A colorful AU!

[crab_rangoon]

The world is gray. Always gray. He had thought once, as a little boy, that the emergence of color would be a wonderful thing. He used to dream that finding that person, that getting to see everything in brilliant Wizard Of Oz technicolor would be something he would always cover until it happened.

But after Ishwari, after the betrayal and the loss, after Ajay and Lakshmana left to America after Mohan's failed assassination attempt, Pagan just gave up on that dream. Love, he decided, was just for those who have given up on themselves. Not worth the trouble.

Yuma became the face of Kyrat after that and Pagan stepped back, letting her handle the death threats and the rebels and all of the bullshit that he just didn't want to deal with. Pagan ruled from the back, tempering Yuma's impulsive bullshit with a cooler head, though no less ruthless. However, the arrangement left him free to roam the world, taking care of his business in Hong Kong and the mainland unmolested. His father might not have had the desire to rule the Triads, but Pagan sure as fuck does. Even if it means he has to go and do things himself.

It's this reason, chasing spineless Hong Kong assholes, that lands him in Japan. He has a small security detail that walks the crowd, but otherwise Pagan is by himself as he walks the streets, checking his phone for his victim's last location.

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[crab_rangoon]

He has children? Pagan files that information away in his mind, glad that he's not alone in this. It isn't unheard of for people to get together and have families with people who aren't their soulmates - but it is a risky venture.

"Oh let's just go with that one there," he says, inclining his head towards one that seems good enough. He turns to his guard and gives him a few whispered words. The man nods and walks away, though he gives Pagan a rather suspicious glance. Fortunately, most people know what it's like to come across a soul mate, so his behavior isn't out of the realm of the ordinary.

Pagan simply isn't normally this carefree about strangers.

"Do you need money?" he wonders idly.

[lone_horse]

He shakes his head. And Kiryu will lead the way into the love hotel like he's been here a dozen times, mostly because he has. Not for the intended purpose: while he'd had to apologize to a few girls over it, it was usually a pretty easy spot to get someone when they owed money.

Quickly enough, they have the room key and they're lead into rather somewhat overdone room with a very specific purpose. Kiryu, however, doesn't walk in with even an ounce of romance in his step. Instead, he'll head for the little bench near the door where he can remove his shoes and sit.

He'll make sure to leave room for Pagan.

"I can't speak my name in public. Thank you for understanding."

[crab_rangoon]

He walks in and sits down, stretching his legs out in front of him a moment before he takes off his shoes. The room is fine; Pagan's done enough business in hotels like these to become desensitized to them and their implications.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I didn't tell you mine, either. I think if I did, my guards would shoot me," he laughs in a way that implies they wouldn't dare.

"Now, let's get past all of that. Tell me. I'm dying to know."

[lone_horse]

He sits back and crosses his arms, looking at Pagan, clearly watching the response.

"My name is Kiryu Kazuma."

Who is dead. By all accounts, by all rumor, dead as a doornail. And yet, there's a steadiness to his eyes, a weight to the name in his mouth, in the air around him, a crackle of something to his very presence when the words hang between them?

He's not lying.

The Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, the Dragon of Dojima, undefeated and apparently, unkillable.

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan takes a moment, takes in that name, and starts to laugh. And then, because Japanese is just so difficult to get across, he continues in English. "Oh my god! You're fucking serious, aren't you? You damn fool- what the fuck were you doing back here?"

He shakes his head and stands up, needing to pace a moment. He switches back to Japanese.

"Kiryu Kazuma," he repeats. "You're a very clever man. Also, somehow, a very stupid one." He puts a hand to his chest.

"Pagan Min." And because Pagan loves his own titles, he adds: "King of Kyrat. Mountain Master and Dragon Head of the Triad Empire." He gives him a bow and a flourish.

[lone_horse]

He doesn't understand the English, but he can understand the tone. There's a very faint, almost microscopic eyeroll before he settles, a little crooked, with his back against the wall.

Nothing Pagan says surprises him, about himself or... about himself.

"Min-san." A dip of his head, but certainly no deference. Titles are nice. He has some of his own. They don't mean anything between them, or they shouldn't.

"What did you ask earlier?"

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan sits at the edge of the bed, watching him. He doesn't want deference from Kiryu, nor does he want a fight. What he does want is for this man to know exactly who he's dealing with though, judging by his reputation and what Pagan's heard of him, they're on rather equal footing.

Good.

"When?" he wonders. "I've asked a lot of questions. Most of them have gone unanswered."

[lone_horse]

"You keep speaking in English. My English..." how does he say this? Well- "My English is bad."

He pauses for a moment before pulling out a fragment he learned years ago, and it is awkward on top of just being, uh-

"Hey sweetcheeks, how's it going?"

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan stares at him a moment, absolutely delighted by this. How is this big man, all muscles and frowns, equally, well, adorable? Honestly, this soul mate thing is looking less terrible and more endearing as the moments go on. And yet, Pagan still can't help but feel that maybe it's all manufactured in some way. Maybe he's supposed to feel these things because of some cosmic design.

And there's nothing he hates more than being forced to do things.

That's a complaint for later. "Well, we must teach you. Because Japanese is not a language I'm fully comfortable with and I speak three. Three! Anyway. I asked what the fuck you were doing back here when you're supposed to be dead."

[lone_horse]

That makes two of them. In his case, however, his heart is too busy fluttering at the very idea of having a soulmate, something he'd given up on a long time ago, to entirely discount it.

The question gets a huff out of him, though.

"I have a few specialty weapons. I needed my weaponsmith to do repairs. He's a few streets over."

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan holds up his hands at that. "Well, I am sorry you were interrupted. I did see the aftermath of that fight."

He looks at his nails a moment, deliberately nonchalant. "Where is it you're living now?"

[lone_horse]

He just shakes his head.

"Nowhere solid," he says honestly, and Pagan can probably see it, feel it: he's just terribly earnest. Imagining him lying is... difficult. Withholding, certainly; he doesn't seem to want to speak more than is necessary. But an actual lie seems unlikely.

"Hotels. Safehouses. I work for the government now. In exchange for the safety of my children and the people I care about."

And there it is. Rightout. No hiding, no run around.

[crab_rangoon]

And that, Pagan decides, is absolutely unacceptable. But. One problem at a time. "Well, that won't do. Because I'm not living here with a dead man who works for the government, of all things." He shakes his head. "That's a problem for another day."

It might be presumptuous to assume that they're going to be together, live together, stay together, but Pagan isn't entirely sold on the feelings of a soul mate, but he is quite committed to ensuring that nothing happens to him.

[lone_horse]

It says something that his eyes go a little wide… but he doesn’t argue.

“And your business in the city?”

[crab_rangoon]

He checks his phone. "Should be over very shortly. Once my little problem is taken care of." He smiles at that, standing up to rejoin him on the bench. "Oh. Also, none of this Min name. Call me Pagan. I westernized it for a reason. I don't need another reminder of my father, please."

[lone_horse]

It's clear in his eyes that he has a good idea about what could happen to such a person. Not squeamish, this one.


"If you tell me about who you're looking for, I might be able to help...Pagan-san."

[crab_rangoon]

Better. He takes out his phone and scrolls through the pictures before finding one of a man who's had a few too many hits to the face. "This man," he says, pressing their shoulders together to show him. "Lau Chiu," he mutters. "Though I doubt that's the name he's going by around here. I sent off some of my guards earlier to continue the search. I don't want him dead. He's my sister's cousin."

[lone_horse]

A nod, and he doesn't make any assumptions that anything Pagan just said is the truth, but he's glad to hear he wants the man alive.

"Do you know his habits? His vices? Is he a gambler?"

There are places he can get to that Pagan almost certainly wouldn't be welcome in, even now.

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan thinks a moment as he pockets his phone. "Of course he's a gambler. That's why he's in this predicament," he tells him. "Why? What are you planning on doing?"

He gives him a poke in the shoulder. "Are you planning on doing something?"

[lone_horse]

He sways, not ridiculously so, but enough that it's clearly a gesture of already-fond acquiescence, and raises a single eyebrow at Pagan.

"There's more gambling dens here than the tourists know about. If he's in deep? He's probably at one of them. I can get you there." He glances towards the door. "You'll have to leave your guards behind, though."

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan scoffs. "You'll be putting yourself at risk. Absolutely not. No second rate cousin is worth that. We'll flush him out another way."

[lone_horse]

That's another raised eyebrow but he doesn't push, doesn't fight. Instead, he'll reconsider it and tilt his head the other direction.

"I can give you a contact who can find him in minutes. He already knows I'm here. No one can hide from him."

[crab_rangoon]

"Better," he admits. "Now. Let's get into that bottle you brought. After all this, I need a drink. And a smoke."

[lone_horse]

Kiryu holds out a hand for his phone; he'll put in the number if Pagan gives it to him. The other hand holds out the bottle for him to take: Yamazaki 18. Definitely not the cheap stuff.

[crab_rangoon]

"It's in English," he warns, but finds the right setting for him before handing his phone over. In exchange, he takes the bottle and holds it out to him. "Listen, I can speak it. I can't read it."