Akihito was 14 years old when his father decided he was fair trade for an insurmountable amount of debt he'd manage to build up over the years. He was young and did his best to look after the only parent he knew. His father spent more time gambling and hustling than he spent at home, but he tried to be a good son and took care of what he could, like chores and non-exemplary expenses with what he would take from his father's borrowing/winnings for such matters.There was a time when his father became more agitated around him. He was almost thirteen years old, but something in his father had changed and he noticed. His father was always able to keep his personal affairs and his home life separated, but he suddenly started blurring the two together and Akihito got a peek at how dangerous what his father did was.It started when a man showed up at his home with a gun, demanding money owed.Akihito was scared shitless, but his father was a smooth talker type of person and had managed to work out a deal with the man. Since then, he'd been trying to break his father out of an addiction he knew could cost them both dearly in the long run. He thought of leaving, but he loved his father and didn't want to leave him behind, not to fend for himself and maybe make even more bad decisions.He was thirteen and a half when the second man took his father's right pinky finger before his eyes and he almost died of a heart attack. He thought they were dead this time for sure. After that the man started drinking heavily.No matter how much he pleaded and begged, his father never gave in to his requests to give up his addiction, to move and start over and just be free of all the people he borrowed (sometimes stole) from.Akihito was fourteen years and two days when he met Asami Ryuichi. He came from school in the evening, mentally preparing for the routine of cleaning up after his drunk father. What he met was said man, as sober as a soldier sitting on their living room couch while a man in an expensive business suit, who was flanked by two others on each side, sat with his legs crossed, staring at his fidgeting father intently.Akihito felt something between fear and anger pass through him. "Dad, what's going on?"His father looked at him so apologetically, like lamb to the slaughter and he knew something had changed for the worse. This time was different.This man was different."A...Akihito, meet Asami Ryuichi."Akihito had never been formally introduced to any of his father's debtors before and he didn't answer nor acknowledge the man's presence, a man obviously younger than his father, even if his mind was telling him to show respect to someone who could take all or nothing from them. He walked over and stood beside his father, being the anchor that always kept him grounded. He looked closely at the man before him; broad and thick, immaculate, powerful."How old is he?"The man hadn't taken his eyes from his father, not once and Akihito startled at the deep rumble of such a baritone voice. The nature of the question set off all sorts of warning bells in his head because none of this man's predecessors had ever been interested in anything other than how to get their money back.His father's eyes were sorrowful and his gaze never left his when he answered, "He's only fourteen."iOnly fourteen./i Akihito had a hollowed out feeling in the pit of his stomach and when he broke his father's gaze to look back at the man, he realized he still wasn't looking at him, focusing intently on his father with the most piercing golden eyes he's ever seen."Six months, one million yen."Akihito could see it in father's expression, the offer was like uncut diamonds to a jewellery thief, but there was something holding him back, making him hesitate in saying yes. Akihito could see he was leaning heavily on giving in and when those hazel eyes, a mirror image of his own, looked back at him for the last time, he knew.
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