Tokyo Ink (Gay SF Erotica)

frequencies. Tokyo's yakuza, its police and its corporations did not. More than just the little one room in a run down building, the whole of the dead zone was a safe haven for Tetsu and his cell. Inside the zone, only humans could track him and Gabe. The street cameras that would have recorded their route through the business zone were useless there.
    "Zip it," Tetsu answered before Gabe could say anything more.
    The dancer stayed quiet the rest of the walk, his face a closed mask until they reached the apartment building in which Tetsu rented a studio under a false name that not even the other members of his cell knew about.
    In the room, Tetsu took his jacket off, pulled his mobile and the butane from the pockets and placed them on a small table. He’d stay offline until Gabe’s skin was a blank canvas once more.
    Gabe came over to the table, picked up the can of butane. His black brows came down in a sharp pinch of contemplation. “You carry this around all the time?”
    Tetsu took the accelerant from Gabe and grabbed the ink remover and a washcloth. “Sit and take off your shirt.”
    Gabe widened his stance and crossed his arms. “Tell me what this about.”
    “Telling you puts other people in danger. I'm not going to do that just to satisfy your curiosity. Now sit down.”
    The dancer lifted his chin but didn’t otherwise move. Something in his gaze promised a scene if he didn't get an answer. Tetsu put the bottle and washcloth down. He didn’t want to order the dancer around with his gun and damage the small amount of trust Gabe had offered him. But he didn’t have time to cajole him into compliance. He needed the ink off of Gabe now. He had already taken too great a risk to the Code.
    Tetsu moved without warning, grabbing Gabe and spinning him until the dancer was pressed chest first against the wall. Tetsu kicked Gabe’s legs wider apart to throw him off balance and pressed his hips hard against the dancer’s ass to wedge him against the wall while he stripped the shirt from Gabe’s body. Surprise had made the first half easy, but then Gabe fought back, his dancer’s strength and agility making him hard to hold.
    “ Kisama !”
    Gabe could call him a bastard all he liked, but the ink had to come off. Tetsu soaked the washcloth with the liquid and began scrubbing at Gabe’s back and arms. Gabe wouldn’t stop struggling, forcing Tetsu to keep him pinned between his body and the wall. Even with the fumes of the ink remover making his eyes water, Tetsu could smell the expensive perfumes the dancer had put on for the private performance at Iyashii. The quiet scent with its nuanced layers would have been lost on Mikio-san and the others. There was no magic or soul in those men. The beauty of the design on his skin, the Code, everything -- it was all lost on those driven by avarice. They would acquire the dancer because others thought him beautiful and talented. Then they would use him and discard him, only to collect another.
    Tetsu slowed the movement of cloth over skin as the fight in Gabe weakened. “Are you ready to finish this yourself?”
    Gabe nodded, the motion sending up a fresh burst of the dancer’s scent. Tetsu moved back, let the cloth fall to the floor as he turned away. He had used the young man, too. Did it matter that he thought he had a good cause?
    He laid down on the narrow mattress that would comfortably sleep one of them tonight and stared at the ceiling while Gabe worked the oil based solvent onto his lower body. A layer of black lay on his skin from the dissolved ink.
    “Everywhere,” Tetsu warned. “Then shower.”
    Once wouldn’t be enough. He knew that. There were ultraviolet readers that would still pick up the pattern. Another application would be required after the shower, when Gabe’s pores had opened up from the heat.
    “Make it a hot one,” he added.
    “What?”
    He looked over to find Gabe rubbing at the tattoo on his cock. Tetsu didn’t groan, wanted like hell to do so. He could feel it in his chest and his balls, both tightening with want. With the ink mixing with the solvent, Gabe looked like he’d been dipped in a barrel of oil. Slick black skin glistened from his ankles up to his neck and back down to his wrists.
    Tetsu cleared his throat. “I said that it needs to be a hot shower.”
    He went back to staring at the ceiling until he heard Gabe start the shower. It was surreal, having him in the next room. He tried to count how many hours he’d