

“I-I couldn’t.” she began skeptically, timidly meeting his stare; not only didn’t she want him to feel obligated to share a room with her, but she certainly didn’t want to impose since he’d anticipated having private time for himself, she doubted he’d had much at all between work and his friends/family. “I don’t want you to feel-”

“Princess.” The pink-haired male hushed; she shut her mouth instantly, not bothering to finish her sentence with the tone he’d used towards her, all but implying he wasn’t going to give her the option to argue with him. “As often as I’ve told you that I missed you, you can’t expect me to pass up on an opportunity to sleep next to you again.”

She shifted in his hold shyly, the pink on her cheeks darkening in response and squeezed around his middle, nodding lightly in agreement; she herself hadn’t wanted to pass up on the opportunity either, she hadn’t slept nearly as well without him next to her for the past several nights. Her heart was skipping all over again when another smile formed on his lips, looking pleased that she hadn’t tried to argue against it.

“O-okay.” She murmured. “I um, my paperwork.”

He understood what she was trying to say without a in depth explanation, releasing his hold on her long enough for her to stow the folders away and gather up her things, only to slip his arm back around her waist as he guided her out of the restaurant in the direction of the elevators. The woman couldn’t count the number of times her heart squeezed during the walk as she gazed up at him practically lovestruck, talking to him about what her day had consisted of and answering his questions about it, unaware of just how many stares the pair of them were on the receiving end of. The young doctor may not have known who he was and although she wouldn’t be finding that out for a time, she’d get a glimpse.

Chapter Text

‘Professionalism, maintain professionalism.’

Yuki could’ve grumbled in displeasure but managed to refrain, her lavender orbs focused on staring out the window of the vehicle, she should’ve anticipated that being alone with the man outside of a professional setting would be the furthest thing from comfortable; the last fifteen minutes had been the most awkward of her life. Every bit of it could’ve been avoided had Haruchiyo let her drive herself to the hospital that morning, but he’d insisted on doing so himself, saying that he would text her as soon as he was finished up with his own work so he could pick her up when her workday was over. Needless to say, he hadn’t done so just yet and her day had come to an end quicker than expected, there was still only so much that could be done each day with how young her patient was, only so much blood that could be drawn for lab tests which led to only being able to accomplish a little at a time; she should’ve already known that most of the hours she’d be working in the beginning would be researching per each result she got. She had some new information, and she could review that at the hotel, she was getting a guaranteed thirty hours of pay the for the weekends she’d spend in Ebisu even when she wasn’t in the hospital; she didn’t want to be around Shimizu and his uppity staff any more than necessary after how snobbishly they’d behaved during the mini meeting the team had.

‘Beat him with a pillow for this.’

She positively wanted to do just that to the pink-haired man for coercing her with his seduction tactics when he went about insisting that he drive her and that he wanted to see the hospital she was working at, she’d folded too quickly which was what had put her in this situation. As nice as it had been to be dropped off by her…

‘Boyfriend?’

She wasn’t sure what to refer to him as, they were obviously in some kind of unofficial relationship regardless of there being a lack of a verbal agreement between them, they’d both been able to just tell that the other wanted the same and pressing for a title wasn’t terribly important right now; he wanted her and she wanted him, that was all she needed to know.

‘Stubborn man.’

Getting back on track, he was positively the most stubborn man she could’ve imagined dealing with and he’d refused to budge about driving her there when she’d tried to tell him later on that it wasn’t necessary, he’d coerced her into it during their morning routine that she’d been sorely missing since he left her home. The female had been the definition of bashful when she came to enough that she realized what was going on and she wasn’t having some elaborate dream, her lavender pools filled with shyness every time they met his aquamarine ones during the moments that he’d break away from her. His kisses that morning were just as passionate as the night prior, and she’d struggled to keep up with everything going on with how groggy she was, his lips breaking from hers just to pepper love bites along her throat before his mouth would slant over hers all over again; she’d wound up with an overabundance of hickeys again that she’d had to cover up. It’d taken hardly five minutes of him whispering that he wanted to drive her to work so he could spend as much time with her as possible before she caved to what he wanted without a fight, secretly wishing she could skip out just to be with him all day but knowing that she couldn’t do so without a guilty conscious.

The drive to the hospital had been enjoyable, Haruchiyo had told her that he’d be occupied in a meeting for the better part of the day, and he’d send her a text as soon as he was finished with work, for her to do the same when she was finished for the day. She’d practically swooned when he’d kissed her goodbye in the car, not only did it feel entirely natural to do so with him, but it was domestic, meaning that they were absolutely on the path to being in an official relationship. The start of her day had been wonderful up until she made it to the tenth floor and wound up having to deal with Shimizu and his team of suck-ups for the whole of her time there, the only time she’d been genuine during her day was when she’d met the patient and his parents. She’d known from the start that the case itself was real but meeting those involved had made it sink in that much more for her, it was the same for her every time she took on a new patient and just like she’d known from the start, this case was going to be a heavy one for her. The little boy was hardly three years old and that itself pulled at her heartstrings, it was only that much worse when it became clear that the last several months had been a living hell for the family, the mother was six months pregnant with their second child and had been in her first trimester when the nightmare started, the father was running himself ragged trying to hold their family together whilst working on top of everything else.

It was a difficult hand that they’d been dealt, and she’d known from the start of taking on this complex case that she quite literally had a child’s life in her hands, one wrong move could end it, everything from the wrong treatment to taking too much time to find the answers, anything could blow up in her face. She didn’t like admitting it but what Shimizu had said that morning was the raw truth, neither of them would’ve been able to solve this alone and they needed each other; she had to put off her loathing for the man to be successful. As it stood, his team were some of the best minds in the hospital and with all of them putting their heads together, they should be capable of finding answers. She’d never had to go about doing anything like this before, working under a cloud of animosity and figuring out how to navigate it was going to be all about trial and error, she had to find a way to look passed it to keep their work from being negatively impacted.

‘Just let it go in one ear and-’

“Here we are.” Shimizu spoke, his voice cheerful; she slapped on a fake smile as she whipped her head around to look at him, his own friendly expression just as bogus as hers.

‘…ugh.’

The white-headed woman wanted more than anything to chew out Haruchiyo as soon as she saw him for getting her stuck in this mess, but she doubted she’d be ticked off about it by the time he made it back to the hotel, especially since she planned on indulging on a little wine after the rough day she’d had. She’d texted him when it became clear that her workday was coming to an end earlier than expected, trying to give him a heads up in advance, which didn’t amount to anything because she never received a response from him. She assumed he was still in that meeting he’d mentioned to her and if it was as important as it sounded then his phone was on silent so he and the rest of his colleagues could focus on whatever it was they were discussing. When her day was all wrapped up, she sent another text letting him know that she was finished and was going to call a cab to take her back to the hotel, since he obviously wouldn’t be finished for a while she would have enough time to figure out dinner and no sooner had she sent the text, she’d been faced with none other than her least favorite person to deal with. Try as she might to avoid the dark-haired man, she didn’t succeed and that was how she wound up in the passenger seat of his car, forced into playing nice while he drove her back to her hotel like the perfect gentleman he was.

“Thank you so much for driving me.” She repeated her earlier words, trying to keep up with their ridiculous farse of pretending to be on good terms; they never would be, even working together on something so heavy wouldn’t change it and the only reason he’d offered to drive her was because there’d been multiple sets of ears listening. “I so appreciate it, Shimizu-san.”

“It was my pleasure, Ikeda-san.” He mimicked merrily; she internally glared at him, he’d started this at eight in the morning, and she wasn’t going to cave first, it was only day two for crying out loud. “See you tomorrow.”

“I look forward to it.” She responded sweetly, stepping out of the car. “Have a great rest of your day.”

“You as well, Ikeda-san.”

“Goodbye, Shimizu-san.”

It took whatever willpower she had left not to slam the door of his car and she wasn’t entirely sure how she’d succeeded, easing it shut before briskly making her way to the entrance, the phony smile on her face dropping no sooner did she turn away from the dirtbag. She didn’t bother stifling the groan of aggravation, pushing the door open and stepping into the lobby, rummaging through her bag for the keycard Haruchiyo had given her the night before for their room. She was more than ready to soak in a hot bath after the day she’d had and it’d been a challenge the night before not to do so, their room wasn’t even a room, it was a whole suite, and the bathtub was the equivalent of a hot tub. She hadn’t expected to be staying in a presidential and her jaw had almost physically dropped at the sight of it, it was like a miniature house with a kitchenette, living room space, the bathroom was enormous, and the bed they’d shared was more comfortable than her one at home. Her companion hadn’t been fazed whatsoever with how elaborate their private space was, his gaze focused on her the entirety of the time and just as she’d guessed, he had plenty of money to throw around for him not be impressed by their room.

Their evening together had been more wonderful than she could ever put into words and although she certainly should’ve been focusing on her work since this was a business trip, she didn’t feel guilty whatsoever about putting the pink-haired man above it for a single night. They hadn’t left their private space after settling in and just like when they’d been staying in her home the day went one of two ways, he'd been attached to her hip, or she was glued to his side; the longest she’d been away from him was twenty minutes to shower. During the time she was doing so, he’d ordered room service for them that was delivered closer to seven, multiple bottles of top shelf wine along with the over-the-top dinner spread and all of it was set up on the outdoor balcony by the staff. She’d been blown away at the sight of their own little date space, she almost felt ridiculous since she was dressed in a tank-top and sweatpants with her hair thrown up messily in her claw-clip. As it were, her companion was on the same page, his pink locks tied up in a ponytail and dressed in pajama pants and a sleeveless shirt that had the sides ripped open; she hadn’t been able to stop herself from trying to get a glimpse to assess how much he’d healed in the past few days, but luck was not on her side.

Her gaze kept going back to him numerous times throughout their evening together until she finally couldn’t take it anymore, that medical side of her brain paired with light intoxication was in the driver’s seat, and she didn’t even register what she was doing up until she’d already done it. They’d already been in bed when it happened, he’d been searching for a movie for them to watch, she’d already been on her fifth glass of wine, and she’d lost count of how many he’d thrown back, his composure practically the same as before he’d started drinking with her. She’d been tipsy, her head floaty but not at a point of being drunk, she’d had just enough that she felt more relaxed than she had all week, at ease to a point that she hadn’t bothered to think about things deeply as she usually did and she’d just made the move, feeling much too nosy wondering if the stitches had dissolved to consider her actions before following through.

“Give me an idea of what you want.”

“Documentary.” Yuki spoke easily, not hesitating whatsoever; her companion arched an eyebrow, not seeming to understand why she would pick something like that.

“Babydoll.” He began, his voice collected; she paused from refilling her wine glass, her head swiveling back to him. “I’m open to anything you want to watch.”

“I want to watch a documentary.” She repeated, a small smile formed on her lips. “I like them.”

“Uh huh.” He mused, sounding skeptical. “What kind of documentary? Something medical, right?”

“No.” she disagreed; she turned her attention back to her glass, focusing on not overfilling it, her filter nonexistent. “It’s kinda weird to admit but I think a lot of people secretly enjoy them, the ones on murderers and serial killers. Their minds are interesting, the way they perceive reality and their thought process.”

“I see.”

“Mhm.” She hummed, carefully setting the bottle on the nightstand by the bed; it took a long second before she registered what she’d just admitted to aloud, her eyes going wide in shock with her own bluntness and whipped her head around to him. “I-I mean, as long as that’s not weird…”

Her heart squeezed down to the second that his aquamarine pools met her lavender ones, an amused smirk coming to his lips.

“Not weird at all, princess.” He assured, his tone lightly teasing; her cheeks flushed darkly in embarrassment with herself, she needed to start thinking about what she said before she wound up scaring him off. “You never cease to amaze me, there isn’t a woman out there like you.”

Her eyes lowered shyly, unsure of how to respond to a compliment like that, he was constantly showering her with them, and it was taking some getting used to, between the compliments and his many endearing nicknames for her, she was struggling to adjust with how new all this was to her. She felt as though she wasn’t doing nearly enough to express her own affection for the man next to her and trying to figure it out without having someone to go to for advice was making it all the more difficult, he had a list of doting names he called her by, and she was struggling to get “babe” out of her mouth. As it stood, that one just didn’t feel right to her for him, “baby” was a no, “honey” was a no, “my love” wasn’t an option yet and not one of the basics suited him. An endearing nickname wasn’t the only thing circling her thoughts as the minutes turned to hours, she’d been just as caught up wondering how he was fairing physically, and she’d only had more questions arise the further into the evening it had become.

Not only hadn’t she seen his eyes dilated nor watched him pop a single pill in the time that they’d been together, but he’d started drinking with her, he’d been sober up until then which begged the question of if he was healed enough that those shooting pains had stopped. She was also just as curious if his stitches had fully dissolved, how the incision sites were fairing, if the wounds had fully closed up since the last time that she’d checked them all out. Her brain had consistently been in that medical mindset when he’d been in her home, each time he’d lift his shirt for her to look over the incision sites, she’d hardly noticed with how focused she’d been on the healing wounds, the one time she had was during that moment where they’d almost…

‘That was amazing.’

The doctor hadn’t planned on going there in her head, but it was already too late, that image of him hovered over her that day with his hand between her thighs was burned into her brain to the point that shoving it away easily wasn’t going to work since she was tipsy. He’d looked so beautiful in that moment, the desire in his eyes while he stared at her longingly, the gentle way he’d reassured her during the moments he could tell that she felt nervous, he’d stared at her with the utmost dedication as though there wasn’t a thing in the world more important to him than her. She’d never been looked at with such revere and yearning before him, she’d been more than willing to give herself to him right then and there, teetering on the edge of orgasmic bliss from his light touches. She’d known just how beautiful he was from the beginning, just his face was enough to make angels weep and it’d hit her like a ton of bricks that he was more than simply beautiful when he’d tugged his shirt over his head. She hadn’t registered just how flawless his body was until that moment, her mouth had felt thick with spit during the milliseconds she took him in; he was picturesque to a point that she went stupid from staring at him too long.

Even with that floating in the back of her head, she was trapped in thoughts of how healed he was more so than anything else and trying to figure it out from the little she could see wasn’t doing anything to help her. The sides of his shirt were ripped out so she had full view of his ribcage, that area looked fully healed but she couldn’t be too sure, she hadn’t been close enough to him to get a good look, not to mention that wasn’t the only area that she’d had to dig bullet fragments out of; she was going to drive herself mad before the evening was over. She couldn’t count the number of times that her eyes had shifted to try to see more just to satiate her curiosity and once again, her head turned back to him at the thought, her lavender orbs raking over what she could make out. Her companion didn’t seem to notice her staring, his own gaze focused on cycling through various documentaries to find something she’d enjoy and from his expression, he seemed entirely comfortable. There were certain ways he hadn’t been able to move that would induce those shooting pains he’d suffered from, and his current position was one that he’d had to avoid, partially sat up with his back resting against the abundance of pillows frequenting their shared bed and a leg propped up to rest his free arm on.

With as many bullet fragments as she’d had to dig out of his abdominal and chest areas, a position like that would’ve been uncomfortable if he was still in pain so that should’ve been enough to satisfy her, but it wasn’t. Haruchiyo was stubborn, more so than plenty of patients she’d dealt with over the years and even when he’d been in excruciating pain, he’d pushed himself, pretended he was just fine unless he was caught off guard, she couldn’t expect him to be honest with her when he’d played it off countless times. The only thing that would soothe her about it was checking him out herself, if the stitches were dissolved than that meant that his wounds would be completely closed up and she wouldn’t feel nearly as worried about him.

‘Stubborn, he’ll say he’s fine even if he’s not. Have to do it myself.’

Yuki knew that was the truth and with the warm feeling floating in her head, she didn’t second guess her move, throwing back what was left of her glass and placing it on the nightstand before scooting her way across the bed closer to her companion.

“Four options, you get the final say.” He began, his voice relaxed; his head turned towards her. “There’s…”

His words trailed off no sooner did she close the distance, her hand pressing against his shoulder for stability while she climbed into his lap to sit face to face with him, her legs positioned on either side of his hips and her free hand taking hold of the hem of his shirt, tugging it up. She didn’t realize just how bold of a move she’d made while she pulled his shirt off his form, pushing lightly against his shoulder to urge him to lean back so she had a full view of his torso, her lavender orbs flicking from spot to spot, taking in the fresh scars. There were no signs that any of the incision sites had been subject to infection, all the stitches had dissolved as she’d hoped, only leaving small pink lines behind where she’d dug around to pull out bullet fragments and considering just how last minute it all had been, she’d done quite well keeping the scarring to a minimum. She could be content now, pull herself out her head for the rest of the evening and enjoy her time with him without anything floating around in her subconscious, no more worrying herself half to death like she had been over the course of the days that they’d been apart.

Her free hand moved to his abdomen, lightly tracing over each of the scars one by one with butterfly touches, there wasn’t even a trace of the stiches left from what she could feel so her estimate had been accurate. She paused her movements, looking up through her lashes when his fingers hooked under her chin, his touch enough to snap her back to reality and her breath hitched when his piercing eyes found her doe ones. She could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest, her tongue feeling much too heavy to force any words out while he guided her face closer to his, his free hand taking hold of her hip. She’d never felt so mesmerized by his stare, every time his eyes found hers was always more intense than the last and how deeply he gazed at her was almost like a scene out of a romance movie, she didn’t know how she managed to breathe during those moments. Haruchiyo looked just as lost in staring at her as she was with him, their faces hardly an inch apart and lips so close to touching, she’d all but forgotten what she’d been doing up until this point, the warm feeling in both her head and in the pit of her stomach urging her to make some kind of move.

“Haru.” Yuki murmured, her voice barely above a whisper; she’d gotten so caught up in him that she didn’t notice she’d spoken at all, his hand sliding from her hip to the small of her back and inching closer until the only space between them was the little between their lips.

“C’mere princess.”

She didn’t need telling twice, their lips collided in one of the most passionate kisses they’d shared up to this point and whatever levelheadedness she’d possessed was thrown to the wind, her mind a blank slate outside of thoughts of him. She could’ve melted simply from his kisses, the way his mouth slanted over hers was flawless and their lips molded together in perfect sync as though they were two halves of a whole, all of their kisses from the softest to the neediest were perfection, nothing felt more right to her than what she felt with him. The floaty feeling in her head was all but egging her on as her lips moved with his hungrily, tongues in a heated battle for dominance that Haruchiyo easily won, her lips yielding and pliant against his just like always. She was all but lost in the feeling of him pressed against her, the way her heart would flutter with each move of their lips, she’d never yearned for something in the way that she longed for him and it was clear that she’d fallen way too hard for him in such a short time; it hadn’t been a month since they’d met but it felt like her heart had known him for years. The woman felt slightly dazed when he finally broke away from her for air, looking up at him through half-lidded eyes with raw unfiltered desire and began leaning towards him for another kiss, her hips shifting against his from her movement.

‘Oh god.’

Her stomach all but flipped in response to what was very obviously his erection pressed between her legs, coming back to reality long enough that she registered just what she’d unknowingly instigated and now that Haruchiyo was fully healed, there wasn’t a chance that he was going to want to take things slow with how much tension had been built up between them over the course of their days together. Her panties were soaked when a pleasure filled groan fell from his lips, both his hands finding her hips and tugging with the right amount of strength needed to urge her forward just enough that her core grinded against his hardened length, a sharp breath slipping passed her lips at the stimulation. Neither of them had their pants off and even with a barrier, it was still far more pleasurable than when she touched herself, the light intoxication may have had something to do with it but that didn’t cross her mind in the moment. The next tug had whimpers rising in her throat, the one after had whines tumbling from her lips, the one that followed had her needy moans filling their bedroom space paired with her rocking against him all on her own, his hands being used solely for her stability while she grinded against him like some kind of desperate slut.

‘Shit.’

Another whiny noise slipped passed her lips when he moved his face into her neck, biting into her throat without a bit of warning and her hips bucked against his, one arm tightening around his shoulders and her free hand slipping into his rosy locks, clinging to him. She may have wanted to be sober her first time but that was looking like a pipedream, she wasn’t so sure that she could hold out this time with how consumed she felt with need for him.

“Haru.” She whined, her voice high-pitched and breathy; it’d taken nothing at all, and her body was aching to be touched by him, the slick in her panties only growing worse when his tongue ran along the shell of her ear.

“Goddamn angel, you want it that bad?” Haruchiyo questioned huskily, sounding just as riled up as she was feeling; her insides clenched at the words, one of his hands leaving her hip to slip up the front of her shirt, a breathy gasp leaving her when his hand found the soft mound. “C’mon babydoll, use your words.”

She was struggling to keep her head screwed on straight and so much was going on at once, his hand was kneading her breast through her bralette, being gentle enough not to hurt her but rough enough that her panties were soaked simply from desire. His free hand had slid away from her hip to her backside, hooking his arm under her rear to pick her up long enough that he could maneuver her around until her head met the pillows and she was sandwiched between his body and the mattress. She didn’t get a chance to so much as think before he was prying her arm from around his shoulders after removing the claw-clip from her hair, simultaneously tugging her tank-top up and over her head, peppering love bites down her throat, his hand releasing the soft mound only to grab the waistband of her sweatpants.

“Wanna hear you say it babydoll.” He pressed, his voice low; her lavender pools flicked to his aquamarine ones, her heart was going haywire over the intensity of his gaze, her breath catching when he pulled her pants low enough to expose her hips, pressing light kisses along her belly.

“Haruchiyo.” She murmured timidly; it’d taken a minute since she was tipsy, but pink had finally risen on her cheeks, her face the epitome of bashful and he hummed softly.

“Shy little thing. Aren’t you pretty girl?” he teased playfully; she didn’t know how he expected her to get anything out since he knew just how shy she truly was, and her eyes were quickly blown wide when he lifted her lower half up long enough to tug her sweats down her legs and off in under three seconds.

Her blush darkened in the long seconds that his piercing eyes roamed her form, looking utterly mesmerized by the sight of her, she’d never been looked at so intensely as when his eyes were on her and the coil in the pit of her stomach was silently begging for him to do more than what was essentially checking her out. She’d never been so wet in her life, her panties had to be ruined but that was the furthest thing from her mind, a quiet squeak leaving her lips when his hand slid between her thighs, his fingertips brushing the drenched lace.

“Fuck princess.” The pink-haired male groaned, his voice wanton; her lip caught between her teeth, her hips instinctively rolling into his touch, seeking more stimulation than the teasing touches. “Making a mess like this for me.”

‘Breathe, you have to breathe.’

“Angel, use your words.” He repeated sensually, his gaze filled with yearning; it almost hurt from how badly she needed him, a whimper falling from her lips when his fingers pressed harder against her core, another whine following when his thumb rubbed against her sensitive bud through her panties. “Say it princess, tell daddy what you want.”

‘Fucking breathe, BREATHE!’

Yuki had never been so aroused in all her life nor craved something just as badly as she craved him in the moment, her brain felt like a pile of goo and she felt like she was going to lose her mind if he didn’t touch her the way she needed, the heat between her legs was maddening, the crotch of her panties practically dripping with her juices. Haruchiyo seemed to be on the exact same page as she was, she could easily make out the outline of his erection beneath his pajama pants and from what she could gather from the moments they’d been grinding against each other, it was well above average, bigger and thicker than what she’d ever anticipated. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that her first time would be painful, especially taking his size under consideration, she’d never had anything more than two fingers inside her walls and if this was really about to happen, they couldn’t just rush into it, otherwise she’d be in a world of hurt. Her stomach all but flipped when his free hand moved to of her panties, his fingers hooking around the lacy waistband near her hip, the words tumbling from her lips without so much as thinking about the best way voice her concerns.

“I’m a virgin.”

The woman could’ve died purely out of embarrassment right then and there when he paused his movements, his hand frozen mid-tug of her panties and his head lolled up to find her face. Her cheeks were flushing darkly over the evident surprise in his aquamarine pools from her confession and shifted beneath him in discomfort; she hadn’t meant for it to come out that way, but it was too late to take it back.

‘Damn it, way to go Yuki.’

“I-I should’ve said something so-sooner.” She stammered anxiously; her voice was filled with embarrassment, her lavender orbs darted away from him shyly. “I’ve-I’ve never…n-not with anyone…I-I mean…”

‘Ruined your chance, stupid, so stupid.’

Her lip rolled between her teeth timidly, silently attempting to calm herself enough to pull herself together, her pulse was racing, and her stomach was churning to a point she felt like she was going to vomit purely from her nerves, already anticipating that the rest of their evening was going to be filled with awkwardness. She was struggling to swallow the lump formed in the back of her throat and her heart could’ve dropped down into her stomach when she felt his hand retreat from her panties, feeling as though she were seconds away from having a full-blown panic attack.

“Angel.” He spoke; her gaze darted back to the man above her when he urged her to meet his gaze, his piercing eyes zeroed in on her doe ones and thumbing at her cheek gently. “I’m moving too fast, aren’t I?”

A dumbfounded expression formed on her face, feeling utterly shocked by his words and quickly shook her head, she didn’t want him to feel like he was pushing her into something she wasn’t ready for because she was ready. As bashful as she felt about it, she wanted that with him, the only thing that made her nervous about it was her clear lack of experience and until she got said experience, she wouldn’t stop feeling anxious. Out of everything, she didn’t want him to think she was uncomfortable because of him, it was out of her own inexperience.

“N-no, it’s o-okay.” She responded, her voice on the more reserved side. “I-I was just…nervous…to-to tell you. It’s…embarrassing.”

‘Just get it over with.’

“I um…I’ve never…you.” She babbled, trying to calm her heart enough to form her thoughts into understandable words; his aquamarine eyes were still focused on her lavender ones, giving her his undivided attention. “I mean…you were my first kiss.”

The air between them felt heavy from her admission, almost heavy enough to crush her lungs with each inaudible breath she managed to intake and her heart squeezed when a pretty smile formed on his lips, thumbing at her cheek affectionately.

“I plan to be your only.”

The woman cocked her head to the side, her gaze bouncing between the various documents and jotting down her thoughts for each result she read over with plans to compile all the information together when it came to her hypotheses about what the disease could be. She had to get as much work done as possible because she was aware that as soon as the pinkette made his appearance that the rest of her day would be his, he’d texted her not long after she’d finished soaking in the bath, apologizing for how long his meeting dragged and letting her know that he was readying to make his way back to the hotel. She’d been worried that there would be some form of awkwardness between them but there hadn’t been a hinting of it yet, if anything, her…

‘Boyfriend?’

…was clingier than he’d been before her confession. He’d always looked at her as though he were trying to see into the depths of herself and his gaze was even more intense now, looking at her like she was some kind of prize or with some form of revere, she couldn’t place exactly what he could be thinking when he looked at her. Their intimacy the night before got cut short, but it hadn’t seemed to bother him whatsoever, redressing her himself with the utmost care, murmuring soothing words to her and holding her as though he planned on never letting her go, it was amazing to be wanted in the way that he did her. She may not have been sure what she could do to show her own affection for the man, but she hoped that having dinner waiting on him was a good step.

‘No rush, take things slow.’

“Thank you.” She spoke graciously.

Her lips pressed into a thin line at the lack of response from the staff, watching as they scurried down the hall with their heads down as fast as they could move without running, a silent huff leaving her. She didn’t get what the deal was but quite literally every person she’d dealt with since yesterday either refused to speak to her or refused to look directly at her when giving a response, she’d never dealt with a hotel staff so strange as this one. The doctor was quick to turn on her heel at the sight of two men making their way down the hall in the direction of the other presidential, slipping back inside the room, picking up the tail end of the conversation while she shut the door behind her to await her companion’s arrival.

“…we’ll have all the investors that Koko wants…”

Chapter Text

He didn’t know what in the fuck else he was supposed to do and if anyone else were in his shoes, they’d surely be doing the same shit. He didn’t have much of a choice except to hold off, take things slowly lest he sabotage himself, he couldn’t compromise what he’d built when he’d already made it further than he’d ever thought he would in twenty-three days. Continuing to talk himself down during the time that he was healing, swearing that he wouldn’t let anything stop him the next time his pretty little doctor was in bed with him, planning out how he’d make the advance, following through when the opportunity presented itself and every bit of it had gone up in smoke.

“I’m a virgin.”

‘God damn babydoll.’

Sanzu had thought she was irresistible before with her innocent doe eyes and gentle features, but now there were no two ways about it after hearing THAT confession thrown out there, he HAD to have her; she was untouched and entirely pure.

“I-I should’ve said something so-sooner.”

‘Fucking shit.’

If the woman would’ve admitted to it sooner, the only thing it would’ve done was circle his thoughts just as it had since her confession, few differences between how things would’ve been and how things currently were. He probably would’ve already driven himself entirely mad and gone off the deep end solely from how badly he craved her, his sweet angel was the only thing that had circled his thoughts.

“I’ve-I’ve never…n-not with anyone…I-I mean…”

‘Entirely inexperienced.’

It all finally made sense and he could’ve pistol-whipped himself for the way he’d let it go over his head, all the signs had been there, and he’d overlooked them like a fool; he was an idiot. Her hesitancy during the short moments he’d made advances on her, her oversensitivity during the times he’d touched her, how damn wet she’d get over the lightest of touches or simply from kissing him. She wasn’t lying, she was a virgin.

“I-I was just…nervous…to-to tell you.”

‘Damn tease.’

He’d thought it a billion times over, Yuki was his sweet angel, there was no question about it, but she was just as much a provocative little minx with the way she behaved. Crawling into his lap without warning and throwing him entirely off while she straddled him, her small hands gliding over his chest and delicate fingers tracing the small pink lines of scarred flesh, pushing him over the edge when her pretty pussy rubbed against his painfully hard dick.

“It’s…embarrassing.”

‘Fucking hot.’

The pink-haired man nearly bit his tongue off to silence the guttural moan he wanted to let out, the sounds of the running shower were the only thing that would cover his ass should his pretty princess wake up. His hand was fisting his cock practically in a death grip for what was the sixth time since his babydoll had fallen asleep, running purely off his need to ruin her, almost fucking his dick raw with hopes to hold off the urge to bend her over and feel her sweet little cunt squeeze around him. There wasn’t anything or anyone out there that could compare to her, she was a virgin and that was fucking hot, so hot that resisting temptation might be the first battle he wound up losing.

“I um…I’ve never…you.”

‘My pretty girl.’

Only him, he was the first man that had ever touched her, and he hadn’t actually touched her, those movements meant to tease her enough that she was begging had all but blown up in his face; he couldn’t count how many times he’d called himself every name in the book now that the truth had come out. She’d never had sex, she’d never been touched before him and she’d never be touched after him, HE would be her one and only.

“I mean…you were my first kiss.”

“Fuck.” Sanzu hissed; his hand flexed around his cock, still working himself closer to the release he’d been longing for.

He didn’t know how he continued getting hard when he was jerking himself off so much to the thought of her, how precum continued leaking from the swollen head solely from looking at her for too long, how the fuck he’d managed to resist in the times her perfect ass would press against his dick when she was dead asleep. There was little chance he’d manage to drag this out for months when he was already so close to snapping, it’d almost been a month since they’d met, and he was seriously considering taking her back to his penthouse and never letting her leave. Those thoughts were dangerous, being impulsive would do nothing except make his daily life difficult if he didn’t plan out all the details and with her profession, he couldn’t just make her disappear. She was a doctor, ran her own clinic, was currently working a complicated case with another doctor that would report her missing should she stop showing up to the hospital, then there was the hospital staff themselves that had already seen her and knew she’d be there regularly. He couldn’t take out a whole hospital without the consequence of her existence becoming known to the other executives and a risk like that was something he was trying to avoid so early in.

“I’m nervous about it.”

‘God damn.’

He could already imagine just how deliciously tight her precious pussy was, her body squeezing him for dear life while he sunk inch by inch in her perfect cunt, her virgin walls struggling to adjust to the smallest amount of him, forcing her gummy walls to shape to his cock until there was no resistance while he split her open over and over. He could almost see the fat tears rolling across her fair skin, the pathetic whines she’d make in her need to cum, she’d cling to him and beg for him to get her off, writhing beneath him when he stopped toying with her and fucked her like he hated her.

“I don’t really know what to do.”

‘Fuck.’

The executive knew for a fact he was getting himself too riled up by getting lost in the conversation they’d had Friday evening, but it was far from mattering now, too late to reel himself in; she was and had been the sole thing circling his thoughts since. She’d admitted to being a virgin, was entirely inexperienced and there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that his perfect princess would be the best fuck of his life for the foreseeable future, he couldn’t even indulge the thought of another woman anymore now that he knew the truth. She’d been his from the moment they met, and her purity was his to ruin as he pleased, he wasn’t getting someone else’s leftovers or sloppy seconds this time around; he'd been her first kiss, the only man to ever touch her and it would remain that way. There wasn’t a soul out there that was worthy to so much as look at her aside from him, he’d be damned if she was ever touched by someone that wasn’t him, she was nothing short of immaculate and entirely flawless; he’d wager to bet that she was perfect under that flimsy lace she wore.

“I-I was worried t-that y-you’d change your mind…a-about us.”

‘Mine.’

It may have flown over his head that she was a virgin, but he’d be a complete fool to change his mind about her when he’d forever be the one in control, he wouldn’t fuck himself over like that. His plans for her may have deviated from how they’d started but the end results would be the same, his own personal pharmacy for whatever drugs he needed/wanted, a doctor to patch him up, a pretty woman that was his and his alone. The pinkette knew he’d have to be cautious with how he moved forward with her, he couldn’t be too pushy or be aloof, he had to give her just the right amount of attention that would continue to nurture her trust in him and build upon their developing relationship. It was what his sweet angel wanted, she wanted a relationship with him and in order to get where he wanted to be, he had to take that step, seal the deal by officially asking her to be his; she’d jump at the chance so that wasn’t a worry, figuring out the best way to do so was and his head would not be clear enough to develop any kind of plan until he could fucking cum.

“Haru.”

‘Fuck, so close.’

What he wouldn’t give to be pumping his cock in her pussy right now rather than the reality, sticky cum trailing down his working fist and washing down the shower’s drain, hand pressed against the tile and head bowed, almost biting his tongue off to keep himself quiet so she wouldn’t wake up to the sounds of him jerking off to the thought of her. He felt fucking pathetic, succumbing to shit like this all over a helpless woman that he could’ve already had his way with dozens of times up until now and the only thing that continued to stop him was the silent reminder that if he didn’t have her unwavering loyalty then things would be a hell of a lot harder for him; he had to maintain composure until he got to that point with her. Sanzu didn’t know how he was going to make it there when his thoughts circled his pretty little doctor on an infinite loop, going entirely pussy drunk just from thinking about the moment he’d finally be able to have her. He couldn’t wait to watch her pretty cunt swallow his cock, feel the way it would squeeze and flutter around him, listen to her broken moans and desperate whines for more; he didn’t know what he wanted to do first, fuck her or taste her. He bet she tasted so fucking sweet, she’d act shy about it up until his face was buried between her thighs, her doe eyes pleading for more and hesitantly rocking back against his tongue, soft whimpers falling from her pretty lips and tears rolling down her cheeks while she begged him to let her cum.

But fuck, that wasn’t the only thing he wanted, she’d look so damn pretty riding him and it was the only thought in his head Friday night when she was in his lap, it’d be even better than his imaginings of it. She’d be hesitant, her lavender pools looking away bashfully while she rolled her hips into his, trying to figure it out and how to set a pace for herself, how embarrassed she’d be when she couldn’t do it without his guidance, how quickly she’d give up control when he was rutting up into her gummy walls, letting him impale her on his cock without argument all while crying that it was too much and for more at the same time. He wanted to see those tears more than anything, hear the choked sobs that would tumble from her lips the closer she got to her release and when she finally got there, he’d fuck her through the orgasm even after she was begging him to slow down. She was the hottest thing he’d ever seen, more stunning than any of the women in the hostess bars with her soft features and doe eyes, her gentle voice and bashful behavior from her lack of experience. His sweet angel and perfect princess, whining for him to wreck her tight little cunt until she squirted all over his cock.

“I want to…with you, Haru.”

“Shit.” He cursed through clenched teeth; the memory of the beautiful blush on her cheeks and the bashful look in her eyes when she spoke those words did him in, wrist still flicking and spilling all over his hand in orgasmic bliss.

‘Fuck me.’

Sanzu didn’t know what in the fuck he was supposed to do aside from jerking himself raw until there wasn’t a drop of cum left in him, he just needed a little, something to satisfy the urge for her so he could get by until they went their separate ways for a few days. They’d be together again Friday when she came to Ebisu for her case, sharing a presidential again since he’d insisted there was no reason for her to get her own room and to simply stay with him, even then there was no guarantee he’d be able to hold off until then since he could watch her at both her clinic and house. The only thing he had going for him as a distraction was Bonten business and as optimistic as he wanted to be that work would keep him busy, it was a long shot at best, she’d circled his thoughts all day yesterday. He’d been waiting for it like a kid waiting for Christmas, all of Bonten’s executives had gathered for it when Kakucho let word out that the scum had been located, his own people having taken up the task to pin down the pricks. Not only had he gotten his beloved katana back, he’d started by ripping out teeth and fingernails without remorse, skinning the fuckers alive while Koko counted out the money bill by bill until every bit of it was accounted for. It’d been hours of fun that he could’ve had, had she not circled his thoughts the entirety of it.

Bonten’s number two had to find a way to screw his head on straight, he couldn’t afford to be distracted by a damn woman of all things, but she wasn’t just a woman, she was HIS. She’d circled his thoughts the whole day and he’d continuously checked his phone every free minute he had to keep an eye on her location, forcing himself not to respond to the texts she’d sent when he’d desperately wanted to. He’d needed to keep his focus towards what he was doing and although he’d certainly tortured the fuck out of the scum, he hadn’t had any fun doing so this time around, but he couldn’t let on to any of the others, he wasn’t going to let a soul find out about his sweet angel. Things certainly complicated when the assignment came to an end and he just about swallowed his tongue when he learned that the Haitani would be staying overnight in Ebisu since they were meeting another investor the following day, what was worse, it was at the same hotel as himself. They didn’t know that though and so long as he was cautious, they wouldn’t run into him nor his pretty little doctor, he’d do what was necessary to avoid them until they left.

The brothers weren’t what was important right now, figuring out what he was supposed to do about his babydoll was the priority and if he was going to officially ask her to be his, he had to come up with some kind of gameplan. He’d watched how her eyes would light up over the simplest things so it surely wouldn’t have to be something drawn out or over-the-top but the thought of watching her swoon because he’d gone above and beyond simply to make her his was a temptation that he couldn’t resist. Sanzu had the whole day to come up with how he wanted to do it since she’d be at the hospital working, they’d be spending one more night together and checking out Monday, go their separate ways for a few days and end up back together on Friday if he could force himself to wait that long. He didn’t foresee himself making it another month at the rate things were going and he had no choice but to speed things up before he snapped, he should’ve known from the start that he wouldn’t be able to drag things out. Today was it, he’d work out his plan and when she got back from her day at the hospital, he’d follow through, seal the deal with some basic bullshit.

His sweet angel was attention starved and touch starved, which was clear now that he knew the truth about her lack of experience/partners, he had plenty of answers without having ever needed to ask questions, easily having come to conclusions on his own. She’d never been on a date before, which explained why she’d been thrilled over that bullshit he’d had thrown together on the balcony last minute on Friday, he’d certainly have to take her out at some point, but it wouldn’t be tonight with how tired she would surely be. She’d never received a gift and that was why Yuki had reacted so positively when he’d had flowers sent to her and that gave him something to work with, he’d make this time the most elaborate of all. The hotel staff would bend over backwards to make him happy since they were aware he was a Bonten executive, he’d have the whole suite decked out with the romantic shit that they did for the honeymoon suites with flowers, candles, the whole nine yards. There’d be hearts in her eyes when she saw it and that was just the beginning of it, if simply flowers thrilled her then a genuine gift would surely have her head over heels for him, something such as that could be used to his advantage.

He'd have plenty of time to accomplish everything and he wouldn’t have to worry about her protection, he’d contacted Hada to have someone watching her yesterday and another would do so today while she was at the hospital. He’d be getting regular updates throughout the day about her movements and be able to stay at the top of his game to finish up his preparations with time to spare, today was the day, he was going to officially make her his.

‘God damn it.’

As per usual, he should’ve known better than to follow through with impulsive moves because there wasn’t a snowball chance in hell that he wasn’t going to ruin everything he was working towards by his own hand, he didn’t know what in the fuck he’d been thinking.

“Haru.”

‘Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me.’

Sanzu had to pull himself the fuck together, he’d dealt himself this damn hand and it was just something he was going to have to live with for the rest of the evening and tomorrow morning. Her tender voice calling out to him had him inhaling a slow breath with hopes to calm himself enough that she wouldn’t see the internal struggle raging inside him, but he was infuriated, the suffering he’d surely inflicted upon himself was going to make this whole night drag by at a snail’s pace. Despite that, he knew that he couldn’t avoid her and trying to do so would only damage what he was trying to build with her, she was fragile in every sense of the word. He let out a silent exhale, turning to face his pretty girl and very well could’ve swallowed his tongue no sooner did his aquamarine orbs land on her, silently cursing himself on an infinite loop. He’d been trying his damnedest not to make reckless moves and although his sweet angel didn’t suspect him of manipulating circumstances, that didn’t do fuck all for him right now.

‘Damn it.’

“You’re still mad at yourself.” She gathered easily; how in the fuck couldn’t he be, as great as seeing this was, he’d be fucking his cock raw all over again for the remainder of the evening. “I told you it’s not a big deal.”

It may not have been a big deal to her, but it certainly was to the pinkette, there was zero chance he’d be able to keep his hands to himself, he’d take a fucking picture if he could get by with it just so he’d have something to jerk off to when she fell asleep; he’d thought he was dying to see her naked and now he wasn’t so sure if that could stack up to what he was faced with right now. Her hair was pulled up messily in that claw-clip and partially falling down, dressed solely in his black dress shirt, her perfect legs were covered by fucking thigh high socks and whatever lacy panties she had on that were hidden under the shirt; she was the definition of a tease by pulling together a look like that in five minutes. He hadn’t even considered that seeing her dressed in his clothing would threaten to push him over the edge, but it was damn near almost there, the shirt fell halfway down her thighs and was obviously too big for her, almost swallowing her delicate form; she was…

‘…fucking hot.’

Yuki was a masterpiece, there were no two ways about it; she was stunning, drop dead gorgeous, a living breathing goddess. He couldn’t imagine why any man would overlook something as radiant as her, how she’d never been pursued or sought after with how flawless she was, it was mindboggling that she’d never been in a relationship and had she not given him an explanation, he would’ve gone mad in his need for answers. She’d flown through school and started her first year at university when she was fifteen, she’d been focused on her studies in her journey to become a doctor, she hadn’t been interested in a relationship during that time in her life. Even after she graduated, her primary focus had been opening her own clinic and finishing a thesis that she’d started in her freshman year, she’d essentially been married to her work, uncaring whatsoever about her personal life. Outside of her three friends that she’d made in university, she didn’t have anyone else in her life, no living family, the last having been her grandmother that passed away in her third year. She’d been comfortable in her solitude, not giving much thought to it since she had such a busy life, a relationship had been the last thing that she was worried about. He wasn’t sure what had changed her thoughts about it, but he also hadn’t asked, she wanted it with him, that was what mattered and regardless of this shit that he’d instigated by “accidently” spilling his wine all over her sleepwear, he had to move forward with his plans.

“I’ll try not to let it bother me anymore babydoll.” He spoke, his voice collected; a small smile formed on her pretty lips, a content expression gracing her features. “I’d like you to keep the shirt though.”

“That’s not necessary.” The woman began, sounding flustered; it wasn’t but he seriously hoped that he’d wind up on the receiving end of another private show with her dressed in his shirt, she looked irresistible.

“It’s not but it looks better on you, pretty girl.” He rebuffed smoothly; her doe eyes pulled away from him timidly, her foot shuffling against the floor, pink blooming on her cheeks. “You’ll keep it, alright?”

She nodded shyly, not bothering to argue against it any further and padded her way across the floor to stand before him, her delicate limbs slipping around his neck while she snuggled up against him; he hadn’t noticed until now that she smelled heavily of a combination of jasmine and rose. The executive wasn’t sure how much more he could take of this, not only did she smell heavenly, but her petite body molded to his flawlessly without a single imperfection. He’d already indulged the idea of her having been born for him, he couldn’t count the number of times it’d circled his thoughts, and he was finding it difficult to discredit with everything he’d experienced with her up until now. The kisses he’d shared with her were intoxicating and like a drug that had been made solely for him, the soft noises she made were his own personal song, the feeling of her skin against his was addicting and he was craving more by the day; he’d never been captivated in the way that he was by her. Nothing was going to satisfy him until he had all of her and at the very least by making her his in name, it would help curb the urge for a time.

It was the perfect time for him to follow through with it, his princess had been thrilled beyond measure when she’d made it in after her day at the hospital, her lavender eyes shining over the surprise she’d walked into. He’d had the entire suite decked out just as planned, candles, flowers, flower petals all over the damn place, the outdoor balcony set up with the most elaborate decorations for their dinner together. He hadn’t known what kind of music she liked so he opted to play a playlist he’d found that was romantic centric, the television in the bedroom was already on and ready to go with a documentary he’d found for them, she liked white wine, so he had some set out on her side of the bed and she’d gone through a bottle to herself during dinner. Everything had been running smoothly up until he’d gotten impulsive and although he’d put himself in a shit spot when it came to holding his composure, he wasn’t terribly pissed off with himself because the sight of her in his shirt was the best damn thing he’d seen since he’d stripped her down to just her underwear Friday night. She hadn’t been nearly as timid as he’d imagined, although she’d still shown signs of embarrassment in that moment, feeding her drinks was one of the best things he could do for his progress with her, she didn’t second guess herself as much.

“Happy pretty girl?” Sanzu questioned gently; she nodded into his chest, hugging around his neck as he moved a hand to the small of her back.

“Mhm.” She hummed, sounding pleased; she had better be with how much bullshit he’d had to put up with to make their last night together some fairytale fuckery. “I’m always happy with you, Haruchiyo.”

“So, it wouldn’t matter too much then if I told you I found a documentary you’ll like?” he pressed jokingly, a quiet giggle came from her. “Who was that guy you were talking about? Something to do with a hotel?”

“No way, you mean it? You found one on the Cecil?” she exclaimed, her voice enthusiastic; he would’ve never imagined his sweet angel would’ve been obsessed with murderers, serial killers, tragedies, and fucked up shit in general but he was living for it, he got a kick out of watching her get excited over morbid details.

“Ah that’s what it was called.” He mused, his tone teasing; his head tilted down just in time to find her face, her lavender pools locking with his aquamarine ones, an enchanting smile on her pretty face. “Wanna watch that one, pretty girl?”

She nodded without missing a beat, looking positively thrilled that he wasn’t turned off whatsoever to her little obsession, he wondered how that would change if she ever found out the truth about him, but he didn’t think too deeply on it. The palm of his hand pressed firmly against her back and although he was sure she’d be embarrassed, he didn’t ask for permission, hooking his free arm under her perfect ass and hauling her up from the floor. The softest squeak came from her in response, her face flushing beautifully while he carried her across the floor, her eyes pulling from his every few seconds up until he pressed a kiss to her pink lips. His pretty little doctor practically melted no sooner did their lips touch, her slender fingers slipping into his pink locks and arm tightening around his neck, clinging to him as though he were all she needed to survive. It was difficult for him to maintain his focus while her lips moved with his hungrily, soft moans rising in her throat every time their tongues met, she was always bolder when she was tipsy and wasn’t waiting around for him to deepen their kisses, doing so herself without skepticism. The battle for dominance never lasted long before she was submitting to him, her lips yielding to his while he ravaged her mouth, the pitiful noises that came from her were the most arousing sounds he’d ever heard.

She was refusing to disconnect from him even when they made it into the bedroom, his attempt to do so was met with her whines of protest when he broke their kiss and made to set her down on the mattress, her arm tightening around his shoulders. He’d never seen her behave so clingy before now, so he knew the wine had to of been getting to her, her fingers were curling in his hair and her arm pressed against his shoulders to urge him closer to her, huffy breathes leaving her when he didn’t budge. He could’ve grinned from how needy she was acting and that she was behaving as though she hadn’t seen him in weeks when it’d only been a handful of hours, latched onto him as though he’d just disappear if she let go for even a second, this shit would’ve thoroughly annoyed him had it been any other woman, but it wasn’t, it was his precious babydoll. It was starting to look like he was just going to have to keep her in his lap until she fell asleep, she wasn’t going to release him of her own accord and although he wouldn’t have any problem detaching from her, he was enjoying this shit far too much to consider it.

“Princess.” Sanzu began affectionately, placing his hands on her hips; the only response he got was a whiny noise as she nuzzled her face into his neck, still clinging to him tightly and as unbothered as he was by it, the position wasn’t the most comfortable, he’d set her on the edge of the bed and was stuck partially leaned over her until he could convince her to let go. “Our movie.”

He was unsure what she murmured in response, but his curiosity didn’t last long, his brain shifting gears almost immediately.

‘Fuck, good girl.’

His sweet angel hadn’t instigated anything on her own up until now and he was pleasantly surprised over her taking initiative without being coerced to do so, her lips traveling along his throat, peppering gentle kisses everywhere that she could reach. It was the first time that she’d ever done so, planted kisses somewhere other than his lips and as innocent as they were, his mind was going to the filthiest places. He was already lost in imaginings of that sweet little mouth of hers pressing kisses to his dick, her pink lips wrapped around the leaking tip, tears welling up in her doe eyes and the obscene sounds she’d make choking on his cock. He didn’t know how he managed to hold himself together with those images flashing through his mind, maneuvering her further onto the mattress without detaching from her and guiding her onto her back. His pretty princess hadn’t even flinched, still trailing light kisses along the column of his throat, her arm sliding away from his shoulders and knotting her fingers in his shirt, making attempts to drag it up his back.

“What’re you doing angel?” he murmured, his voice coming out lowly; he practically choked on his own spit when he felt her reposition under him, hooking her leg around his back, all whilst still pressing kisses into his neck. “Babydoll, you’re gonna start something if you’re not careful.”

“Need you.” She breathed; he could’ve cursed, it hadn’t taken fuck all and he was unbearably hard in under five minutes without having even touched her, he was fucked, he was going to ruin literally everything for himself at this rate if he couldn’t hold off a little longer. “Daddy.”

Just hearing her soft voice speak the single word was enough, it was one thing to refer to himself as such but for his pretty girl to do so, for the first time no less, was something that he couldn’t just brush off. Make her his, officially make her his, and by doing so, she wouldn’t be hesitant whatsoever about willingly giving herself to him. She was practically there already, staring up at him with hearts in her eyes and even with her verbal admission of wanting him, he anticipated her becoming hesitant no sooner did he get her panties off.

‘Damn it, I can’t believe I’m doing this shit.’

“Easy princess.” He hushed; her doe eyes were staring up at him longingly, pink blooming on her cheeks when he squeezed her hip gently. “Close your eyes.”

Her lavender pools were filled with curiosity, but she complied without a nudge, nuzzling closer to him when it became clear to her that he planned on repositioning them. Sanzu was silently cursing himself the entirety of the time, calling himself every name in the book while he settled down in his usual spot with his princess straddling his lap and plucked the small box off the nightstand. Her gift had been what took the longest out of everything, deciding on something that she would like without knowing hardly anything about her taste, but he felt that he’d done fairly well considering the time crunch he’d been on. He could see that she was curious when he moved the chain around her neck, but she still didn’t open her eyes, not saying a word while he secured the clasp.

“Alright pretty girl.”

Her gaze was mesmerizing just like always when those pretty lavender orbs fluttered open, entirely focused on him while he held up the charm on the end of the chain for her to see.

“Haru.” Yuki whispered, her voice filled with surprise. “I-I can’t accept this.”

“That wasn’t the response I wanted babydoll.” He rebuffed quietly; he didn’t understand why she wouldn’t accept it unless she didn’t like it, he’d been confident it was something she’d like.

“It’s beautiful, Haru.” She spoke, her tone genuine. “I just…it’s expensive.”

“Money means nothing to me if it’s to make you happy princess.” He said easily; dropping thousands wasn’t a big deal, Bonten was always raking in more money every day because of the treasurer. “I saw it while I was out and I thought it was something you’d like, there isn’t another out there like it.”

“Where did you even…Haru, this isn’t a replica.” The white-headed woman pointed out, her voice hesitant; he nodded in agreement, he wasn’t going to get his babydoll some fake bullshit. “It’s real.”

“Just as real as what I feel for you, pretty girl.” He responded smoothly; pink was blooming on her cheeks at the words, darkening when he brushed strands of snow away from her face and his free arm slipped around her waist to tug her closer until there wasn’t a single inch of space between them. “I want you angel, wanna make you mine.”

Her lavender pools lit up, quickly realizing just what he was saying without a drawn-out explanation, he could feel her heart skipping and the warmth of her skin from how closely she was pressed against him, her blush was darkening further and the shy smile on her pink lips was every bit of breathtaking.

“I…I want that too.” She confessed timidly; her eyes were almost sparkling.

“If that’s what you want, then say it princess.” Sanzu urged, his tone affectionate; the palm of his hand met her cheek, guiding her face closer to his. “Be mine.”

It took every ounce of willpower he possessed to hold his composure when their lips brushed lightly, her gentle voice barely above a whisper.

“I’m yours.”

She may have been his from the moment they met but now it was entirely set in stone, she belonged to him.