Goro Takemura x Reader

Twenty-Three

The look on Takemura's face was different as you stepped out of the elevator. His eyes lingered on you as if he needed to check wether or not you were still on his side.

You greeted him with a smile and a nod of your head.

"Do not look at me this way.", you asked of him. "I am not your enemy. And I do not feel like objecting to Otōsan's wishes. I will do as is asked of me."

"You know your duty?", he asked and turned to accompany you towards the door. "About your company. I am unsure if I would like to take you with me. It is dangerous."

"Takemura.", you made sure to address him by his last name so that others around didn't get the wrong idea. "I appreciate your concerns. But I will not listen to them. This is an order."

Something in him shifted. He seemed defeated but not willing to agree just yet. The idea to talk to Hanako probably lingered in the back of his head.

But you were already at the door. A car waited for the two of you.

A handful of soldiers stood by.

"The support.", Takemura said and politely opened a door for you. "I might have no choice taking you with me, but I can make sure you are as safe as possible."

With a huff, you took a seat in the passenger seat and listened as he closed the door and started to order the men around in Japanese.

He always spoke the language with you too, but when he took the role of a leader it sounded different. More harsh and determined, not as soft and wise as you knew.

Outside, people started to get moving and not a moment later Takemura opened the door to slip into the drivers seat. His expression had changed into a harsh one now, with his eyebrows drawn together.

This was the first time you saw him this way. It made you smile softly to yourself.

"Where do we need to go?", you asked with your chin raised to catch a glimpse of the armoured vehicle that passed your window to take the lead.

"I'd rather not tell you.", he said and got the car going. "You will wait in the car anyways."

You frowned.

"It was an order."

"Yes, I understand. But this is not a mission to catch the mercenaries."

"What then?"

"To meet with an informant. He is my eyes and ears outside Konpeki Plaza. We must find out where to look and whom to look for before acting."

Understanding, you hummed and focused your attention on the road.

Konpeki Plaza was in a place that was considered the better part of Night City. The streets were mostly clean and the people of more wealth.

There was no poverty crime but more the ones for greed. Thefts and kidnappings to blackmail people into paying horrendous amounts of money to get their loved ones back.

The convoy picked a different route, away from the district center and closer to the borders of the city, close enough to make you think that they planned on paying the badlands another visit.

The thought alone made your heart beat with fear and tied your throat.

"Do not worry.", Takemura's voice was so gentle as he threw a glance at you. "I am here with you. Nothing will ever happen to you again."

Those words struck you like a knife. They sunk into your flesh and made it bleed with memories that you had tried to forget many, many years and even more times ago.

Those words sounded so familiar. They were painful yet soothing to you.

"I trust you, Goro.", you said with your eyes fixed on the curves of his profile. "Please do not leave me again."

He was concentrated on the road that lay ahead. If he took his eyes off the road he'd risk it that the car in front stopped and he would drive into it by accident.

And yet he dared to glance at you from the corner of his vision. White eyes, implants, made just for him touched your (S/C) face.

"I had no choice back then.", he said, a hint of regret in his raspy voice. "My orders were different. But now I am here to protect you."

Even though he was only in Night City for a couple of days you felt like you had already grown close to him. You were charmed by his cold exterior with those hints of humanity in him.

His liking to tea.

The wonder in his eyes when he saw a cat.

He felt so familiar. You wondered how many times you had already met him without remembering it. As Saburo's bodyguard it was more than likely that he had accompanied your father to multiple occasions.

At some point in life the two of you must have met. Happier points. Points at which your parents hadn't died.

"You'll leave again.", you said in a calm manner, leaned back in your seat to close your eyes and exhale deeply.

"I will give you my word."

"Goro.", you placed a hand on his shoulder. "When your duty here is done you'll return to Otōsan's side. And I will remain in Night City. We will not be together for long."

For a moment, he focused on the street again. It seemed like he tried to think of words that would be fitting for this situation.

But he failed to find any that would have come across as inappropriate.

"When your parents died, I sat at your new bed until you fell asleep. Your face was covered in tears and your eyes red from crying.", he almost sounded like he needed to restrain himself as he recalled the days of your first meeting. "As I found you, unconscious and bleeding, I sat at your bed again. All these days, I did not leave."

Your heart skipped a beat.

You remembered that there had been this strange feeling of someone there, next to your bed. Your first guess would have been Hanako, since she was so caring.

But Takemura made way more sense.

Like a guard dog who wouldn't leave a grave from which their owner would never return from.

"You will leave.", you simply said with a smile. "And it will be fine."

It hurt to face this reality. But even though you and him seemed to be connected by fate, you were just strangers. And it would remain that way.

It would be better.