Betrayal in its simplest form

Chapter 16

Akashi Seijuro, once again in a happy mood, poured out the hot, freshly made tea into two teacups. He was expecting a guest in exactly two minutes, so making tea beforehand was only the right thing to do. It's tempting to put something in his tea, Akashi thought for a moment before shaking his head. That would probably result in his vulgar temper.

Just like he predicted, a knock came two minutes later, right on the dot at 5:52 P.M. He took his time to walk to the front door and swung it open, surprising the persistent knocker. Kagami Taiga appeared at the threshold, one hand on his thigh, another hand about to knock again, his body hunched over as he took deep, heavy breaths. "Damn—you—bas—I mean, shri—Akashi!" Kagami quickly changed his words as he saw the darkened look on the red-head's face. "You Akashi! Stop calling me at weird times and expecting me to come in an insane time limit!"

"Calling me an Akashi is a compliment," Akashi dryly said and left to go to the kitchen. "Come in and close the door. Sit in the living room."

Kagami, although reluctant, obeyed his commands and sat on the all-too familiar couch. He looked at the basketball trophies and scoffed.

"Trophies are simply a waste of plastic and metal. There have no purpose except for proof and bragging. I use these for proof," Akashi said, noticing the look on Kagami's face when he walked into the room with the tray of tea and light snacks.

"You earned them," Kagami grumbled. "You should at least be grateful for the trophies."

"Winning is my only award, and that is already a given."

"Arrogant."

"Excuse me?"

The tall ace coughed. "Nothing."

Akashi gave him an unimpressed glance and took a sip of his tea. "That is what I thought. You understand why I requested you to come here, correct?"

More like demanded, Kagami scrutinized and looked suspiciously at his tea. Was it poisoned? "Yeah, to get more information or somethin' like that. I don't have any new information, though. My old man hasn't contacted me."

"Your father?" Akashi questioned. He already had a pen and notepad out, flipping through the pages to go to a fresh one.

The ace nodded. "Apparently, my dad is actually working at the sister branch of Ibuki's corporation in America. He agreed to help me, but he can't get much since all her records are pretty much locked in America." Kagami decided to risk his life and took a hesitant sip of his drink. It was normal. His shoulders sagged with relief.

Akashi watched, amused at the teen's reaction to his tea. "Call your father."

"Hah?" Kagami raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Request information. Put it on speaker. Don't question me." Akashi didn't mind he was ordering a guest around in his house. People who came to his house were expected to listen to his commands. Ah, unless it was his mother.

Control-freak, Kagami thought, but took out his phone anyway. He sped-dialed his father, remembering to have the speaker turned on at Akashi's request. "Mm? What, Taiga? Today's my day off," his dad's groggy voice greeted him through the speaker.

"Ah, sorry, Dad." The ace suddenly felt self-conscious at having the speaker out loud for Akashi to hear. "I forgot about the time difference."

His father groaned, and rustling could be heard from the other end. The short red-head started to tap his foot. "Of course you did. What do you want? Damn, I left the T.V. on. Why the hell did I leave it on a news channel?"

"Dad," Kagami said impatiently. "Have you gotten any new information about Ibuki?"

"The woman? No, not really. I've been busy. Hey, check out the news—wait, you don't have American news over there, do you?" Kagami closed his eyes and held in a sigh as he heard his father turn up the volume of the T.V. Since his cell-phone was on speaker, both Akashi and he could hear the news reporter tell her events in English. Kagami, having living in America for years, understood what she was saying, and Akashi, having studied there, understood it fluently.