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CHAPTER NINE:
Nakahara Jr.
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               Her lips. Chuuya had been so close to kissing them. The thought itself made his cheeks burn. He had only been trying to seduce her—trying to make her let down her guard, but that didn't mean he hadn't enjoyed it. He told himself he wanted to be as far away from the assassin as humanely possible, but from the moment he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in, he couldn't stop thinking about how good she smelled. He could have kissed her if he wanted to—he didn't want to, of course, but he could have. And he had the feeling she would have let him. The thought alone was making him lose his mind.

                He was sitting quietly in the lounge area, reading a newspaper whilst jazz music played from the record player in the corner of the room. Hirotsu had put it on before he left and no one had bothered to turn it off. Chuuya didn't really care, he enjoyed the music—and it helped him drown out the sounds of his own mind. Two days. Two days he had known Akira Kitagawa and he was close to throwing himself in front of oncoming traffic.

               "Man, you are one lucky scoundrel," Tachihara announced as he threw himself down beside Chuuya, making him lose his line on the article he had been reading. Tachihara threw his arm over the back of the red couch, turning to face the fellow redhead. "Wanna swap positions with me?" Chuuya looked at him from over the newspaper, having no clue what the hell his colleague and friend was talking about.

                 "What?" He asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

                  "Aki, man!" Tachihara exclaimed, as if it were obvious. Gin entered the room, along with Akutagawa and Higuchi. "You're so lucky to be partnered with her. She's hot as fuck." A daydreaming look crossed the darker redhead's features as he stared straight ahead, as if he could picture the raven-haired girl from memory. He'd only truly seen her in passing, but each time he did, he felt like he was going to drop down dead on the spot at her beauty.

                 Chuuya tutted, turning back to his newspaper, "A pain in the ass is what she is." He corrected, licking his thumb before changing the page. He wasn't even reading it anymore, just pretending to so that Tachihara would leave him alone—but he didn't. He had never been the type of person to take a hint, or rather, he didn't really care.

                  "I'd let her be a pain in my ass." The man said, grinning as he wiggled his eyebrows at Chuuya. The Executive sighed heavily.

                 "Objectifying women, are we, Tachihara?" Higuchi questioned with a raised eyebrow as she sat herself down on the armchair opposite them, though her eyes darted to Akutagawa as he examined the book shelf, searching for something to read. Her eyes were on him at least 90% of the time they were around each other.

                  "Worshiping women," Tachihara corrected her, earning a scoff of amusement on her behalf. He threw himself back onto the couch dramatically. "I mean, holy shit, have you seen her? She's an Angel." He rhetorically asked, because he knew they had—everyone had basked in her beauty the first time there eyes bestowed upon her. Even Akutagawa had acknowledged it, who typically showed no real interest in women. He had bigger things to think about than fawning over a woman.

                 "She is quite beautiful." Gin softly agreed, standing by the window, looking out into the city of Yokohama. It was late in the evening and the city was lit up like a carnival. The sky was full of stars, twinkling above the city whilst the headlights of cars lit up the roads. Pedestrians looked like nothing more than ants from the high floor of the building.

                  Chuuya screwed his face up, "I don't understand why you're all kissing her ass. She's a nightmare—literally a fucking nightmare," He said in exasperation as an image of the woman flashed in his mind. It was the moment in the gym: her lips parted, orange eyes darting back and forth between his. The moment he could have kissed her. Stop. Stop being a horn-dog, Chuuya, you don't even like her, he reminded himself. He blamed it on her beauty, it was a lot easier to think of sinful things when she had a face like hers. If she looked like a wicked witch, things would have been much easier. He gave himself a shake. "I'm heading out." He announced, folding the paper and settling it on the coffee table by his feet.

                He didn't speak another word as he left, slipping his hands in his pocket with his head turned downwards. His colleagues watched him go, each with different looks on their faces. It was obvious their superior was seriously bothered by their latest member, whilst the rest of them didn't know her that well, they didn't think any bad of her, despite knowing her previous position. Chuuya, however, acted as though he despised her.

                He went to his bedroom, collecting one of his vintage bottles of wine before heading down to the kitchen to retrieve himself a glass. When he entered the kitchen, which was in an old Victorian layout, the lights had been off. He flickered them on, only to almost jump out of his skin when he noticed the woman sitting on the countertop in the centre of the kitchen, her legs crossed into a basket, eating out of a box of cereal with her hands.

               "Holy shit—" he put his hand over his heart, feeling it thumping erratically in his chest. Gin and Higuchi used to tell stories about how the Port Mafia building was haunted, though Chuuya had never believed their babbling because he didn't believe in ghosts. But when he turned those lights on and saw the woman sitting there, he had nearly believed. But it was no ghost. It was worse.

                Aki was sitting on the countertop, grinning widely at him, holding a handful of Lucky Charms, "Hey, partner!" She exclaimed gleefully before shoving the cereal into her mouth.

                Chuuya grimaced at the name as he collected himself. He walked into the kitchen, heading straight to the cabinet where the glasses were stored. He opened it up, pulling out a wine glass before turning to face the woman, "Why the hell were you sitting in the dark, you weirdo?" He demanded, settling the glass onto the countertops that were built into the walls in a 'U' shape.

                  "I wasn't but I heard you coming so I turned them off to scare you." She informed him with a big smile, still sitting cross-legged, looking almost childlike in her matching pink PJ's.

                   Chuuya groaned, "God, you are such a child."

                  Aki rolled her eyes, "Right, and you're such an adult." She fired back at him.

                   "Eat your cereal and shut up." Chuuya grumbled as he unscrewed the cap of his wine, before pouring the deep red substance into the glass. It brought him a huge amount of peace, even though it was something so small and trivial.

                  "You shut up." Aki countered, her eyes narrowing. She had been enjoying eating her cereal in peace before the ginger leprechaun showed up, and now, his presence was only annoying her. She hadn't forgot about what happened earlier, how she had allowed Chuuya to get one over on her. He had attempted to seduce her, and it had worked. Not only was it humiliating as a seductress herself, but it was also infuriating.

                    Chuuya turned, leaning his back against the counter opposite her, holding the glass of wine between his gloved fingers. There was something so delicate about it, and yet, so attractive in the way he held the glass, "You gonna make me, Kitagawa?" He challenged, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. It was obvious he was still feeling superior over what happened earlier. Aki couldn't let that sit. She had to show him she was the superior one.

                  She settled down the cereal box and hopped off the counter. She took two steps forward, standing right in front of Chuuya. She tipped her head back, looking up at him through her lashes, "You know, I can't stand you—I really fucking can't. You think you're all high and mighty and it gets on my nerves," She told him as he brought the glass to his lips, taking a long sip, savouring the taste as he held her gaze. She swallowed and took one step closer. That made him tense up. "But that's not why I'm pissed at you right now. I'm pissed because I thought you were going to kiss me and you didn't." She pouted, her voice dropping in octave as she spoke.

                Chuuya's lips parted, stained a little from the red wine. He stared at her, trying to figure her out. She reached up, putting her hand on his chest, tracing her finger along the material of his waistcoat, "I really can't fucking stand you, Nakahara. But still, I really wanted to kiss you." She whispered, her eyes locked on his. She watched as his adams apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed.

                 She pushed herself against him, sandwiching the man between her and the counter. With her hand over his heart, she could feel how erratically it was beating. She was so close to him. If she wanted to, she could make his heart stop on the spot—she could single handedly take out one of Mori's most powerful men. All she would have to do is activate her ability and give his heart the shock of its life. But she didn't.

               She pushed herself up onto her tiptoes, to reach his exact height. Chuuya wasn't saying a word, in fact, he was barely even breathing as he stared at her, his fingers turning white around his glass of wine from under his gloves, "I can't help but think we should put all of this tension between us into something useful." She whispered, her seductive gaze never once leaving his baffled one. She moved her hand off his chest, away from his heart and brought it up to his hair.

She twirled a orange strand around her index finger, pulling him a little closer. "Don't you think it would feel so good? All of this anger, all of this hatred—we could release it so easily. Right here. No one would even have to know." Chuuya thought his heart was about to fucking combust. Was she messing with him? He couldn't tell. And he hated it. But what he hated more, was that her words were seriously turning him on.

                 Without giving himself permission, his face dropped closer to hers. The rim of his hat brushed against her forehead. He closed his eyes, trying to refrain from closing those few inches between them, "I despise you." He whispered to her, as if he were confessing his deepest sins to a priest, his eyes squeezed shut, his entire body stiff—including a certain spot in his pants.

                  Aki's eyes glimmered mischievously, "The feelings mutual, baby." She cooed, her hand curling around his that held the wine glass.

She paused. And then she tipped the glass backwards, the contents spilling out and directly into the sink behind him as she grinned. She had remembered the conversation she'd had with Gin and Higuchi—and she knew that Chuuya's taste in wine was extremely expensive. And she had just poured some of that money down the drain. Quite literally.

                 Chuuya's eyes opened, blinking in confusion before he noticed the empty glass between his fingers. Aki smirked at him, "You really thought I wanted to kiss you? I wouldn't kiss you if you were the last man on the earth, Nakahara." Her tone was sweet, but her words were far from it.

                 A dangerous glint flashed in Chuuya's eyes as he dropped the glass into the sink. It shattered into pieces, just as Chuuya grabbed her. He spun her around, twisting her arm around her back before slamming her down onto the countertop face-first. A laugh of enjoyment escaped Aki's lips, her hair spread out on the worktop. Chuuya pressed against her, a hand in her hair, pushing her head down.

                 He lowered himself over her, pushing against her ass. His lip brushed her ear, "I would rather fucking did than kiss you, Kitagawa." He hissed in her ear, his breath sending a shiver of pleasure down her back.

                 "Is that so?" She teased.

                "Damn straight."

                 Aki grinned, deliberately moving herself against Chuuya's front, "Then maybe you should tell Nakahara Jr that—he seems a little excited." She cooed, making Chuuya's cheeks immediately flush red. He hadn't even noticed it, he had been far too consumed by his rage to even realise that he had gone hard in his pants. Fuck this woman. Fuck her. Fuck her. Fuck her!

                  He flew off of her, putting a distance between them. Aki got up, smoothing out her pink satin PJ's, "I'm off to bed. I'll see you in the morning, partner," She teased, turning to look at him as he stood there, a look of pure rage on his face. Her eyes trailed downwards, and then they lit up when she noticed the bulge in his pants hadn't gone down, "Goodnight, Nakahara Jr!" She exclaimed gleefully, giving a wave, a huge toothy grin on her face.

                 Chuuya grabbed the first thing his hand could find, which just happened to be a kitchen knife. He tossed it at her as she headed for the door, but she swiftly dodged it, making it lodge in the door—right where her head had been. A growl escaped Chuuya's lips. She blew him a kiss before disappearing out the door.

                 The moment she was gone, Chuuya grabbed the bottle of wine before taking a long swig of it, downing the red substance. He removed the bottle from his lips, wiping at his mouth with his free hand before glancing downwards to the bulge in his pants with a glare, "You're a real problem."

AUTHORS NOTE.

i honestly enjoy writing these two so much, the banter is just top tier to write 🥹

— taylor xx