[1/2]
Kiyoshi opened the door to find Akashi standing outside. He looked as calm and unshaken as ever, but Kiyoshi knew that was a front. Akashi wouldn't be there otherwise.

"Come in, Akashi," Kiyoshi said. When Akashi glanced nervously past him and down the hall, Kiyoshi answered the unspoken question. "Riko and Hyuuga are out for the night. I told them you were coming - nothing specific," he reassured quickly, "just that you would be here. They decided to go into the city proper to see the new Sengoku-period musical that Hyuuga's been talking about for weeks. It's a bit of a trek back here afterward, so they'll stay with Kagetora tonight. It's just the two of us here."

Akashi relaxed imperceptibly. "I apologize for the intrusion," he said as he stepped inside. He sat on the step of the genkan to untie his shoes, then left his coat and scarf neatly by the door and followed Kiyoshi into the living room.

"I'm making coffee, do you want anything?" Kiyoshi asked.

"Only if it's decaffeinated," Akashi replied. "I'd rather avoid caffeine at the moment."

"I think Riko keeps some of decaf buried back here somewhere for Hyuuga when he gets on one of his research marathons and she starts worrying about his caffeine consumption," Kiyoshi said, rummaging around the cabinets in the kitchen. "Ah, here it is."

Several minutes later, Kiyoshi returned to the living room with two mugs of coffee and a bowl, which he set in front of Akashi. "I brought you some soup as well. My cooking, not Riko's, don't worry. Given when you texted, I'm assuming you haven't eaten yet."

Akashi nodded his thanks.

Once Akashi had largely finished eating, Kiyoshi looked up from his coffee. "What brought you out here tonight?" he asked.

"I did it," Akashi replied, meeting Kiyoshi's eyes squarely.

"Did what?"

"I resigned. Or, more accurately, I announced my intention to resign. I didn't expect Father to back down easily, and he didn't. I've been ordered to reflect deeply on what I'm about to do and give him my final answer in two weeks; he won't accept a word of it before then."

"But you've made your decision."

Akashi nodded. "Nothing he can do in the next two weeks, or even four weeks, since it will probably be another two weeks before my resignation is effective, can be worse than the things he's already done. After twenty-seven years with him, I can survive another four weeks. I'm not worried about that."

"But you're worried?"

"Yes. My father is a strong believer in strict hierarchies. He expects them to be followed exactly, but he also follows them himself. So long as I'm here, he may try to make my life hell, but my direct hires are untouchable. Once I'm gone though...then there's no one between him and them. He's not afraid to use that as a bargaining chip."

"Meaning what, exactly?" Kiyoshi asked. Part of him knew what Akashi was implying, but the larger part of him wanted to believe that no one would actually be so cruel.

"It's exactly as you suspect, Kiyoshi. Father has already made it clear that if I leave, not only will he disown me as his son, he also will do everything in his power to make sure no other company in Japan will hire me. I'm looking to change fields anyway, but even if I weren't, I have enough weight of my own that I could probably work around it. But while someone may be willing to risk my father's wrath for someone who was at the top of his class at Tokyo Daigaku and currently manages international relations for one of the largest companies in Japan, no one will do that for a secretary, no matter how highly recommended they may be."

"Does your staff know yet?" Kiyoshi asked, fighting to keep the anger out of his voice.

"Not yet. I couldn't risk Father hearing about my plans from anyone other than me. Not that I don't trust my staff, but you know how office gossip can travel. I'm going to be speaking to them first thing Monday morning."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Most of the staff of my department should be safe. Father can't fire the entire department without it reflecting badly on him, nor would he want to; it might hurt the Corporation's bottom line. It's only my immediate staff I hired directly that I need to worry about. I've already started feeling out options, and once I speak to my staff next week, I'll start pursuing them more actively. The time between now and when I officially submit my resignation is effectively free. Since nothing's official yet, Father can't do anything without it reflecting poorly on him, and possibly on the company as well. I'm hoping to have all of my staff at least unofficially placed elsewhere in the next two weeks, with everything made official by the time I leave. If everyone has transferred before then, they should be safe. My father may be ruthless, but he isn't stupid; he can't do anything against them after I've officially left without it making him look petty and immature."

"Can you do that in the time you have?" Kiyoshi asked, then had to fight not to flinch under Akashi's sudden heterochromatic stare boring into him.

"They're mine, Teppei," Akashi said firmly. "If I have two weeks to make sure they don't end up as collateral damage, then I'll do it in two weeks. No one threatens my team without repercussions, not even my father."

"What do you need from me, Akashi?"

"Just someone to listen to me vent who isn't involved in this mess themselves," Akashi said nonchalantly. "I've always managed before, and I'll manage again this time."

Kiyoshi frowned. "You don't come all the way to Tokyo from Kyoto "just to vent." I'm going to ask again, what do you need from me, Seijuurou?"

The change in Kiyoshi's tone was subtle, but the effect it had on Akashi was instantaneous. He took a deep breath before looking back up at Kiyoshi. "Two weeks ago, a man killed several people in a building I was in," he began. "He technically was one of my employees, and I failed to see the warning signs in time to prevent it.

"Now, I have two weeks in which to prevent eight people's lives from being irreparably damaged. Eight people who have done nothing other than have the bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm finally breaking free from my father to live my own life, but if I mess up here, then I'll have to live with knowing that I sacrificed someone else's livelihood for this.

"Just for one night, for a few hours, I need to not be the one responsible for everything."

Kiyoshi nodded. "You'll stay here tonight?" he asked.

Akashi hesitated, but one look from Kiyoshi had him agreeing. "Yes," he said quietly.

"Good. Before we go any farther, I want to check in. Is there anything I should know that's changed since last time?"

Akashi shook his head. "Nothing."

"Are your safe words still the same?"

"Yes."

"And they are?"

"Teiko to slow down or pause. Masaomi for a hard stop."

Kiyoshi nodded. "Mine are the same as well. Yellow to slow, white to stop." He usually kept things simple and used yellow and red, but it was far too easy to mistake Akashi's name for the color, especially in the heat of things, and it had become clear rather quickly that he needed to modify his pattern for this particular case.

"And Riko and Hyuuga are still aware of this?"

"Yes, and I have their blessing. Are your limits the same?"

Akashi nodded again; then, he looked up from his nearly-empty coffee mug. "Push me, Kiyoshi," he ordered. "Take everything from me tonight."

"I'll do my best. I don't suppose you brought anything else to wear?" he said, pointing at Akashi's formal suit.

Akashi shook his head. "I came here directly from work; I didn't have time to change."

"In that case, I'll give you a pair of Hyuuga's old pajama pants to borrow. Go change, then come back here; leave your shirt off."

While Akashi was changing, Kiyoshi turned up the thermostat a few degrees and rearranged some of the furniture in the living room. He finished just as Akashi walked back out of the bathroom. Kiyoshi pointed to the rug on the middle of the floor. "Kneel," he ordered.

Akashi knelt, and Kiyoshi moved to stand in front of him. "Hands behind your back," he ordered.

Akashi complied immediately, and Kiyoshi took a length of cord and bound his wrists securely to his forearms. "Release your hands," he ordered, checking to make sure the bonds were secure but not too tight.

"You see too much with these eyes, Seijūrō," Kiyoshi said, running his thumb along Akashi's eyebrows. "Too much that needs to be done, and too much you can't fix. I want to blindfold you tonight."

Akashi stiffened and shook his head violently.

Kiyoshi dropped the blindfold out of sight. "Is there something I should know, Seijūrō?" he asked quickly; he was unused to such a strong reflexive reaction from Akashi.

"Long story, but stress and not being able to see do not have good associations for me."

"Is that a hard limit?" Kiyoshi asked, but Akashi shook his head.

"Do it," he said. "Take it from me. But not yet."

"Later then," Kiyoshi said as he picked up another long length of cord and knelt in front of Akashi. Then he winced and shifted his position, rubbing his knee. It had healed well after the surgery at the end of high school, but it had never returned to where it had been before, and it still ached sometimes if he put weight on it the wrong way.

"Sorry," he apologized as he pressed his fingers along the scar until the ache passed. Then, he turned his attention back to Akashi.

Akashi swallowed sharply as the first loop of cord settled around his neck. It was an untraditional start, but then again, Kiyoshi's entire technique was somewhat unorthodox. Almost everything he knew, he had learned from a hojoujutsu dojo not far from his apartment, and even that had been a lucky accident more than anything he had sought out.

During Hyuuga's third year of graduate school, he had been writing a paper on the sociopolitical factors influencing the development of restraining techniques in the Sengoku and early Tokugawa periods. Hyūga had stumbled across the dojo while looking for somewhere to gain firsthand exposure to the topic, and Kiyoshi had been dragged along as a practice partner. In the end, Hyūga had finished his paper and moved on, but Kiyoshi had fallen in love with it, and when he had adapted it into the bindings he used in other settings as well.

Kiyoshi's background in bindings may have been purely academic, but that didn't lessen the impact they had. Akashi froze as Kiyoshi looped the first cord around his neck, passing it through itself before wrapping the doubled length around one of his biceps, then running it across his back to the other, effectively pinning his arms to his sides. Then the cord passed back through the first loop around his neck before running straight down his back and attaching securely to the bindings on his forearms.

It was a simple binding, but effective. So long as Akashi didn't try to move, the binding was relatively unobtrusive. If he tried to lower his arms though, then it pulled on the cord around his neck. It was safer than it seemed though. The cord would loosen as soon as he returned his arms to their natural resting place behind him, and even if there were ever a problem, Kiyoshi had a pair of scissors waiting within easy reach, and cutting the one cord would loosen the entire binding.

Kiyoshi took a minute to study him. "Not a bad start, but I want you more secure than this," he said, picking up another length of cord. "Come up on your knees for me."

Akashi did as instructed, leaning against Kiyoshi's shoulder for balance as Kiyoshi quickly bound his thighs together, then continued the pattern down his legs until they were secured from thigh to ankle.

"Sit back," Kiyoshi ordered. When Akashi obeyed, he took the last length of cord and secured the bindings around Akashi's ankles to the bindings on his forearms. Then, he stepped back to admire his handiwork. From the front, most of the ropes were hidden, only the thin cord around Akashi's neck and the bands around his biceps and the tops of his thighs visible, but Akashi could barely move. It was the mark of a good hojoujutsu binding, secure, but unobtrusive.

"I'll be right back," Kiyoshi said. "I'm just need to grab something from the kitchen. Okay?"

"Yes," Akashi said, and Kiyoshi stepped out, returning less than a minute later with a plate of sushi and a pair of chopsticks.

"I know you didn't eat before you came over here, so I want you to eat now," he said. "I made this while I waited for you to get here. You don't eat enough at the best of times, and you're even worse when you're stressed."

"Thank you, Kiyoshi," Akashi said, and he did mean it. He knew he regularly ended up with meetings scheduled on top of meals, and that even when he did technically have time for a break, he often felt too guilty to take a break if he had work waiting for him, and there was always something needing his attention. Kiyoshi was one of the few people who would call him out on the matter though, the only other being Midorima, and Midorima's admonitions were usually securely tucked behind enough layers of medical jargon that they could both pretend that Midorima's comments were professional opinions and not personal concerns.