The Innocent (A 'Finder' Fanfiction)

Shadow of Pluto - 45 - Akihito

Though the cleaning of the mansion was done within one day – after which the only evidence of what had happened was the gate that had been only provisionally replaced by a crude wooden one – Akihito and Asami stuck to the guesthouse. They had their meals served in their room, spent hours lying in bed, just holding on to each other, or sometimes went for a walk into the far-off areas of the garden.

Now and then, there were messages or phone calls coming in, but only one of them Asami had answered – in the first night, early in the morning. Somewhen around midnight he had taken out the device and had set it back to allow ringing, to not miss the one call he expected. It came about two hours later.

Akihito had been awake for a while, had rested his head on Asami's chest and had listened to his heartbeat. He had slept too much – almost the whole last day and long into the evening – he simply was not tired anymore, yet he did not want to move an inch. If the room had been on fire, he'd probably not gotten up.

The older man had twitched once the ringing had started, for he had been asleep for a short while. But shrugging off any drowsiness, he had snatched the phone from the nightstand and had answered it, after one quick check of the name in the display.

"Yes", he had spoken very quietly. Akihito had raised himself onto his elbows to show that there was no need for whispering.

"Did I wake you?", Asami formed with his lips, and the boy shook his head.

"Is that Fei Long?"

The man raised his free hand and let his fingers caress the other's cheek, smiling. "I will put you on speaker. Akihito is with me", he told the phone.

"Good morning, Fei Long!", the younger had blurted out, clapping a hand onto his grinning lips then. He had not meant to speak that loud, even if they were alone.

"Good morning", the Chinese replied.

After a few moments, the call was already finished. Fei Long had reached Baishe HQ safely. Everything seemed fine.

All the other calls, however, and all the messages for which he barely ever spared an eye, Asami left unanswered.

"If they're important, you should take them", Akihito had told him. The taller man had only pulled him close and had kissed him.

"They're not important", remained his only response.

The first time they walked back into the mansion was when Maxim had them informed that he had managed to open his father's safe.

Just like in the movies, this one was hidden in the old man's study, yet not behind a painting but behind one of the bookcases. The vault behind was big enough that probably even Asami could have climbed inside and would not have had to curl up too tightly if he wanted to turn around in it. From it, one of Maxim's men had already produced folders, ring binders, boxes, and envelopes thick with paper files. Obviously, the wealth hidden in this safe was not one of gold or money, but of information.

With a low, long sigh, Maxim greeted both Akihito and Asami when they entered the study. Over the desk, he handed his younger brother one heavy folder. Either man had to use both hands to hold it, and it slumped onto the table where Asami placed it with a loud thud.

He opened it and had a look at about every 20iest page of the probably 400.

"I guess if I'll ever read all of this, I'll find out things about my own life that I hadn't known about myself", he snarled before he punched the folder shut again. In it were detailed records on his life from the day he had left his family until now – including several pictures of his young lover.