ladyc2

Title: Shelter - Chapter 1
Pairing: PiKame
Rating: R-ish (to be on the safe side)
Word Count: 2,242
Disclaimer: This story is fiction. None of these events occurred.
Warnings: violence, talk of prostitution, rape and attempted rape, homophobia. Some of these may turn out to be bigger aspects than others and I may add more warnings later.
Summary: Trying to track down an old friend Yamapi finds help in the reluctant form of Kamenashi Kazuya.

Prologue

The aroma of bacon brought Yamapi out of his slumber. He sat up, a little disorientated at first due to the strange surroundings. He rubbed at his sleep laden eyes and tried to remember the night before. It slowly came back to him - his flight, trying to track down Toma, Kamenashi offering him a place to stay. He pushed the blankets off, surprised that he'd managed to sleep so well despite his situation. Kamenashi's apartment was a tiny one-bedroomer and they'd had to push his couch and coffee table right against the far wall to make room for his bedding. He rose and plopped himself almost immediately straight back down on a stool at the kitchen bench

"Morning," Kamenashi murmured, more intent on what he was cooking than on Yamapi. "Breakfast will be ready soon."

Yamapi nodded his acknowledgement as he watched Kamenashi poaching eggs. His eye's slid over to his belongings; more precisely to his phone nestled amongst them where he'd left it last night. He reached over to it quickly and turned it on. As expected, as soon as it came to life, the device immediately started to alert him of missed calls. He looked cautiously at the list. Most of the calls were from Ryo and Jin. His thumb hovered between both names, undecided for a moment on who he should call - Jin was the less likely of the two to yell at him, but he also wasn't very good at keeping secrets. He made his decision and pushed the call button.

Ryo picked up almost before the first ring had finished.

"Pi! Where the hell are you?"

"Hey," Yamapi answered.

"Are you crazy? Everyone's looking for you. What the hell...!"

Pi put the phone down on the bench and looked back to Kamenashi, who was now plating up the breakfast. It looked delicious; strips of bacon and spinach on top of a muffin, with a poached egg on top, drizzled in oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Eggs Benedict? Not exactly what Yamapi had been expecting (this wasn't some fancy hotel). Not that he was going to complain; his mouth was watering just looking at it.

Kamenashi glanced between Yamapi and the phone, where Ryo's voice could faintly be heard yelling as he placed a plate before him.

"He'll be a while," Yamapi mouthed in explanation.

Kamenashi seemed amused at the explanation, coming around the bench to sit beside him with his own plate. Yamapi took his first mouthful and had to bite back an appreciative moan. So good! He gave Kamenashi a thumbs up sign and the other stifled a chuckle at his antics.

He was about halfway through breakfast when the phone went silent. Pi picked it up hastily.

"Did you listen to any of that?" Ryo did not sound amused.

"Every word," Yamapi lied.

Ryo thankfully let it go.

"Your mom's on a rampage," he said instead and Yamapi sighed.

"I figured."

"Where are you?" Ryo asked much softer this time. He would never admit it out loud, would probably even deny it if confronted, but his friend was obviously worried.

"I thought I'd hide out with Toma." There was a clatter next to him and he looked over at Kamenashi who hastily picked up his dropped cutlery.

"You're with Toma?" Ryo asked, drawing his attention back to the conversation.

Yamapi hummed non-committedly. Telling Ryo that he hadn't actually found Toma yet and was sitting in a complete strangers apartment, struck him as not being the best idea. Besides, with Kamenashi's help, he was sure it would be true soon enough.

"Alright, I suppose that's as good a hiding place as any for now. Keep in touch, okay."

Yamapi smiled at the way the last words sounded more like an order.

"Will...?" Yamapi trailed off. He couldn't, he shouldn't, expect his friends to fix this for him; if it even could be fixed.

"We're working on it." Ryo answered as if he'd understood anyway, though he didn't sound too confident.

"Thanks," Pi whispered before ending the call and turning it back off again.

He stared at the blank screen for a few moments, composing himself before he faced Kamenashi again. He half expected curiosity and maybe a question, but Kamenashi's eyes remained fixed on his plate, giving him his privacy. Yamapi was grateful.

After breakfast he offered to help clean up, it was only fair after all, and Kamenashi threw him the dishcloth.

They washed and dried in silence for a while until Yamapi's own curiosity got the better of him.

"So do you always cook such elaborate breakfasts for your guests, or am I just special?"

"You're just lucky." Kame grinned as he dried a plate. "I was practicing."

"Practicing?"

Kamenashi nodded. "There's this cooking school I was thinking of applying to."

"You want to be a chef?"

Kamenashi shrugged. "Maybe. I like cooking and I'd just..." Kamenashi paused, looking around at his apartment, "It'd be nice to be something more. I guess." He laughed a little, like he was embarrassed by his confession. Yamapi thought it made him look cute.

"Well if the rest of your cooking is as good as your breakfast, I'd come to your future restaurant all the time."

"Thanks," Kamenashi grinned happily at the compliment for a moment before his expression turned rueful, "but I wouldn't go making reservations just yet. Chances are, with my background, they probably won't even let me through the door."

"Your background?"

Kamenashi turned away, bending over to put a pan away in the cupboard and hiding his face from Yamapi's view before he answered. "The usual stuff; never finished school, ran with the wrong crowd, that sort of thing."

Yamapi was surprised. "What does that matter?" he asked indignantly as Kamenashi stood to face him once again. "If you're not like that now, surely they'll see that you're trying to turn your life around." Yamapi stopped when he saw the look of disbelief on Kamenashi's face at his words. "I'm being naive, aren't I?" he asked rather sheepishly.

Kamenashi held up his hand with his thumb and finger millimetres apart. "Just a little," he agreed.

Yamapi sighed. Too naive, too trusting. Hadn't he been told over and over again they were his biggest faults? He could practically hear the lecture in his mind all over again. And of course they'd been right, which was exactly why he was where he was now. Yet it seemed he hadn't learnt at all.

"Sorry," he apologised.

"Don't worry about it." Kamenashi dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Actually, it's kind of nice to know there are people who don't put a lot of stock in that sort of thing. Makes me think maybe I can change things after all."

"I'm sure you can," Yamapi replied confidently as he passed over the last plate for drying. The corner of Kamenashi's lips curled upwards slightly as he took the plate.

Once the dishes were done, Kamenashi had to leave to run some errands. Yamapi tidied up his bedding and moved the coffee table and couch back into their regular positions. If he found Toma and somehow managed to sort his life out, he'd have to come back and thank Kamenashi properly. Buy something nice for him, maybe. It didn't look like Kame had a lot in the way of possessions; a small shelf holding a few tatty old mangas and a signed baseball. Unless he was hiding everything in his bedroom, it didn't amount to much.

Kamenashi didn't return until lunch time. Yamapi had grabbed one of the mangas off the shelf and he put it down as the other man entered the apartment. Yamapi hoped he wouldn't mind him reading his books but Kamenashi barely seemed to notice; in fact he looked kind of frazzled, like whatever errands he'd been running had been stressful and upsetting.

Kamenashi had moved straight to the kitchen and begun cooking up some ramen. Yamapi joined him, a part of him wanting to ask what was wrong, but he held off. It wasn't really any of his business and maybe talking about it would just bother the man more. When it was done, they ate in silence with Yamapi trying to rack his brains for something to say, but coming up empty.

The awkward (to Yamapi anyway) silence continued as they cleaned up the lunch plates. It only broke when Kamenashi pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and pushed it across the table towards him. Yamapi picked it up. It was a name, 'The Portal' with an address written underneath.

"It's a club," Kamenashi explained. "It's your best bet for finding... your friend. They don't go there every night, but it's a regular haunt."

Yamapi pocketed the paper. "Thanks."

Kamenashi took a deep breath and his eyes refused to meet Yamapi's. "Listen," he started, "If you do manage to find him, it's probably not a good idea to mention that I helped you out."

"Why not?"

"Toma and his friends...." Kame hesitated and his tongue poked out to lick at his bottom lip nervously. "They don't really like me much anymore."

--

Kamenashi had practically run out of the apartment after his revelation, claiming he had to go to work. Yamapi sighed and picked up the manga again - it helped pass the time until the club would be open and worked moderately well to distract him from pointless speculation about Kamenashi when he really had nothing to go on. Why had he agreed to help if he was on bad terms with Toma? What had caused him to be so upset earlier? Was it because of him? He sighed again and stared blankly at the page in front of him. Okay, so maybe it wasn't much of a distraction after all.

--

'The Portal' turned out to be a rather grimy, dirty looking place from the outside, nothing at all like the clubs Yamapi usually attended. It improved a little once Yamapi was inside, although it was a little hard to tell - the two big burly bouncers at the door didn't seem to stop anybody coming through and, as Yamapi watched one girl go past in what appeared to be nothing more than her lingerie, it looked like they didn't have much of a dress standard either.

Yamapi frowned as he pushed his way through the crowd. How was he supposed to find anyone in this? He slowly managed to make his way to the bar, ignoring all the offers to dance or hands that kept trying to grope him. He signalled to the nearest bartender. As he came close, Yamapi leaned over the bar so he could be heard better over the noise.

"I'm looking for Ikuta Toma-san."

The bartender shrugged. "Never heard of him," he answered as he reached under the bar, coming up with some fresh glasses.

"Are you sure?" Yamapi asked. "I heard he's a regular here."

"And who told you that?"

Yamapi considered what to say. Kamenashi hadn't wanted his help to be revealed, so he probably shouldn't give him away, but there was no other way to explain. He was still deciding when he was jostled by a particularly large body next to him. He turned his head to notice one of the clubs bouncers had moved in beside him.

"What's the trouble?" the bouncer asked the same bartender that Yamapi had been talking too.

The bartender flicked his gaze in Yamapi's direction. "He's been asking after Ikuta-san."

Yamapi was surprised. He thought the bartender didn't know him. He turned towards the bouncer gratefully.

"You can help me?" he asked hopefully. The bouncer grabbed his arm roughly in response and began to drag him through the club. Yamapi quickened his step to keep up. The grip on his arm was tight and had begun to hurt after a few steps but he doubted that the bouncer would hear him over the music and crowd if he tried to complain.

The bouncer stopped in front of door at the back of the club. Yamapi wondered if it was some sort of private room. He grabbed for the handle eagerly and tugged it open. He could only guess as to the look on his face when he stepped through and found himself looking at what appeared to be an alley. He was about to turn back when he was pushed (or judging from the pain radiating from his back, maybe kicked) violently to the ground. He groaned as he hit the pavement hard. He rolled as quickly as he could onto his back to find the Bouncer hovering over him.

"Don't show your face here again," the Bouncer threatened ominously as he aimed a kick at Yamapi's ribs. Yamapi tried to shift out of the way but he was a fraction too slow and pain exploded in his side.

The Bouncer laughed before he walked back inside slamming the door behind him.

Yamapi lay still trying to will the pain to a more manageable level. Taking shallow breaths seemed to help a little so Yamapi concentrated on that for a while. He hoped his ribs weren't broken; the guy must have been wearing steel cap boots or something. Eventually he managed to sit up, and he glared at the door, one thought going around and around in his head.

"What the hell?!" he yelled into the silent, empty alleyway.

Chapter 2