Chapter Text
Ghosts are not people.
They are not incorporeal grandparents hovering over our shoulders.
Ghosts are the leftovers.
They are every emotion ever felt by their originator, boiled down and distilled until only the strongest- often the ugliest- remains.
They are uncaring, unsympathetic, unyielding.
They never rest.
}{
At a quarter past two in the morning, Akihito had decided that enough was enough.
He pushed away from the kitchen table, his chair screeching loudly against the linoleum, before standing and heading towards the bedroom, ignoring the light switch.
It wasn’t Asami’s fault; the older man had texted him ages ago saying he would be late and that Akihito should go to bed, get some rest. He’d wished him goodnight, promised to make it up to him in the morning and Akihito had no doubt that he would, in all manor of ways, but that didn’t particularly help him right now.
He walked through the penthouse quiet and barefoot, listening intently. The only sound was his own gentle footsteps. For some reason, that didn’t make him feel any better. He flicked light switches as he went, casting off the shadows in every corner. By the time he made it to the bedroom, the whole penthouse was aglow behind him. He hoped absently that Asami wouldn’t notice or, at least, wouldn’t say anything.
He shut the bedroom door firmly, making sure the doorjamb latched properly so that it couldn’t drift open. He thought about locking it, but that would have been really ridiculous and serve to not only confuse Asami, but probably piss him off as well. He stared at it for a moment, only to back away and head for the bed.
He slipped his hoodie off one shoulder, then the other, before dropping it onto the bureaux along the wall. He fished his cellphone out of the pocket and crawled into bed with it, holding it tightly in his hand. The bed felt very big and very empty when he occupied it by himself. It felt cold. He thought about retrieving his hoodie but decided against it. Asami would in all likelihood be home soon and the man gave off heat like a furnace; he’d probably end up taking it off.
He never felt like this when Asami was there; skittish and hunted. It was only in his absence that the shadows jumped, the walls creaked. There was no real reason for this, at least not that Akihito could think of. Nothing had ever happened there that would make him wary of the apartment, or uneasy to be left there. The slowly growing sense of anxiety that kept him looking over his shoulder was baseless and embarrassing, but he just couldn’t shake it.
He felt pathetic, curled on the bed, a pillow at his back to keep from feeling exposed. Exposed to what he wondered? The monster under the bed? That was almost funny; he spent all day chasing real monsters, laughing in their faces, but he couldn’t turn out the bedside lamp.
Slowly, irritation with himself began to erode at his unease. What sort of journalist was afraid of the dark? He huffed, reaching for the light switch, and plunged the room into darkness.
}{
When he woke, Akihito was unsure if he’d been properly asleep or just dozing, unaware. He didn’t feel rested, only groggy and confused and he wished to fall back asleep before his mind became completely alert.
At that thought though, he realized it was a bit too late for that and sighed petulantly. Rolling, he threw his arm out to the other side of the bed, hoping to catch Asami’s attention, maybe get kissed back to sleep. His hand touched down on cool, unwrinkled sheets and he froze, mind finally catching up.
If Asami wasn’t even home then how long had he actually been asleep? He groped for his phone before tapping the screen and wincing at the bright display.
3:01 am
He couldn’t have been asleep for more than half an hour then, so why was he awake? Even when he was by himself, Akihito wasn’t prone to sleepless nights and rare was the occasion that he woke without reason. Something must have disturbed him.
He lifted his head off of the pillow and listened carefully. It was as quiet as always, nearly silent. All the surrounding apartments were vacant and he was far to high above street level to hear the traffic that never stopped. Akihito knew there were small platoons of Asami’s men stationed around the building in case of an emergency, but they were quiet and unobtrusive. There wasn’t a sound the be heard.
Satisfied, he put his head back down, only to be startled by a loud bang.
He lurched upwards and scrabbled for the switch on the bedside lamp, fumbling twice before turning it with a curse, flooding the room with light.
He scanned the room quickly, unsure of where the sound had come from or what he was even looking for. An intruder was almost entirely out of the question; no one could have entered the apartment without Asami’s men knowing.
There was another bang, slightly softer this time, followed by a quick succession of smaller thumps. Slowly, Akihito’s gaze slid towards the innermost wall.
There, past the en suit bathroom and walk-in closet, was the secret room. There was no door, only a section of wall with no obstructions and a switch hidden in the headboard of the bed, the one Akihito had found by accident so long ago. The noise was coming from there.
All the anxiety that had been building within him throughout the night gathered in the pit of his stomach like a hot coal and he listened intently, hoping for the silence that had unnerved him only hours before.
The thumping got louder.
Slowly, Akihito pulled himself up to kneel, letting the blankets pool around his bare legs. He put his hand on the headboard and flipped open the hatch that hid the small button, internally debating whether or not it was worth investigating.
Of course it was.
With the button pressed, the wall slowly revolved to reveal the dark space beyond. The noise sounded louder now, less muffled, but he couldn’t see an obvious source. He grabbed his phone as a makeshift flashlight and slid out of bed to creep closer.
Aside from the generally questionable contents of the room, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. He held his phone up and let the pale light illuminate the walls, only to fumble and nearly drop it when the noise returned, frantic in it’s pounding.
Quickly, Akihito swiveled towards the source and his light fell upon another seemingly innocuous wall.
Of course...
With every beat of the strange noise, the wall shivered as if being pound upon on the other side which was impossible because on the other side of that particular wall- which wasn’t a wall at all- was a narrow escape passage that was built into the apartment by it’s original owner.
Asami had shown it to him one afternoon, months ago. He’d taught him how to open it and how to get out of the apartment through it. There were several turns and false hallways built in to throw off any pursuers, but the true route was quite simple to memorize; if followed correctly, it dumped out into a quiet corner of the underground parking-garage. Asami had walked him through it, then made him walk it by himself. The whole exercise had seemed painfully melodramatic and Akihito had rolled his eyes the whole time. It wasn’t until later that he really considered the implications; Asami had taught him how to save his own life.
Akihito shook his head as the shuddering intensified. It was as if someone was throwing their entire body against the other side of the wall, desperate to escape. That was impossible though; the only way to enter the passage was through the apartment. Even the door leading to the parking-garage could only be opened from the inside. No one could have been there and yet...
Really, the only thing to do was open it.
The switch for this wall was concealed, just as the other was. Akihito reached out to the wall-mounted shadowbox displaying antique firearms and slid it to the side, pressing the button that was revealed. The wall slid away.
There was nothing.
Akihito stared as all the adrenalin he’d been feeling bottomed out into a cold sweat. There was nothing but pure darkness.
Very pure darkness.
He raised his phone again, tapping the screen to bring up the display, only to find that it was up; the light just wasn’t strong enough to penetrate the gloom on the other side of the doorway.
Stepping forward, he watched in awe as the darkness seemed to swallow whatever light was directed towards it. It was like a black-hole, a total void.
The noise had stopped, replaced by a noticeable lack of sound. Even his own breathing sounded faint, though he could feel his ragged breaths shuddering in and out, in and out
As if compelled, he took another step forward.
He wondered, if he had his camera, would the flash be enough to illuminate the pitch darkness? If he took a picture, what would it capture? Nothingness? How could anything be so dark..?
He reached out and was mildly surprised when his hand connected with the doorway. When had he gotten so close? It didn’t matter. He felt detached, as if he was watching his actions from afar. He was almost inside the passage and yet could see nothing beyond the threshold. It was wrong, wrong but fascinating.
He took another step-
“Akihito.”
A hand clamped down on his shoulder and Akihito whirled, too startled to even yell. He sucked in a gasp as he lost his balance, falling backwards only to be caught and hauled upright again, dragged bodily away from the darkness.
Asami was holding him by the waist, squeezing a bit too tightly and looking carefully down at him.
“What are you doing?”
“I...”
He tried to answer immediately and found that he couldn’t. Slowly, memories of the past few minutes filtered back to him and he focused on putting them into words, even as his teeth began to chatter.
“There was a noise... I... it came from here...”
Akihito gestured back towards the passage, glancing over to find that what was a seconds ago a pitch black void was now faintly lit by the light in the room they occupied. It was still dark, but he could make out the walls, the tiles, things he hadn’t even been able to guess at before.
“- noise?”
“...Huh?”
“What kind of noise, Akihito?”
“Like... thumping... Someone was banging on the wall.”
Asami looked down at him sharply and along with the concern Akihito was expecting, there was a dose of skepticism.
“From the inside?”
Akihito nodded, too shaken to be properly insulted by his disbelief.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
He nodded emphatically and for the first time, Asami seemed to take notice of his uneasiness.
“You’re shaking...”
He rubbed his hands up and down Akihito’s arms quickly before pulling him into his chest and taking out his cell phone. He spoke quietly into the receiver and minutes later, there were half a dozen of his men in the passage, searching every twist and turn, scouring the parking garage and reviewing the security tapes.
There was nothing.
}{
“Are you sure you weren’t dreaming-”
“Yes.”
Akihito twisted out of Asami’s arms and moved to lean against the kitchen counter, arms crossed, finger tips digging into his elbows. After all he’d gone through in the last few hours he actually would have liked to be held, but not if Asami was going to insist he’d imagined the whole thing.
“And you’re sure it wasn’t just me closing the front door?”
“Yes.”
Asami sighed, but not impatiently, before mirroring Akihito’s pose against the refrigerator.
“Akihito there was nothing there-”
“There was-”
Asami shook his head like he was reasoning with a child.
“I’ll show you the security footage if you want, it doesn’t even pick up a sound.”
Akihito looked up sharply.
“What?”
“There was no bang. No thumping.”
Akihito’s mouth dropped open but he didn’t have the words to express his thoughts. He processed this new information and it was several seconds before he muttered.
“...I’m not making it up.”
He heard Asami release a breath like he’d been holding it before the older man stepped forward and reached for his hands. Reluctantly, Akihito allowed him to take them, conscious of faint tremors that still shook through them.
“I didn’t say you were. But Akihito you were completely disoriented when I found you; I was calling your name and you weren’t responding, I had to grab you to get your attention. You weren’t even half awake.”
“You... really think I was dreaming?”
He wasn’t denying it anymore, only asking. Asami had no reason to lie to him about this and if there was nothing to be heard on the security tape... then the sounds could only have come from his own head.
“I know you were dreaming. I’ve seen you dream, you’re very expressive.” He brought his hands to his face and kissed his knuckles devotedly. “I’m sorry it wasn’t a better dream,” he murmured suggestively. “That would have been more fun to watch.”
Akihito snorted irritably and jerked away as he normally would at that sort of comment. His movements lacked their usual vehemence though and Asami wasn’t fooled. He kept his arms open and after a moment, Akihito returned to them.