① Conqueror
summary: Judar has just conquered his seventh dungeon. His assassin-turned-right-hand man Hakuryuu just wants him to restrain himself from drinking all that peach wine.
[or: the one where Judar is the King of the Seven Seas and Hakuryuu is his assassin-turned-assistant]
[or: Judar is Sinbad while Hakuryuu is Jafar AU]
② Across Space and Time
summary: Hakuryuu gains a filthy stalker who won't stop telling him lies about 'another world', 'falling into depravity' and being a 'magi'.
[or: the reincarnation AU where it's only Judar who remembers the past]
③ Destined to Fall
summary: Judar and Hakuryuu: the black magi and the king he has chosen. Destiny is absolute and they are destined to fall together. [OR: Judar and Hakuryuu from ten years ago until present]
notes: repost of a multi-chapter, with each chapter based on a day’s prompt :)
☆ Day 01 • Prompt: Childhood
④ Gap
summary: "You're going to be my bride! Just you wait until I grow up!" …There are so many things wrong with that statement, but Hakuryuu would rather start with the fact that he's a guy and therefore cannot be a bride. Oh and that Judar is just a kid that he's supposed to be baby-sitting. [age difference AU]
notes: supposedly for day one's prompt: childhood. zukiiiiii, here it is!!! :D
i've updated my wip for "king & magi" prompt: "To All The Times You’ve Loved Me Before". there are two more parts to go, but i'll post them during the actual juhaku week :)
thoughts/violent reactions are always welcome!
title: To All The Times You’ve Loved Me Before
summary: The five times Judar has said I love you’ are the five times that Hakuryuu hasn’t said it back. [alternatively: Hakuryuu runs away with a helpless Judar who has been turned to a child.]
tags: Manga Spoilers, de-aged Judar, PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
lastly, to senpai and zuki-chan.... here are more tears;;;; /runs away
[wip update] [juhaku] presumption of innocence 1/3
another update for the serial killer AU orz i'm reposting the entirety here, since i've added quite a bit of details/foreshadowing in the earlier segments (which can be found here)... formatting is also wonky when posting here @ tumblr orz ...as always thoughts/violent reactions are welcome :)
summary: University student Hakuryuu grabs the attention of the popular model Judar, by acting as though he doesn’t care that his neighbor is a celebrity. [alternatively: Ren Hakuryuu is an undercover cop who investigates Judar, a popular model who moonlights as a notorious serial killer.]
•••
Hakuryuu walks up the stairs to his second-floor apartment, visibly wincing with each step that rings in the mostly-empty hallway. The fluorescent lights are too bright, almost sufficient to lull anyone into thinking that it's still quite early.
Well, it is early—if only that it's early in the wee hours of the morning.
Right now, Hakuryuu is a studious, hard-working university student who doesn't mind pulling all-nighters for the sake of his projects, though he'd most definitely prefer to do the all-nighter while in the comfort of his own room.
He's an industrious student who's too tired and exhausted from dragging his overtaxed brain and body from the campus practically on the other end of the city, at two in the morning, then up two flights of stairs. He's a poor guy who's only thinking of finally sinking into his bed that he doesn't notice that he doesn't make the trek back to his second-floor apartment alone.
There's a guy at the corner of his peripheral vision, dressed too stylishly for it to just be due to a trip to a club somewhere, heavy make-up on his face looking unnaturally natural.
The poor university student has probably seen him around, because that face is too striking to not be in some billboard or magazine cover, but at the moment, at two-sixteen in the morning, he really can't give a damn.
Hakuryuu sticks the key into the doorknob and curses in dismay as the knob refuses to turn. There are jingling sounds as more keys are tried. There are more softly-sputtered curses as more keys failed their job to open the door for him.
His next-door neighbor doesn't attempt to hide his blatant interest in watching him fumble with his keys.
His hands are shaking from tiredness, though it will probably be better if he's drunk.
This is too stressful to be done sober.
"…you're interesting."
Hakuryuu turns to regard the guy mere meters away from him, too close even if they're neighbors. He's taller than Hakuryuu, even though it's not very evident, given the way he slouches as he leans against the corridor wall, arms crossed over his chest, small clinking sounds as his outfit with way too many dangling jewelry shifts with his movements. The motion is enough to drag Hakuryuu's attention to the other's bared midriff, but it's only for a moment.
Hakuryuu immediately lifts his gaze and returns the other's curious stare coolly.
Even if he looks like a bedraggled commoner compared to his neighbor, he's not going to back down.
"It's like, you don't even care that I'm here at all."
Hakuryuu's lips twist into a polite smile that has always pissed off his colleagues, because it looked too haughty, according to them. "Should I be paying attention to you?"
The other's face lights up in obvious delight, almost as though he gets his kicks at being belittled and ignored.
He's strange.
It's even stranger that a goody-goody student like Hakuryuu is paying attention to him like this.
The delight then fades and is replaced by an expression that just screams about this entire scenario being an interesting game.
Hakuryuu turns his attention back to his uncooperative doorknob, finally placing his bag, weighed down by reports, by his favored gadgets, by his portable first-aid kit, amongst many others, on the floor. He kneels down, already wincing at the thought of the dirt that he needs to scrub off from his pants. He then systematically empties his bag's contents to search for the right set of keys, steadfastly ignoring the way his busybody neighbor also makes himself comfortable, a few steps beside him. He doesn't seem to be taking out his phone and recording his searching process, so Hakuryuu doesn't really have a strong motivation to ask him to get the hell away from him.
After a few more moments of futile searching, Hakuryuu sighs and rubs a hand over his tired eyes. He can still feel the other staring at him, but against common sense, it doesn't bother him too much.
This is probably a good time to admit that he really did lose his keys.
"Hey, since it seems that you really lost your keys," and wouldn't he know about that, after staring at him like a cat about to pounce on a barely-flailing mouse, "do you wanna stay in my apartment for the night? …Or at least while you wait for building security?"
Hakuryuu snorts derisively, because that has got to be the lamest pick-up line he's ever heard.
"No, thank you," he says instead, because he's still a polite university kid.
"Aw, come ooon! Do you think building security is awake at this time? You're gonna end up spending the night outside your apartment, you know!" The other's tone almost comes close to outright whining. It's so childish that it really doesn't fit with the gaudy, mature clothing. "Plus, nobody in their right mind will turn down such an offer from someone hot like me!"
"Hah, I'd rather freeze in hell rather than take up the offer of such a…" Hakuryuu lets his gaze linger pointedly at the studded scarf and metal buckles on the other's boots, "…weird-looking man."
"Hey, I resent that! I always look super hot, okay!"
"Whatever," Hakuryuu murmurs, while gathering his stuff back into his book bag.
"Hey!!!"
Hakuryuu already has a place in mind, but he can feel the other's discontent at being brushed off that easily. He returns most of his stuff inside his bag except for one tiny thing.
"Wait—"
Hakuryuu feels a strong grip circle his wrist, intention to stop him from walking away clear from the other's solid hold.
"…Let me go."
"I won't!" The other replies cheerfully, tugging at him again, a little more forcibly this time. The other's golden bangles make clanging sounds at the motion. "Why are you so angry at me? I'm just offering to—"
Hakuryuu reads the other's movements easily, as the other guy suddenly pulls at his wrist sharply, in an effort to make him stumble into his waiting arms. Hakuryuu already knows that kind of move, so he easily catches his balance, his right hand still caught in the other's grip while his prosthetic left hand push at the other's side, sliding briefly against the material of the other's loose scarf.
"Let me go," Hakuryuu repeats after their light tousling, thankfully not enough to attract the attention of any other tenants in the building.
Wordlessly, the striking man lets him go, ruby eyes practically shining at him and at his defiance.
Hakuryuu walks away without another word.
The tiny object is already gone from his hands.
•••
In mere two minutes, Hakuryuu is already out of the apartment complex, briskly walking with intent that's so different from his tired countenance from earlier.
He easily spots the rental van painted with advertisement for a popular cable provider. He doesn't even have time to do the 'secret knock' on the windowpane, before the door slides open and he's dragged unceremoniously inside.
"You're lucky nobody's in the area or else they would think that you guys are kidnapping me," Hakuryuu complains as Alibaba manhandles him inside the van, refurnished so that instead of what is usually expected out of a van, there's practically an entire world of electronics and surveillance equipment inside.
There's no more fatigue in his face as he gratefully accepts the hot chocolate that Aladdin hands him. Using his left hand, he removes the listening device pinned on his bag's straps, and hands it over to Morgiana's waiting hands.
"You might have laid on the haughtiness too much though, Hakuryuu?" Alibaba purses his lips as he unsubtly tries to inspect if Hakuryuu got any bruises from the last altercation. Hakuryuu sighs internally, because Alibaba can be such a mother-hen at times. They're all investigators so he should know that he's not fragile.
Hakuryuu shrugs as he admits that he did act haughtier than intended and planned. "It's fine, because I actually managed to plant a bug on him."
"You WHAAAAT?!" Alibaba and Aladdin shriek in unison, along with some others who screech at him for his words.
Hakuryuu shrugs off their concerns and praises, instead placing a finger over his lips in an effort to make them be quieter. Soundproof this van may be, but it doesn't hurt to be more careful.
Aladdin is on a video call with Yamraiha, who will most definitely report this success to their boss.
"That's too dangerous, Hakuryuu…"
Hakuryuu sips at his hot chocolate, looking as though he's considering their words. "It's a bit careless, but it's still a success, isn't it?"
"Well… you're right in that nobody else has ever caught the attention of our suspect… and nobody else has been able to be in close quarters with that guy… but…" Alibaba bites his lip as he considers the dangerous situation Hakuryuu has planted himself to, never mind that they're working undercover to expose the culprit behind the recent serial killings in the area.
"That guy is such a spoiled brat that he'll only notice someone if they don't give in to him," Hakuryuu says critically, peering into the remains of his hot chocolate drink. His expression looks pensive, as though he's expecting the drink to provide him with philosophical answers. "If they also look… bad or less compared to him…"
He lets his voice trail off as he hands over his now-empty cup to Morgiana, smiling slightly at her to help ease her worry. It's nice that they're all worried about him, but they shouldn't let that cloud their judgment at all.
It never bodes well for anyone if they're too clouded with emotions after all.
Aladdin talks with Yamraiha more, discussing about bringing up the live feed of the bug placed upon their only suspect behind the Black Magi serial killer.
It's such a fantastical name for such a real serial killer, but it's only fitting for a magician-like killer who's able to elude the police, while leaving the trademark black blood on the crime scene. The serial killer is also known for only targeting non-convicted criminal scum that are involved in kidnapping, human trafficking, slave trading and child abuse.
There have been at least twenty known victims, but it's possible that the killer had been experimenting with others before.
Hakuryuu browses through the heavy papers on his bag, all about their little progress on the investigation on the Black Magi.
As per the most updated working theory, the Black Magi is a psychopath with lots of issues in their childhood. He's also 98% likely to be a male, because of the sheer amount of strength needed to accomplish his brutal kills. He's also 94% likely to be working entirely alone, because the method of killing appears too personal, too egoistic and too controlling to have more than one person involved.
Many of the more recent victims are key figures in the underground and most of those scums' deaths have somehow made the infamous Kou Family gain more power. That's really the major reason why their task force has set their eyes upon the rising star of the model industry, Judar. Judar's rise to stardom mirrors the timeline of the crimes becoming more frequent, just as it coincides with major gains of influence for the Kou Family. There have also been some photos that have surfaced in the internet about Judar being seen with prominent members of the Kou Family, most often Kouen and Kouha, going to dungeons.
It's just so easy to see the link between Judar and the Black Magi serial killer.
It's so easy that it's frustrating to see the lack of hard evidence that links the two of them conclusively.
Things should be easier now though, now that Hakuryuu has managed to plant that tracker upon the other's person.
Hakuryuu looks up at the main computer upon Aladdin's triumphant cry.
On the monitor, there's a blinking red dot that signifies Judar's real-time location.
Poor Judar… he gets to have all the eyes of Sindria's Task Force pinned on all of his movements, while Hakuryuu… smirks at his success as he asks for another cup of hot chocolate.
•••
presumption of innocence
- the burden of proof is on he who declares, not on he who denies –
- therefore, one is innocent until proven guilty –
•••
Crucified in a manner akin to the religious figures it used to hit the children it had seemingly rescued from the streets. Arms stretched parallel to the ground. Legs hung limply after they stopped swinging like a demented pendulum. Neck wrapped in the same way as it had wrapped its ring-decorated hands around the unsuspecting kids it had transferred from one type of hell to another in the guise of charity work.
Father Ashton greeted the patrons of its church on Tuesday morning, started the mass earlier than expected, hung from the ceiling art painting on the Ten Commandments that it had preached but didn't practice. Blood had stopped dripping from its suspended body, blackened blood gooey and sticky at the floors, spilled like a black carpet beckoning the churchgoers inside.
It had publicly criticized Ren Kouha's heavily reported deviancy and support for what it deemed as unsavory beings.
It was the 21st reported victim.
•••
"Hey, Hakuryuu!"
Hakuryuu turns around stiffly, honestly surprised to hear his name uttered so freely by that person's voice, without any honorifics whatsoever, in broad daylight. He fidgets, his hands going to fiddle with his book bag's straps by his right shoulder. He suddenly feels tired, almost overwhelmed, by the brilliant smile that the popular model bestows upon him.
"…why are you calling me by my name?"
He's not that surprised that the other couldn't control himself and just called him by his name, but it's still unsettling. It hasn't been too long since their first official introduction as neighbors, so the sudden progress of intimacy is… unsettling. Hakuryuu bows his head a little so that he can look at the other's face more subtly. He spies the rugged grin the other sports, looking too handsome for his own good. He understands the appeal of the bad boy look, though Hakuryuu can't say that he's a fan.
He's never had to hold back his opinion about such matters.
But he's here to be a university student who refuses to be starstruck by the other, after all.
"Why not?" Judar asks, unabashed curiosity in his tone. He looks genuinely interested to hear the answer, as though it's really difficult to fathom the thought that he wouldn't be allowed to call anyone by any name he wanted.
There's a beat of silence, filled with words unspoken.
"Because I don't know you," Hakuryuu says haltingly, fidgeting with the straps again, making sure his frown appears visibly upset. He's supposed to look long-suffering from the attention the other gives him. It's not that hard to fake, for many reasons.
"I'm Judar," the popular model introduces himself with such an innocent air, it's almost hard to believe that he's the main suspect for the Black Magi case. He blinks expectantly at Hakuryuu, as though he's waiting for the other to acknowledge his re-introduction. As though the real reason behind this is Hakuryuu not knowing Judar's name.
"Thank you." Hakuryuu says with a gracious smile, ignoring the hand outstretched for a handshake. He has a feeling that hand will try to pull him in again into the other's personal space. He knows that trick and even if he isn't an undercover investigator, he still knows better than to be taken in just like that. "Now, please get out of the way."
"Wow, you sound so polite but you're actually pretty rude, aren't you?" Judar sounds amazed at the possibility that someone could be deliberately polite to coat their words and intentions with a sickly-sweet haze of civility. He blinks those huge, red eyes at him, openly admiring him.
Hakuryuu feels heat creep up on his neck at the steady gaze, pretty sure that this is the first person who ever looked at him with such wonder in his gaze. It's almost hard to believe that this is the main suspect for the animalistic kills that line the streets of the country with mutilated bodies and blackened blood.
"Shut up, Judar," he says and bites his lip. He doesn't mean for that to slip past his mouth. He doesn't mean to use the other's name until their fourth encounter here, because he doesn't want to go along with this person's flow of being overly close with him. He inwardly grimaces at the way Judar grins at him brightly, looking terribly honored to have been called by his name, even if in a negative manner.
"Aw, don't be like that, Hakuryuu!" Judar starts walking backwards towards his own apartment door, but the steps are very small. He still stands close to Hakuryuu, almost as though he doesn't want to let him out of his sight. "Ah, I know! Why don't you come in for some white jasmine tea?"
Hakuryuu freezes, but manages to smooth his expression quickly.
Judar's smile doesn't waver.
According to their surveillance reports, nobody has ever been spotted enter or leave their suspect's apartment, aside from Judar himself. The higher-ups are requiring more solid evidence in order for them to grant a search warrant. Hakuryuu has promised not to endanger himself by entering Judar's apartment, despite the needy invitations.
"…? Hakuryuu…?"
Hakuryuu takes a small step sideways to place a little more distance between them. His own apartment door is just a few paces away. "It's just… surprising to offer such a specific type of tea."
He doesn't mention how that's his favorite drink.
It's too personal, somehow.
"Oh! No, I just… you just don't strike me as someone who likes chocolate. Or coffee."
Hakuryuu freezes again but it doesn't take as long to recover. He thinks of the hot chocolate that Aladdin, Alibaba and Morgiana continually pass to him after a job well done. He shrugs at the suspect because he doesn't need to explain anything to him, does he?
"Hmph," Hakuryuu breathes out, mumbling some syllables that are not meant to be heard.
He fidgets again with the straps of his bag, before he quickly reaches inside his pocket for his keys. He's planning on making a quick escape to his own apartment, maybe lock himself in and just wait for updates on the police-issued laptop installed inside. He's planning on side-stepping the other's unsubtle crowding, but he doesn't get too far until Judar is reaching out to him, easily closing the meager space separating them, nearly spinning the two of them into a demented dance, which only ends once Hakuryuu's back is slammed against the wall just beside his doorway, Judar looming at him with two hands on either sides of his face.
Hakuryuu frowns at the other's rough handling, though Judar himself doesn't seem to understand his own strength. He looks curiously at Hakuryuu, as though he's really genuinely confused by the thought of someone not jumping up and down in joy at the thought of interacting with him.
"Why are you so angry at me?" He asks that again, tilting his head to the left. The strands of hair that are not included in his long braid sway with the motion. It almost looks enchanting, if Hakuryuu doesn't know this kind of trick too. "I'm just—"
Hakuryuu takes the moment to smile sweetly at him, inwardly smirking at how easy it is to catch Judar off-guard, before he elbows the other on the stomach. He's not too worried about causing too much pain. He delights at the way Judar doubles-over exaggeratedly, giving Hakuryuu the escape opportunity to duck into his own apartment room.
Within a few moments, Hakuryuu locks the door behind him securely, then he crosses the distance between the doorway and the study table with the surveillance feeds. He ignores the pinging of the message alerts from a frantic Alibaba, as he focuses on the dot showing Judar still standing just across his door.
•••
Despite the urgency of the Black Magi case – with twenty-one known victims now – the Sindria Task Force is unfortunately unable to focus all of its resources to just this one case, because the world doesn't rest just because there's great evil lurking out there. Still, with mounting pressure from the media and the politicians, they've been getting more and more funds and help in order to crack this case.
Hakuryuu thinks that it's because most of the wealthier politicians have deep connections with the underworld – and they're actually afraid that the next victims will be too close to them and the public might start wising up. It's a way of thinking that Alibaba disapproves of, because he's a giant sap who's too naïve to be a functional investigator. Hakuryuu's long had his fill of being surrounded by people who don't understand or don't even want to attempt to understand his views on things. So he doesn't speak out much during the deliberations and the summary of the case.
He simply sits near the exit, fiddling with one of the many notebooks that he has brought along for his effective disguise of being a university student. He keeps to himself, a few seats away from Alibaba and Morgiana who are huddled together beside Sharrkan. Aladdin is near the front, assisting Yamraiha with her presentation of the areas where they have tracked Judar's locations for the past month. Jafar is presiding over the meeting, since their boss, Sinbad, is out of the country and is only able to join them for a few minutes via video conference.
Judar's locations have been pretty straightforward – going to his modeling agency right in the middle of the business district, going to some hotels for some events and press conferences, going to some malls for his fan events, going to various places for his photo shoots. There are some nights when he goes to dungeons, the so-called den for underworld activity that are off-limits to even the highest level of arrest warrant. The tracker that Yamraiha and Aladdin have co-developed doesn't have the capability to penetrate the signal blocker that is installed ubiquitously in all dungeons. That means that there are a precious couple of hours where they can't place Judar's whereabouts specifically.
Hakuryuu doesn't really want to spend too much time listening to speculations about Judar's whereabouts during those blank times.
While the speculations fly all over the place, along with some interjections about the tips they're able to garner from the fan websites that obsessively track Judar's motions, Hakuryuu flips through his chosen notebook, pages lined with formulas and chemical reactions. He stops on the notes about advanced redox reactions just as Alibaba exclaims something about an update on their anonymous tipper that constantly sends them the pictures and articles about the Kou Family.
"The fifth case is with ---- Kobayashi, one of the suspected smugglers of elephant ivory and rare tortoise shells, and also greatly suspected to be involved in faking documents for travel and doing some international human trafficking. He's one of the widely-known enemies of Iron Wall Koutoku, because they had a huge public row about trading tariff restrictions."
"That's when it started being obvious that the Kou Family always seems to be gaining something with each murder…"
Hakuryuu hums as he listens to the inputs from the other officers, keeping his eyes focused on the information flashed on the screen. There are some more lists basically about the Kou Family seemingly killing all of their enemies in cold blood.
"Judar's rise to stardom mirrors the timeline of the first murder and each subsequent murder that seems to boost the Kou Family's wealth and influence also influences Judar's as well." Aladdin has an innocent baby-face, but there's a strange sort of wisdom in him as he peers at the evidence they have gathered. His expression says that there's something that feels off, but he's not quite sure yet as to what it is. "Plus, we're getting these tips about Judar being spotted with Kouen and Kouha often… which seems to indicate that they're at least friends, but…"
It's kind of a laughable investigation if that's the extent of their reasoning behind a prime suspect.
It's not laughable at all, because they're kind of desperate at this point.
"…Hm. The tip here says that Iron Wall Koutoku is not the real owner of the Kou Family business?"
Hakuryuu swings his gaze back to Alibaba, who reads the tip out loud with hesitation obvious in his voice. He spares a glance to Morgiana by his side, who looks conflicted as she sorts through the data. Hakuryuu makes a note to himself to help them prepare these data before meetings next time so that they don't appear caught off-guard by the very same information they're supposed to be presenting to the group.
"Indeed, there have been some rumors about that," Jafar confirms, his presence enough to quiet down most of the discussions that erupted with that news. "However, we have not been able to find any records about the previous family that the rumors are hinting at. So let's focus on the hard facts—"
Hakuryuu hums again as he listens to the next part of their discussion.
Surely, the Kou Family must be hiding something big to resort to killing twenty-one well-known criminals just to further their own agenda.
Surely, knowledge of that hidden thing is enough to shake this world.
Surely, that kind of connection to the underworld is bad.
Surely…
•••
Wrapped in the pinnacle of comfort, it rested without any other disturbance in the middle of the airport runway. Arms were positioned over its pancreas, bones of its fingers clasped together as though in prayer. Legs were straightened out, almost as though it was already prepared for its coffin. Face that was known amongst the immigration departments of most countries remained the only thing recognizable in its body.
Alonso Cortez halted all operations in the international airport, rested on the cold hard ground while covered with a makeshift blanket made of its own skin, its congealed blood spilled and blended along the runway, some of its entrails spilled in the area surrounding its final resting place.
It was a trader who reputedly ambushed a carrier plane that had special packages of exquisite rugs made from fur of some exotic animals, a carrier plane owned by the Kou Family.
It was the 22nd reported victim.
•••
Hakuryuu's not sure if this is some kind of fate.
It just seems too coincidental, too much, too something.
Seeing a white van trying to look as inconspicuous as possible is suspicious in its own right, so Hakuryuu has decided to take a very long detour from the task force's headquarters, walking along criss-crosses of dirty alleyways and hidden paths, before he finally reaches his apartment complex. However, it seems that the weather has decided to taunt him for picking this day of all days to take the long way back, without accounting for the sudden burst of rain that his flimsy folding umbrella is unable to handle.
By the time Hakuryuu reaches the stairs of his apartment complex, he's already soaked from head to toe, his feet making squishing sounds as he makes another step. He shivers at the coldness of the downpour, weighing down his clothes and making them cling to his skin uncomfortably. His head feels heavy too, his hair unraveled from his usual pin, thick clumps of his hair sticking to his cheeks and to his neck. There's some loud crackling as thunder rumbles seconds after.
Hakuryuu tries to dash up the steps, because he's heard that this apartment complex's security is strange that it locks the stairwells during a power outage. And with the way things are going—
"—hey, what's the big deal?! Why is this stupid door not opening urghhhh."
Urgh indeed.
Hakuryuu gazes up despairingly at the guy that he finds kicking the door and stomping his feet at the stairs landing. Hakuryuu wonders if he has somehow doomed himself to spend a power outage in some stairwell, while enduring very wet clothes and the presence of the main suspect of a long series of brutal murders.
"What the hell, this is making me so maaaad!" Judar whines some more, screeching about not believing that this kind of thoughtless security exists. "I ought to—oh hey, Hakuryuu!"
Hakuryuu sighs as he trudges up the remaining steps, sighs even deeper when Judar immediately sidles closer to him. "So I'm stuck with you, huh."
"Don't sound so down! I'm sure we can entertain ourselves!" Judar pokes his cheek and looks somewhat surprised to find it wet. He then blinks at him, his red eyes practically glowing like a cat's in dim lighting. There's a glass window at the very top of the stairwell – the frequent streaks of lightning are enough to provide some kind of light source. "Oh, you're very wet, Hakuryuu!"
Hakuryuu somewhat hopes that his communicator has been thoroughly ruined by the rain, because he suspects that it's going to be kind of mortifying to have this scene replayed to him back at the task force's headquarters.
"Yes, because the rain is wet," Hakuryuu grouches, knowing that Alibaba and Aladdin will chew him out for being so carelessly rude to their suspect. That's fine, because Hakuryuu's confident that he can beat this guy if it comes down to a one-on-one hand-to-hand combat. Maybe. Surely.
"It is," Judar agrees almost mindlessly, bumping shoulders too casually against Hakuryuu. "You should dry yourself, you know?"
A long flash of lightning – and Hakuryuu sees Judar's outfit more clearly. A loose white scarf draped over his shoulders and his cropped tee that covers nothing. His entire midriff is bared, while he has some loose pants that appear to be in grave danger of falling off his hips. He looks sufficiently dry and interested.
Hakuryuu swallows, taking a step back. He's dimly aware that the person in front of him is physically able to just shove him down the stairs and nobody will be able to know anything until the power returns. There's a thrill there, in the possibility of danger. At the same time, he knows that there's no way Judar will do that to him, not when he's gazing at him with overflowing interest in his eyes, visible despite the insufficient lighting.
He then nods, starting to unbutton his shirt, rustling his communicator. He peels it off after a few moments of wrestling with the fabric clinging to his skin, too aware to the fact that Judar's eyes are shamelessly roving across his exposed skin. Hakuryuu doesn't feel embarrassed upon revealing nearly half of his torso covered in burn scars.
Maintaining eye contact with him, Judar slowly unravels his scarf and uses it as a makeshift towel, stepping close to Hakuryuu and basically drying his dripping locks and wiping at his arms. Hakuryuu shivers – from the cold or from something else, he doesn't dwell too much upon it – and wordlessly doesn't stop Judar's hands from scrubbing his scarf across his chest.
He should be the university student who stubbornly refuses to acknowledge Judar, but there's something about the darkness that surrounds them now that makes Hakuryuu want to just give in, even for just a little while. There's no doubt that Judar's rise to stardom is well-deserved due to his ethereal beauty, not to mention that his sculpted body is worthy of utmost praise. It's all compliments swishing inside Hakuryuu's head as he numbly lets his body be maneuvered so that he is standing against the wall instead, Judar carefully wiping him dry.
No doubt that the taskforce members monitoring the live feed from his communicator will conclude a great many things, most of which centering about how this is surely some screwed-up Stockholm's Syndrome at work.
…they're free to think what they wished, he supposes.
Judar's hands stutter for a moment, tips of his fingernails bluntly raking over his chest, his scarf forgotten by their feet. Hakuryuu shifts, his boots making that squeaking sound that grates on his ears. Judar then moves his hands to cup Hakuryuu's cheeks gently, eyes wide as though he's savoring the feeling of skin underneath his touch.
"It's not wet anymore," Judar breathes out his words against the tip of Hakuryuu's nose as he moves closer still, probably stepping over his own scarf. Despite the cold wall against his back, Hakuryuu feels the warmth radiating from Judar's body even more.
"It isn't," Hakuryuu agrees softly, his hands by his sides, waiting to see what Judar would do next in this situation.
He doesn't have to wonder for long, as Judar's own hands snake downwards, settling on top of his, before tracing the line of his hips and tugging at his pants.
Judar repeats his words from earlier, husky voice practically ringing inside Hakuryuu's ears despite the pounding of heavy raindrops and the cackling of lightning overhead. "You should dry yourself, you know?"
"…I know."
With smooth maneuvering that wouldn't look out of place in those who've had coordination training together, Judar divests Hakuryuu of his remaining clothing, just as Hakuryuu kicks off his wet boots, the cool air coupled with his companion's warmth making them both feel feverish.
"…My pants are wet too," Judar admits with almost childish honesty, even if Hakuryuu only feels a prickle of dread at the other's words.
The possibility that he's referring to his pants being drenched with the blood of his most recent victim rings too true inside Hakuryuu's mind.
Almost against his own volition, Hakuryuu's hands settle on Judar's hips, his touch exciting the other to the point that Judar practically shoves their groins together, Hakuryuu feeling the warm outline of the other's hardness without problems even through the layer of clothes separating them.
"Hey, Hakuryuu," Judar whispers to his lips, kissing him so casually and naturally, with their closeness not out of place in lovers who've sworn their life to each other, "I've been waiting to do this for so long, you know?"
He's still undercover now. He's supposed to be the prudish university student who doesn't have a whit of interest in celebrities no matter how beautiful they looked and no matter how endearing they appeared when they whispered such devotion-filled words.
…Plus, Judar's definition of 'so long' might not match what normal people thought considered as a valid length of time to feel distressed about.
Hakuryuu knows that there's a huge chance that the communicator he had discarded along with his wet clothes are still picking up his words and delivering them to the ears of his task force teammates.
Hakuryuu knows.
Hakuryuu knows, but he can't quite stop himself from angling away from the cold wall and rubbing his entire body against Judar's.
"…Heh. Why don't you show me what you've waited to do?"
•••
"I've been taken in by our suspect."
Hakuryuu spies the flush high on Alibaba's cheeks, the angry disappointment and overwhelming worry mixing like incompatible paints on his face. He knows that Alibaba has issues about how casually he admits that and how careless he's been acting. He knows and he doesn't really care too much, because there are still lots of things that Alibaba don't know about how to administer justice.
"But I will use this for the investigation," Hakuryuu repeats the words he coldly stated to Sinbad over a video conference call just a few minutes prior. "It will help lower his guard down so we can get more conclusive evidence."
"Hakuryuu… I believe you." Alibaba looks uncomfortable still.
Hakuryuu has an idea why.
"I… We'll support you the best we can." Alibaba almost looks as though he's just a few seconds away from applying to be the undercover agent instead of him, or maybe even demanding Hakuryuu remove himself from the investigation due to conflict of interests. Those wishes are futile. "So… you can always talk to us, okay?"
Hakuryuu's mindset as an undercover cop is to make sure he lives the life of his cover even when the target isn't around, so he's still partly a polite university student now. He smiles, bowing down to Alibaba slightly. "Thank you, Alibaba."
He then starts to move away, because he still needs to go through another debrief. Alibaba stops him though, a hand on his forearm. Hakuryuu stares at the hand, uncertain of whether to voice out his concerns about the touch. Alibaba's aura is too comfortable, too cozy, too calming that it only makes his blood boil. Alibaba seems to immediately sense his distaste for being touched by others, recoiling so hard as though he's electrocuted.
"…Hey. You… Um. That is, ah, Hakuryuu, did you…" Alibaba scratches at his flushed cheeks, embarrassment now taking over his entire countenance.
Hakuryuu has an idea of what he wants to ask.
Come to think of it, it was Alibaba's turn at the surveillance room yesterday.
So he definitely knows about that.
"Did you…"
Hakuryuu starts to walk away in slow steps, Alibaba following him as he attempts to finish his question.
They pass by a break room where some of the older officers they rarely interact with are watching the television program, Hakuryuu's eyes catching the day's headlines about Ren Kouen finally breaking his silence about his romantic pursuits and admitting that he's about to marry his long-time secret girlfriend. The news doesn't have a face for the mysterious girlfriend of one of the world's most influential leaders, for they only have the name 'Hakuei' and not much else.
"Um… did you…"
Hakuryuu finally reaches the corridor leading to his desk, but Alibaba still has not gathered his courage to actually ask him the question that's most likely been bothering him since he heard those things in the feed from the communicator.
"…We just kissed," Hakuryuu says finally, a little amused at how easily relief floods Alibaba's features. "Don't worry about me so much, Alibaba. I'll see you guys later."
Hakuryuu bites his lip as he makes a small wave before turning to go to his desk.
They had penetrative sex twice and ended up performing intercural sex on their way to round three. They probably would have done more if not for the power finally returning and releasing them from the odd confines of the darkened stairwell.
It's almost comedic how Alibaba thinks that all that noise came from simply kissing, but then again, it's not a secret that the other is a virgin with very little knowledge of such intimate acts.
Sooner or later, Alibaba will realize that kissing is not just that they did, but Hakuryuu would rather not deal with that now.
Lying is bad, but Hakuryuu doesn't mind lying if it's for a greater purpose.
•••
Chained to the ceiling fan of its five-star hotel room, much like the way it chained the slaves it acquired as part of its discipline. Arms outstretched so that its fingertips touched the blackened carpet. Legs stretched and connected to the center of the ceiling fan. Eyes rolled back as its face bloated from the reversed flow of blood pressure.
Slave Trader Fatima caused the hotel's housekeeping staff to retch and faint as its weight spun lightly, wobbled in a lazy arc as its fingertips dragged its blue-black edges across the congealed blood on its carpet, drew a lopsided circle decorated with some of the feathers stripped from its gaudy outfit.
It had claimed in national television that the Kou Family bought slaves from him in order to support their low-cost philosophy when it came to manpower.
It was the 23rd reported victim.
•••
"Hakuryuu!"
Hakuryuu turns around slightly at the sound of his name being called so brightly. He's greeted by the sight of Judar waving at him enthusiastically, practically bouncing on his heels as he sprints towards him. The devout cheerfulness upon his face is almost alien, after having watched him stoically and haughtily answer questions for his press conference earlier, just one hotel building away from where Fatima's corpse was discovered.
"…Judar," he returns the greeting with less cheer, but the other doesn't seem to mind.
The scum surrounding him, crowding him against the darkened alley leading to the apartment complex, do seem to mind though. They holler some unintelligible noise that surely couldn't be considered human words, spit practically flying out of their maws.
Hakuryuu's not quite sure if it's his fate to be surrounded by filth. Maybe his scars actually attract all these scum, but his first encounter with them happened when he didn't even have any burn marks in his body yet, so that kind of logic is flawed.
"Hey, are these guys harassing you, Hakuryuu?"
Hakuryuu thinks that harassment isn't exactly the best word to describe its tiny congregation that somehow think they can mob him and get away with it. Judar's treatment of him, wearing down his defenses steadily, surely, can also be considered harassment, if he thinks about it too much.
"You can go ahead," he tells the other with a shrug, mystified with the thought that there are still some creatures who didn't know about Judar's face which is practically plastered everywhere now, given how the scum didn't even look at the other's appearance with anything other than irritation at his unwanted disruption. "I can handle this."
The scum surrounding him sputtered some more, words slurred and expressions curdled with their mindless anger. They don't look pleased with being ignored in favor of Judar, but Hakuryuu doesn't plan on paying further attention to them than what is strictly needed.
"I can ignore a lot of things, but wanting to bully Hakuryuu is just a no-no, you know?" Judar plows on, as though Hakuryuu has not already refused his help. Plus, it's disconcerting to hear Judar be so publicly protective, though that's probably more because he rarely finds Judar speaking so freely to someone else aside from him, as is expected. "Hey, so how about I let you guys go for now and then you never disturb Hakuryuu again ever? That good?"
Hakuryuu ignores the responses from the group of scum, as he side-steps Judar and readies himself to attack once the group throws the first punch. His communicator is switched on, continuing to broadcast the sounds around him to the headquarters. Then again, he doubts that any of them will attempt to rescue him – there's no way they will risk exposing Hakuryuu's cover at this point in the investigation. They're also probably hoping that Judar will unleash his tendencies and help garner them a clue towards his method for killing.
Judar bumps shoulders with him, probably guessing that he wishes to confront this group on his own. Hakuryuu nudges Judar's shoulders back and it's just a back-and-forth between them of who gets to have a more prepared stance, paying attention to each other more than strictly necessary. It doesn't help them out, because it takes their attention away from the filthy creatures that apparently had enough of being rightfully ignored.
One of it takes out a pocketknife, the blade gleaming under the sparse streetlights. Hakuryuu quickly makes it unhand the knife, but there's apparently more than one such blade, something Hakuryuu belatedly notices, not until said second blade pierces skin.
Hakuryuu grimaces inwardly, disposing of a fair share of the scum who probably thought that he was easy prey, just because his prosthetic arm is pretty obvious tonight with his uncharacteristic short-sleeved polo shirt.
The fight, if something so depressingly one-sided can even be called as such, ends without much fuss within five minutes. There's a scratch on Judar's bared midriff and Hakuryuu idly thinks that it's such a shame that it landed on the other's abs. But this can be interesting in its own right. He refuses to feel any guilt, not because Judar is a suspect in his investigation, but mostly because he already advised the other to leave.
It's not his fault that Judar obtained an injury.
Still…
"…I'm going to patch you up," Hakuryuu says, as he moves and keeps his eyes focused on the fallen pocketknives, instead of Judar's abs, or worse, his face.
"Ah, I'm so touched, Hakuryuu!" Judar exclaims, cheerfulness back in his tone as though he didn't completely beat up five or so pieces of scum. "Are you gonna nurse me back to health?"
"I'm just going to bandage you," Hakuryuu corrects the gross misconception, squaring his shoulders as he stomps towards their apartment complex. "And then I will tape your mouth shut."
Judar laughs at the threat, sounding thrilled at the idea. "You really are so cheeky!"
"And you're being noisy."
"Hey, why don't we go on a vacation? I'm kind of tired of this city already! I know, let's go sight-seeing! I can easily buy tickets now for us two, you know?"
"Shut up, Judar."
"Why don't you believe meeeee, I'm being serious, Hakuryuu!"
"I'm being serious too, when I tell you to shut up." Hakuryuu rummages inside his bag for his portable first-aid kit (he has to bypass quite a number of small gadgets, particularly his portable encryptor) that he brings with him at all times, and it's only because of that rummaging that he ends up walking slow enough so Judar can match his pace, their arms brushing as they walked up the stairs together.
Hakuryuu doesn't blush when he remembers that they just very recently had sex in the same stairwell they're currently at.
For a brief moment, Hakuryuu thinks that he's going to get a lot of disappointed scolding that he doesn't really care for, for what he's about to do. He pushes that thought out of his head, because he really doesn't care about that.
"If you promise to behave, I'll bandage you inside my room."
Hakuryuu doesn't even hide his small smile and doesn't even waste time listening for Judar's excited response.
•••
"…You want me to be taken out of the investigation."
Technically, Alibaba is ranked higher than him, so his word will have bigger weight against his. Hakuryuu frowns as he considers this situation. It would be a lie to say that he didn't expect something like this to happen, though there's something laughable about how possessive Alibaba is acting.
With how Alibaba is acting and with what Alibaba is saying, he seems to think that Hakuryuu is currently falling in love with Judar.
It's… a funny concept.
"It's not because you're not good. Or that you're incompetent!" Alibaba waves his hands around, probably in an effort to appear less threatening. "It's just… we worry about you. You're being taken in by such a sleazy guy… it's probably how he's able to accomplish those brutal kills of his, yet none of the victims look terrified and they all look peaceful…"
Hakuryuu makes a mental note to not swing by the cafeteria or the break room, because he'd rather avoid other investigators chiming in with their unwarranted opinions about his relationship with Judar and how he's running his investigation. He's rather tired from the hours he spent in the laboratories, calibrating some of the machines and helping Yamraiha mix enzymes for some of the chemical tests she's about to do. He's been hoping he can grab a bite in this office first before he leaves for the day, since he still needs to go to the central business district for an appointment, but apparently that's not going to happen.
"Alibaba."
"And we're really worried—"
"Alibaba," he repeats, rummaging inside his bag until he finds the tagged and sealed stained bandage. He throws it towards Alibaba's face with more force than strictly necessary, but Alibaba proves that despite his naivety, he's still competent when it comes to reaction times. Alibaba catches it with one hand, baffled at the bloody bandage in his hands.
When Alibaba's expression only becomes more confused as seconds tick by, Hakuryuu takes pity on him. Plus, he really needs to get going so he can reach his appointment in time. "That has a blood sample from Judar. Please take it to the laboratory for a DNA test."
"Hakuryuu! You—"
Hakuryuu waves off Alibaba's other words, probably gushing about how he's able to obtain such a precious sample when all previous attempts from them failed.
Then again, given how the target serial killer has eluded the police's grasp for a long time now, Hakuryuu seriously doubts that they'll be able to solve anything with whatever will be the result of the DNA Test.
•••
Filled with custom silver coins that it was proud of showing off as its trademark in its deals. Arms were shoved to its gaping mouth, as though in an effort to stop the silver coins from overflowing. Legs were split apart in order to make room for more coins in-between. Eyes were pried open with silver coins on its eyeballs.
Jamil opened the Stock Exchange right in the middle of the central business district, beckoned greedy businessmen close with the shine of genuine silver, its spilled blackened blood not enough to taint all of the coins.
It was a well-known illegal drug dealer for chemicals used in what supposedly was the Kou Family's venture to pharmaceuticals, but was more known for the inklings of human experimentation.
It was the 24th reported victim.
•••
"I'm boooooored, Hakuryuu!"
Judar whines right into Hakuryuu's right shoulder, his words vibrating against Hakuryuu's bared skin. It makes Hakuryuu shiver even more than the ice-cold temperature of the room, courtesy of Judar playing around with the remote control for the air conditioner, to the point that it now refuses to respond to any commands to raise the temperature. That's the only reason Hakuryuu allows Judar to shamelessly cuddle against him, wrapping the two of them underneath tons of blankets and comforters hauled from Judar's next-door apartment.
"We're supposed to be sleeping," Hakuryuu hisses to his bedmate in an effort to quiet him down, lightly thumping his hand on the other's head, eliciting another whine. "You're not supposed to be excited or entertained."
"I'm bored with this place, Hakuryuu."
"Then get the hell out of my room."
"Not that," Judar says with a laugh, his warm puffs of breath tickling Hakuryuu slightly. "I'd never get bored with you, you know?"
"…I know." Hakuryuu eventually acknowledges, curling his fingers into Judar's hair, digging into the other's scalp in a move that he knows the other likes. He's rewarded with a purr that wouldn't sound out of place from a cat.
"I know," Judar says in response to his words, voice husky with an endless want.
It never stops surprising Hakuryuu how Judar can never seem to stop wanting him. It makes Hakuryuu feel the tiniest bit guilty, for many reasons.
Hakuryuu settles for running his hands across Judar's hair, petting him, letting his fingers slide down to Judar's nape and rubbing at the skin there. The motion makes Judar wiggle on top of him in contentment, something Hakuryuu doesn't mind so much despite the added weight on top of him. It's almost comforting to be blanketed by a warm body, even if it belongs to someone like Judar.
…Especially if it belongs to someone like Judar.
Judar then stretches, reaching out to something in the bedside table. The police-issued laptop has its lid closed, though it's not shut down, one of the light buttons blinking orange for its 'sleep mode'. Judar's hands bypass that and instead go for something that looks like a ticket.
Hakuryuu holds his breath at the sight of that rectangular piece of paper, words known to his mind even without him outright perusing the stationery.
Judar sits on top of his thighs, smirking at him. He waves the ticket-like stationery with his right hand, his left hand rubbing lewdly at Hakuryuu's bared stomach.
The ticket is too far from Hakuryuu's tired eyes to read properly, but it looks like it's either a plane ticket or an entrance ticket to the bidding hall of the Stock Exchange.
"Hey, Hakuryuu," Judar says without any trace of sleepiness whatsoever, his eyes shining a bright red, even against the dimmed lighting of this apartment. "…Join me?"
Hakuryuu swallows, already thinking about how this is going to be a handful to explain to the higher-ups at Sindria Task Force.
Alibaba's naivety aside, there's no way that anybody will just let this go, since this is Judar sounding like he wants Hakuryuu to join him in his killing spree.
This is also Judar sounding like he definitely knows that Hakuryuu's here as an undercover.
This is Judar sounding like he knows that Hakuryuu has a mission to accomplish.
All of those sound near the actual truth.
But then again, the DNA Test should have its results ready soon, which should clear any further doubts.
Not only that, but Yamraiha's other tests on the little bits of evidence they could find from the murder scenes should be reaching their end too, which should provide a better picture for the investigation.
Hakuryuu sighs, before he nudges Judar's right hip with his bent left knee.
"…Let's just sleep," he breathes out with a resigned, long-suffering tone.
Judar seems to count that as a victory, for he actually squeals with unrestrained fervor, only sparing a brief moment to return the ticket to the bedside table, before diving back to Hakuryuu, their entire bodies colliding with the motion.
Judar then aligns his head so that he's speaking right against Hakuryuu's right ear: "Good night, Hakuryuu."
Hakuryuu sighs again, but he does lock his arms around Judar's back.
That response is more than enough.
•••
"This isn't like you, Hakuryuu!"
Hakuryuu freezes, before his mind registers the voice as Alibaba's. He briefly wonders where Aladdin and Morgiana are, but those two are the type who'll pin their hopes on Alibaba and hope that he does whatever's necessary.
It's a strange way of thinking, but Hakuryuu's only too grateful that he doesn't have to deal with more people. Aladdin possesses a childish face and an intuitive wisdom that's fit for philosophers – it will be hard to hide anything from him at this point. He might not know what exactly is he missing, but he'll have an inkling that something's really wrong. Morgiana… is someone that reminds him too much of things he could have had if life had turned out differently for him.
He doesn't like it.
He doesn't like the thought that his life has just followed one rigid design.
He doesn't like the thought of anything changing at this point, because he's finally reached some sort of peace.
He's not sure which one he dislikes more.
In any case, he also dislikes the way Alibaba is running after him and forcing him to a confrontation.
"That Judar guy obviously knows you're a cop!"
If police officers take this long to realize that their suspect knows about the undercover operation, then this country is really doomed.
"…I see. You sure took your time to realize that, huh?"
Alibaba's hand releases his arm abruptly, as though Hakuryuu's words electrocuted him quite thoroughly. There's a flush high on Alibaba's cheeks, unshed tears in his eyes, and Hakuryuu dearly hopes that he won't have to deal with a crying, overemotional Alibaba. Oh, how ironic it is that he's the one dreading to deal with a crybaby.
"That Judar guy has changed you!" Alibaba cries out in the end, his accusation ringing across the thankfully-empty hallway. "You're not like this at all! If you pull out of this mission, I'm sure you'll return to normal, to how you were before, so—"
"…Inspector Saluja." Hakuryuu's fists tremble with rage at those words, so he places his arms rigidly by his sides. He cannot start a commotion here. He simply cannot. "How I lived before is none of your business. I refuse to return to how I was before."
"…?! Eh? But—"
Hakuryuu knows that Alibaba isn't referring to the time when he was still younger, when he was still unscarred by burns, when he was still—no. Hakuryuu knows but he can't help but retort hotly to this person's words.
"You don't know anything about me."
"But I do! We do!" Alibaba protests, running up to Hakuryuu when he moves away.
"I know you joined Sindria because you want to make a difference!"
"I know you like the hot chocolate from our vending machine!"
"I know you think you like Judar because he's very touchy-feely, but he's just—"
Wrong.
Everything that's coming out of Alibaba's mouth is all wrong. Hakuryuu's fists' trembling has subsided a little bit, because it's hard to stay angry at a guy this clueless. He's useless, that's for certain, but there's no use sparing him some hatred for his ignorance.
Alibaba is just like everyone, content to spend their own lives in their approximation of peace while others suffer, content to stay in their own bubble of happiness even if it's kept in the expense of other people's lives. Alibaba doesn't even understand him, does he?
…But then again, it's not like he's here to find someone to understand him.
He's here to be a university student who resists the allure of the charismatic supermodel who happens to be the only suspect of the wild goose chase of an investigation.
Hakuryuu's eye catches movement from the other end of the hallway. A humorless smile almost curls on his lips, but he reigns that in.
"…Inspector Saluja, please be quiet."
"—?!"
Alibaba's about to say something more, but he's interrupted by Yamraiha and Alibaba sprinting from the other end of the hallway, matching slightly-skewed glasses perched on top of their noses, thick papers and files securely held in their arms.
"Alibaba! Hakuryuu! Come help us carry these!" Yamraiha cries out, her entire body heaving, not waiting for an affirmative response before she dumps half of the papers to their hands. "Let's go to the board room—there's an emergency meeting to discuss our findings!"
Yamraiha whirls away immediately after saying those words, hurrying towards the meeting room. Aladdin lags behind, tugging at Alibaba's elbow, while Alibaba lets himself be dragged away, while Hakuryuu follows at a more leisurely pace.
Hakuryuu feels the distance that Aladdin places between them and that's fine. It could be a mix of his feelings regarding Hakuryuu openly bedding their suspect, along with his troublesome intuition.
…That's fine.
When Hakuryuu finally reaches the meeting room, he has to squeeze into the tiny space near the back of the room, barely avoiding having to bump shoulders with officers that he's never interacted with, as there's practically the entire office crammed into a single room, along with some loaned officers from other task forces. It's really amazing how media pressure can make things a lot messier – there are now other task forces involved that don't really have the same protocols as Sindria and the workforce chaos is making things proceed at a much slower pace.
It's only a matter of time until paparazzi starts hounding and stalking their officers for more updates, especially since more and more people are starting to wonder about the reality of the Kou Family's not-so-pristine image.
…And that's more than fine.
Hakuryuu doesn't really listen to Yamraiha and Aladdin sharing their findings from the DNA Test and the other battery of tests they did on the flimsy evidence that they managed to scrape off from the victims' bodies.
He already knows that the DNA Test does not show a match between Judar and the leftover DNA at the crime scenes. Said leftover DNA apparently doesn't match anything they have on their records, even with help of Yunan's Team who does have extensive networks around the world. If the DNA sample is not in Yunan's database, it's almost akin to admitting that the sample belongs to a ghost.
…That or the owner of the DNA Sample has been erased from any sort of record.
…Or the owner of the DNA Sample has a DNA that is already considered as not human.
But that's not all this meeting is about.
Hakuryuu sighs as the chattering and the gasping grows steadily louder and more panicked, as Yamraiha and Aladdin reveal that they've finished half of the analyses on the black blood – one of the main causes of headaches of the autopsy experts in the past couple of months.
Based on the new timeline offered by their chemical tests, the assumption they had worked on for the times of death had to be adjusted to be set back by four days.
Sharrkan is presenting the new timeline, adding to the noise level of the meeting's attendees.
Hakuryuu doesn't listen or even attempt to read the scribbled projections of the new timeline. He focuses his eyes on the grim expression on their officer-in-charge's face.
Jafar looks like he swallowed bile as he hammers the conclusion brought by the new timeframe that they're going to base their investigation on.
"…It looks like Judar does have solid alibis for the projected times of death for all the 24 reported victims."
There's a brief moment of silence as most of the officers in the room privately and not-so-privately mourn the lost time that was devoted to extensively investigating what appears to be a dead-end. From Hakuryuu's vantage point, it seems that only Alibaba has a favorable reaction – though that's most likely because he's overjoyed that Hakuryuu's undercover investigation will be placed on a permanent stop.
Pisti then brings up the possibility that it's someone else from the Kou Family who's doing the killings to improve the family's wealth and influence, which sparks another series of intense discussions.
Morgiana and Alibaba don't present anything from their anonymous tipper about the Kou Family's dealings.
…And that's more than fine.
Hakuryuu doubts that any further tips are needed to cement the fact that the Kou Family is involved in very strange and investigation-worthy dealings.
•••
Carved in a way that earned it a more permanent nasty smile than what it used to favor when it had dealt with prominent political leaders. Arms cleaved and rearranged with added spaces between its joints to give an appearance of a deformed marionette. Legs sawed off and reconnected to further cement the puppet imagery. Face knifed and sculpted to have cheek-to-cheek smile that showed off its rotten cheek muscles, while its forehead was decorated with criss-crossed knife marks that drew a crown of thorns, the carving done intricately and only interrupted by three bullet holes in the middle of its forehead.
Markkio, alias Banker, welcomed the head of Sindria's Task Force's return from his overseas trip, decorated the helipad atop the Task Force's headquarters with its deformed body and smiling face. Black blood was spread out over the supposed landing area of Sinbad's personal helicopter, drawn to the design of an eight-pointed star.
It was an avid supporter of the Kou Family and it had gamely financed the Kou Family's pharmaceutical goals that were heavily gossiped to be related to human experimentation and manufacture of child soldiers.
It was the 25th reported victim.
•••
"…Hey, Hakuryuu. So does this mean that you've thought about my offer to go on a vacation?"
Hakuryuu looks up from his systematic packing of the few things he had in the apartment he was commissioned to use for his stint as an undercover investigator. Judar is leaning against the apartment door, arms crossed over his chest, a grin on his lips.
"I'm very serious, you know? We can go to Sasan! I heard that there's looooots of mountains there, so you'd feel right at home. And there are lots of shiny metals there too! Maybe we can buy some stuff there. What do you think?"
Hakuryuu chuckles slightly, as he finishes packing up. Technically, he hasn't been decommissioned yet, but he's not going to wait for official orders. Not when the new timeframe is about to give the others a clue. Not when the eight-pointed star is about to give Sinbad the hint as to what they're really dealing with. Not when this apartment is not safe for Hakuryuu anymore.
"I didn't even have to think about it," Hakuryuu responds to Judar's initial question. He rolls his eyes at Judar's expected reaction at his words, side-stepping the other when he moves to enclose him in a bear hug. "Plus, are you sure you should be suggesting Sasan? It can only be reached by foot. Or are you telling me you don't mind camping and travelling like that?"
"Aaaaah, I take it back!" Judar scrunches his face at the thought of camping and sleeping on tents and getting stung by insects. "…Unless you'll carry me, Hakuryuu?"
"The only time I'll be carrying you is when I'm finally getting rid of you," Hakuryuu retorts without any real heat in his tone. After all, it's not like Judar doesn't know what he's talking about. Judar is smirking at his words, probably thinking about what he really means.
"Hah, you're really so cheeky!" Judar exclaims like he's very endeared by that quality of Hakuryuu's. "Oh, and by the way? I usually hate creepy stalkers but I don't mind it if it's you, Hakuryuu!"
"What the hell are you talking about, Judar?"
"Aw, man, no need to deny it! …Ah, where is it—oh, here, catch!"
Instinctively, Hakuryuu reaches out with his hand, barely having to adjust his hand placement as a tiny object lands in his palm. He's not shocked or surprised to see the tiny object that he has placed upon Judar's person during that encounter quite some time ago. He's more bewildered by the pristine state of the tracker, since he honestly hasn't expected Judar to take good care of such a small, easily-breakable object. But then again, Hakuryuu can easily guess that Judar probably thought that he'd need to take care of Hakuryuu's gift.
It should be embarrassing, but after dealing with Judar for so long, Hakuryuu has already gotten over the stage where he blushes easily over every single quirk.
"…I'm not stalking you." Hakuryuu frowns as Judar moves closer and drapes his arm over his shoulders, bringing their bodies together. Hakuryuu does shift a little so that they're more comfortable embracing each other, right in the middle of a bare Sindria Task Force-owned apartment. "I never have."
"You never have," Judar agrees, as he sets his chin on top of Hakuryuu's head. Hakuryuu slouches a little bit, his nose against Judar's collarbone so he can smell the heady scent of something that's always followed him—them. "Come to think of it, that's kind of more like my part, huh? Though now I kind of want to use this tracker on you, Hakuryuu!"
Hakuryuu sometimes think that Judar needs to be smarter when it comes to things like this. Judar is smart, just not about things that require a decent amount of common sense. "What the hell is the point of doing that?"
"…Oh yeah! There will be no need for this tracker, huh." Judar hums an off-key tune, swaying the two of them slightly in a lazy waltz. Hakuryuu just lets his body be carried into the motion, his limbs moving on auto-pilot to match Judar's sleepy, almost-peaceful movements. "Hey, wanna have tea in my apartment?"
"…Don't you have some place to be?" Hakuryuu asks pointedly, lightly pinching the skin on Judar's left hip.
"It's not like you have any room to speak like that, though? Don't you also have some place to be?"
"Unlike you, my appointment is with someone who'll literally gladly wait days for me to show up." Hakuryuu's presses his smirking lips right against Judar's neck, kissing the skin there with each syllable that escapes him.
"Hey, what do you mean by that, Hakuryuu?! I'll gladly wait years for you, you know! I can be patient too!" The arms around Hakuryuu squeeze tighter when he merely chuckles in response. "Hey, answer meeeee, Hakuryuu!"
"Ah, you're noisy."
"That's unfair!"
"And you're going to be late for your appointment."
"Hmph, I'll show you I can be patient too, okay! Just you wait and see!"
Hakuryuu rarely initiates anything between them, but just this once, he stands on his tiptoes so he can kiss Judar's forehead, Judar's nose, then Judar's lips. Aside from that being enough to stun Judar into silence, this is Hakuryuu's way of sending him off to his important appointment. They both have places to be, things to do, people to meet – things that are going to be the highlights of their career.
"I'll see you later, Judar."
And Hakuryuu drops the tiny object that has been returned to him, a tracker that broadcasts Judar's physical location to the Sindria Task Force, to the floor of his emptied police-issued apartment.
"Ah, see you later, Hakuryuu!"
And Judar stomps on it, breaking it to numerous pieces.
[wip][juhaku] To All The Times You've Loved Me Before
...this is the snippet for my entry for #7: "King and Magi". any comments/violent reactions are always welcome! if anyone could guess? where this fic is going, you get a fic/ficlet request? or something? also, wow tumblr is super weird now wth
title: To All The Times You've Loved Me Before
summary: The five times Judar has said I love you' are the five times that Hakuryuu hasn't said it back. [alternatively: Hakuryuu runs away with a helpless Judar who has been turned to a child.]
tags: Manga Spoilers, de-aged Judar, PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION LOL
lastly: all those in blockquotes are flashbacks~~~
•••
"Fasterrrr, Hakuryuuuuu~~~"
He laughs as he tries to braid faster, easily combing his fingers through the thick, but silky, locks of hair. It's extraordinarily long for someone who's only technically five years old, but then again, there's nothing ordinary about the brat half-seated on his crossed legs and lap.
Judar squirms, ticklish despite his loud denials earlier, as his stray hair tickles his arms and back.
When Judar whines again for him to braid faster, he takes a clump of hair, sections it quickly, before brushing the ends of the hair against Judar's cheek, almost like a fine calligraphy brush without any ink drawing strange words onto a pale canvas.
"I wanna catch some beetles," Judar squirms even more as he lists all the things that he wants to do in the next few minutes. "Will you join me, Hakuryuu?"
He hums as he focuses on weaving the flowers into Judar's hair, making sure to pin the petals properly into the dark locks. "If you behave yourself, I'll think about it."
"Will do, will do!" Judar chirps enthusiastically, bobbing his head up and down, dislodging some daisies off his head. Judar doesn't seem to notice that he's singlehandedly causing the process take longer.
He doesn't have the heart to tell the other that it's his fault why they're taking so long in a task that usually just takes ten minutes tops, even without the group of veiled priests that just assist with holding the hair up as magic does the rest.
Judar doesn't have magic now, not in the same way that he instinctively knew how to command the magoi around him to form spells of his liking, not in the same way that he used to have a great library of knowledge inside his head. He supposes that Judar is still loved by the rukh of the world, though that kind of love is meaningless if it doesn't form anything substantial or helpful.
Without the aid of magic to enclose air inside the braids, Judar's hair seems longer and darker, more akin to blackened tears falling from an indiscernible height.
"Hakuryuu, that kinda hurts," Judar protests simply, though his hands don't come up to dislodge his grip on his hair.
He lets go abruptly, sections of hair falling from his fingers.
He doesn't apologize – not for something as trivial as this, compared to all of the sins he has taken on and he will be taking on in the future.
He doesn't say 'I love you' to the kid before him, because this person is just a laughable replacement of the one that he's still fighting for. He doesn't love this brat who doesn't have the power of magic anymore, who doesn't have enough hatred to call upon the 'third eye', who doesn't have any memories of his life five years prior.
He doesn't love anyone in this world.
Not anymore.
•••
"Hakuryuu! See, I told you I can do it!"
Judar sounds confident and happy with his accomplishment. Even though, judging from the strands of hair that Hakuryuu feels slipping away from the topknot and from the braid, he supposes that it's only a matter of minutes until Judar's experiment with his hair unravels completely, wasting the minutes of rough tugging and whining.
Hakuryuu feels the scent of nature – of the smell of peach fruits that cling stubbornly on Judar's fingers, of the smell of newly-cut grass in the well-maintained courtyard garden, of the smell of peace and contentment in this palace filled with adults that scare him a little bit – envelope the two of them together and he thinks that he can't really ask for anything more.
His brothers might be busy with their crown prince duties, his sister might be busy being bullied into attending military strategy lessons with that freckled teenager, his mother might be busy with… something that he isn't privy to, but he doesn't feel a shred of loneliness at all.
"Thank you, Judar," he says dutifully and politely, though he's thanking the young Oracle not just for the attempt at braiding flowers into his hair, but also for being friendly with him.
"Anytime, my king," Judar coos back, hugging him from behind as usual, rubbing his right cheek against Hakuryuu's left.
Hakuryuu leans back against the comfortable warmth of Judar's body and his padded traditional robes. He tilts his head back so that his nape is resting against Judar's right shoulderblade, blinking against the brightness of the sun. He thinks he sees some migratory black birds make their way across the skies, but when he blinks, they're all gone.
"I'm not a king," Hakuryuu protests as usual, because it's kind of embarrassing that Judar keeps on mistaking him for a king. While it does make him happy that there's at least one person who mistakes him for his Brother Yuu, it's also a bit disheartening, because it's obvious that he wouldn't be able to reach that level of competency at all. He doesn't feel all that annoyed with Judar though.
Judar shakes his head, his stray hair tickling Hakuryuu's face. Judar then falls into that kind of meditative silence where Hakuryuu knows that he's just being humored at the moment. "Hmm."
Hakuryuu sits very still when Judar links his arms tightly, intertwined fingers resting just above Hakuryuu's heart.
"…I love you, Hakuryuu."
Just like that, Judar says it simply, like he's just commenting on the different types of flowers and weeds he had pulled out from the flowerbeds.
Hakuryuu is too embarrassed and dumbfounded to say anything back.
The moment passes when his sister starts calling out for him, a reminder for him attend his calligraphy lessons. Hakuryuu doesn't mind, waving goodbye to Judar and allowing himself to be pulled back to the other's warmth when the other whines and throws a tantrum about being left alone. Hakuryuu already knows where this will lead – not a few seconds later, Judar is also tagging along to a calligraphy lesson he'll complain endlessly about.
(It's hardly the first time that Hakuryuu's unable to say anything in return to these confessions of Judar's. It's also hardly the first time that Hakuryuu sees a split-second of disappointment in those crimson irises, just as it's also hardly the first time that Judar blatantly ignores being ignored. It's not the first time that it hurts the tiniest bit, for some reason unknown to him.)
•••
"Hey, I want one! Oooh, the candy apple looks niiiice, I want one, Hakuryuu!"
He thinks about scolding Judar for yelling his name so freely, but then again, it's not like the townsfolk and merchants milling around and enjoying the festival are paying any shred of attention to them. Of course, there's always the possibility that they'll get spotted – well, it's not like anyone will ever recognize Judar at this kind of place, in this kind of situation, in this kind of reality – but that's a chance that he's willing to take on for now.
It's hard to summon an inkling of sternness right now, what with Judar running around and ahead of him, before running back and tugging at his wrists to drag him to one stall after another. Judar's been mostly eyeing sweets and desserts, which is so typical of him. He doesn't make a fuss about the lack of peach-flavored desserts, though that's mostly because this area is located in the lower, drier plateau that don't really boast of an environment that can grow peaches. This Judar that's tugging at him enthusiastically has never tasted anything peach yet.
"You can buy anything you want."
It's not bad to indulge Judar every once in a while – for the past couple of days, they've been threading a dangerous mountain pass as opposed to following a safer, prescribed route for travelers. It's pure luck that they've stumbled upon this little village in the midst of its festival. They're set to travel westward still, avoiding the general population and sticking to camping out in cliffs overlooking certain death and setting up camp in high, ancient trees so that nobody would think to look up and search for them.
He can indulge Judar now.
"Ahh, you're not being stingy today!" Judar exclaims with delight, already gesturing towards a line of dessert stalls that he most certainly would want to try. "You're so nice today, Hakuryuu!"
It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that the festival this town is currently celebrating is to honor lovers and those who persevere with their love.
"Keep on talking like that and I'll—"
"Nope, I'm good, Hakuryuu!" Judar hurriedly smiles his most innocent look, not fooling him in the slightest. "I'll behave, promise!"
Judar has never been particularly great when it comes to promises, since he tends to forget about things that don't spark his interest. That's not even counting all the black rukh experiments done to him by Al Thamen… which had certainly messed up his head. In any case, he doesn't have high hopes for this promise of Judar's.
"If you say so…"
He lets himself be dragged to one stall after another, stoically ignoring all the comments about the bystanders and shopkeepers about how he's indulging his younger brother. It's annoying to hear comments like that, since not only does he not look the slightest bit alike Judar, but also because it's kind of creepy, especially knowing their relationship. But then again, it's not like this brat with him is the real Judar, is it?
"Ahh, this is so nice!" Judar gushes, his mouth stretched about the candied apple that he enthusiastically shoved whole into his mouth. "You're so nice, Hakuryuu!"
Without knowledge of his past and the meaning behind their names and appearances needing to be hidden from the public, this Judar is not even fit to be called a shadow of his former self.
"…Hakuryuu? You're spacing out~~~"
He scratches the back of his neck, snapping himself out of his reverie, almost instinctively copying Judar's favorite mannerism whenever he's not completely confident with what he's saying.
"Let's go buy more of that tamagoyaki you tried earlier," he says instead, deflecting any other questions about his state of mind.
The titters and gossips that follow them all coo about him being such a cool, loving brother. He holds on to Judar's hands, not unlike how his sister used to hold on to his hand to anchor him by her side.
He doesn't apologize about losing his concentration while he's with this magic-less kid.
He doesn't say 'I love you' to the kid before him, because this person is just a laughable replacement of the one that he's still searching for. He doesn't love this brat who doesn't consider peaches his favorite food, who doesn't exaggeratedly make barfing noises at the sight of vegetables, who doesn't protest about his hair being messed up due to travelling with hoods drawn over their faces.
He doesn't love anyone in this world.
Not anymore.
•••
"Hakuryuu! Come ooooon, I promise this is gonna be the last favor ever!"
Judar sounds particularly pesky tonight, though it must be something important if he's actually lowering his voice in fear of being overheard.
"…I doubt that," Hakuryuu says, flashing Judar with a dubious look. It's not very likely that accompanying Judar in his dreadful inability to follow strict orders is going to be the last favor the other will ever ask of him. Maybe for the hour, yes, but since it's not yet bedtime, Judar will probably try his best to annoy him into agreeing to allow the other a spot in his bed later.
But that's for later.
For now…
"You're such a spoilsport." Judar is pouting like a distressed child whose candy just got stolen. Or better yet, a childish magi who has been advised that he can't play with his ice magic and turn random palace advisors to ice sculptures. "You're gonna turn to a freckled nerd like Koumei or a goateed nerd like Kouen. So boooring."
"Tsk, and here I thought you actually got smarter from all the magic training." Hakuryuu hides a chuckle at Judar's indignant screech at that. For all the times that Judar complains about the veiled priests nagging at him to learn magic, he does take learning all those knowledge seriously. Judar's really an idiot that way. "I hardly think staying inside the palace for one night is going to grow some freckles or a goatee on my face."
"Ah, well, if the old geezers said something about that earlier, I totally missed it! Since I just slept during the training earlier."
"I know. You slept on me."
There are no words to describe his annoyance at being used as a body pillow and having his shoulder drooled on, but what's even more annoying is how all those who saw them looked at their slumped forms weirdly, distastefully, almost as though an important figure like Judar shouldn't be associating himself with a disgraced prince like himself.
…Actually, scratch that, it was even more annoying that he actually endured those stares and the heaviness, because he was being nice and he didn't want to disturb the other's untimely nap.
"And you were very comfortable, Hakuryuu." Judar says seriously, as though he's saying something particularly important. "But you're distracting me! Let's go to that night market, Hakuryuu!!! Come oooon!"
Telling Judar that he's not supposed to do something is almost like a universal signal to have him attempt doing that thing. He's just like that, antagonizing a whole lot of people in the process while not caring one bit.
"They're going to find you out immediately."
"Eh, they won't! Those old geezers and the old hag don't really care for these festivals."
"You're very recognizable," Hakuryuu glares pointedly at the gold bangles and the huge ruby gemstone in the middle of his neck. He then shifts his gaze lower, glaring at Judar's exposed midriff. In a nation that had fairly standard clothes that looked mostly the same, someone with very unnatural clothing will definitely stand out.
"Is this your way of saying that I'm popular?" Judar tilts his head, an accomplished grin on his face.
Recently, he's been really hung-up on the thought of being popular amongst others. Judar mentioned something about meeting someone stupid in some far-off country that insulted his charm, so he's been doing some abs exercises. Hakuryuu's not sure what the desired effect should be, but he hopes it's not making his cheeks feel warm whenever he looks at the other. The Kou Empire is a particularly hot place already, so there's no point in overheating himself.
"…Or is this your way of agreeing to sneak out with me?"
Hakuryuu hides his chuckle again as he retorts, "It's my way of saying that you dress like an idiot, lord priest."
"Haha! So mean!" Judar starts tugging at his elbow, dragging him away from the dark cherry wood desk that apparently used to belong to his older brother Hakuyuu. "Ugh, you better be thankful that I love you, so I'll wear those pain-in-the-ass clothes to appear more like the normal humans."
Hakuryuu feels his heartbeat spike a little bit.
He convinces himself that it's not a big deal to hear Judar say those words.
He convinces himself that it's just typical Judar, who says things so flippantly and whose likes and dislikes cycle quicker than the seasons.
The moment to reply naturally passes when Judar tugs at his elbow again, dragging him towards the other's lavishly-decorated and rarely-used bedroom. It almost makes Hakuryuu angry that their empire is wasting resources on decorating this guy's room with lots of expensive vases and hand-crafted silk clothes, when Judar only uses this room twice a month at the most.
He convinces himself that he isn't happy with the fact that it means that Judar spends more time with him.
(…Plus, it's hardly the first time that Hakuryuu's unable to say anything in return to this… blabbering of Judar's. It's also hardly the first time that Hakuryuu sees a split-second of disappointment in those crimson irises, just as it's also hardly the first time that Judar blatantly ignores his… blabbering being ignored. It's not the first time that it hurts the tiniest bit, for some reason unknown to him.)
•••
"Uwaaa, this is so cool, Hakuryuu!"
He wasn't there when Judar first learned how to use his gravity magic so he can indulge in his hobby of walking around on thin air.
Seeing the awestruck expression on the kid's face is enough to give him an idea of how excited Judar would have looked before.
The sight causes his heart to twinge a little.
The undeniable happiness and unabashed admiration on the other's face doesn't belong to Judar, since it belongs to a brat recycled from Judar's very being. Stripped of his memories, of his emotions, of his goals – this kid before him is just a hollow container for the long black locks and red eyes that haunted him day and night during the six months of contemplation whether to accept Judar's aid or not.
"Hey, hey, we should always ride this magic carpet, okay!" Judar exclaims like the excited kid that he is, pointing at the too-small buildings that can be demolished with just a swipe of his arm after calling upon the powers of Zagan. "They're all sooooo small!"
He smiles accordingly when Judar turns to him, whipping his head and his braid in the strong breeze. He smiles wide so that he'll have an excuse to squint a little bit and see someone bigger, someone older, someone who is the same as him.
"We can only use this here because of the huge plains," he explains somberly, cringing a little bit when Judar bounces about on the magical tool he has forcibly retrieved from the merchants of the town they just left. Unlike before, when he honestly paid for his purchases, and also unlike before, when he simply stole the merchandise – he has learned not to leave any traces behind by manipulating the memories of the merchants he steals from.
Being branded as traitors to the Kou Empire and to the World Alliance is tough for him, especially since he has a luggage who doesn't know anything about fighting.
…Maybe if Judar sees blood splatters, he'll return to how he was before…?
…But no, there's no shortage of fights and chaos in their little adventure of escaping from those that are hunting them down.
And Judar does get splattered by blood and entrails every now and then, because nobody directs malicious intent to a harmless-looking brat who apparently registers as someone who just happened to get in the way of a wanted terrorist. Judar's borg, which is his one good trait that makes up for his uselessness in hand-to-hand combat, doesn't activate. He doesn't even have that kind of trump card now.
He really does wonder sometimes, if he hasn't been cheated by this world again.
While it's true that he was very forward-thinking when he asked Judar to swallow one of his netsumegusa seeds so he can still track him no matter what happens, it's also possible that this world's fate that Judar hates so much has sent him careening into a disheveled brat with unraveled hair and no memories whatsoever.
…No, if he starts suspecting every single thing in this world, there's going to be no end to things. He should believe in his power, in Zagan's power. There's no way he would have been led to someone who didn't contain Judar somehow.
…Though five years is an extremely long time.
Judar is a very impatient person and he can't accept the fact that someone as needy and impatient as him has managed to stay sleeping inside this clueless child for more than a week.
Maybe he needs to administer some great shock to this kid then?
…Should he push him off this magic carpet? Will Judar's borg activate then? Will Judar's borg even recognize him as a source of malicious intent? It's been so long since the borg last activated against him.
…Should he injure himself then? Judar has never hidden how overprotective he is of him, after all. But this kid has seen him be severely outmatched by Sinbad – he was only able to escape successfully because he was able to summon the dolls of the Al Thamen priests that he was able to use as a shield and deflector of the attack.
…Should he injure this kid then?
…But if there's a possibility that this is really Judar's real body…
Maybe he really should have kidnapped Aladdin or that Magi of the Great Rift. Maybe he could have tortured the information out of them – about the mechanics of how magis are recycled and reincarnated. From the events that Judar has previously shown him regarding Alma Torran, he still remembers something about a sacred palace made of books – the origin of magi.
What would cause the door to that sacred palace to be reopened…?
Should he just amass a great quantity of magoi…?
Should he just concentrate a lot of black rukh, like what they had witnessed in Magnostadt? …Even if he's unable to wield that kind of power on his own, because as per Judar, the right to wield that is only for a magi who has fallen into depravity.
Should he just—
"—ryuu! Hakuryuu! You're spacing out again~~~"
…Oh. Right.
He blinks to get a better sense of himself, lost as he is with the thoughts of what he needs to do. He looks down at Judar – at the shell he has left behind – and sees a faint trace of worry there. It's overshadowed by the overwhelming interest to look at the small dunes of sand and the camels and caravans that travel underneath them though.
"We should reach the next town within two more hours," he eventually says, reigning in his tattered self-control.
He pats the magic carpet that has grown unsettled with his increasingly chaotic thoughts, hoping that it moves with little input from its intuition of his rukh. The last time he had tried activating his metal vessels in such close proximity with this kid, the brat had fainted on the spot, thanks to the crazy-ass (Judar's words, not his) noise and motion of his black rukh.
He doesn't apologize for scaring off this brat for a few moments just now.
He doesn't say 'I love you' to the kid before him, because this person just masquerades with the same face and same eyes, but is unable to produce the same smile and the same aura as the real thing. He doesn't love this brat who doesn't chatter at him and would prefer to look on and giggle at caravans below, who doesn't complain about sand getting blown to his face at each gust of the wind, who doesn't sense and understand his chaotic thoughts.
He doesn't love anyone in this world.
Not anymore.
•••
"Hakuryuu! I'm awesome, aren't I?! Haha, look at meeee!"
Judar sounds so inappropriately excited as he bounds into Hakuryuu's room via his window – a not-so-common occurrence nowadays, since the royal retainers and basically everyone in the palace have already been advised to confiscate and hide all magic carpets from him (they've apparently learned their lesson from the peach-throwing incident a few months back).
"…ugh, what do you want, Judar?"
"Look at meeee, Hakuryuu!"
Hakuryuu sighs deeply and opens an eye to glare as menacingly as possible at the annoying visitor on his window. He should have known better than to feel relieved (and not worried) that Judar didn't come by earlier to pester him to spend the night yet again in his cramped bed, right after his trip to Balbadd. He should have known that Judar's busy playing with more magic tricks again.
"I looked at you. Now what."
"Aw, don't be like that, Hakuryuu! Come on, look at me properly!"
It's only because Judar gets very persistent when it comes to the most useless things.
It's only because Hakuryuu knows, from personal experience, that Judar will not hesitate to wake the entire palace up if it means convincing Hakuryuu to go along with his whim for the moment.
It's only because sleep is very important to him that he doesn't it to be delayed even further by a whining Judar.
It's only because of that.
"I'm going to accidentally cut that favorite peach tree of yours," Hakuryuu says threateningly, but he does eventually comply with sitting up properly, his sleeping robe falling off one shoulder in the process. He glares at Judar, taking in the sight of that pale skin practically glowing against the moonlight, his ruby-colored eyes shining with delight. He then notices the lack of the magic carpet supporting Judar's legs as he peers into Hakuryuu's window.
"…Huh."
"Don't just say 'huh'! I'm awesome, aren't I??? It's a pain in the ass to learn, but I did it! Cool, huh?"
Hakuryuu isn't a magician, but if he takes Judar's whining about magic formulae, learning gravity magic is apparently difficult. Judar acts like an airhead idiot most of the time, but it's hard to ignore his proficiency when it comes to learning things. If only he gets proper motivation aside from bringing hell and annoyance to others…
He knows that most people would be praising Judar left and right about this accomplishment, but he's not the type to offer such words that will just encourage Judar to slack off on other things and preen from the attention.
So what leaves his lips instead is a sleepy, long-suffering, rhetorical question: "…So can I go back to sleep now?"
"Don't be like that, Hakuryuu! Let's go! I'm gonna bring you up!"
Hakuryuu wrinkles his nose at the idea of flying above the palace – or worse, the neighboring towns – after midnight. It reeks of terribleness and Judar that it's hard to imagine that they won't court trouble for doing this. But then again, this is going to be like their little rebellion against those advisors that are brainwashed by that witch.
Wordlessly, Hakuryuu crouches by his windowsill, holding out a hand to Judar.
Judar doesn't waste a moment and grabs him, floating close to where he is, so that they're toe to toe, wrapping his left arm around his waist and his right arm supporting him by his shoulders. Hakuryuu shivers from the coldness of the hard lines of Judar's body, and he's not scared at all of the thought of somehow being dropped on his head to the ground below. Nevertheless, he wraps both of his arms around Judar's waist, angling his head so that his right ear is pressed just beside Judar's lips.
"Let's go, Hakuryuu~~~"
Hakuryuu barely has time to brace himself before they're floating to the top of the tower, Judar murmuring things about the view not being so good at all, because the courtyard's designs are all fairly ordinary.
"I can't even see anything," Hakuryuu mutters, squinting hard so he can distinguish some things beneath them. It's mostly useless, so he just settles for simply breathing against Judar's collarbone, smelling some sort of incense that's probably due to The Organization's priests. There's a cool night breeze and that's the only reason why he shudders closer to Judar, pressing their bodies together more insistently.
Judar chuckles at him – the nerve of him – and drums his fingers against his waist, the press of those fingers very apparent despite the layers of clothing. There's a small ball of fire that floats by them, illuminating a small part of the view, bringing some tiny bit of warmth to this chilly excursion. "…Better?"
"It will be better if I can actually sleep at night," Hakuryuu snaps because there's no point thanking Judar for this small mercy, since the other already knows. And he's not a magician, so he's not too sure, but he supposes that controlling two different types of magic at the same time should be an accomplishment. He doesn't praise Judar for that too, because there's no point in encouraging Judar to do these little things to impress him when he could be doing something else.
"Aw, you're so cranky lately, Hakuryuu~~~"
Hakuryuu feels the other's tension, but he doesn't comment on it. Something has been off with Judar ever since he returned from Balbadd – gone is the flighty airheaded-ness, but there's something more restless and sinister that has replaced it. Even his excitement seems strange too. He hasn't confided anything particularly important to Judar ever since the Great Fire, but it feels like this is the time for him to call upon their weird friendship that has somehow withstood even the betrayal of that witch.
"Of course, I'm cranky. I'm supposed to go to Sindria tomorrow and yet here I am."
"Here you are," Judar agrees, nodding and pressing their heads side-by-side. Both their fingers shake slightly as they cling to each other, surrounded by darkness and very little light.
It's not like Hakuryuu doesn't want this little excursion to end, just like he didn't really miss Judar during his trip to Balbadd. "…I really need to sleep."
"…Yeah," Judar breathes out, his voice subdued as he kisses Hakuryuu's ear and the skin below it. Hakuryuu can just feel his pulse thud in that area. "Hey, Hakuryuu… I love you, you know?"
He knows.
That's one of the problems actually.
Hakuryuu's never had the chance to deny his knowledge of such words, of such feelings, because Judar has never given him the chance to be ignorant of such things.
But Judar always gives him the option to ignore his words and just focus on their synced heartbeats.
Hakuryuu is too tired, cranky and annoyed by his own embarrassment that he can't say anything back. Even a rejection or a deflection doesn't even escape his mouth. He doesn't mention anything about disliking Judar, about Judar being a tool of The Organization. He doesn't mention anything at all.
The moment passes when he simply chooses to rest his forehead on Judar's right shoulder, shutting his eyes. The darkness that surrounds them is cold and Judar only breathes out an uncharacteristically deep sigh, before he brings them back to Hakuryuu's bedside window.
Wordlessly, Judar crawls underneath his covers, just as Hakuryuu wordlessly accepts him there.
(It's hardly the first time that Hakuryuu's unable to say anything in return to these confessions of Judar's. It's also hardly the first time that Hakuryuu sees a split-second of disappointment in those crimson irises, just as it's also hardly the first time that Judar blatantly ignores being ignored. It's not the first time that it hurts the tiniest bit, for some reason unknown to him.)
•••
"Aw-aah-ah, that hurts, Hakuryuu!"
He doesn't heed the kid's words and scrubs insistently still at the scrapes that the other got from tumbling down a steep mountain path as it tried to run away to a safer place. He should really look into the possibility of training this brat in self-defense, because if he can't be useful when it comes to incapacitating their enemies, at least he should be able to take care of himself, not invite more trouble to befall him.
He tries not to think of the past and how he's treated whenever he got scrapes and scratches from too much playing around. That rarely happened because he was a very well-behaved child that lived in a mostly sheltered environment, much to the delight of his older siblings and his caretakers – and whenever he actually squabbled around, Judar made sure that he wasn't hurt too badly. Whenever he got sick, his sister helped nurse him back to health by making sure Judar stayed away from his room during the day, therefore preventing him from straining his body further.
…He tries not to think of the past.
"Aw—that hurts, are you mad at me or something?"
"I'm not."
Even if he is, it's not like it will matters if he admits it out loud. Even if he is, it's not like this brat before him understands the gravity of the situation. Even if he is, it's not like it will change things.
"…you seem mad…"
He hears the muttering, but he ignores that too. He washes the dirt away from the scrapes and bandages them in quick motions once he's through. He doesn't heed the kid's complaints about his rough handling nor does he pay much attention to how the brat whines about the makeshift bandage being too tight.
He does place a hand over the other's forehead afterwards, feeling for signs of fever. They wouldn't be within any signs of civilization in the next five or so days, so it will be doubly difficult to obtain any sort of medicine if it comes to that. He could activate Zagan so he can raise some medicinal herbs, but they just escaped a close encounter with their pursuers. He'd rather not do anything that can broadcast their whereabouts and the concentration of black rukh that appears whenever he activates his metal vessels is too flashy.
He doesn't apologize for the lack of medicines for the brat when he does end up being feverish.
He doesn't say 'I love you' to the kid before him, because this person is a piss-poor substitute for the powerful magi that has chosen him. He doesn't love this brat who doesn't have enough common sense to not get sick at a time when they can't allow any weakness, who doesn't nuzzle closer to his hands whenever he checks for the other's body temperature, who doesn't pester him to use Zagan so he can heal faster.
He doesn't love anyone in this world.
Not anymore.
•••
"Hakuryuu! You shouldn't move too much or else you're gonna bleed all over the place!"
Judar stands before Hakuryuu, arms outstretched so he can physically block him from leaving the emperor's quarters.
"Being this worried doesn't suit you, Judar." Despite his scathing tone, Hakuryuu does stop moving around, sitting back down on the huge bed that somehow didn't attract dust from all the commotion from earlier today. Exhaustion is practically leaking from his every pore, to the point that his eyelids seem to be closing on their own, but he does keep his eyes stubbornly open so he can watch the emotions play on Judar's face.
"Eh, I'm allowed to be worried for my king," Judar replies flippantly – or as flippantly as he can, which isn't really much. There's too much concern lining his entire body, weighing down his shoulders and darkening his eyes. He hovers in front of Hakuryuu with hesitation, when he normally would just flop back to the bed, uncaring whether he hits Hakuryuu with a limb or two.
"Shouldn't you be more worried for yourself?"
Hakuryuu peels off the remains of his tattered robe, trying to forget the irritating words Alibaba had said earlier. He also tries not to think about the disappointment of how they weren't able to execute their plan to turn both Alibaba and Aladdin as puppets for Belial. He tries to focus on the fact that at least, they were able to gather information as to who are the ones on Kouen's side. At least, he was able to plant some seedlings he can use to spy on Balbadd.
"Your opponent has a similar power to yours, but his knowledge reserve is greater. Don't tell me you're going to be useless against Aladdin?"
"I'm not gonna lose to that shrimp!"
"Oh?" Hakuryuu raises an eyebrow at the magi in front of him, who looks distracted by his bared chest – or more specifically, by the wounds on his bared chest. "I seem to remember having to back you up earlier today."
"I was totally holding back, you know?" Judar looks serious, so it doesn't seem like he's just saying that to defend his pride or anything like that. He kneels in front of Hakuryuu, tugging at the remains of the tattered robes and wetting them on the water basin by the foot of the bed. He then pats at Hakuryuu's wounds with eerie gentleness, slowly cleaning the wounds with the liquid disinfectant. "I didn't want to get you all grumpy if the entire capital got destroyed."
"So you're telling me that controlling your power is getting difficult for you?"
"That is so not what I'm saying, you cheeky bastard." Judar continues to clean his wounds, not commenting on the cracks on Hakuryuu's skin that's discolored to appear like burnt charcoal – the marks of the strange poisoning due to the black rukh. "Why don't you just trust me on these things, Hakuryuu~~~? I always do what you ask me to, after all~~~"
"Shut up, Judar."
"That's not fair!"
Hakuryuu leans back until he's flat against the mattress, falling into the soft covers with a dull thump. Judar stands up to throw the damp and bloodied cloth to some corner of the room. Hakuryuu doesn't say a word of complaint about the messiness, because Judar's still looking at him with an expression akin to suffocating worry, even as he tugs at his flimsy clothes and his bangles.
Without bothering to change into a proper sleeping robe, Judar then dives head-first towards the bed, landing just beside Hakuryuu.
"…We'll win against Kouen and his minions." Hakuryuu promises to the tiny space between them, tilting his head to the side so he can look at Judar directly.
Judar grins at him, all teeth. There's darkness there, whistling low like the sound of funeral bells ringing in the distance. It should be frightening to witness, but it's comforting instead. Judar reaches out with his left hand and touches the pinked skin of his chest, mildly burnt from Alibaba's attacks. The medicinal herbs that he raised using Zagan, combined with Judar's shoddy use of life magic, are able to accelerate his healing greatly, but it's still no match for natural healing.
"…What did the idiot tell you?" Judar asks after a few moments of tense silence. "And no need to hide it from me, your rukh is all restless and stuff right now."
"You calling someone an idiot is just…" Hakuryuu trails off, turning to his side so he can return Judar's stare fully. Both of their feet are still rested on the ground, their knees bumping together by the edge of the bed. "…He told me that there's no way anyone in this world will completely agree with me."
"Haha! He really is an idiot then!"
"…He is."
"But that's not all, huh?" True to his claim, Judar does sense something's off with Hakuryuu still. "…Hey, I love you, you know? But I loved you even when you haven't decided to curse your destiny, even when you haven't had a metal vessel yet, so. What I want to say is, this and that are different things? So, being your magi and loving you are different things? Like—"
"Ugh, shut up, Judar."
Despite his rough words, Hakuryuu doesn't push Judar away. If anything, he even moves closer, sliding against the bed sheets so he can pull himself up and headbutt Judar gently.
He doesn't kiss Judar nor does he say anything regarding this heavy confession.
He thinks he doesn't need to, because Judar understands him, after all.
(It's hardly the first time that Hakuryuu's unable to say anything in return to these confessions of Judar's. It's also hardly the first time that Hakuryuu sees a split-second of disappointment in those crimson irises, just as it's also hardly the first time that Judar blatantly ignores being ignored. It's not the first time that it hurts the tiniest bit, for some reason unknown to him.)
•••
"Ugh, help me, please, Hakuryuu!"
He almost laughs upon hearing those words – words that the previous Judar would definitely not have uttered with this kind of desperation and sincerity.
After all, before he joined Judar's side, the other had been overwhelmingly stronger compared to him – a fact that Judar had never stopped teasing Hakuryuu about. After obtaining Belial, the two of them have developed an almost psychic connection when it came to sensing the other's movements, so there was no point in verbally asking for help.
And yet here this replacement magi is, yelling for a savior in a world that he should know to be unfair and to be more likely to turn a deaf ear to his pleas.
He doesn't apologize for the blood that splatters upon the brat's face, as he shoots the soldier from Sindria that has captured him.
He doesn't say 'I love you' to the kid before him, because this person is just a placeholder until he figures out how to bring the real Judar back.
He doesn't love this brat who isn't Judar.
He doesn't love anyone in this world.
Not anymore.
•••
"Hakuryuu!!!"
Judar moves quicker than ever, despite already nursing injuries from the fight and working under depleted energy reserves. He barrels into Hakuryuu, not unlike how he used to do so when they were young and he wanted to gain the other's attention away from his older siblings or from his studies. This time though, he's stealing Hakuryuu away from the fate of being skewered by one of the medium's tentacles that's able to zap magoi and life force from anything it touches.
"…you're… a real idiot…" Hakuryuu gasps out from his punctured lungs, his entire body shaking from the impact of being flung hard to the ground, his voice shaking from the sight of his magi's borg broken like a shattered crystal. His eyes register Judar's form being stripped of its skin, his eyes drawn to the sight of both black and white rukh scrambling to wrap themselves around the exposed veins and muscle.
"Shouldn't… you be saying 'thanks' instead…?" Judar asks with a strained smile, his grip on his black staff loosening with each passing second. The black staff of his anger itself is waning from existence, thanks to the grandiose speech that Aladdin and Alibaba had mentioned about not having to curse one's fate.
Hakuryuu doesn't even notice the ongoing fight above them – his war campaign against Kouen reduced to a clusterfuck of different forces butting in and interfering, which had further devolved into a scramble against the remaining members of Al Thamen that didn't fall prey to Belial's powers.
The witch has apparently been revived under another vessel and has been orchestrating this second attempt at dragging their god down from the heavens.
Yet, he's now more concerned about the sorry state of his magi that's very useless without his borg and without his nearly infinite supply of magoi.
"You should be… focusing on healing yourself," Hakuryuu says as casually as he can – which isn't really much. Even without in-depth knowledge of magic theory, he knows that the possibility of Judar healing himself back to top condition doesn't exist.
Judar's edge at being able to use both white and black rukh has been taken away from him, which means that he isn't able to access the complicated formulas researched in Magnostadt about healing oneself.
"Hey, Hakuryuu…"
Judar inches closer to Hakuryuu, reaching out with both his hands. Hakuryuu usually hates being touched, especially if there are other people who can see him, but he feels like he should indulge this, one last time. Hakuryuu shuffles closer to meet Judar halfway, the broken borg automatically stretching out to envelop him too. Just like its master, who's unable to stop himself from reaching out to Hakuryuu despite being in such a sorry state.
"…You know, I really can't hate this shitty fate completely, after all."
Hakuryuu doesn't say anything, as he clasps both of Judar's hands in his own, real one. Zagan's power isn't flowing into him anymore, due to magoi depletion, so his left hand just hangs uselessly by his side.
"…You see, without that fucked-up childhood, I wouldn't have been able to meet such an interesting crybaby prince." Judar's eyes are slowly drifting shut, his hands going limp. Hakuryuu doesn't say anything still, because these could possibly the last words he'll ever hear from this person. "…I love you, you cheeky bastard of a king."
Hakuryuu doesn't get a chance to reply as he feels Judar's body turn brittle and crack into countless pieces, like black sand drifting into nothing. Judar's grinning though, as though this is part of the fate that he hasn't forgiven, yet he doesn't mind succumbing to, in the end. His forehead glows and Hakuryuu feels strength returning to him, Zagan activating so that his left hand feels stronger too. This sensation is familiar – just like what they had witnessed during the first medium incident in Magnostadt. This is very much like how Scheherazade has released her last bit of accumulated magoi – only this time, Judar is selfishly only providing that power to the king he has chosen.
Just before the last portion of Judar's face and hand fade away into the air, Hakuryuu hears it, the words that will haunt him for eternity.
"I've loved you since I first saw your ugly crying face."
"I—"
But Hakuryuu's words don't make it to its recipient, who has been transformed into plain rukh that will eventually drift to the Sacred Palace.
It's the last time that Hakuryuu's unable to say anything to return Judar's words.
It's the last time that Hakuryuu sees the split-second of disappointment in those crimson irises, just as it's also the last time that Judar blatantly ignores his feelings being ignored.
…It's not the last time that everything hurts, for reasons that are painfully clear to him.
•••
“Walking alone is not difficult but when we have walked a mile worth a thousand years with someone then coming back alone is what is difficult.”
Truly—Madly—Deeply
...delurking for a moment to say that i've updated the JuHaku serial killer AU! ...i'd appreciate it if you can offer comments/thoughts as to where you think things are going??? i'm sort of deciding whether i should be more detailed or if i should foreshadow stuff more and... stuff. LOL the disturbing stuff is starting! and i've decided to split this into two main parts orz
title: presumption of innocence
summary: University student Hakuryuu grabs the attention of the popular model Judar, by acting as though he doesn’t care that his neighbor is a celebrity.
[alternatively: Ren Hakuryuu is an undercover cop who investigates Judar, a popular model who moonlights as a notorious serial killer.]
ahhh i'm flooding the tag with my wips. i'm sorry. i'm so strange. i'm like, writing one or two scenes per fic, then move on the next, then move back, then...
here's the teaser for my entry for "Depravity". hakuryuu for yagami light 2k15!
title: 40 seconds to endgame
summary: Hakuryuu is only 40 seconds away from ultimate freedom from that witch. Judar doesn't understand why he won't take it. [Death Note AU]
A black notebook hits the back of Hakuryuu's head, though since this is part of an almost daily ritual, he doesn't bother to turn around and glare at the culprits. The cram school instructor simply adjusts his glasses as he continue writing down formula upon formula on the board, uncaring that a bunch of pride-ridden wealthy students think they own the entire town just because their families are worth a couple million.
It's disgusting. Repugnant. Vile.
Hakuryuu keeps his eyes focused straight ahead, hands going through the motions of copying the formulas that will propel his name again across the top scorers for the country's national ranking examinations. Third place is the highest rank that he has ever achieved, but that's already a great achievement! He's the highest-ranked amongst their district already. He's never good enough for the top spot, but he's working hard.
Even if there are those who bully him because they can't understand his intelligence.
Even if—
"Hey, why are you not fighting back?" Judar suddenly blocks his view of the blackboard, hands on his hips as he looks down at him with a sneer. The cram school instructor audibly panics, calling for order and quiet in the classroom even if he doesn't have the capability of stopping the bullies and he's even more useless against the chaotic force of nature that is the eccentric new student, Judar. "Don't tell me that you're actually a wimp~?"
Hakuryuu adjusts his corrective glasses, fingers trembling. He doesn't think Judar would just suddenly divulge his identity here, but he can't be too sure.
"Please move," he says as politely as he could, making sure that his voice doesn't betray his nervousness with the situation.
He meets Judar's stare head-on, feeling relief flood his veins when Judar rolls his eyes eventually and moves away.
Of course, his reprieve ends too soon, because instead of making his way back to his seat just beside the window, Judar literally kicks out the occupant of the seat to Hakuryuu's right and makes himself comfortable there. He even makes a point of dragging the desk close enough to Hakuryuu's, to the point that there's barely a centimeter's gap between their desks.
Despite the thick tension, class resumes and no further notebooks or balled-up papers make it to the back of Hakuryuu's head.
•••
"You are very weird," Judar tells him straightforwardly just as the two of them make their way back to a place that Hakuryuu's reluctant to call home. Judar isn't actually invited to go with him, but this ritual has been going on for a month now and Hakuryuu feels like he has missed some unspoken deadline to make the other go away effectively.
"You are a pain," Hakuryuu retorts, clutching the straps of his bookbag close to his chest. He doesn't need Judar to call him weird – he hears that enough from his family members, from the teachers, from his classmates. One more person repeating the same words shouldn't bother him so much. His bag is heavy despite it being filled with barely anything aside from a couple of notebooks.
"You are strong though," Judar muses out loud, hands folded at the back of his head as he practically skips ahead. It's been a month since he's been making himself a nuisance in Hakuryuu's life and he's acting as though he's been a part of Hakuryuu's life for the better part of his teenage years. "Very stubborn too."
"I'm not giving you more peaches," Hakuryuu warns, ducking his head closer to his scarf to hide the warmth that blooms there. It's been a month since he's encountered this personification of chaos and he still is stupidly unable to resist blushing whenever the other praises him in such a direct manner.
"You so are~~~♪" Judar singsongs with the certainty that Hakuryuu doesn't want to acknowledge.
It doesn't take long until the two of them reach the intersection that basically splits the district into two – the exclusive wards for the high-rise apartments and the lush mansions and the wards for the rest of the commoners. There are a couple of tattooed guys with shocking colors for their hair, chasing some tanned schoolgirls with very short skirts. A motorcycle gang passes by in a cloud of smoke. A group of wannabe gangsters play around with pocket knives a few meters away.
Hakuryuu itches from the inside as he breathes the same air as these oblivious idiots.
The feeling passes when Judar's hand encircles his left wrist, earning the two of them catcalls and whistles from some of the tanned ganguros and some exaggerated disgusted faces from the wannabe gangsters.
Hakuryuu ignores them and doesn't snatch his wrist away.
Judar practically drags him towards his apartment, rented not one hundred meters away from the mansion owned by the prestigious Kou Family, home to high-ranking police officers and politicians alike. Hakuryuu follows the other man at a more sedate pace, going through the motions of removing his blazer and changing into indoor slippers. Judar prefers to make himself comfortable by walking around barefoot, a practice that Hakuryuu doesn't understand and finds weirdly domestic.
It doesn't take long for Judar to get tired of Hakuryuu not being by his side – so he ends up dragging Hakuryuu to his own bedroom, locking the door shut behind them. Judar doesn't bother switching open the lights, but his eyes have that weird shine on them that almost seems to make his red irises glow.
"Hey, why don't you use your Death Note to kill the old crone?"
The mysterious transfer student isn't so mysterious now whenever he says these words. Hakuryuu leans against the closed door, his back flat against the wood as Judar crowds him there, hands on the sides of his neck.
"I already told you I won't use it."
"Why?"
Hakuryuu isn't up for starting an explanation about basic human rights and etiquette. "Just because."
"Ehhhh," Judar complains, dragging out the syllable before giving up and bumping their foreheads together lightly. "You're so stubborn, Hakuryuu."
Hakuryuu feels his face grow warmer again. He closes his eyes so that he doesn't get cross-eyed from their closeness. His hands don't shake at all.
"You're even weirder than me, Judar."
"I am," Judar agrees and Hakuryuu feels the other's wicked smile against his lips.
After all, he's supposed to be an investigator tracking the supernatural killing notebook. Instead of sending Hakuryuu to Interpol upon his discovery of the mysterious Death Note upon his person, Judar decides to then follow Hakuryuu around.
It's beyond absurd.
But strangely, Hakuryuu doesn't mind too much.
It's kind of comforting to have an ally, no matter how strange, after all.
Ahh, I just finished my "dark fic" prompt for Loneliness and now I'm starting on Fate! This is gonna be short (ten "scenes") since if I made this longer it's just gonna get more and more depressing OTL so here's the teaser? with the first four "scenes".
This is also mainly inspired by my stalking of oiyukis-senpai's tumblr! Though of course, her everybody lives AU is much nicer and fluffier than this one. This is just tragic OTL I won't blame Chelsea so much for the tragic turn this made LOL
"Long live the Kou Empire! Long live the Kou Empire! Long live the Kou Empire!"
Despite Emperor Hakutoku's recent death, since it's Hakuyuu who's ascending to the throne, the Kou Empire's future remains bright.
Hailed by many as the fastest-growing nation in recent eras, the Kou Empire has started from just one tribe in the Far East. Thanks to Emperor Hakutoku's skillful handling of negotiations and his exceptional skills with the sword, he was able to unite all of the eastern clans in order to stop their wars over the scarce resources, to the point that the memory of the Kou Empire being just one or two clans is almost laughable.
The world is one.
That's the philosophy that Emperor Hakutoku has operated under, the golden rule of the empire that is passed along to all of its heirs, to all of its advisors, to all of its citizens.
The Kou Empire's future remains bright.
•••
"Aaaah they're so mean, aren't they, Hakuryuu~~~???"
Judar sinks into Hakuryuu's lap with a slight oof, the impact cushioned by his thick Oracle robes. Despite being an important figure that was rescued by their forces from a burning hometown on the northeastern mountain recesses, Judar has never been a stickler for formal behavior. He's adorably childish, mischievous most of the time, prone to throwing tantrums whenever he gets scolded for doing something that he's definitely not supposed to do.
He's a young child with the power of a magi, able to raise dungeons of power for the Kou Empire generals to conquer.
That said, he's very unhappy with his power.
"They're not being mean," Hakuryuu explains patiently, sifting through Judar's hair and dislodging some of the twigs and leaves that have made their home in the other's thick locks. He wants to braid nicer flowers into Judar's hair, but it's going to be ruined if Judar continues rolling around the palace's courtyard without abandon. "Thank you for raising a dungeon for Brother—um, Emperor Yuu."
"They are," Judar insists with a pout, though it soon dissolves into satisfied purring as Hakuryuu scratches his nails lightly over Judar's scalp. He rubs his face against Hakuryuu's padded stomach, loving the feel of the rich silk against his cheeks. This is the best he can get away with this afternoon, because the servants are so nosy and love telling on Judar whenever he lifts away Hakuryuu's robes and rubs his face directly against Hakuryuu's much softer skin. Oh well. It's not like he can't do it when it's nighttime instead.
"Oh. And you're welcome, Hakuryuu~~~" Judar frowns when he remembers the reason for his ire. "I'd rather give that dungeon to you, but they're all very insistent that I give it to Hakuyuu instead. It's so unfair!"
"Is that why you didn't go to a dungeon with them?" Hakuryuu wonders out loud as he remembers spotting Judar hiding behind one of the tall bookcases in the study earlier today. He also distinctly remembers his brothers' aides, Kouen, Koumei and Kouha, running around the palace, searching for Judar who's supposed to be guiding the Emperor on his trip inside a dungeon.
Judar grins impishly, proud expression on his face despite being seen through. "Uh-huh. If Hakuyuu really is so strong then he shouldn't have a problem if I'm not there, right!"
"Bro—Emperor Yuu is strong."
Judar looks like he's going to argue, but he doesn't, letting the matter go with a huff. He cuddles closer to Hakuryuu, ignoring the hissing from the servants that mill around them. He knows that he's going to get scolded once they all return later, for running away from his duties, but for now, he doesn't care about all those. He'd rather stay with Hakuryuu here, in the expansive courtyard filled with flowers and leaves.
The Kou Empire's future remains bright.
•••
"Bro-uh-Emperor Yuu, Bro-um-Head Advisor Ren—!"
Hakuryuu calls out to his two brothers that are practicing together, presumably in an effort to learn more about the new power that they had gained from the dungeon that Judar raised last month.
His mother and sister have asked him to stay put in the study and finish all of his assigned scrolls, but he'd rather watch his brothers' practice, honestly. It's not like he'll ever need to put into use the scrolls that he's studying – he'll never be needed in a situation where he'll have to make use of knowledge about the Torran Tribes and such. His brother's aides, Kouen in particular, are just being mean to him by assigning all those hard reading materials. They've been watching him closely ever since they found him and Judar tangled together in the gardens that day, when Judar was supposed to do his part of being an Oracle.
Judar has whined at them incessantly about how that was just his decision, but Hakuryuu knows that they think he's trying to monopolize all of Judar's time. It's absurd, because he just likes spending time with the other, but not to the point that he'll keep him from his duty. Running away from his tasks is purely Judar's poor decision-making skills.
In any case, Hakuryuu manages to find his way to the corner of the palace reserved for his brothers' training grounds. Judar is already there, waving at him enthusiastically and patting at the space beside him. For a moment, Hakuryuu is proud of his friend finally owning up to his role as the Oracle, but then he sees the lapful of peaches from the tree beside the training grounds and realizes that it's merely coincidence that Judar looks as though he's surveying the progress of the emperor.
"Hakuryuu," his brothers greet him in unison, patting his head before he reaches Judar's spot. Judar is frowning at being ignored in favor of the two. "Do you want to try practicing with us?"
They don't say anything about the fact that he surely should be still holed up in the study on the other end of the palace.
"Yes, brother!"
"No," Judar exclaims, standing up quickly. The peaches roll to the ground. "If you practice with them, you might become part of their household! I don't want that!"
A household vessel – he has heard about that.
Apparently, if you fight alongside Bro-Emperor Yuu, you can obtain a part of his dungeon's power and work for him and serve him.
"That sounds so cool! I want to help you, brother! Um, I mean, Emperor!"
"Nooooo," Judar whines, barreling into Hakuryuu and grabbing him, physically shielding him away from his brothers. "You can't be a part of their household! You can't!"
"Eh, but I want to!" Hakuryuu turns to his friend leaning heavily into him. He doesn't see his brothers' amused looks at watching their overly-friendly antics.
"You can't!" Judar repeats, eyes screwed shut as he's wont to do whenever he tries to think of a good reason to support his arguments. More often than not, he's not able to come up anything fairly substantial. "You're… weak! And you're a crybaby! And you can't fight!"
"I'm not a crybaby," Hakuryuu tearfully protests, because it's true that he can't fight and he only knows how to pretend that he's intently reading the really long scrolls when in fact he's half-asleep. But Judar doesn’t have to say all those out loud. "You're so mean, Judar!"
Judar looks happy at being called mean, but then he rubs his thumbs over the lower parts of his eyes to gather and wipe the tears that are starting to fall. He then routinely licks his thumbs, as though he's very curious about the salty quality of his tears. Hakuryuu's face feels warm.
"The brat is right, 'ryuu," Br-Head Advisor Ren tells him gently, not as close as he usually would like, because Judar is still wrapped around him rather tightly. "You're still kinda weak for any sort of battle."
"Hey, stop insulting Hakuryuu, you stupid Hakuren!"
"You just called him a crybaby a few minutes ago!"
"I don't care! Take it back!"
"You brat!"
The Kou Empire's future remains bright.
•••
"…Brother…? Where are you…? Sister…? Where am I…?"
Hakuryuu remembers excusing himself from the dining table, stomach feeling weird and heavy after a full, extravagant meal. While it's true that he begged to join his brothers' peace negotiations with a distant tribe to the southwestern edge of the continent, he's now kind of regretting being so persistent with his request. He didn't understand anything that they talked about and all their food are ridiculously oily and he doesn't have anything to talk with Kougyoku and Kouha and his sister's time is being monopolized by Kouen and Judar is off to the other end of the continent, doing some Oracle duties.
He remembers only up until trying to find his guest room, but then, oh, he remembers being stopped by a suspicious guy with a veil over his face, held by a crown made of thorns.
He remembers—
Nothing.
"…Brother…? Where are you…? Sister…? Where am I…?"
Despite Prince Hakuryuu's kidnapping, since he's just a powerless, weakling prince without any chance of ascending to the throne, the Kou Empire's future remains bright.
[wip][juhaku] presumption of innocence [aka: the serial killer au]
huh..in order to motivate myself to finish this faster, i'm posting the first part of the serial killer au orz LOL i don't even try to pretend to hide who's the serial killer here hahaha.
title: presumption of innocence
summary: University student Hakuryuu grabs the attention of the popular model Judar, by acting as though he doesn't care that his neighbor is a celebrity.
[alternatively: Ren Hakuryuu is an undercover cop who investigates Judar, a popular model who moonlights as a notorious serial killer.]
Hakuryuu walks up the stairs to his second-floor apartment, visibly wincing with each step that rings in the mostly-empty hallway. The fluorescent lights are too bright, almost sufficient to lull anyone into thinking that it's still quite early.
Well, it is early—if only that it's early in the wee hours of the morning.
Hakuryuu is a studious, hard-working university student who doesn't mind pulling all-nighters for the sake of his projects, though he'd most definitely prefer to do the all-nighter while in the comfort of his own room.
He's an industrious student who's too tired and exhausted from dragging his overtaxed brain and body from the campus practically on the other end of the city, at two in the morning, then up two flights of stairs. He's a poor guy who's only thinking of finally sinking into his bed that he doesn't notice that he doesn't make the trek back to his second-floor apartment alone.
There's a guy at the corner of his peripheral vision, dressed too stylishly for it to just be due to a trip to a club somewhere, heavy make-up on his face looking unnaturally natural.
The poor university student has probably seen him around, because that face is too striking to not be in some billboard or magazine cover, but at the moment, at two-sixteen in the morning, he really can't give a damn.
Hakuryuu sticks the key into the doorknob and curses in dismay as the knob refuses to turn. There are jingling sounds as more keys are tried. There are more softly-sputtered curses as more keys failed their job to open the door for him.
His next-door neighbor doesn't attempt to hide his blatant interest in watching him fumble with his keys.
His hands are shaking from tiredness, though it will probably be better if he's drunk.
This is too stressful to be done sober.
"…you're interesting."
Hakuryuu turns to regard the guy mere meters away from him, too close even if they're neighbors. He's taller than Hakuryuu, even though it's not very evident, given the way he slouches as he leans against the corridor wall, arms crossed over his chest, small clinking sounds as his outfit with way too many dangling jewelry shifts with his movements. The motion is enough to drag Hakuryuu's attention to the other's bared midriff, but it's only for a moment.
Hakuryuu immediately lifts his gaze and returns the other's curious stare coolly.
Even if he looks like a bedraggled commoner compared to his neighbor, he's not going to back down.
"It's like, you don't even care that I'm here at all."
Hakuryuu's lips twist into a polite smile that has always pissed off his colleagues, because it looked too haughty, according to them. "Should I be paying attention to you?"
The other's face lights up in obvious delight, almost as though he gets his kicks at being belittled and ignored.
He's strange.
It's even stranger that a goody-goody student like Hakuryuu is paying attention to him like this.
The delight then fades and is replaced by an expression that just screams about this entire scenario being an interesting game.
Hakuryuu turns his attention back to his uncooperative doorknob, finally placing his bag, weighed down by reports, on the floor. He kneels down, already wincing at the thought of the dirt that he needs to scrub off from his pants. He then systematically empties his bag's contents to search for the right set of keys, steadfastly ignoring the way his busybody neighbor also makes himself comfortable, a few steps beside him. He doesn't seem to be taking out his phone and recording his searching process, so Hakuryuu doesn't really have a strong motivation to ask him to get the hell away from him.
After a few more moments of futile searching, Hakuryuu sighs and rubs a hand over his tired eyes. He can still feel the other staring at him, but against common sense, it doesn't bother him too much.
This is probably a good time to admit that he really did lose his keys.
"Hey, since it seems that you really lost your keys," and wouldn't he know about that, after staring at him like a cat about to pounce on a barely-flailing mouse, "do you wanna stay in my apartment for the night? …Or at least while you wait for building security?"
Hakuryuu snorts derisively, because that's got to be the lamest pick-up line he's ever heard.
"No, thank you," he says instead, because he's still a polite university kid.
"Aw, come ooon! Do you think building security is awake at this time? You're gonna end up spending the night outside your apartment, you know!" The other's tone almost comes close to outright whining. It's so childish that it really doesn't fit with the gaudy, mature clothing. "Plus, nobody in their right mind will turn down such an offer from someone hot like me!"
"Hah, I'd rather freeze in hell rather than take up the offer of such a…" Hakuryuu lets his gaze linger pointedly at the studded scarf and metal buckles on the other's boots, "…weird-looking man."
"Hey, I resent that! I look super hot, okay!"
"Whatever," Hakuryuu murmurs, while gathering his stuff back into his book bag.
"Hey!!!"
Hakuryuu already has a place in mind, but he can feel the other's discontent at being brushed off that easily. He returns most of his stuff inside his bag except for one tiny thing.
"Wait—"
Hakuryuu feels a strong grip circle his wrist, intention to stop him from walking away clear from the other's solid hold.
"…Let me go."
"I won't!" The other replies cheerfully, tugging at him again, a little more forcibly this time. The other's golden bangles make clanging sounds at the motion. "Why are you so angry at me? I'm just offering to—"
Hakuryuu reads the other's movements easily, as the other guy suddenly pulls at his wrist sharply, in an effort to make him stumble into his waiting arms. Hakuryuu already knows that kind of move, so he easily catches his balance, his right hand still caught in the other's grip while his prosthetic left hand push at the other's side, sliding briefly against the material of the other's loose scarf.
"Let me go," Hakuryuu repeats after their light tousling, thankfully not enough to attract the attention of any other tenants in the building.
Wordlessly, the striking man lets him go, ruby eyes practically shining at him and at his defiance.
Hakuryuu walks away without another word.
The tiny object is already gone from his hands.
•••
In mere two minutes, Hakuryuu is already out of the apartment complex, briskly walking with intent that's so different from his tired countenance from earlier.
He easily spots the rental van painted with advertisement for a popular cable provider. He doesn't even have time to do the 'secret knock' on the windowpane, before the door slides open and he's dragged unceremoniously inside.
"You're lucky nobody's in the area or else they would think that you guys are kidnapping me," Hakuryuu complains as Alibaba manhandles him inside the van, refurnished so that instead of what is usually expected out of a van, there's practically an entire world of electronics and surveillance equipment inside.
There's no more fatigue in his face as he gratefully accepts the hot chocolate that Aladdin hands him. Using his left hand, he removes the listening device pinned on his bag's straps, and hands it over to Morgiana's waiting hands.
"You might have laid on the haughtiness too much though, Hakuryuu?" Alibaba purses his lips as he unsubtly tries to inspect if Hakuryuu got any bruises from the last altercation. Hakuryuu sighs internally, because Alibaba can be such a mother-hen at times. They're all investigators so he should know that he's not fragile.
Hakuryuu shrugs as he admits that he did act haughtier than intended and planned. "It's fine, because I actually managed to plant a bug on him."
"You WHAAAAT?!" Alibaba and Aladdin shriek in unison, along with some others who screech at him for his words.
Hakuryuu shrugs off their concerns and praises, instead placing a finger over his lips in an effort to make them be quieter. Soundproof this van may be, but it doesn't hurt to be more careful.
Aladdin is on a video call with Yamu, who will most definitely report this success to their boss.
"That's too dangerous, Hakuryuu…"
Hakuryuu sips at his hot chocolate, looking as though he's considering their words. "It's a bit careless, but it's still a success, isn't it?"
"Well… you're right in that nobody else has ever caught the attention of our suspect… and nobody else has been able to be in close quarters with that guy… but…" Alibaba bites his lip as he considers the dangerous situation Hakuryuu has planted himself to, never mind that they're working undercover to expose the culprit behind the recent serial killings in the area.
"That guy is such a spoiled brat that he'll only notice someone if they don't give in to him," Hakuryuu says critically, peering into the remains of his hot chocolate drink. His expression looks pensive, as though he's expecting the drink to provide him with philosophical answers. "If they also look… bad or less compared to him…"
He lets his voice trail off as he hands over his now-empty cup to Morgiana, smiling slightly at her to help ease her worry. It's nice that they're all worried about him, but they shouldn't let that cloud their judgment at all.
It never bodes well for anyone if they're too clouded with emotions after all.
Aladdin talks with Yamu more, discussing about bringing up the live feed of the bug placed upon their only suspect behind the Black Magi serial killer.
It's such a fantastical name for such a real serial killer, but it's only fitting for a magician-like killer who's able to elude the police, while leaving the trademark black blood on the crime scene. The serial killer is also known for only targeting non-convicted criminals that are involved in kidnapping, human trafficking, slave trading and child abuse.
There have been at least twenty known victims, but it's possible that the killer had been experimenting with others before.
Hakuryuu browses through the heavy papers on his bag, all about their little progress on the investigation on the Black Magi.
As per the most updated working theory, the Black Magi is a psychopath with lots of issues in their childhood. He's also 98% likely to be a male, because of the sheer amount of strength needed to accomplish his brutal kills. He's also 94% likely to be working entirely alone, because the method of killing appears too personal, too egoistic and too controlling to have more than one person involved.
Many of the more recent victims are key figures in the underground and most of their deaths have somehow made the infamous Kou Family gain more power. That's really the major reason why their task force has set their eyes upon the rising star of the model industry, Judar. Judar's rise to stardom mirrors the timeline of the crimes becoming more frequent, just as it coincides with major gains of influence for the Kou Family. There have also been some photos that have surfaced in the internet about Judar being seen with prominent members of the Kou Family, most often Kouen and Kouha, going to dungeons.
It's just so easy to see the link between Judar and the Black Magi serial killer.
It's so easy that it's frustrating to see the lack of hard evidence that links the two of them conclusively.
Things should be easier now though, now that Hakuryuu has managed to plant that tracker upon the other's person.
Hakuryuu looks up at the main computer upon Aladdin's triumphant cry.
On the monitor, there's a blinking red dot that signifies Judar's real-time location.
Poor Judar… he gets to have all the eyes of Sindria's Task Force pinned on all of his movements, while Hakuryuu… smirks at his success as he asks for another cup of hot chocolate.
•••
presumption of innocence
- the burden of proof is on he who declares, not on he who denies –
- therefore, one is innocent until proven guilty -
•••
Crucified in a manner akin to the religious figures it used to hit the children it had seemingly rescued from the streets. Arms stretched parallel to the ground. Legs hung limply after they stopped swinging like a demented pendulum. Neck wrapped in the same way as it had wrapped its ring-decorated hands around the unsuspecting kids it had transferred from one type of hell to another in the guise of charity work.
Father Ashton greeted the patrons of its church on Tuesday morning, started the mass earlier than expected, hung from the ceiling art painting on the Ten Commandments that it had preached but didn't practice. Blood had stopped dripping from its suspended body, blackened blood gooey and sticky at the floors, spilled like a black carpet beckoning the churchgoers inside.
It had publicly criticized Ren Kouha's heavily reported deviancy and support for what it deemed as unsavory beings.
It was the 21st victim.
•••
"Hey, Hakuryuu!"
Hakuryuu turns around stiffly, honestly surprised to hear his name uttered so freely by that person's voice, without any honorifics whatsoever, in broad daylight. He fidgets, his hands going to fiddle with his book bag's straps by his right shoulder. He suddenly feels tired, almost overwhelmed, by the brilliant smile that the popular model bestows upon him.
"…why are you calling me by my name?"
He's not that surprised that the other couldn't control himself and just called him by his name, but it's still unsettling. It hasn't been too long since their first official introduction as neighbors, so the sudden progress of intimacy is… unsettling. Hakuryuu bows his head a little so that he can look at the other's face more subtly. He spies the rugged grin the other sports, looking too handsome for his own good. He understands the appeal of the bad boy look, though Hakuryuu can't say that he's a fan.
He's never had to hold back his opinion about such matters.
But he's here to be a university student who refuses to be starstruck by the other, after all.
"Why not?" Judar asks, unabashed curiosity in his tone. He looks genuinely interested to hear the answer, as though it's really difficult to fathom the thought that he wouldn't be allowed to call anyone by any name he wanted.
There's a beat of silence, filled with words unspoken.
"Because I don't know you," Hakuryuu says haltingly, fidgeting with the straps again, making sure his frown appears visibly upset. He's supposed to look long-suffering from the attention the other gives him. It's not that hard to fake, for many reasons.
"I'm Judar," the popular model introduces himself with such an innocent air, it's almost hard to believe that he's the main suspect for the Black Magi case. He blinks expectantly at Hakuryuu, as though he's waiting for the other to acknowledge his re-introduction. As though the real reason behind this is Hakuryuu not knowing Judar's name.
"Thank you." Hakuryuu says with a gracious smile, ignoring the hand outstretched for a handshake. He has a feeling that hand will try to pull him in again into the other's personal space. He knows that trick and even if he isn't an undercover investigator, he still knows better than to be taken in just like that. "Now, please get out of the way."
"Wow, you sound so polite but you're actually pretty rude, aren't you?" Judar sounds amazed at the possibility that someone could be deliberately polite to coat their words and intentions with a sickly-sweet haze of civility. He blinks those huge, red eyes at him, openly admiring him.
Hakuryuu feels heat creep up on his neck at the steady gaze, pretty sure that this is the first person who ever looked at him with such wonder in his gaze. It's almost hard to believe that this is the main suspect for the animalistic kills that line the streets of the country with mutilated bodies and blackened blood.
"Shut up, Judar," he says and bites his lip. He doesn't mean for that to slip past his mouth. He doesn't mean to use the other's name until their fourth encounter here, because he doesn't want to go along with this person's flow of being overly close with him. He inwardly grimaces at the way Judar grins at him brightly, looking terribly honored to have been called by his name, even if in a negative manner.
"Aw, don't be like that, Hakuryuu!" Judar starts walking backwards towards his own apartment door, but the steps are very small. He still stands close to Hakuryuu, almost as though he doesn't want to let him out of his sight. "Ah, I know! Why don't you come in for some white jasmine tea?"
Hakuryuu freezes, but manages to smooth his expression quickly.
Judar's smile doesn't waver.
According to their surveillance reports, nobody has ever been spotted enter or leave their suspect's apartment, aside from Judar himself. The higher-ups are requiring more solid evidence in order for them to grant a search warrant. Hakuryuu has promised not to endanger himself by entering Judar's apartment, despite the needy invitations.
"…? Hakuryuu…?"
Hakuryuu takes a small step sideways to place a little more distance between them. His own apartment door is just a few paces away. "It's just… surprising to offer such a specific type of tea."
He doesn't mention how that's his favorite drink.
It's too personal, somehow.
"Oh! No, I just… you just don't strike me as someone who likes chocolate. Or coffee."
Hakuryuu freezes again but it doesn't take as long to recover. He thinks of the hot chocolate that Aladdin, Alibaba and Morgiana continually pass to him after a job well done. He shrugs at the suspect because he doesn't need to explain anything to him, does he?
"Hmph," Hakuryuu breathes out, mumbling some syllables that are not meant to be heard.
He fidgets again with the straps of his bag, before he quickly reaches inside his pocket for his keys. He's planning on making a quick escape to his own apartment, maybe lock himself in and just wait for updates on the police-issued laptop installed inside. He's planning on side-stepping the other's unsubtle crowding, but he doesn't get too far until Judar is reaching out to him, easily closing the meager space separating them, nearly spinning the two of them into a demented dance, which only ends once Hakuryuu's back is slammed against the wall just beside his doorway, Judar looming at him with two hands on either sides of his face.
Hakuryuu frowns at the other's rough handling, though Judar himself doesn't seem to understand his own strength. He looks curiously at Hakuryuu, as though he's really genuinely confused by the thought of someone not jumping up and down in joy at the thought of interacting with him.
"Why are you so angry at me?" He asks that again, tilting his head to the left. The strands of hair that are not included in his long braid sway with the motion. It almost looks enchanting, if Hakuryuu doesn't know this kind of trick too. "I'm just—"
Hakuryuu takes the moment to smile sweetly at him, inwardly smirking at how easy it is to catch Judar off-guard, before he elbows the other on the stomach. He's not too worried about causing too much pain. He delights at the way Judar doubles-over exaggeratedly, giving Hakuryuu the escape opportunity to duck into his own apartment room.
Within a few moments, Hakuryuu locks the door behind him securely, then he crosses the distance between the doorway and the study table with the surveillance feeds. He ignores the pinging of the message alerts from a frantic Alibaba, as he focuses on the dot showing Judar still standing just across his door.
•••
Despite the urgency of the Black Magi case – with twenty-one known victims now – the Sindria Task Force is unfortunately unable to focus all of its resources to just this one case, because the world doesn't rest just because there's great evil lurking out there. Still, with mounting pressure from the media and the politicians, they've been getting more and more funds and help in order to crack this case.
Hakuryuu thinks that it's because most of the wealthier politicians have deep connections with the underworld – and they're actually afraid that the next victims will be too close to them and the public might start wising up. It's a way of thinking that Alibaba disapproves of, because he's a giant sap who's too naïve to be a functional investigator. Hakuryuu's long had his fill of being surrounded by people who don't understand or don't even want to attempt to understand his views on things. So he doesn't speak out much during the deliberations and the summary of the case.
He simply sits near the exit, fiddling with one of the many notebooks that he has brought along for his effective disguise of being a university student. He keeps to himself, a few seats away from Alibaba and Morgiana who are huddled together beside Sharrkan. Aladdin is near the front, assisting Yamu with her presentation of the areas where they have tracked Judar's locations for the past month. Jafar is presiding over the meeting, since their boss, Sinbad, is out of the country and is only able to join them for a few minutes via video conference.
Judar's locations have been pretty straightforward – going to the modeling agency, going to some hotels for some events and press conferences, going to some fan events, going to some photo shoots. There are some nights when he goes to dungeons, the so-called den for underworld activity that are off-limits to even the highest level of arrest warrant. The tracker that Yamu and Aladdin have co-developed doesn't have the capability to penetrate the signal blocker that is installed ubiquitously in all dungeons. That means that there are a precious couple of hours where they can't place Judar's whereabouts specifically.
Hakuryuu doesn't really want to spend too much time listening to speculations about Judar's whereabouts during those blank times.
While the speculations fly all over the place, along with some interjections about the tips they're able to garner from the fan websites that obsessively track Judar's motions, Hakuryuu flips through his chosen notebook, pages lined with formulas and chemical reactions. He stops on the notes about advanced redox reactions just as Alibaba exclaims something about an update on their anonymous tipper that constantly sends them the pictures and articles about the Kou Family.
"The fifth case is with ---- Kobayashi, one of the suspected smugglers of elephant ivory and rare tortoise shells, and also greatly suspected to be involved in faking documents for travel and doing some international human trafficking. He's one of the widely-known enemies of Iron Wall Koutoku, because they had a huge public row about trading tariff restrictions."
"That's when it started being obvious that the Kou Family always seems to be gaining something with each murder…"
Hakuryuu hums as he listens to the inputs from the other officers, keeping his eyes focused on the information flashed on the screen. There are some more lists basically about the Kou Family seemingly killing all of their enemies in cold blood.
"Judar's rise to stardom mirrors the timeline of the first murder and each subsequent murder that seems to boost the Kou Family's wealth and influence also influences Judar's as well." Aladdin has an innocent baby-face, but there's a strange sort of wisdom in him as he peers at the evidence they have gathered. His expression says that there's something that feels off, but he's not quite sure yet as to what it is. "Plus, we're getting these tips about Judar being spotted with Kouen and Kouha often… which seems to indicate that they're at least friends, but…"
It's kind of a laughable investigation if that's the extent of their reasoning behind a prime suspect.
It's not laughable at all, because they're kind of desperate at this point.
"…Hm. The tip here says that Iron Wall Koutoku is not the real owner of the Kou Family business?"
Hakuryuu swings his gaze back to Alibaba, who reads the tip out loud with hesitation obvious in his voice. He spares a glance to Morgiana by his side, who looks conflicted as she sorts through the data. Hakuryuu makes a note to himself to help them prepare these data before meetings next time so that they don't appear caught off-guard by the very same information they're supposed to be presenting to the group.
"Indeed, there have been some rumors about that," Jafar confirms, his presence enough to quiet down most of the discussions that erupted with that news. "However, we have not been able to find any records about the previous family that the rumors are hinting at. So let's focus on the hard facts—"
Hakuryuu hums again as he listens to the next part of their discussion.
Surely, the Kou Family must be hiding something big to resort to killing twenty-one well-known criminals just to further their own agenda.
Surely, knowledge of that hidden thing is enough to shake this world.
Surely, that kind of connection to the underworld is bad.
Surely…
•••
Wrapped in the pinnacle of comfort, it rested without any other disturbance in the middle of the airport runway. Arms were positioned over its pancreas, bones of its fingers clasped together as though in prayer. Legs were straightened out, almost as though it was already prepared for its coffin. Face that was known amongst the immigration departments of most countries remained the only thing recognizable in its body.
Alonso Cortez halted all operations in the international airport, rested on the cold hard ground while covered with a makeshift blanket made of its own skin, its congealed blood spilled and blended along the runway, some of its entrails spilled in the area surrounding its final resting place.
It was a trader who reputedly ambushed a carrier plane that had special packages of exquisite rugs made from fur of some exotic animals, a carrier plane owned by the Kou Family.
It was the 22nd victim.
•••
Hakuryuu's not sure if this is some kind of fate.
It just seems too coincidental, too much, too something.
Seeing a white van trying to look as inconspicuous as possible is suspicious in its own right, so Hakuryuu has decided to take a very long detour from the task force's headquarters, walking along criss-crosses of dirty alleyways and hidden paths, before he finally reaches his apartment complex. However, it seems that the weather has decided to taunt him for picking this day of all days to take the long way back, without accounting for the sudden burst of rain that his flimsy folding umbrella is unable to handle.
By the time Hakuryuu reaches the stairs of his apartment complex, he's already soaked from head to toe, his feet making squishing sounds as he makes another step. He shivers at the coldness of the downpour, weighing down his clothes and making them cling to his skin uncomfortably. His head feels heavy too, his hair unraveled from his usual pin, thick clumps of his hair sticking to his cheeks and to his neck. There's some loud crackling as thunder rumbles seconds after.
Hakuryuu tries to dash up the steps, because he's heard that this apartment complex's security is strange that it locks the stairwells during a power outage. And with the way things are going—
"—hey, what's the big deal?! Why is this stupid door not opening urghhhh."
Urgh indeed.
Hakuryuu gazes up despairingly at the guy that he finds kicking the door and stomping his feet at the stairs landing. Hakuryuu wonders if he has somehow doomed himself to spend a power outage in some stairwell, while enduring very wet clothes and the presence of the main suspect of a long series of brutal murders.
"What the hell, this is making me so maaaad!" Judar whines some more, screeching about not believing that this kind of thoughtless security exists. "I ought to—oh hey, Hakuryuu!"
Hakuryuu sighs as he trudges up the remaining steps, sighs even deeper when Judar immediately sidles closer to him. "So I'm stuck with you, huh."
"Don't sound so down! I'm sure we can entertain ourselves!" Judar pokes his cheek and looks somewhat surprised to find it wet. He then blinks at him, his red eyes practically glowing like a cat's in dim lighting. There's a glass window at the very top of the stairwell – the frequent streaks of lightning are enough to provide some kind of light source. "Oh, you're very wet, Hakuryuu!"
Hakuryuu somewhat hopes that his communicator has been thoroughly ruined by the rain, because he suspects that it's going to be kind of mortifying to have this scene replayed to him back at the task force's headquarters.
"Yes, because the rain is wet," Hakuryuu grouches, knowing that Alibaba and Aladdin will chew him out for being so carelessly rude to their suspect. That's fine, because Hakuryuu's confident that he can beat this guy if it comes down to a one-on-one hand-to-hand combat. Maybe. Surely.
"It is," Judar agrees almost mindlessly, bumping shoulders too casually against Hakuryuu. "You should dry yourself, you know?"
A long flash of lightning – and Hakuryuu sees Judar's outfit more clearly. A loose white scarf draped over his shoulders and his cropped tee that covers nothing. His entire midriff is bared, while he has some loose pants that appear to be in grave danger of falling off his hips. He looks sufficiently dry and interested.
Hakuryuu swallows, taking a step back. He's dimly aware that the person in front of him is physically able to just shove him down the stairs and nobody will be able to know anything until the power returns. There's a thrill there, in the possibility of danger. At the same time, he knows that there's no way Judar will do that to him, not when he's gazing at him with overflowing interest in his eyes, visible despite the insufficient lighting.
He then nods, starting to unbutton his shirt, rustling his communicator. He peels it off after a few moments of wrestling with the fabric clinging to his skin, too aware to the fact that Judar's eyes are shamelessly roving across his exposed skin. Hakuryuu doesn't feel embarrassed upon revealing nearly half of his torso covered in burn scars.
Maintaining eye contact with him, Judar slowly unravels his scarf and uses it as a makeshift towel, stepping close to Hakuryuu and basically drying his dripping locks and wiping at his arms. Hakuryuu shivers – from the cold or from something else, he doesn't dwell too much upon it – and wordlessly doesn't stop Judar's hands from scrubbing his scarf across his chest.
He should be the university student who stubbornly refuses to acknowledge Judar, but there's something about the darkness that surrounds them now that makes Hakuryuu want to just give in, even for just a little while. There's no doubt that Judar's rise to stardom is well-deserved due to his ethereal beauty, not to mention that his sculpted body is worthy of utmost praise. It's all compliments swishing inside Hakuryuu's head as he numbly lets his body be maneuvered so that he is standing against the wall instead, Judar carefully wiping him dry.
No doubt that the taskforce members monitoring the live feed from his communicator will conclude a great many things, most of which centering about how this is surely Stockholm's Syndrome at work.
…they're free to think what they wished, he supposes.
