Himitsu Bako (Atroxa & Verse)

[Atroxa]

Between the driving bass and music volume, it was nearly impossible to think here, but you didn't go to the club to do deep thinking. Some people came to dance and enjoy the music (if high energy techno was your kind of thing anyway), some came to socialize, others came to drink, or some mixture of those. Or other more personal or random reasons, but definitely not to think. For Yori, it was mostly to drink and socialize, it was always easier to hang out with his friends and not worry too much about everything that could go wrong when he had a few drinks in him. Yelling over the music could get a little old after a while but they were usually having too much fun to really care.

The little group Yori always came here with was an odd mix if you only knew them now, but they'd grown up together in a rough neighborhood in Osaka and all gone to the same high school together. Some had gone on to university, gotten good jobs, and moved out to nicer places in the city, others still lived in the old neighborhood and managed to get by well enough, and then there was Kazu and Yori. While the rest of the group mostly only saw one another on nights like this when they got together and abandon their responsibilities to their new adult lives for a little while, Kazu and Yori were as thick as thieves, almost literally. They had been all through high school too, but if anything they were even closer these days, and more than one person jokingly referred to Yori as Kazu's shadow.

It was surprising at first to anyone who met them perhaps, because they were so different from one another in so many ways. From their heights, to their style, to their hair, even their personalities were vastly different, but there wasn't anyone Yori was more loyal to than perhaps his own mother. And even then, it would be a hard decision to make. He owed a lot to Kazu and the Kakorai family, though he liked to think that he did well by them too.

Questions of loyalty were very far from Yori's mind at the moment though, a rare grin on his face as he celebrated beating one of their friends, Ichiro, in a little race to see who could down their shots the fastest. "You owe me a drink!" Yori claimed proudly, clapping his hands together before giving his old friend the finger, Ichiro rolled his eyes and returned the gesture. The normally reserved Yori just grinned some more and pushed his bleached blonde bangs out of his eyes. He looked around for Kazu, more than half expecting to see his friend with a girl somewhere, but it was second nature at this point for him to simply want to know where Kazu was.

More than loyalty to Kazu, he knew his friend's father looked to Yori to keep his oldest son safe and out of harm's way. And Yori took that very seriously, perhaps a little too much sometimes for Kazu's liking. He was hesitant to get up and go looking for him though, he didn't really like to dance so he preferred sticking to the table to drink and joke with his friends. Sighing when he didn't see Kazu fast enough for his liking, Yori got up, his slight build obvious without the table or booth chairs in the way. He was pretty short especially for a man, and not even the bulky, layered style of his black shirt and jacket hid that he wasn't especially big otherwise either, with a pair of close fitting black jeans on his proportionately long legs, a pair of studded boots finishing off the look. His angular face was more effeminate than he'd like, it got him called 'pretty boy' a lot though these days people mostly said that behind his back, not many dared to say it to his face anymore. Kazu was the only one Yori let call him that without getting angry about it.

"Where'd Kazu get to?" Yori asked another friend as he came back from the dancefloor, a girl under his arm. The friend shrugged and shook his head, rolling his eyes a little at how Yori never seemed to turn off 'bodyguard mode' unless he was asleep. Some might find it a little funny that someone as small as Yori would make a good bodyguard, especially for someone like Kazu, who was perfectly capable of handling himself. But looks were very, very deceiving when it came to Yori Matsumoto.

 

[Verse]

The Akai Club paid protection money, but his dad Tsatou didn't tend to it much. There was always a race to collect new establishments in this strip of Osaka, because it was between territories. So you had to get them even if you didn't believe in the business model. As long as they paid. And Akai did well. Even put extra bills in the envelope sometimes, when dad didn't raise the fee. Point was, the club wasn't as intimate with its protectors as other places. And being in a middle zone, meant not everyone had to kiss ass. That's why Kazuki liked it here. He had some weight to throw around, but everyone wasn't pissing themselves when they saw him. Still, he'd presented himself real thoroughly when the new bouncer tried to stop him and his gang from going in.

"Ka-ko-ra-ie, baka." he said with wide eyes, such a dark brown they were almost red until the yellow light in the entrance. It had taken the beefy white guy a second, but he shrunk and pretty much lost his balls when he realized where he recognized the name. He was apologetic and bowing as Kazu with Yori in tow went in. Yeah. It was a good name here.

While things got heated in the middle zone, it seemed when it wasn't outright war, the representatives from either clan relaxed a bit. It reminded Kazu of going through high school with Yori. For a skinny kid, Yori sure as fuck didn't like gym, but was never gone when there was a fight. Honestly, Kazu couldn't even remember ever talking to Yori in the locker rooms. They got to relive some of that here, of being one among many, and a fight always being on the horizon. But one that might not end in bloodshed.

Maybe that's what Kazu was doing now. Tongue deep in some chick who smelled like too much expensive perfume. Her makeup was smearing his cheek as he was eating her face. Her moans were so practiced they sounded fake. She looked good enough, with her tan and her long nails and her nothing-skirt, but he liked her more for her boyfriend. She hooked for the Riza family, enforced by Ueno. Ueno would call himself a playboy, but he paid for all his pussy. Kazu had his hand up that nothing-skirt now, and he was knuckle deep in it, for free. She was wet. That had to be worth something. But some of these girls were good enough to get going just because the knew they should.

He broke the kiss and shoved her back. It dislodged his digit from her cunt. He grinned, stupid because of the alcohol, and waved her away with a hand that would have smelled like her panties, if she wore any. She was pissed and screamed in her nasal voice. Through the music he heard 'dickless' and 'shit' but even a crazy bitch would know the absolute unhinged that was hiding behind his eyes, that definitely pulsated red now, in the lasers cutting up the dance floor. She didn't come at him with those nails. He showed his tongue. "Yeah, go back to your boyfriend, hoe." he said at a conversational volume, mostly for himself as he turned.

Kazu's black suit and red shirt, unbuttoned to show off his River Parlor ink, got him service the moment he showed up at the bar. He pointed at a clear bottle and they gave it to him. He tipped its value and let it hang in his hand after a first swig. The youth was living a good life here. His carved features were rosy from the drink. He heard his name just before he saw Yori standing, and skipped lively to embrace him from behind.

"Yooooorii..." he said in his bestie's ear. Damn, Yori always smelled good. "Why aren't you drinking?" he asked, with arm still around him. The other hand lifted the bottle to Yori's mouth. "Chug! Chug! Chug!" he chanted, but the others didn't hear, so it was only him trying to get it started.

 

[Atroxa]

Yori didn’t make it very far at all from their table when he felt someone grab him from behind, the smell of alcohol accompanying the grip of arms around him. He tensed out of surprise at first then annoyance, grabbing his friend’s arm and trying to pry it off, “Kazu!” he barked disapprovingly, “Let go!” Yori saw the bottle coming just in time to grab it with one hand as well, but still got splashed in the face a bit, sputtering and coughing. “Stop it!” He twisted out of his friend’s grip finally and backed off a few steps, shaking his clothes to try and get rid of some of the spilled sake. Yori didn't seem to like being touched much, not even by Kazuki, though in his case it wasn't because Yori didn't like it. He had his reasons though.

Really, there wasn't much Kazu did that Yori wasn't willing to back up, sometimes Yori even liked causing trouble with Kazuki, but most of the time these days he was tasked with making sure his friend didn’t go too far. The two of them had always looked out for one another, since the day they’d met, but it was really more Yori’s job than Kazu’s. Being the oldest son of the head of the Kakorai family meant that Kazuki’s protection was very important, but not only that his temper could be volatile and he didn’t listen to many people. Yori was one of the few, and tried his best to protect his friend from others as well as himself, with mixed results.

“I was drinking,” he growled at his old friend, sighing harshly, “what were you doing?” Yori glanced around, trying to spot anyone who was maybe looking particularly disgruntled with Kazuki. Looking back around at the other young man, his eyes (currently blue thanks to his colored contacts, though he changed them often) narrowing with clear suspicion. “You weren’t causing any trouble were you?”

Tsatou was trying to maintain a tense peace with their neighboring rivals while they dealt with some increased heat from the local authorities in Osaka. So he’d specifically told Yori to keep Kazu from pissing anyone off, which meant he had to keep an extra close eye on his friend. They hadn't been apart long, but Kazuki was very good at causing trouble, and not even Yori could always stop him, but he was always there to help him clean up the mess afterwards. Despite the fact that Yori was technically the younger of the two of them, he was the more mature and responsible (and serious) of them for sure, but without Kazuki, Yori would be in danger of being bored or boring.

 

[Verse]

Kazuki tried to hold on. He was contrary in nature, and knew Yori avoided contact. Fuck, a lot of them played at being that kind of man. They had to. Had to spew that kind of stuff around, and they'd lived in it long enough to believe it. But Kazu was freer than most, and his flamboyance was part of his position. The crazier he seemed, the more fear he could instill. It was part of why he'd grown into this incalculable personality, even if his hedonistic impulses could be predicable at times. Yori certainly knew his behavioral patterns and fetishes better than anyone. And so Kazu did try to hug his friend despite Yori's attempt at the contrary for a while. It was a scuffle that Yori was much more passionate about than his boss. Kazu wanted what he wanted, was used to getting it, and grunted with disappointment when Yori got free.

"Fucking buzzkill..." he muttered and had some of the vodka himself while Yori tried to fix his clothes. He'd see Yori this defensive some times, but it was always a new thing that triggered it. The music soon swayed Kazu into a better mood. He started bouncing his shoulders to the baseline, and that made the liquid in the bottle slosh. Eventually that turned into a shrug at Yori's question. Kazuki looked rather playful for someone who could murder for money. The other men by the table continued to indulge in their libations. Little arguments between the two friends were common fare. They were like any pair of siblings. Neither of them could fully back Yori up, even if he did make the most sense, usually.

"I haven't done anything." Kazu explained and held his arms out. A dapper pose from the long limbs and angular face, inherited from his father side. But he got his mother's lips, somehow. Those lips were smiling now, and in the faraway colorful lighting from the dance floor, they vibrated with different hues. He was a monster, but he could be amicable between his unbridled fits of violence. "I mean, I'm a lover, not a fighter." he continued and touched his chest for the continued theatricality of it all. They all knew there was probably a weapon hiding in the jacket, right where his fingers spread. He held the bottle to his face and slid the back of his tongue over the rim. A vulgar display. His unfocused, very amused eyes told Yori about how far into the stupor he might be.

"Now." he said sternly, and there was a flash of the leader they knew during working hours, which could still be nighttime. He extended the bottle with a long arm, with a tailored jacket. "YOU'RE going to be in trouble if you don't have a sip." he tossed it to his friend, and it would bounce on Yori and shatter on the floor if he didn't catch it. "Drink, drink drink!" he shouted and the other men erupted in the chant as well, getting up and joining in as Kazuki started gracelessly dancing around his enforcer. For a moment, the silhouette of men became a tail after the shadowy avatar that was their leader, making merry, playful on Yori's expense.

Somewhere else, there was an argument about whether a girl was a slut for taking Kakorai tongue almost all the way down to her esophagus. Ueno Riza was a large man, though he had a lot of childlike sensibilities. In his beige suit he almost matches his girlfriend's tan. They were quite the pair shouting in competition with the music. She waved her arms and he pointed at her. His motions were withheld, which usually meant trouble, because it suggested he knew that if he didn't stay calm, he'd probably kill her. The girl who was still shaky from Kazuki Kakorai's fingers, was letting her frustrations out on her boyfriend, and spilling her guts about her indiscretion. Eventually, she must have said enough, because Ueno's meaty shoulders dropped, and he started scanning the club.

 

[Atroxa]

There were even more layers of pressure on Yori to maintain that macho front than most people realized, and unlike his best friend he couldn’t afford not to care. For one thing, he didn’t have the protection of being the son of the head of a family like the Kakorai, in fact he didn’t have a father around at all. Yori had had to become the man of the house at a pretty young age, his mother and two younger sisters had depended on him, and still did to a point. He came by his serious nature honestly, he’d had to grow up fast to handle all the responsibility he’d found himself with. His family didn’t need to rely on Yori as much these days thankfully, but a lot of that was thanks to Kazuki, his father, and their family.

It was why he was so loyal to Kazu, and put up with so much from him, though he knew he got away with more too because of their bond. They were like brothers, perhaps most especially when they were driving one another crazy. So Yori just rolled his eyes when his friend called him a buzzkill, way too used to that to be bothered. He also looked like he didn’t fully believe Kazu when he claimed not to have done anything, his false blue eyes narrowing a little.

The innocent act was often just that, an act, but it was hard to say what exactly to accuse him of being guilty of right then. Yori couldn’t help a short laugh when the other young man claimed to be a lover, not a fighter, though clearly just being a bit dramatic for fun. Kazuki was only a lover in the physical sense and even that was a stretch, but he was definitely a fighter, so was Yori, but just like everything else their approaches were very different. Yori rarely started or sought out fights, but he very rarely ran from them. “I’m not sure you know the difference,” Yori commented, making a face at his friend’s display with the bottle. About the only thing Kazu seemed interested in as much as fighting was sex, Yori was again the opposite from him, he sometimes showed interest in a woman but plenty of people called him a monk, though most did that behind his back.

When his friend and superior ordered him to drink and tossed him the bottle, Yori caught it with a glare, and stood stony-faced looking unamused as first Kazu then their friends started dancing and chanting around him. Somehow, Yori’s refusal to crack his serious demeanor just made it even funnier, “Fine, if it’ll make you stop dancing like that,” he said as he caved (trying to suppress a grin) and upended the bottle, taking a deep swig. There was only a little left when he lowered it, feeling his eyes water a little and his belly burning, “There,” he coughed a little, “Happy?” He was oblivious to the trouble brewing, distracted for the moment from investigating how honest Kazu had been about his innocence.

 

[Verse]

There was always tension around Kazuki Kakorai. For others to feel, he had the aura of blood splatter that this kind of life had earned him, but also for him to feel. When he walked into a room with his name backing him up, and all the bad deeds that was building his legend under his father's, there were many ways things could go south. He met with others like him daily; juvenile egos with a lot of firepower to back it up. This all meant he had to grow comfortable with the tension. That's how he came to like it. He shouldn't be affect by high-stakes situations, but, as Yori had hinted at, maybe it wasn't the best thing for his health that he relished in them, and sought them out. Maybe that was why he'd messed with Ueno Riza's girl, to sow the seeds of violence for later. Like having made many families fatherless wasn't enough. Or maybe he was just a sonovabitch. Almost anything that made you a good fit for Kazu's position, made you a motherfucker, too.

Yori was as easy to fool as always. Which meant not at all. He was a good bloodhound, and his nose for nefarious undercurrents was an asset on most days, but Kazu would rather he not turn that scrutiny on himself. He smiled, goofy and then broke into laughter. He did like both fighting and loving, and if this crew was being honest, the way he'd taken out debts on some family daughters, there wasn't much that separated the two once he got the feeling for it. Some of those girls were marred for life after he was done with them. Had to make a point. And sometimes his blood got too hot for the situation. Whatever. Half of his job was making a statement, and a girl fucked and beaten within an inch of her life on the street because her brother was late with gambling payments, was good press for Yakuza. Yori always supported him, but Kazu seemed to remember Yori's eyes holding a certain look, then. Maybe it was Yori's sisters, but it seemed to run deeper than that.

Those eyes were shielded in a blue color now, and as annoyed as they were, they still rolled back and closed when Yori drank. Kazu and the others roared at getting their way, just a bunch of wild boys celebrating the night. "Fuck! You're thirsty! When was the last time you drank? Don't your boss pay you enough?" Kazu said and grabbed him by the shoulder. The others took the cue and swarmed Yori. It would have been dangerous to come at a known brawler when he was holding a bottle, but they were his gang, and Yori was actually distracted, scanning the club for something. So it was easy to lift him up. Yori wouldn't swing if it meant possibly catching Kazuki, at least not unless either of them intended for that. Soon the smaller male was hoisted over the others.

"That's my boiiiii!" Kazu called from underneath him as they carried him in an erratic pattern. He made sure to get to grab Yori's butt from underneath, unless the enforcer had somehow wriggled himself out of it all. Up there, apart from being closer to the colored lights, Yori might see the prowling, obviously angered Ueno and his tacky suit, looking for whatever outlet he needed. Kazu squeezed Yori's buttock if it was still available to him. "Alright! Put him down!" he shouted, merry. "Y'all don't get to touch my buddy!" There was some foam coming out his mouth with the snarl of his exclamation, but those that who him understood it was still a joke. Probably.

They still set Yori down, though, now that they were closer to the bar.