[Multi-chapter] The Watches Series: Affection (6/??)
Title: The Watches Series: Affection
Authors: tsuchi8562
Beta: andreja1989 <-- as always arigatou ♥
Pairing: MatsuMiya, Sakuraiba (side pairing)
Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Romance
Rating PG-15 (for language)
Disclaimer: We own nothing... We just designed J's apartment
*MASTERPOST*
He wasn’t sure if he really was regretting his words… Well, they worked, Matsumoto was quiet for a couple of days now and Ninomiya hesitated if he should call his lover and… no, not apologize, that was out of question. But maybe try to fix everything? Even if he didn’t want to admit it, the apartment became empty without Jun’s husky voice and their fights that always led them to the bed or nearest flat surface when they could feed their desires. Kazunari once stated that the thing that is between them can be called love-hate relationship. “Love” when they were sharing time together, eat dinner or even have sex, although the last one could also be a part of the “hate”. Their fights, possessiveness that wasn’t exactly coming from jealousy… All of this connected in something strange, weird and crazy but beautiful in a way relationship. That’s why on the third day Nino started to worry. Hiding his pride in a match-box he dialed Jun’s number and waited… At first nobody answered, then, after a dozen of trials the younger man just turned off his cell phone.
So it’s like that? You won’t even talk to me? Fine, your loss! Kazunari threw his phone on bed and sighed. On one hand he didn’t want to impose himself; he was far too stubborn to do that, but on the other… He just had to know what was wrong. Some voice in his mind was telling him that something bad had happened. In worse case he will catch his lover in flagrante delicto with some hot stud but then he will be able to move on, to forget and to hate… Without thinking twice he grabbed his keys and ran to his car, starting the engine. It was raining cats and dogs, windshield wipers barely managed to clear the window, but Ninomiya drove fast with rage rising with every raindrop. He parked near the entrance to the building and stayed inside the vehicle for a while, trying to prepare some scenario… What if Matsumoto really is with somebody else? He had a right, they didn’t settle any rules, but somehow Ninomiya thought that staying faithful was better… Fuck, you are really involved, right? You stupid idiot! Even if it was the truth, there was no place for scolding himself and cursing - it just happened. He wanted to possess taller man’s body… including his heart…
“You only die once…” Muttering, Kazunari ran out from the car and trying not to get wet he stopped in front of the big glass door, squeezing the keys to Jun’s apartment he copied without owner’s knowledge or permission. He didn’t know why he did such a thing; there was no logical explanation. Maybe he predicted that something can happen? Whichever it was, he took deep breath and went inside the building, slowly heading to Matsumoto’s apartment. He didn’t want to use the elevator; giving himself time to think about the reaction he should or shouldn’t give to the other party, the words he should and shouldn’t say and many more… Ninomiya tried really hard to settle a good scene in his mind; the one that won’t make him look like a jealous girlfriend that caught his boyfriend red-handed… Like everything, the stairs ended and he was standing in front of the door that led to the hallway on the 7th floor. Kazunari gently pushed them and went on the maroon carpet he knew so well; he was walking over it so many times before. This time however something was different. A man walked out from Jun’s flat, closing the door behind him and sealing them with some strange piece of paper and wax inlay. The guy looked around and passed Kazunari by, not paying much attention to him. Nino frowned and bit his lower lip, looking at the latter until he disappeared in the elevator. Yes, definitely something was wrong here and he just must know what’s going on. With a few quick steps he found himself in front of Matsumoto’s door and looked at the seal. It was obvious that he won’t be able to get in, but at least he can watch closely and find some clues. The inlay was made from white wax and it had some complicated emblem on it; Ninomiya could swear he never saw it before. It wasn’t typical police’s seal, the words carved in wax were in some foreign language that looked like Latin. On the paper somebody wrote today’s date and some other symbols that didn’t have any meaning for Kazunari. Somehow he felt a relief that his lover didn’t cheat on him (at least not this time), but at the same time his worry became bigger. Where the fuck was Jun?!
“You’re looking for Matsumoto-san?” Familiar voice appeared out of nowhere and it happened to belong to the younger man’s neighbor - Yamakawa - a nice old lady that lived in the apartment next door.
“Y-yes. Do you know where can I find him?”
“I am sorry, but I didn’t see him in few days… Today somebody asked about him though…” The woman scratched her head.
“Who was it?”
“He said he is a policeman… He asked many questions about Matsumoto-san and his life…”
“And what did you say?” Nino became a bit nervous, praying for his existence as Jun’s lover to remain a secret. The last thing he wanted was being involved in some strange investigation because of his relationship with a man he barely knows. Even if they were together for more than a year, he still didn’t know a thing about the latter’s private life, his work and interests. Strange, right?
“What I could say? I don’t know a thing, I saw and heard nothing. Don’t worry, young man, I didn’t tell them about you. It’s not my business anyway… Even if that guy didn’t reply ‘good morning’ to me…” The old lady bowed and returned to her home. Yes, Matsumoto wasn’t the politest person in entire world, Kazunari knew that very well, but he thought that this will cause him more enemies than friends. It seemed that it works quite opposite and Ninomiya was really grateful that the police won’t bother him with their stupid interrogation. With a belief that he won’t do anything more, he went down to the car, using the same route as before, thinking what Matsumoto could have done that he is now under observation of the police. Nino was sure that this had to be something serious… He saw some strange shiny object that looked like a badge, then the strange tattoo and all that mystery around Jun’s job. The fact that recently he was unavailable more than usually, dozens of phone calls while he was talking in some codes… Was Matsumoto a yakuza member? No, it’s impossible… Kazunari knew the mafia’s dialect and he didn’t hear Jun using it even once. It has to be something else…
“Where the hell are you, diva?!” Nino whispered and drove back home, noticing with the corner of his eye that somebody was waving, probably trying to stop his car but he ignored that man. He had a lot more important things to take care of than some stupid hitch-hiker. Drinking a beer he tried to think about any possible scenario that could happen: from simple killing a com to spying for foreign government. Everything seemed possible; knowing the fact that Jun was intelligent he could be some secret agent and being aware of his tendency to being aggressive he could kill somebody. What was the most interesting is the fact that a person who secured the younger man apartment wasn’t from the police. He didn’t have typical red armband and the emblem was totally different. Besides, who uses wax inlay in these times?! Especially with some complicated signs in Latin? The more he thought the more he was confused. He tried to call Jun couple of times more, but again he received a statement that the subscriber is out of reach or he turned off his phone. It wasn’t surprising; if he is really hiding he turned off his cell phone in order not to be traced. Ninomiya didn’t have any clue where he can find his lover; he didn’t know practically a thing about the man, except few anatomic details but that couldn’t help him right now. Or could it? Suddenly an image hit him with almost physical force… Three small black links under Jun’s ear… Tattoo is a form of art, tattooist has his own style and it’s hard to find two people with exact the same manner. Kazunari wanted to have this permanent picture on his back once, so he read a lot about it. From many different reasons he pushed that idiotic, in his opinion, idea, but now it could help him…
“It’s useless…” The man sighed and sat on the couch, closing his eyes. Tokyo is huge, how many tattoo salons are on this city?! Hundreds? Thousands? And how he can check anything, if he has just a slight image of the chain in front of his eyes? With last act of desperation Ninomiya opened his laptop and checked any info about some gangs, mafias or other groups that uses a chain as their symbol and he indeed found few, but none of the emblem looked even similar to the one that Matsumoto had. It was a dead end. Suddenly some strange déjà vu feeling hit him… As if he did something like that before; like is he was some kind of investigator… Kazunari pushed this image away, blaming his work around newest spy game for planting some stupid ideas in his head. Without letting his mind going even crazier he accepted the fact that it’s over his relationship or however you can call that thing that was between him and Matsumoto and started to pack every single thing that belonged to the younger man or just even reminded him. There wasn’t much stuff anyway, they were together, but somehow each of them had their own world which included their freedom when it comes to their living space. Neither of them left any private belongings in the latter’s apartment, there were not many pictures of them together, just few of them - put on the lowest drawer in Kazunari’s desk. One of the photographs was standing in small wooden frame on the chest of drawers and somehow he didn’t want to hide it. The photo was taken few months before in their favorite bar - the one they met in. He remembered very well the situation: Jun wanted to show Ninomiya that he doesn’t close the eyes during the kiss so he thought some hilarious way to prove it… The taller man just took a picture of them two kissing passionately. The photo was blurry, but it was easy to recognize both of them. In some strange way he liked that picture and wanted to keep it. Weird, especially if you want to erase somebody from your life…
Loud sound of doorbell torn the silence and Kazunari frowned, looking at the watch. It wasn’t that late, but he most definitely didn’t expect any visitors. Ninomiya slowly went to the door and looked through the viewfinder to find two men that were looking around a bit nervously and talking quietly. There were no use to pretend that nobody’s home, so he opened the door and take a closer look to his unexpected guests.
“Can I help you?” Sound of his voice seemed to startle the two, because they gasped and looked at Nino at the same time. Kazunari had strange feeling that he saw the man on the left before, but he was in such state that nothing will surprise him anymore…
“Ninomiya-san, we have to talk with you, but this is a… delicate matter. Can we go inside?” The taller of them looked straight at Nino, when the other one tried to make him silent repeating probably the speaker’s name, which the composer couldn’t catch.
“Excuse me, but do I know you?”
“No, sir…” The latter, looking more intelligent, stated and sighed, probably accepting the fact that it’s too late for withdrawal. “But as my… partner said it’s not a thing we can discuss about here… We will be grateful if you will try to let us in.”
“I have no other choice, right?” Kazunari sighed and moved away to let his visitors pass him by as they walked in. “Say whatever you want to say and go.”
“Ninomiya-san, do you know Matsumoto Jun-san?”
“No.” The shorter man lied without blinking. He already was taught that saying a thing about their relationship is nothing safe. The last thing he needed was troubles with some kind of secret services. Now he was fully aware that it wasn’t just a police…
“Are you sure?”
“I know few Matsumotos, it’s a popular name, but none of them is Jun… If I can’t help you with anything else, you can leave now.”
“Ninomiya-san, this is really serious matter… Can you please look at that picture?” The politer one showed him Jun’s picture. He looked like shit there, beaten, lying in hospital’s bed with that stupid tattoo still visible. “I can’t tell the details now, but you can say that it’s the matter of life and death… Matsumoto’s death to be exact. If you know… anything… please let us know…”
“Listen, you didn’t introduce yourself, I have no idea who you are and you are asking me about some man I never heard of. Truly, it’ll be better if both of you just go.” Kazunari turned away and bit his lips. So he was alive… Ninomiya wasn’t sure if he should feel relief or bigger anger. He chose the second option.
“I am sorry for our rudeness… My name is Aiba Masaki and this is Sakurai Sho…” the latter bowed gently. “I can’t tell you where are we from, but this is really serious. We want to help him, so if you know anything…”
“I said before I know nothing…” Kazunari become silent when he fallowed Aiba’s gaze that fell on the damn picture. Photo that was a proof that he was lying… Picture of two horny men kissing their lungs out. “Fuck…” He couldn’t help himself but to curse quietly.
“Ninomiya-san, we won’t drag you in any case, but we need to know everything, because Matsumoto is in danger and only you can help him…” The owner of the apartment looked again on the picture and sighed. There was no other way, he has to say everything, although it won’t be much…
“Sit down, I’ll make some tea… The story won’t be long though…”