The whole corridor seemed to freeze, and Yoru could have ripped out his own tongue.

If saving his marriage had been the goal, dancing the ballet in a clown costume in the middle of the Sea of Japan might have done a better job. His revenge a la Lorena Bobbit wasn't exactly sexy. Even so, he'd had the slightest chance of convincing Kei he wasn't the equivalent of a used sex toy, but it got blown out of the water when he declared his past self's unhinged and murderous proclivities.

Besides, unexpected support notwithstanding, Kei was an Alpha, just like his rapist. And he was an omega. Which meant that there was only one obvious conclusion anyone with half a brain would come to:

It was his fault.

He could almost hear his mother's voice now. He shouldn't have fought Yahagi. He should have controlled his pheromones. He should not have thought bad thoughts. He should have run away. He should not have bitten Yahagi in revenge. He had brought shame to the family. If he hadn't been alone in the first place, none of it would have happened.

Of course Kei would think the same way. He was a good man, but he was still a member of society.

The air in the room suddenly felt as cold as it had on that horrible day ten years ago. Fear slammed into his stomach with nauseating force. It took all his courage to raise his tearful eyes to meet Kei's.

"KEI, NO!"

Kei had torn off his sheets and pounced towards Yahagi, hands aiming for his throat. Yoru crossed the room in a single leap and caught the weakened Kei before he ripped out his IV line. "Are you crazy?!" Yoru shouted, straining under the giant Alpha's weight. "Get back!"

"How dare he treat you like that!" Kei roared, struggling. "You don't de...deserve..."

"Are you trying to kill yourself? Get back into bed! Miura, help me!"

With much struggle, the two men managed to push Kei, who was gasping and trembling in pain, back onto the bed. "Let me at him!" he growled. "Scum like him...shouldn't...be alive! Why! Why, you son of a bitch..."

Time to go. Drawing his gun, Yahagi turned and ran, only to collide with an enraged wall of Tsunoda gangsters blocking the doorway. The gun vanished from his hands in an instant. Terrified at how out of control the situation was getting, he turned back around. "It was not my fault!" declared. "It was his pheromones! He was in heat!"

"Hey, hey, stop it!" Yoru pushed Kei back as he tried to get up again. "I was not in heat and you know that, Yahagi! You know what happens if go into heat!"

"It...it was him, not you!" Kei panted. Tears bured hot tracks down his cheeks. "Pheromones don't flip switches! He could have...run...away..."

"Kei, please stop talking," Yoru begged worriedly, wiping beads of sweat off the agitated Alpha's forehead. "I don't want to go through anything like the past two days again. It's okay. I'm okay."

"It isn't. You aren't. Heat or...no heat...it was all him...you..." Kei pulled Yoru into a protective embrace, eliciting a surprised squawk from the latter. Yoru felt something wet drip into his hair. "I am with you...I believe you."

For an eternal moment, Yoru was speechless. Kei's words did more for his broken soul than any therapy in the past ten years had. His own eyes flooded and overflowed, even as he wiped Kei's tears away. "You foolish, amazing man," he said, half-laughing, half-crying. "What are you crying for, idiot?"

Yahagi's face twisted in disgust. He'd suffered enough humiliation for one day, and he wasn't getting paid to watch the mad omega be romantic with his equally mad husband. He was going to leave - and even these criminals weren't so foolish as to hurt a cop in broad daylight.

But the men didn't move. "Excuse me," Yahagi said, coldly.

"No," said the man he was nose to nose with.

"Move, I said."

"You do not leave until the boss dismisses you. No - until anesan dismisses you."

Damn them and their stupid loyalty. Yahagi was forced to stand awkwardly in the middle of the room like a post for the next half hour as Yoru patted Kei's head soothingly in an attempt to get him to sleep. Once the latter had nodded off, Yoru finally stood up and approached Yahagi.

"If you know what's best for you, you'll drop this case," he said. "I'd like to avoid stressing Kei in his condition."

"No, I will not," Yahagi hissed back. "You broke the non-disclosure agreement and humiliated me in public. You will regret this, Kojima."

"It's Tsunoda, and I never signed any non-disclosure agreement. Leave, and don't come back."

"Not so fast."

Both Yoru and Yahagi groaned at the sound of Kei's voice. "There's no telling this one," Yoru complained wearily.

"I'm not killing him or anything," Kei whined at Yoru. "Yet. You, Detective Bastard, did you ever get your dick replaced?"

"WHAT?!"

That outraged shriek came not from Yahagi, but from Yoru. Even Miura, who had been seated in the chair by Kei's bed, choked on his own spit.

"Bear with me for a bit, kid. And you, son of a bitch, answer me before I have my men get the answer for me."

"I am under no obligation to answer that." Yahagi glared at Kei for all he was worth. "And I could sue you for sexual harassment."

"You will sue for sexual harassment?" Kei laughed scornfully. "You really have no conscience, do you - Yoru? Oh, please don't cry. Come here." Wrapping consoling arms around his wife, he turned his bloodthirsty gaze back on Yahagi. "Well, I have your answer. Miura, Tatsumi, grab him."

Before Yahagi could even blink, his arms were in the painful grip of the two men. His chief had told him the Tsunoda-gumi were notorious for their fighting skills: he should have heeded the old man's warnings. "What the - let me go!" Struggling violently, he tried to kick his captors, but they were ready and delivered swift kicks of their own. He roared in pain.

"Shut up!" Kei barked. "The more you upset my darling wife, the more you get hurt. Now - Kobayashi? I'm sorry to do this to you, but can you check if he has a penis?"

"If I get a bonus," Kobayashi answered, moving forward nevertheless. He cracked his knuckles.

"What the hell is wrong with you people!" Yahagi cried. "Argh! Stay away from me, boryokudan bastards -"

"It's better than being a rapist," Kobayashi retorted. "Now hold still, please."

"Fine! Fine! I have one! Get that hand away from me!"

"Excellent," Kei remarked. Yahagi felt his stomach turn at the smile that spread on his face. "But you have to rape people to get some, so you aren't a man. You don't need a dick. Boys, take him out of here and cut off the replacement, please."

"Eeeeek! No! Let go!"

"Can I borrow your knife, oyassan?" Miura glowered at the flailing man in his hold. "Mine is too sharp."

"DAMN YOU BASTARDS! FINE, I LIED! I DON'T HAVE ONE, OKAY? I DON'T HAVE A DICK!"

This time, the whole corridor did fall silent. The remaining men had promptly opened the door when Yahagi started shouting, and Yahagi's sonorous voice had completed his own humiliation. Even Yoru lifted his head off Kei's chest to stare.

"Kei? How did you know he was..." Yoru asked.

Kei was ogling Yahagi with equal surprise. "I didn't," he answered.

"Ah, I don't care anymore," Yahagi groaned, suddenly exhausted. "Do what you want."

"Shouldn't have said that." Demonstratively, Kei lifted Yoru's arm and pointed at the bruise blooming on it. "You laid your filthy hands on Yoru, then assumed I would destroy my relationship with my wife for a crime you committed against him. So let me tell you something."

Kei motioned an order. The next second, his men had pushed Yahagi to the floor with his hands twisted back so their palms faced Kei. "Darling," said Kei to Yoru, "you might want to close your eyes for this."

"No, thank you."

"As you please. Boys - break his wrists."

The scream of agony that followed made Yoru sick to the stomach, despite Kei's hands covering his ears.

Yahagi's whole body convulsed in pain, worsened by his inability to clutch his injured hand. Hands hanging at a nauseating angle, he rolled on the floor, scream after scream ripping from his throat. In the midst of his agonized throes, a small voice reminded him that Yoru had sounded exactly the same ten years ago.

"Hold him up," Kei ordered once the screaming had stopped. The men obeyed, but the green and sweaty Yahagi stayed slumped with no strength in his knees. "How stupid," he muttered drunkenly. "Doing this to a policeman..."

"Oh, quit your whining," Kei spat. "Let's face it, you're not going to report me. We both know that if you do, the police will ask me why I did it."

Defeated, Yahagi sank even lower.

"Another thing. I think my wife is the most amazing man I've ever met, and I'm the luckiest man on this planet to have married him. So if he so much as frowns because of you again, I will personally break one bone for every tear you've made him shed."