To Feel Again
Chapter Three
The morning light flooded into
the room. Normally the blinds would be closed in the evening to prevent such a
thing, but with all the confusion, such a minor task had slipped his mind.
Cursing the sun, Kazuya grudgingly opened his eyes, the lingering remnants of
his dream dissipating slowly. He didn’t dream of Jun often, and his dreams of
her having erotic twists was an even more rare event.
Kazuya noticed the one thing
that he hadn’t awakened to since adolescence. He looked down to find his sheets
tented, but rather than being embarrassed or annoyed, he was almost amused, and
very interested, for he wasn’t one to be easily aroused. But as he slowly
became more aware of the situation, the more the pain became apparent.
Without feeling bitter or
awkward, he slipped his hand beneath the covers and down his white satin
sleeping pants. Kazuya began to tease his erection almost dutifully, as if it
were just another task that had to be completed. Though as he closed his eyes
and allowed visions of his beloved dance around his mind, the ecstasy found its
way forth and soon he was pumping away furiously as he pictured Jun’s beautiful
body against his. He could still feel her writhing and panting delicately
beneath him, as she gasped his name.
As he opened his eyes, the
face before him was nothing like Jun’s. It was older, and belonged to a man. A
certain Chinese man. Not even slightly alerted by this, he continued to work
his arousal, gazing at Wulong through half-slit eyes. The friction being
created heightened as he grunted and could almost feel the Officer’s hand’s
guiding his up the shaft. Squeezing his eyes shut as the sensation of his whole
body heating up overwhelmed him, he uttered one very important word, “Lei…”
Waking with a start, Kazuya
Mishima immediately grasped his groin, defensively. He lay there a moment,
breathing heavily as he came to realize that it was only a dream. There was no
tent in the blankets, and there wasn’t even any sunlight, for he had fallen
asleep on the white leather couch of his dark office, under a loosely knitted
afghan blanket. He groaned, pushing the matter aside through reasoning that it
was said that a dream could mean something completely different than what it
portrayed. After all, he had far more important things to do than fret over
some insignificant happening that never even took place.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Are you alright? …Wulong? …
Lei!”
Nearly falling out of his chair,
Wulong jumped, and choked on his coffee. “Mao Lian! … Sorry… I was just
thinking.”
“We’ve been working together for
how long now, and you still won’t call me by my given name!” Lian smiled
good-naturedly as he took a seat across from Wulong. “Now where were you last
night? What happened to your arm?”
Wulong stared into his coffee
thoughtfully. The events of the previous evening still troubled him to some
extent. He hadn’t been able to sleep afterwards, and all he could think about
was what the Mishima had said. Had it been a threat or a warning.
“What is it you want from me,
because this little exchange is wearing on my nerves?”
“I… I want to make you happy…
I mean… I want to see… just… a smile…”
Kazuya quirked a brow,
assessing Wulong’s face carefully. Still holding the officer’s wrist, he grabs the
back of the man’s head, grasping the long black hair and yanking his head back.
“I think I see this situation all too clearly now, Lei-san. You are not just
trying to annoy me like I had originally thought, are you? You are genuinely
concerned about me?” He smirked and leaned over, whispering almost seductively
into Lei’s ear, “Soon, you will come to regret these silly delusions of yours.”
The words were startling, and
even as Lei sat there, drinking his coffee, he couldn’t help but shiver.
Though, thinking about it, it was possible that Kazuya had been trying to sound
threatening, when he was just trying to scare people away. It was common sense
that nothing good could come from befriending a Mishima, and it was likely that
the man knew it quite well, but that didn’t mean he liked it. Maybe Kazuya
didn’t want Wulong to get hurt, and in order to prevent such a thing, he was
purposely trying to scare him.
Wulong’s eyes widened with
realization as he thought, ‘Or maybe, he’s afraid that I’ll hurt him…’ As he
rose from his seat, he slammed his hands, palm-down on the table’s surface,
wincing as pain shot through his bad arm. Though, he remained determined. “I
have to see him!” He declared, aloud, before spinning on his heals and heading
for the door.
Lian watched his partner in
bewilderment. “See who? Wulong! … We’re supposed to be investigating some
woman! … And you’re forgetting something… Like… ME!” He pouted, and looked at
the discarded coffee. “It’d be wise of me to request a new partner… Hopefully someone
who will actually clue me in once in awhile!!!!”
“MAO-SAN!!!! WHY ISN’T THAT
REPORT ON MY DESK?!?!”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The staff was even more chipper
than the day before, despite the few that were left. Most were already
beginning there long weekend. One lady even asked Lei if she could help him
when she saw him enter, and cheerfully directed him to Kazuya’s office. Though,
he had been there just the previous evening, it was a large place, and he had
forgotten the route. However, the personal secretary wasn’t so easy to get
along with.
It was a young attractive man.
Maybe in his late 20’s, early 30’s. It wasn’t that he was bitter, or anything,
he was just stressed, and swamped with paperwork. It looked as if that man
hadn’t gotten much sleep in months. Flippantly, he had instructed Wulong to sit
down and wait, as he brought a huge stack bulging folders into a storage room
behind his desk, and then used the intercom to inform Kazuya of the guest. Not
a sound came in reply, but the secretary went back to his work as if it were
completely normal.
Within a few minutes, a group of
grumpy-looking foreign businessmen emerged from the office. They muttered to
each other in what Wulong guessed was Spanish, and they shot everyone they
passed, a disgusted glare. They obviously weren’t too happy about whatever had
happened. Shortly afterward, the intercom beeped. The secretary pressed a
button on an earpiece that Wulong hadn’t even noticed he was wearing. That
would explain why he hadn’t heard a response from the CEO.
After muttering a quiet,
submissive response into the intercom, the secretary bowed his head politely at
the Officer. “You may see him now, sir.”
The interior of the office, was
quite comfortably put together, yet it was very impersonal. It was a little
brighter than he would have imagined, since the majority of the outer wall was
one large window. But large blinds at the top suggested that the brightness
wasn’t the only option, and judging by the man’s fondness of the dark, it
wasn’t the most frequent option either.
Kazuya sat at his large,
dark-stained oak desk. His posture couldn’t be more perfect as he typed some
things into his flat, large-screened computer. This time there was something
different about the way the man acted. There was tension, and it was coming
from the cold, arrogant man, who seemed to be concentrating so hard on
something.
“Is this a bad time?” Wulong
frowned down at the barren desk. “I can come back later…”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Take a
seat.”
Remaining silent for awhile,
Wulong just glanced around the room as he sat down in one of the soft office
chairs. He was unsure of what exactly he wanted to say to the intimidating
Mishima, but he just wanted to say something. It couldn’t go on like that. That
man needed him, he was sure of it. So how would he go about getting the
Japanese to open up without making him angry?
Without looking away from the
computer screen, Kazuya spoke. “You seem to have an awful lot of free time on
your hands, Lei-san. Were you fired, or am I the main suspect in another one of
your investigations?”
“Neither, actually…” He answered
honestly, fiddling with his hair which he had forgotten to tie back that
morning. “I’m supposed to be on duty, but… I just had to talk to you.”
“Oh? Well, with the world’s
safety in the hands of people like you, I can’t imagine why there’s still
crime.” Kazuya stopped typing, but continued to watch the screen. “Now what’s
so important that you’d skip out on work for? I do hope you have more to say to
me than you did last night, because honestly, that had been a bit
disappointing.”
Wulong, trying to work out what
the tension was about, narrowed his eyes with concern. “Why won’t you look at
me?”
Surprised by this confrontation,
Kazuya appeared alarmed. But that display of shock was next to unnoticeable,
and any normal person would have remained oblivious. Fortunately, Wulong had
been trained for many years to catch such things, and it fed his curiosity even
more. So what was behind this eye contact avoidance? It couldn’t have been hate,
because Mishima’s weren’t known to be afraid to express their hatred for
another. No. It had to be something else, but what?
Kazuya responded coldly, glancing
in Wulong’s direction. “You’re annoying me. I don’t make a habit of gawking at
people who annoy me,” He stated, as if it were simply common sense. However, he
still did not meet the Officer’s eyes. Instead, he seemed to be watching the
movements of the Chinese man’s mouth, as if he were reading lips. “Now what do
you want? I have a meeting in an hour that I must prepare for, so please make
it quick.”
“What did you mean by what you
said last night?”
“What I said?” The Japanese
looked back to his screen, trying to recall the dialogue of the previous night.
“Perhaps my memory isn’t as good as it used to be, but from my perspective, I
had said a few things last night. You’re going to have to be more specific.”
Wulong lowered his head, feeling immature, and foolish. “When you
said that I’d regret my silly delusions…”
“Oh that.” Kazuya sighed as he
turned his chair slightly to give himself view of the window. “I was hoping
you’d take that as a threat and leave me alone, but I see that you are
reasonably more stubborn than I had thought. I suppose I’ll just have to put
more effort into my next attempt at being rid of you… How much do you think
assassins are going for these days?”
“Mishima… Are you afraid of me?”
With a straight face, Kazuya
replied, “Even after years of living with a father who was constantly trying to
kill me, and being faced with countless other people who have decided they’d
also like to see me die a horrible death, I have never been more terrified than
I am at this moment.”
Rolling his eyes, Wulong got back
to his feet and turned toward the door, “If you’re just going to make fun of
me, I’ll leave.”
“Frankly, It’s about goddamn
time. Goodbye, Lei-san.”
“Aren’t you going to stop me?”
Wulong frowned back at the older man. “That was your cue to surrender and tell
me everything.”
Kazuya laughed, and shook his
head. “I’m sorry. I hadn’t realized that we were in the middle of a cliché love
story. Alright, so what’s next? I open up, confess my undying love for you,
stare into your eyes dramatically as tears stream down my face, and then we
have hot animal sex right here on my desk. Does that sound about right, or am I
missing something?”
The officer glared at the other
man, completely insulted.
“Well, I’m sorry, Lei-san, but if
you want me to take part in your little fairytale, than you’re going to have to
play the female role. More of my talent lays within the villains role anyway.”
Wulong began to grow red as he
slammed his good fist on the desk. “I’m not playing! This isn’t a game to me!
Could you at least have the decency to take me seriously? Why don’t you like
me? What have I done? Sure there was a time when I hated you. When I blamed you
for my partner’s death… But… I never did anything beyond a few investigations.
So why? And now you won’t even look me in the eye. Am I that repulsive?”
After a moment of silence, Kazuya
rose from his seat and walked around his desk. Standing right before the
officer, he gently touched the pale cheek. Just as the younger man thought he
had won the CEO over, the hand recoiled and back-handed him. Completely
shocked, Wulong staggered back a few steps, holding his stinging jaw as he
stared up fearfully at the other man. Never before had he witnessed the Mishima
resort to violence directly unless if it was in a professional fight, or
self-defense. Especially in a situation like that, it wasn’t like him to lash
out.
“How dare you try to manipulate
me, you doltish worm.” Kazuya had his teeth bared in anger as he loomed over
the cowering officer. “You can say any pitiable things you want, but you won’t
succeed at dragging a confession out of me! My happiness is my business alone,
and you’re stupid to think that you forcing your way into my life with this
pathetic melancholic attitude will improve my nature. You are not repulsive and
you know it, but you are incredibly moronic, and weak. Now get out of my sight
before I hit you again.”
Unsure whether he was reading too
much into that, the Chinese officer didn’t move to leave. Instead, he went over
it in his head. Dragging a confession out? Did that mean there was actually
something to confess? That would explain why the man was so defensive. ‘With
this Melancholic attitude’? that was said almost as if the only thing about
Wulong’s presence that Kazuya didn’t like was the attitude. Did that mean he
wanted the company? Wulong blinked as his eyes widened. He realized that
despite all the insults in that outburst, it had been said that Kazuya didn’t
think he was repulsive.
Maybe it was about time for a
little recklessness. Feeling unusually spontaneous, Lei Wulong straightened up,
and leveled himself with the other man. His eyes flashed fearfully for a
second, but before he could have any second thoughts, he forced himself to grab
Kazuya by the front of his suit’s collar, with both fists, and pulled the perplexed
man into a kiss.
The kiss lasted a whole of 10
seconds before one of the parties realized what had happened, and broke away.
Strangely enough, he didn’t react angrily or cruelly, in fact he didn’t react
at all. Instead, Kazuya silently assessed Wulong’s face before walking over to
the window, and gazing out at the cars, and people running around below.
“Every night, and every day this
street is filled with activity. The one night I finally had some serenity to
look out upon, I saw you, and you’ve been tormenting me with your presence ever
since.” He sat down on the window seat, his face still emotionless. “I knew you
were stupid before but I had no idea that it was this bad. I know your
intentions are good, and that’s what I hate about you. If she had been more
selfish, she would still be alive. Now, Lei-san, I want you to forget about
your little community service project here, and get out. If I see your face
again, I will crush it. Is that understood?”
“No.”
Kazuya looked at Lei, a hint of
sadness in his eyes that he was struggling to mask with indifference. “I wish
to be left alone. Was I wrong to think that even an idiot like you would be
able to comprehend that much?”
Wulong walked over to stand
beside where the other man was sitting, and join in on the people watching.
“The only reason you want to be left alone is because every time you’ve cared
about someone, they’ve betrayed you, or worse. I’m not going to leave, I’m not
going to betray you, and I’m not going to die. If I was doing this because I
saw you as a charity case, I’d have given up by now.”
“Oh please!” Kazuya laughed
bitterly. “I had no idea you were a psychiatrist! If you expect me to be
reassured by that, you are even more pathetic than I thought. If anything, that
was a bit creepy. The last thing I need is an idiot cop stalking me.”
“… Mishima-san…”
Kazuya glared up at Wulong. “What
do you want?”
“I want to kiss you again…”
“Maybe tomorrow.” The Japanese
got up, and walked across the room. He opened the door, and turned to his
guest. “If you need help getting out of the building, any of my employees will
be happy to help. Goodbye Lei-san.”