The Light of my Life

Call Me

After his shower and soak in the furo Tamotsu made his way to the bedroom that was beside Lily's. She regularly used it as a guest room for him when her sisters were not over for the night, of which he made it a custom to crash on the couch. While he only lived a little over half an hour away it was too much of a commute at this time of night. He didn't even want to think about early morning traffic. It would be a nightmare. He wore a simple pair of sweatpants and a sleeveless tee shirt that was comfortable during the hot, summer nights. Walking around the room with the towel slung over his shoulders he would pat his hair dry while sending messages on his phone. 

The first person he would message was Liu. 

tamatan [カオス... chaos]

shrvldleaf [They had nothing better?]

tamatan [Doesn't seem so. Staying at Lily's apartment tonight. Feed Nuki.]

shrvldleaf [I fed him twice.]

tamatan [Please don't]

shrvldleaf [Too late! Will you come home tomorrow?]

tamatan [Probably not.]

shrvldleaf [I will be sure to feed Nuki four times.]

tamatan [Do and I'll feed you to him.]

shrvldleaf [ <3 ]

tamatan [....don't send me that. Wish me luck, texting aniki.]

shrvldleaf [I wish you many years upon your life. Good night.]

tamatan [Good night.]

shrvldlelaf [Did you change my name from shriveled leaf?]

tamatan [Did you change me from tamatan?]

shrvldleaf [Good night brother!]

tamatan [ -_- ]

-------

"Punk ass..." Tamotsu murmured as he opened a new email. He sighed. "Maybe I'm overestimating the reach of aniki's rage. He shouldn't be too upset."

Or at least Tamotsu had hoped. The moment he sent the text, alerting his senior of the paparazzi storm he will be dealing with in the morning his phone blew up with the fury filled ringing of his aniki's ringtone. He stared at the phone, his thumb hovering over the deny call button. He felt his thumb tremble before he slid his thumb across the green receive key before he tucked the phone between his ear and shoulder. Tamotsu had thought ahead and grabbed a beer from the fridge before sitting down on the edge of the bed. 

~psszt

"...aniki, good evening. What has you calling so late at night?" Tamotsu grabbed his phone and tucked his head back, the can coming to his lips as he chugged about half of it down.

"Ah, Tamatan. Aniki was just worried. You haven't been home in over a week and Nuki is getting fatter." On the other side of the line was Tamotsu's upperclassman, his senior by two years: Hayashi Daido, or Daido Hayashi if one preferred a more Western manner. 

Tamotsu turned his head, nearly spitting out his beer at the comment. Kami damn you Liu! He's been told not to let aniki in the house when he wasn't there, but he was sure his naive brother didn't have a choice. Akini could be persuasive. The tone the man had was a recognized one. He could clearly see Daido's expression. His aniki was probably still at the office. He was an imposing man that stood at 187cm. He had dark brown hair and was regularly dressed in formalwear that put the average businessman to shame. He typically wore silk suits which were usually a forest green or deep navy. With black dress shirts and alternating ties he was always sharply dressed and ready to perform. He worked as a CEO at a company Tamotsu rather not recall. In most recent memory that company had swallowed three smaller companies embroiled in a controversy the young man was more than sure was orchestrated by Daido. He was a cruel and cunning man known to get whatever he wanted, when he wanted and that included his kin. So when Tamotsu was denied anything it was like denying Daido. 

The Hayashi family had been close friends with the Mori family. They grew up together and Tamotsu learned much of what he knows of business from following in Daido's shadow: taking similar classes and even getting into the same university as him. It was quite an achievement considering Tamotsu's humble background. Tamotsu was sure that his father worked for Daido's family and was trusted implicitly by Daido's father. Tamotsu's father was a loyal man who had handed down those morals to his only son so the boy was trusted to remain Daido's companion even when the incident occurred. When his parents died the current Hayashi heads had refused to take Tamotsu in, which he wasn't surprised about. They were a family obsessed with pedigree and had a strong bloodline that had strict laws on who was let in or not.  

The Hayashi family had generational wealth that was fiercely protective of their secrets. They were responsible for many of the municipalities across Kanagawa. Their family had a large estate in Kamakura that they lived at during the summer months. During this time the two boys would spend their holidays together and were inseparable. While it was not their responsibility to take him in, Daido felt they had owed Tamotsu's father as much. Daido had quite a falling out with his parents over the matter as they had refused to take his blood brother in. Tamotsu understood it was the will of his grandfather and did his best to ensure Daido didn't ruin the relationship he had with his parents and sacrificed his needs by declaring he was unable to accept their lifestyle. That was to say ... they were Yakuza.

Of course it had been a lie and Daido knew. 

Later Daido would take over his father's role in the family when his grandfather died a short few months after his parents, leaving Daido's father the new family head. This change had allowed Daido's parents to accept their relationship and let the two men remain together despite Tamotsu now being a son of the Xie family. It was a mutual relationship that benefitted both families and itself caused quite the wave of rumors afterwards. Nevertheless Liu and Daido became his eternal blood brothers and the three would lay themselves over hot coals for the other, if it meant the continued prosperity of their clans. 

Tamotsu looked to the empty can. He had been listening to Daido rant his ear off for an hour now. Duty, family honor, responsibility. Tamotsu sighed and laid himself back against the bedding, pulling his arm over his eyes.

"Aniki, I'm not going to ask you to kill anyone." He finally had a moment to speak up over the stream of consciousness his older brother released.

He was happy his aniki felt so strongly about it. Honestly it was embarrassing that the man would even  consider it. He rubbed his face, feeling it heating up. Shooting into a sitting position he shook his head clear of his audacious thoughts of hearing Lily praise him for erasing the thorn that seemed to constantly prickle her sides. 

"You're right aniki. It is something to be responsible about, but it is my responsibility. I only want your help with one thing."

"Oh?" Daido seemed pleased his younger brother was asking him for help.

"I don't need anyone off'd, or any weapons, or poisons, or anything else weird. "

"It isn't weird," Daido sounded almost offended. "It's precaution."

"It's weird." He retorted. "It's weird to want to start a civil war every time someone is being an asshole." Mind you Tamotsu felt the same as Daido but he was far less inclined to act on his baser thoughts. "I just need some information. I want to know the photographer's name."

"Hmm, are you planning something interesting?" Daido was exactly where Tamotsu had pictured him. 

The man was still in his office. He had been in the middle of a meeting with a rather difficult client. Said client was in a chair across from his desk with two men in white suits at either side of him. He was a small looking man, trembling as he watched Daido cheerfully talk over the phone when he had been, but moments before, threatening his livelihood. 

Tamotsu smirked. "No... no. I just wanna talk to him. I just -- wanna talk to him." Tamotsu leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs, eyes narrowing. "I just didn't like it, you know aniki? They're making me look bad as a manager when they say those things about Lily..."

Daido huffed. "Of course Tamatan~" He chuckled, knowing well his little brother's temper when it came to his responsibilities. "I'll get everything you need tomorrow morning." He looked over to the frightened man. "But for now I have to go. I need to finish my last meeting. Be sure to eat a good breakfast and tell Lilytan I said hello~ Good night ototou." 

Tamotsu grunted. "Night, aniki." He hung up his phone as Daido did.

Daido narrowed his eyes at the man across from his desk. "Now... where were we?" He reached across his desk to pick up his letter opener. "That's right! About those reports..."