Trigger warnings: killing, smoking, mentions of prostitution and human trafficking, language

~

Shouta was watching his target through the scope of his rifle. He was just sitting out there, having his lunch. Poor guy. Well, he had to go for whatever reason. Shouta really didn't want to know why he killed the people he killed. If he thought about it for too long he'd probably go insane.

Hizashi was standing in the corner of the abandoned building smoking a cigarette. Normally, Shouta didn't let him come along for things like this, but he had been annoying him about it and for some reason Shouta had forgotten exactly why he didn't allow Hizashi to come along, but he did remember it right now. It's because Hizashi couldn't stop being so damn annoying.

It wasn't even the fact that he was smoking a cigarette or standing around, practically staring at him. It was the way he was tapping at his cigarette way too much and the way Shouta could see it out of the corner of his eyes that completely set him off. It was distracting and he hated it.

"Hizashi..." he growled quietly. He didn't need to see Hizashi's face to know exactly that he was grinning widely. Damn it, why did he always have to be this annoying? Hizashi was the closest thing Shouta had to a friend, but sometimes he could just barely stand him. Never shutting up. Always doing something annoying. Always making unnecessary noise. Horribly good mood.

"What's up, Shou?" Hizashi replied in that upbeat voice of his. Shouta grimaced. Why was he this happy? They were about to kill a guy, exactly what was happy about this? And Shouta needed to focus, so he'd manage to kill him with one single shot, before people could figure out their location.

"Stop tapping that cigarette so damn much..." Shouta groaned. Hizashi looked down at the cigarette between his fingers.

"Oh, sure thing. Won't do it again." he replied, as he tapped the fucking cigarette again. Shouta basically hissed at him and Hizashi jumped a little, before throwing the cigarette away.

Shouta focussed on what was going in his scope again. He was still sitting there, eating his lunch. God, was this guy a slow eater. It seriously annoyed Shouta how slow this guy was, eating his damn sandwich. Well, he wouldn't be eating it for much longer. Shouta took a deep breath in and breathed out slowly, trying to steady his breathing. He took aim and breathed in again, holding his breath, adjusting the aim just the tiniest bit, before he pulled the trigger and breathed out.

The bullet hit his temple, causing a small enough entrance wound, but no exit wound. Good. He keeled over and fell onto the park bench. With a bit of luck most people would think he was just asleep for a good while. He'd be long gone then. Shouta quickly moved away from the window and started packing up his rifle.

"We done?" Hizashi wanted to know. Shouta nodded quickly, while Hizashi lit another cigarette. Shouta rolled his eyes. Why was Hizashi constantly smoking? It wasn't normal anymore. Any time he saw Hizashi, he had a cigarette in his hands. He smoked himself, but not this much.

"Alright, what's the next one?" Shouta asked. Hizashi's eyes widened, when he heard that. He tapped the cigarette again.

"Shou, we already killed two people today. Why do you want to work even more? You'll be able to live a month from the money we made today." Hizashi replied. Shouta looked up at him. He looked genuinely worried, which was understandable, because Shouta had never been working just this much before. But he also had something he was working for. Not much more now until he had enough money...

"So? I need money. I'm saving for something." Shouta explained. Hizashi raised an eyebrow. Shouta could easily imagine why Hizashi was so confused. It wasn't like him to just randomly save up for something big. He never spent a lot of money. The only money he had ever spent was on his car and his house.

"What are you saving for? Don't tell me you spent all your savings on that stripper..." Hizashi replied. Shouta shook his head. After all, it was only half true. He had spent a lot of his savings on Y/N, but it was definitely worth it. He loved that woman and he was sure she loved him, too. That she wasn't just faking it.

"Then why are you saving this much money? You plan on travelling around the world or something?" Hizashi wanted to know.

"None of your business. Who are we killing next?" Shouta replied coldly. Hizashi grimaced and shook his head.

"We're taking a break and getting a drink next. I'll have to check the contracts we got anyway." he said. Shouta huffed, but nodded in agreement. Not like he had much of a choice. He shouldered the bag he was hiding his gun in and got up. Time to leave before anyone could trace them.

"Right. Back to the car." Hizashi muttered, more to himself than anyone else, really. For some reason Hizashi was always talking to himself, as if he needed some running commentary on his life. It had been the most unnerving thing to Shouta for ages, but he had gotten used to it. There were definitely far more unnerving things that Hizashi did. Like tapping his stupid cigarette way too hard.

Shouta kicked a pebble on his way down the stairs. He was surprised this building wasn't completely locked up and boarded up. He was pretty certain it could crumble over their heads any moment. But they were on their way out, so hopefully today wouldn't be the day he'd die.

He did have plans for his life after all. That was - now he did. Before meeting Y/N he couldn't really have cared less if he lived or died, but now... he wanted to live. He wanted her to live - actually live - and he wanted to see her genuinely happy. And if he had to kill a bunch of people for that, then so be it.

Shouta glanced over at Hizashi who was being unusually quiet for him. He never was this quiet, unless he was thinking about something. He did look rather pensive, to be honest, but Shouta wasn't sure what was worrying him. Hizashi was never worried about killing too many people. After all, he made a lot of money with this, too. It wasn't like this wasn't in his interest.

Maybe he was going a little overboard with the killing... but he needed the money. And he needed it soon, because otherwise... well, Y/N's boss seemed hellbent on selling her as soon as possible. And while Shouta was filthy rich, there were people who were much better off than him and could probably get the money together much quicker. And he really didn't like that thought.

They climbed through one of the windows to get out of the house and made their way back to Hizashi's car that was parked a few streets further away. Shouta sighed as he climbed into the backseat. He knew that when Hizashi got this quiet, he had to expect a serious talk from him. And he wasn't really sure whether he was currently in the mood for a serious talk. From Hizashi, of all people.

"Shouta. Be real. What do you want to spend that money on?" Hizashi asked him in a serious tone. Damn it.

"Why do you need to know?" Shouta countered. Hizashi sighed and turned back to him, looking him dead in the eye. Hizashi was the only person with actual green eyes that Shouta knew. And his eyes were weirdly hypnotic. Honestly, if Shouta looked at them too long he started feeling dizzy. There was something incredibly odd about Hizashi's eyes and Shouta just wished he wouldn't keep staring at him like that, because it was honestly very unnerving to him.

Plus, it felt like a mother staring at her runaway son, about to question all the life choices that had led up to this moment. Shouta really didn't need that right now. What he needed was more money. And for that he needed to kill more people and the day was only 24 hours, so they better get going.

"Because I'm worried. Now, I know that sounds weird, coming from a guy who is giving you contracts to kill people, but you know... killing that many in such a short time... It can't be good for you. Are you okay, Shou?" Hizashi wanted to know. Shouta furrowed his brows and nodded.

"Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be? I'm fine. I need the money, I already told you. It's important." Shouta replied.

"Then what do you need it for? Drugs? Did you get into drugs or something?" Hizashi wanted to know. Shouta growled.

"Now you really sound like my mother..."

"Well, maybe it's because I'm worried about you, Shou, okay? Needing this much money all of a sudden - it's not like you. And while I'm glad we're getting the work done, I just don't want you to be careless or something." Hizashi replied. Shouta sighed and shook his head. If Hizashi continued like this, he'd have to tell him. But he already knew how much Hizashi would judge him for this.

"No, I didn't get into drugs. And I'm not getting careless." Shouta replied, a little offended that Hizashi was doubting his skills.

"Okay. Okay. Then what is it? What do you need the money for? Did you find a girlfriend while I wasn't looking? Planning to get married or something? Got someone pregnant? What is it, Shouta?" Hizashi asked, sounding almost desperate now. Shouta had no idea why Hizashi was so worried about him. Sure, they spent a lot of time together with work and all. But it wasn't like they were particularly close. Well, then again, Shouta wasn't particularly close with anyone. He sighed.

"Yeah, something like that." he replied.

"Something like what? Like what, Shou?"

"I wanna buy my girlfriend." he muttered, looking out of the window, just so he didn't have to see the confused look on Hizashi's face. After a while of silence he glanced back and saw it anyway. Hizashi was looking at him, as if he had lost his mind. And maybe that's what it was, Shouta wasn't quite sure anymore.

"You... you what?" he asked.

"You heard me."

"You wanna buy your girlfriend?" Hizashi repeated. Shouta just looked out of the window again and nodded.

"Yeah."

"What the hell, Shouta? First of all, what girlfriend? And then... what do you even mean, you wanna buy her? This... Is this something weird, Shou? Please tell me it's nothing weird." Hizashi said. Shouta sighed. How the hell was he even going to start explaining this to him without sounding completely delusional?

Hizashi was the one that had warned him not to fall for a stripper. And he had tried. He really had. But it hadn't worked and here he was, because news flash: she had fallen for him, too. And he had to get her out, even if she left the night after. He had seen the bruises and scars on her body. He had seen how terrified she was of some things, how terrified she was of her boss. There was no way that she wasn't serious about wanting to get out of that place. Shouta just knew.

"My girlfriend. Okay. Please don't judge me, but..." Shouta started, but he saw Hizashi hide his face in his hands.

"It's the stripper, isn't it?" he interrupted.

"It is the stripper." Shouta confirmed with a sigh. There was no point trying to hide it. Hizashi already knew and he would have found out either way if he had put his mind to it. He was shaking his head and looked back up at him.

"Shouta, I literally warned you that this was going to happen. I told you to stay away and that she'd have you wrapped around her finger. What did she tell you? That you were different? That she loves you?" Hizashi asked. Shouta gulped. Well, she had said those things. Of course. But... he still loved her. And even if she just did this, so he would get her out... well, at least she'd be able to be happier.

"What do you want me to do, Hizashi? It happened okay? I've been to see her. I like her. She's great company. And then one night she just... fuck, she was scared to bits. And she had all those bruises all over her and... she's not there because she wants to be a prostitute, Zashi!" Shouta explained. Hizashi just sighed.

"So you feel sorry for her?"

"Of course! Of course I do. And I want to get her out of there, because... fuck, I've fallen for her, okay? I do genuinely love her. And if I buy her and she leaves, because I'm only her ticket out, then so be it. As long as she's happy and doesn't have to be afraid anymore, I'm happy."

"You're fucking ridiculous right now, Shouta! And this is why you're working so much? Because a stripper wrapped you around her finger? Shouta, that's her job! And she's doing it well, it seems."

"So what? What about it? That doesn't change the fact that she's not there out of her own free will. Hizashi, you haven't seen that girl. She's scared. She's terrified. I had her at my house for a weekend, do you know how many times she woke up screaming from nightmares? I don't care if she's faking whatever feelings she's having for me, but she's not faking that. And I have so much money, it shouldn't be a problem for me to get her out of there." Shouta snapped back at Hizashi. He was getting agitated over this. What did Hizashi even care?

Hizashi hadn't care one single time ever since he had met Y/N. He didn't even know her. Why was he so concerned now? It wasn't like he was going to spend his money on anything else any time soon. So why wouldn't he let him kill a few more people, cash in and buy this girl, so she could do whatever the hell she wanted. It was none of Hizashi's business and Shouta didn't know why he should get a say in it.

"You're really serious about this, huh?" Hizashi asked, scratching the back of his head. He looked like someone that had ran out of arguments way too early and wasn't sure how to proceed from here.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be serious about it? Now let's get going, so I can get the cash together and get her out of that place, before someone else buys her. Someone who'll treat her way worse." Shouta replied. Why couldn't Hizashi just understand that this was a time sensitive issue?

"This is why I never go to the same strip club twice..." Hizashi muttered with a sigh. Shouta raised an eyebrow. Was he being serious right now? Was he really judging him for falling for a damn stripper? Hizashi was the one who had brought him to that damn club in the first place.

"Well, fine, lesson learned, but can we please get going now? The longer this takes, the more nervous I'll get and more careless I'm gonna get. So we better get a fucking move on." Shouta growled.

"Fine, fine, fine. But seriously, Shou. We can't go around killing people like nothing. We need to think about what we do. I don't mean getting careless, as in you getting caught. I mean getting careless, as in killing the wrong people at the wrong place and the wrong time. We're meddling in some gang wars here and I'd rather be on the safe side and not get anyone too angry. Anyone that we can't handle, that is."

Shouta took a deep breath and nodded. Of course, that made sense. That was why he was working together with Hizashi in the first place. He had all the connections. He knew who needed to get killed. He knew who it was better to stay away from. He knew how to get in contact with the people who hired hitmen. Shouta only did the killing. He was a good shot, both long distance and short distance. Hizashi definitely wasn't. He didn't even like touching a gun, let alone shoot one.

But together they made a pretty good team - Hizashi on the social and financial side and Shouta on the... well, the killing side. He knew he had to trust Hizashi on this. If he said a contract was too dangerous, they had to stay away from it, simply so they wouldn't get into any trouble.

"Alright. Alright, I got it. I trust you, Zashi. But please, can we try and hurry all this up a little?" Shouta asked.

"Sure, I get it. This is important to you for whatever reason and all. I'll do my best to find us another safe kill while we have that drink, alright?" Hizashi replied and then chuckled quietly, as he started the car. Shouta groaned and raised an eyebrow. Why was he laughing? That was usually a bad sign.

"What? What's so funny?" he wanted to know. Hizashi turned around with a wide grin on his face.

"Shouta's in loooooove!" he hummed and snickered to himself. Shouta rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. If he had to listen to that for the rest of the night, he knew exactly who his next kill would be...

But he also couldn't stop thinking about Y/N. Somehow she was always on his mind. She was the only thing keeping him sane while he killed all those people. He just hoped that Hizashi wasn't right and that she'd actually stay with him. He wouldn't make her stay if she didn't want to, but he really hoped that she would stay nonetheless. Maybe... maybe they could be happy.