Chapter Text
A few days had passed since Tokiya’s rookie mission, and there had still been no word from the Black Orchids about the stolen motorcycle. Tokiya didn’t sleep easy at night, though. The thought of some cruel being coming at him and ending his life in one swift motion plagued his mind and he supposed this is what he would just have to buck up and get used to. Having your life threatened at every step you took.
He kept thinking about the young man he’d almost hit and the curses that had been thrown at him soon after. He’d soon learnt who he was; Otoya Ittoki. Second in command of the Black Orchids. Just his luck. He had a feeling that if Otoya ever got his hands on him, then Tokiya would be dead before he could even open his mouth and try talking his way out. He knew he had a way with words, it was almost like a gift from God.
But, an arrival soon came to the White Devils.
Reiji came running into the base one afternoon, panting so hard he had to pause to catch his breath, but there was a sharp knocking at the door before he could even begin to explain what had set him into such a panic. Tokiya watched as the group stood still and silent before the knocking became a more irritated rapping.
“Reiji? Who is it?” Ai, Camus’ second in command, whispered and Reiji simply held up his hand with his forefinger and thumb shaping into an ‘O’. Ai nodded slowly before silently moving closer to the door.
Everyone tensed at Reiji’s answer, but soon they were taking up positions around the room as if there had been no bother to their day. Ai answered the door and was thrown back as Otoya himself barged past, an incredibly pissed look on his face and a fury blazing in his eyes.
“You bastards have a lot to answer for,” he growled and his eyes landed on Tokiya - sending a chill through him - before scanning the room again.
A laugh sounded up from Ren just as Camus himself came into the room from his own private one. The White Devils leader kept his guard up and made no attempt to show any sign of weakness or fear when Otoya started to prowl around him.
“To what do we owe the pleasure of your company, Ittoki?” Even his voice was calm and collected as always (unless he was giving his more rowdy members a stern telling off).
“You know exactly what I want. So hand it over, Camus, and none of your pathetic little rag-tag lowlife bunch gets hurt”.
“Ah, so the ever so loyal dog has come to finally fetch the bone for his master~? What a good boy you are for dear ol’ Ranmaru~”
“Shut your mouth!”
Tokiya could barely believe it, someone from a rival gang speaking to his leader in such a way and without so much as a slight care for any consequences. He watched the exchange closely from his space at the table beside Ren and across from Natsuki.
“Ran-chan probably hasn’t fucked him as punishment for letting us get away with the bike,” Ren whispered in Tokiya’s ear and he couldn’t help but slightly grimace at the thought. Was that was the Black Orchids were like? Hearing Reiji talk about his time there the other day hadn’t seem much different from how he’d watched the White Devils perform - a bit more ruthless, sure, but more or less the same. Ren then smirked, “But then again, getting a fucking from Ran-chan is probably the best reward he’s ever received in his life”.
Tokiya shuddered and suddenly felt Otoya’s eyes on him again. He averted his eyes before hearing the rival gang member growl, displeased. He knew Tokiya had taken the motorbike. Maybe he hadn’t been as quick and discreet with himself as he originally thought.
That’s when Tokiya noticed the bulge in Otoya’s pocket and it took everything he had in him not to suddenly gasp and look spooked. There was definitely a gun hidden in there. No doubt it was already probably locked and loaded so Otoya could make a quickfire if he felt threatened enough. Otoya’s leg was dead still, but Tokiya could see his hand fidgeting in his jacket pocket instead. He was itching to pull out the weapon if nobody was going to take him seriously.
Otoya tsked lightly in disgust and strode closer to Camus, walking right up to him and lifting his stature so he was right in Camus’ face, a sickening grin gracing his smile. A dangerous game, but Tokiya guessed this man had more than enough experience.
“You think you’re so good at this, don’t you, Camus?” Otoya hissed, “Well listen here. Ranmaru is gonna own the entirety of this godforsaken city someday. Every bit of land will be Black Orchids’ turf. We’ll be driving you out and moving in more numbers than you’d ever even dare to imagine. Because unlike you White Devils, we actually work for what we’re given”.
“Yeah, I bet you work yourself real good at anything to get given another ride on your precious leader’s dick, huh, Ikki?” Ren spoke up then and Tokiya had to press himself against the wall in mild fear of the look in the Black Orchids’ member’s eyes.
“You. Shut. Up. Now,” He even started to lunge for Ren and a fight would’ve broken out between the two of them had Camus not grabbed Otoya from under his arm and forcefully twisted it, making the redhead wince loudly and grit his teeth in pain.
Tokiya mentally winced himself. He watched as Otoya ripped himself from Camus’ grip and stumbled to catch himself from tripping over. A low rumble was coming from him and Tokiya couldn’t suppress the shiver that tickled down along his spine.
“Now, before things get messy, I suggest you take the bike and leave, Ittoki. Wouldn’t want to anger Ranmaru even further now, would we?”
Otoya snarled and there was a pure evil glint in his crimson eyes. He touched his arm where it had been twisted and quickly clamped his jaw shut as he let the pain subside best it could, “Just wait ‘til Ranmaru hears about your “gentle handling” of me. Then you’ll be sorry. And I just hope I’m there for when the day arrives where he finally snaps and rips you and your pathetic little gang apart”.
With one more spine-tingling look in Tokiya’s direction, the Black Orchids’ member left their base with a slam of the door and all was silent aside from the faint rumble of the motorbike driving away back to its rightful owner.
If he ever finds me alone then I am as good as dead…
Tokiya swore he was going to send himself into madness. Otoya had been plaguing his thoughts more often than before since his visit to reclaim Ranmaru’s motorcycle. Sometimes he had woken Ren by having the man be in his nightmares, making up an excuse that he was just uncomfortable sleeping at times. Tokiya knew he wouldn’t have a choice but to run into Otoya again someday, but he only hoped it wouldn’t be too soon. The man admittedly frightened him, clearly having been raised entirely differently from Tokiya himself.
They were so different and yet Tokiya felt strangely connected to him for some reason. Whether it be sue to the fear Otoya had now set inside him, or it was something deeper he had yet to discover, he wasn’t too sure.
“Yo Icchi, you seem distracted, what’s on your mind?” Ren asked him as the two walked side by side down the dark and damp street. The rain was pelting down on anyone out and about today.
Tokiya shook his head, shaking off his thoughts with a smile, “I’m fine, it’s nothing. I guess I was just blanking out for a bit”.
Ren frowned, “If it’s Ikki’s visit bothering ya then it happens to the best of us when we’re rookies. It’s his savage master who’s the real problem. He is the one you should be afraid of, Ikki’s a pussy in reality. He just acts tough so he can stick close to his fearless leader hoping to get his ass fucked like the sick little slut he is,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Do you know how Otoya ended up in a gang?”
“What? Nobody knows that info, and it’s not as if he’d willingly tell you such if you dared to ask. …Why do you ask, anyway?”
“No reason. He just seems troubled more than willingly living the life of a gang member, that’s all. I don’t know if I’m going crazy but I saw something in him that day”.
“Yeah, you’re definitely going crazy. You don’t know Ikki at all. He ain’t troubled, he’s just Ran-chan’s little lovesick puppy being needy for his fill all the time”.
Tokiya hummed in thought, “I suppose you all aren’t exactly the type to reveal such personal information, huh?”
“Well,” Ren glanced in his direction as he put his hands behind his head, “You haven’t told us why you wanted to join the White Devils. Camus probably got it out of you just to make sure you weren’t a spy for the Black Orchids, which is understandable”.
Tokiya sighed, his thoughts regrettably returning to Otoya, “I wish you’d given me a different rookie mission. Otoya saw me that day, he saw me steal the bike and I can see in his eyes that he’s going to kill me with no hesitation if he ever finds me alone!”
Ren shrugged again and looked back at Tokiya as he paused in their walk, “Comes with the territory, unfortunately, literally speaking. Besides, he won’t kill you unless Ran-chan orders him to do it, so consider yourself safe until he’s given the order. At most, if he does find you alone then he’ll just torture you”.
Nothing sounded less pleasing to Tokiya than that, and with the way Otoya had taken to looking at him, he dreaded what his ideas of torture could entail.
He sat with Reiji and Ai that evening for dinner, the day had been uneventful and drowning in rainwater. Food was surprisingly good here and Tokiya sometimes found it hard to remember he was surrounded in living with a bunch who called themselves a gang. Camus definitely knew how to treat his members as good as he could despite their reputation.
“Reiji? Can you perhaps tell me what Ranmaru is like?” he asked, surprising even himself, let alone the former spy member.
Reiji tensed up immediately but Ai was soon squeezing and rubbing his shoulder in ease and comfort. He knew he shouldn’t have even asked Reiji, but of all people, he figured he was the one who had gotten closest to the other gang leader while he had spent time as a Black Orchids member.
“It’s alright Reiji, you don’t have to,” Tokiya said in apology but Reiji shook his head.
“No Tokki, you deserve to know, especially if Otoyan’s going to be prowling around you like I’ve begun to suspect. I saw how he kept giving you pissed off looks”.
At first, I thought he was just pissed with me because I almost ran him over, but now I guess it’s because the bike was the belonging of someone he dearly cares about and follows the loyal orders of, he dipped his head, nodding for Reiji to continue.
“Ran-Ran…he…,” Reiji took a breath to console himself as Tokiya listened with full focus, “He’s brutal, to say the least. I didn’t expect to be so drawn into him when I was a spy there - and yes, I admit it was spying - he just had this aura that captivated me. I was never really in love with him, but we did…have some moments of sexual intimacy, to say the least.
“Otoyan was always hateful toward me, and now I can see why; I took everything he wanted during my time with the Black Orchids. Otoyan had long dreamed of being Ran-Ran’s right hand, and as soon as he managed to out me and label me a traitor, he didn’t hold back in taking what he always believed was owed to him. Ran-Ran always praised him. It’s true what they say; Otoyan is a dog. Well and truly”.
Tokiya nodded slowly, letting his brain process the information presented to him. Ranmaru must’ve taken a special liking to Reiji to have let him get so close.
“But, when it was just Ran-Ran and I? …He was sometimes gentle. So, I think I must’ve broke his heart in a way, even just a tiny bit. He’s always been strong and kept to himself. Back then, Otoyan and Syo-tan were dating, but it was starting to get more and more obvious that Otoyan wanted more and Ran-Ran was his way of getting that something more. Syo-tan and he began to bicker and fight so much that the one time they began to draw blood and Syo-tan pulled out a dagger on Otoyan, Ran-Ran had had enough and kept the two apart for a few days”.
“Sounds like a heavy breakup…,” Tokiya mused and Ai nodded in agreement.
“Having gotten his wish of getting close to Ranmaru like he wanted must’ve only made Ittoki’s behaviour worse. I doubt Kurusu could’ve handled him even if they had stayed together. I reckon Ittoki may have even planned it that way”.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean he must’ve planned to sacrifice his relationship in order to reach a higher rank. From what I used to hear, Ittoki and Kurusu were incredibly close and would always have each other’s back. It was evident enough in their fighting whenever a fight would arise between our two groups. Ittoki grew jealous of Reiji, then found an opportunity to get exactly what he wanted, whether it hurt Kurusu or not”.
Tokiya pondered over the thought. If all that was true, then he’d have to be extra careful from now on. This man, his new enemy, was hellbent on getting his way. Tokiya must look like a good meal to him; someone who had done something so bad in his eyes that he was already set on revenge and absolutely would not hesitate to write his name in his blood when given a chance to be done and rid of him.
Tokiya was scared, definitely, but he was intrigued. There was something more to this Otoya guy, and as dangerous as it was, he wanted to find out what lay hidden beneath the cold and dark demeanour of the man.
Perhaps I’m the one with the death wish now…