[Multi-chapter] The Watches Series: Affinity (7/??)
Title: The Watches Series: Affinity
Authors: & tsuchi8562
Beta: andreja1989 <-- as always arigatou ♥
Pairing: SakurAiba
Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Romance
Rating Pg-13
Disclaimer: No, we don't own anything... We're just Border Watch's glaziers
*MASTERPOST*
Masaki thought that the airport will look different; they arrived to the largest by population city of China in the early evening. Aiba expected large arrival hall, the one that should support passengers in this 23 millions+ city, but instead they found themselves on small airdrome in the furthest part of the Shanghai, where some old shed-like building was at the same arrival and departure hall with only one, bored man as staff. Three men (Aiba, Sakurai and Yamamoto - the translator) were a bit surprised but soon they considered that maybe this was better? It’s easier to protect the Treaty in a place like this where any stranger can be clearly seen than in a big international airport where even staff members don’t know each other. After short checking of the documents, without any fuss around Masaki they could finally go to the hotel, of course held by the local Border Watch bureau. On Aiba’s demand the hotel wasn’t fancy - he hated luxury and he also was the type of person who enjoys the simplest things - no caviar and champagne on dinner, no big Jacuzzi in the bathroom… Even austere conditions were bearable as long as he will be with his beloved man. Unfortunately some mix-up in papers occurred and a place in the room with Masaki was granted to Yamamoto. Neither of men was pleased about it and fixing that mistake took them couple of hours and finally they could go to their rooms and rest after such a long journey. The airplane was comfortable, of course, but the weather wasn’t that great and for the bigger part of the trip they had to sit with fastened seat belts. Aiba jumped on bed and hugged the pillow, happy that he was able to lay down in comfortable berth. The lecture in the Theoretical Studies Institute will be held in the morning and Masaki has to have clear and rested mind but he wasn’t sleepy. What he really wanted to do is to be close to his lover, let Sho kiss him and touch him, without worrying about the consequences. To be honest the taller man wanted to make some experiments. He was the Treaty and the pain that was coming every single time after making love, was obvious, but Aiba wanted to check if this fact is referring only to actual act or not. Until now he knew that when Sakurai uses only his lips or toys to satisfy him, the ache appears in the same way. All that left to check was Sho’s hands and fingers. After exploring the bathroom and inspection of possible places to hiding and waiting until the incredible, burning pain will fade away (usually it took around 2 hours, sometimes longer). When everything was secured, he sweetly kissed Sakurai and gave his body, enjoying every touch, every stroke and graze. After he was taken to heaven by the Border Watch’s officer’s fingers, the hell broke, filling his chest with the same burning coals. This time he couldn’t just go to the bathroom, because Sho was fully awake and Masaki suspected that those attacks are not noiseless.
“Masaki? Are you all right? You sweat a lot…” Sakurai smiled but the concern could be seen in his eyes.
“I am fine… It’s just hot here… I’ll take a shower…” Aiba stood up and the room spun around but fortunately he didn’t fall down.
“Mmm, sounds nice… Let me join you…”
“No!” The younger man shouted a bit too loud. “I mean you should work on the eventual evacuation plans, right?” He felt that one more second and he will scream and writhe in pain. Fortunately the older man nodded, and without paying more attention to Aiba he started to check the institute’s plans. Meanwhile Masaki almost run in the bathroom, jumped in the cabin and turned on the water. The pain made him sit in the bathtub; he didn’t make any move, just staying like that and crying silently, praying for Sho not to notice that he is taking so long. When the ache become bearable he washed himself quickly and put T-shirt on, going back to the room to find the Border Watch’s officer sleeping with the papers in his hand. Smiling, Aiba covered him with blanket and lay down next to his beloved man, lost in thoughts. No matter how hard he will try to omit the stupid rule (can he even call that a rule? Isn’t it more like a punishment?!) he will never be able to trick it. Not when he is the Treaty. When first beams of rising sun traveled on the dark, wooden floor he finally fell asleep.
***
The Institute’s assembly hall was incredibly huge as for the typical university. The room could fit around three hundred of students and now it was full; Aiba thought that probably they invited the trainees from all the country but the dean made clear that those are just Shanghai students. Of course China had incredibly large population, so later the number of students wasn’t surprising anymore. Masaki took a deep breath and stood behind the rostrum, looking at the young people in front of him, trying to find the best words to describe the role of the Treaty. He didn’t want to sound like the teachers on his training, because he knew very well that this is just a mask; fake facts that were born only because they didn’t know the truth. Those people know nothing! He felt the golden letters shining in his mind and by the gasp that almost all his listeners made he knew that his eyes changed their color again, so he closed them and after another deep, calming breath he started his story. In fact he didn’t know what exactly he should say. Some things must be left unsaid; some of them didn’t matter… Practically he should only say how his role is important, so he started from the myth about Nature and her sons, easily jumped to the function of vessel, its characteristic and so on. The lecture took longer than they thought, because Yamamoto had to translate everything (Masaki had learned only a few sentences). After one and a half hour of lecture, the question’s time has come. At first nobody wanted or maybe just didn’t know what to ask but when first student spoke, suddenly and ocean of hands was raised and the moderator had difficulties in taming the crowd. All in all, the Treaty’s visit wasn’t something normal; this as a good opportunity to learn more. Having the most important thing (person?) in the world in this part of the world was extraordinary. For previous seventy years new vessels had been found in Europe, North and South America and once in Australia. Asia was a sufferer in this matter, having this luck to be able to get two vessels in the same country in such short period of time. The woman that had lost her life in the old shipyard didn’t manage to visit many countries. When it seemed that all students asked their questions and, what was more important, Masaki was exhausted, Sakurai decided to intervene.
“I am sorry but this lecture has to over. I believe that you are all tired of sitting in this room for so long now. Thank you for participating and I hope you’ve learned a lot. Now excuse us…” Sho bowed and ignored the loud whine coming from the students’ side. The Border Watch’s officer took Aiba’s hand and started to walk towards the exit when unexpectedly somebody asked one more question, using clear and proper Japanese.
“Can you tell us how did it happen that you became the Treaty, Aiba-sama?” This voice… Masaki recognized it immediately and quickly looked in the right direction to spot a young woman - the one that helped him once with the groceries, the same that was in Kyoto during his training - Shouge Sachiko. What the hell is she doing here?! The taller man glanced at Sho, confused.
“I said that it’s over. No more questions. Please, consider that…”
“No, Sakurai-san. I’ll answer.” The younger man got back to his place and told his story again, without forgetting about any detail. Of course it made a fuss around the audience but when Masaki finished the story everybody seemed to understand; few people even clapped their hands. Without delaying, Sakurai almost pulled his lover outside and, to Aiba’s surprise, he left him in the dean’s office, stating that he needs to find the other Tokyo’s Border Watch’s officer as soon as possible. Masaki was a bit confused. What that woman wanted from him and why she asked such question? The letters were blinking in front of his eyes, but he just shook his head and trapped them again. It happened always when he was nervous; the Treaty opened small door of its trap and wandered freely in his veins and mind, but he didn’t have any problems with closing it again. After all he was the perfect vessel… Suddenly Aiba started to wonder how Sho could live with this power inside him. It was so energy consuming that even he was tired, then how Sakurai felt? Sakurai… Masaki put hand on his chest and closed his eyes.
“Are you all right, Aiba-sama?” Soft woman’s voice sounded in the room. Sachiko…
“I am fine, Shouge-san.” The man answered without opening his eyes. “What do you want?” His almond eyes finally landed on the Border Watch’s officer, shining more than usually. Sachiko held her breath and sat in front of Aiba.
“I want to apologize for my earlier behavior. Maybe it was inappropriate to ask this question but I wanted to clear things out. People should know who the next Treaty is…”
“I don’t have any intention in hiding anything. I just think that this is not the most important thing here and if you don’t understand it, maybe you should think about handing your resignation?” Masaki blinked twice and his eyes return to their normal color. Perhaps the question was rude but he can’t be kind to everybody; not with the responsibility he has on his shoulders. Shouge was quiet and looked down, clenching her small hands on the edge of her dress. Aiba wanted to apologize but before he managed to say a word, she spoke.
“You are right, Aiba-sama… You are definitely right, I am still a newbie and I don’t understand many things. Maybe you can explain everything to me? I would like you to teach me.” Sachiko bowed deeply. “Please, become my teacher, Aiba-sama!”
“Me?!” The man gasped and looked at the woman in front of him but she didn’t raise her head; it seemed like she is waiting for a reply, ready to kneel in case of refusal. “Shouge-san…”
“‘Sachiko’ is fine…” She said, still looking at the floor.
“Sachiko-san… I am the Treaty and I have responsibilities as one. One of them is letting people understand the true meaning of the balance. I would gladly help you become a better officer.”
“Really?” The woman looked at Masaki with wide smile on her face. “Thank you so much Aiba-sama!”
“I have only one condition…”
“Yes?”
“Stop calling me ‘Aiba-sama’… Simple ‘Aiba-san’ is enough.”
“B-but you are…”
“I know who I am and I know how I want to be called. Deal?”
“Deal, Aiba-sama… Aiba-san…” Sachiko smiled and settled their first lesson in the same park they went for a walk the other day. Shouge bowed once more and excused herself, stating that she has to catch the nearest plane back to Japan. Just two minutes after she left, Sakurai came in, breathing fast both from effort and anger.
“I couldn’t find her but I swear she will hear a few words from me when we’re back. What she was doing here anyway!? Masaki, are you all right?” Sho looked concerned at his lover and moved closer, toughing his forehead. “Great! Now you have a fever! Come on, let’s go back to the hotel and put you in bed.”
“Better confess, you want me in your bed from different reasons that a simple fever…” Aiba smiled, came closer and after making sure that nobody sees them he kissed his beloved man passionately, thanking all gods he knew that at least this won’t cause him any pain. Unless Sho will bite his lip, like he did just now. “Ouch!”
“You were asking for it! Now be a good boy and let’s go back to the hotel. We are leaving tomorrow and I don’t want to postpone a thing because of your sickness.”
“Sho-chan, I am fine. I will always have higher temperature, because of the effort that my body has to make to keep the Treaty in place. I am not sick, so please calm down. Plus I want to show you something…” The taller man smiled and pecked Sakurai’s lips again. “Come on! I am taking you for a date!”
“A date? Wait, Aiba-chan where are you pulling me?” The Border Watch’s officer laughed when Masaki actually pulled him outside, almost dragging him in unknown direction. There was already dark outside, the city was living its own life. Somewhere in the middle of the street Aiba stopped and pulled a blindfold, covering Sho’s eyes.
“Hey! What are you…?”
“Shhh, Sho-chan… I want to show you something…”
“Yeah, I know that from somewhere…. Hopefully it won’t end like previously…”
“Shut up and trust me! Now, take my hand and let’s go slowly…” The taller man giggled and led his lover somewhere and after a short walk they finally stopped. “Okay, we’re here…” He uncovered Sakurai’s eyes and smiled widely when he heard a gasp. “Do you like it?”
“It’s beautiful here! Masaki, how did you find this?” The older man was thrilled and looked at the lights on The Bund located by the bank of Huangupu River.
“I just read about it and wanted to see if it’s as pretty as they said… And I wanted to see it with you…” Aiba couldn’t say any other word because his lips were sealed with a soft kiss.
***
“Good afternoon, Sachiko-san…” Masaki bowed gently, still feeling bad that he sneaked out the apartment without Sho’s knowledge. Somehow he knew that Sakurai wouldn’t approve this, knowing his attitude towards the woman. “I don’t have much time though…”
“It’s okay, Aiba-san. Thank you for meeting with me. Come, let’s sit on the bench, I will ask you some questions, without wasting any more time.” Shouge sat and smiled when Masaki followed her.
“Ask then…”
“The Treaty is passed on through a kiss, right? Can you tell me how it looks like?”
“It’s confidential, only the top can witness it, but yes, indeed, it’s passed on through a kiss.”
“Aiba-san… Did you think that there is somebody who fits better in this role? Do you think that for example me… Would be a better Treaty? Someone without any sins?”
“What are you talking about? It’s not about having sins or not, is about being a vessel! Shouge-san…” The man returned to more formal tone again. “Why did you want to meet me here? Tell me the truth!”
“Because… I like you…” The woman moved closer and looked in Masaki’s eyes. “No, I lied… I hate you. You shouldn’t be the most important thing in the world when you wanted to destroy it! I am better for being the Treaty and I know now that I can take it away from you!” Shouge leaned down and before the man could react she pressed her lips to his, trying to part them with her tongue. Aiba, because of the shock let her be for a short while, then gently yet firmly pushed her away. What’s the meaning of this!? What she wanted to do!? Is she so stupid and believes that simple kiss will make the Treaty to skip in her body? Masaki smirked. If this was true, the Treaty would wander in Sho’s body since yesterday. Such silly and naïve girl… He didn’t harm her, just moved her away as far as he could, still holding her arms. Aiba opened his mouth, wanted to scold her, but he swallowed all words, seeing Sakurai’s pale face a few feet away.