[Multi-chapter] The Watches Series: Affection (13/16)
Title: The Watches Series: Affection
Authors: syunikiss1990 & tsuchi8562
Beta: andreja1989 <-- as always arigatou ♥
Pairing: MatsuMiya, Sakuraiba (side pairing)
Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Romance
Rating PG-13
Disclaimer: We own nothing... We just designed J's apartment
*MASTERPOST*
Just so that you know, it wasn't only for the sex, no matter how great it was. I think I will miss it but I don't even know if I will be able to do so. Don't miss me and my amazing body too much when I'm gone, it won't suit you.
Ninomiya didn’t know how many times he read this message; he memorized every single word already. The mail came an hour ago and since then Kazunari tried to reach Jun but his phone was turned off. It sounded so stupidly desperate; it didn’t even suit Matsumoto at all and that could mean only one thing: he was in big trouble. Of course Nino decided to let it go, stop thinking about this brainless guy with gorgeous body and probably try to get back to the Light Watch. Those choices were the best in his opinion, since an ex-officer who remembers everything and knows about the Treaty and the balance who wanders around the city without the Watches’ knowledge could be considered as a traitor or even worse. Ninomiya didn’t want to hide for the rest of his life; practically he had no other choice. Erasing his memories again was far too dangerous to his mental health. And now there he was - a pathetic man with double life, a man he needs in his life and bed and a threat he will lose everything if he doesn’t do a thing. It wasn’t only for sex. So that bastard felt the same all the time?!
“Damn you, J!” The man cursed out loud and hit the wall with his fist. Two stupid, stubborn idiots who were afraid to let their guard down and confess their feelings. And what they have now?! Nothing. Not a single thing! Kazunari is in his apartment, worried to death and Jun… The younger man is God only knows where and he probably acts like a freaking superhero trying to catch that Dark Priest. And more over, he already said goodbye to his life. “Well, over my dead body, you moron! You won’t escape that easily, we have some things to talk about first!” Nino threatened in the air and grabbed his coat, deciding to think about some plan on the way. When he was outside he took out the cigarette and lit it, inhaling the smoke in his lungs just to cough it out. Ages has passed since he smoked last time but now he felt that he needs it more than ever to calm down his racing heart and grab some thoughts. First of all he should gather all information he had about that whole Saad. He was from India and he wanted to kill the Treaty, even if he was the head of the local Border Watch. Not much, but at least he knows something! Without any logical reason he decided to go to Indian Embassy in order to check if he can at least guess where that guy can be. He was directed there to visit Indian Community Activities Tokyo website and check if there are any celebrations, so Ninomiya took out his phone and sat on the bench. He took one more cigarette and slowly inhaling the bitter smoke he read about Dussehra Celebrations - an Indian holiday for the remembrance of Lord Rama's victory over Ravana that lasts for 10 days.
“So today it’s the last day, huh? Want to make a symbolic slaughter today, right Saad? But where?” Light Watch’s ex-officer smirked, because he was closer to the answer than before. He started to read about the holiday and the legend to find any clues. Kazunari wasn’t sure if Saad is religious but this was the only thing he could think of. According to the legend Rama after his victory returned to Ayodhya - a city on the north-east of India. There is a river there… Think Kazu! Arakawa river! Probably this is the place where the Indian guy can be, especially at the time like this! Still there were many questions: is Ohno with him? Do they have the Treaty? Is Jun still alive? And, what was more important - where exactly they can be?! Ninomiya closed his eyes and took few deep breaths of fresh air trying to visualize the area next to the river. He played there a lot when he was a child; he loved to explore new territories and pretend to be famous discoverer. After a longer while, when sweat drops started to run down his temples he opened his eyes and gasped. There is an empty warehouse near the river, a perfect place for hideout! Without wasting his time for second thoughts he ran to his home to take something he shouldn’t even have in the first place - a gun he had found in a hiding under the floor under his bed around a year ago. Now, when he was sure (more or less, he still had to base only on his hunch) where he can find the Dark Priest and, probably - Matsumoto, he felt such a power surge that he started to conceive himself as a indestructible, the same way as he felt when he was still in the Light Watch. Because he was acting as a regular officer again and because he thought he owes that much to Sakurai, he called to the Border Watch’s worker.
“Sakurai-san, I know where that bastard Dark Priest is. I am heading over there to save some stubborn man’s ass…”
“Ninomiya-san, don’t do anything in a rush! Just tell me the place and I’ll be there with back up! We don’t know how many supporters he has there and how powerful they are. Just come here and…”
“No, I can’t. J is there already and probably he wants to perform a suicidal action. I won’t let him do that. Listen carefully, because I have no time for further explanations. There is an empty warehouse on the north part of the city, right next to Arakawa river. They are there but please try to get there from the south side, in other case they will see you from two miles! I gotta go, see you!” Ninomiya hung up and drove to his destination point as fast as he could, not bothering about the tickets he can get. Kazunari wanted to calm down and stop worrying about Matsumoto - that won’t help him in any way, so he turned on the radio. Sweet melody filled the car and it happened to be the same song that was played when they met in that bar, when Nino didn’t remember his real past.
“Give me a break!” He laughed nervously to the radio when he finally reached the warehouse. It was surprisingly quiet and he didn’t see anybody outside the building, but inside a dim candle light could be seen. “Wait for me, J… Don’t you dare to die on me!” Kazunari whispered while sneaking inside the storehouse.
***
"Ah Matsumoto-san, what a surprise to see you here!" Ohno said loudly as soon as he spotted Jun. He didn't even try to hide, just walked right on to the two men in the middle of the big room with a woman on a chair between them. By the frightened look on her face he figured she was the Treaty but he was surprised they didn't even bother to tie her to the chair she was sitting on.
"Where is your precious partner? Oh right, he lost his memories... Such a shame, I would have loved to take down the two of you together but I guess it is your time first. Don't worry, he will follow soon enough when we are done here."
"Leave him out of this, he has nothing to do with it." Jun hissed through clenched teeth, making Ohno laugh softly.
"We will see about that." He moved his hand and suddenly Jun was grabbed tightly from behind by two strong pairs of hands.
"Look, we don't want any trouble from you so you should behave. Be a good boy and maybe we will leave the others out of it. All three of them if..."
"He is one of us! Dark Priest, what is going on?" One of the men being Jun suddenly yelled. Saad looked confused at the man and came closer.
"One of us?"
"Yes look. He has the tattoo right here, three chains." Saad surprised everyone in the room by slapping Jun in his face, hard enough to leave a red mark. Jun laughed softly, finding it very amusing the Dark Priest was apparently so uptight about a simple tattoo.
"You don't deserve that tattoo. It is a symbol for the loyalty of my members to show they can be trusted. You are not loyal and most certainly can't be trusted, how dare you stain its symbolism!"
"If only it wouldn't be so obvious. I must say, it came quite in handy, it helped me to get a lot of information for the past few months so I must thank you for thinking of such an easy way in." Jun saw murder in the Indian man's eyes but to his surprise Ohno's voice stopped him.
"Don't do anything you will regret later. I think revenge will be much sweeter whey you can see him when the Treaty gets killed in front of his eyes without being able to do anything. It's a bit annoying you came by so early though, we are planning to start when the darkness sets in and that's still a while."
"It's not my fault you are so easy to track down." Jun muttered softly with a grin on his face.
"You know, you might have a point there. If you were able to track us down others might be able to do the same. Maybe we should hurry up and start the ritual then?" Ohno asked, looking at his partner who shook his head.
"No. The ritual has to take place at night. If we start too early the evil will rule over the truth and the demon will survive." Ohno rolled his eyes annoyed but gave up on the subject. Somehow Jun felt this discussion had taken place before between the two of them and he didn't really want to interrupt anything at this point. For a long time silence filled the room and when the darkness slowly set in Jun tried his hardest to think of a plan to get the Treaty out of here. It was four against one and even that wasn't a given fact. There might be more of Saad’s men hidden somewhere in this warehouse, ready to help when something would happen. Maybe he could distract them long enough to think of something, find out some more about this ritual they were talking of.
"So what is this ritual about? Why take all the trouble to kill her with a ritual when you can just shoot her and get over it?" He knew he was taking a risk with his last words but at the same time he was sure they wouldn't do that. Not when Saad was holding on to the rules of the ritual so tightly.
"That's none of your business." The Indian man snapped at him but Ohno put his hand on his shoulder.
"I can't see why he can't know. It's not like he can do anything in that position right now and we still have to wait for a while so why not try to kill some time with it?" The other man looked at Ohno like he had lost his mind but mumbled something that Jun couldn't hear which made Ohno nod and turn back to Matsumoto.
"You see, my friend here is really religious and a big fan of rituals and old traditions. When he helped me out of jail we knew we both wanted the same; destroy the Treaty which goes against every rule of nature and in that way against his old traditions of his religion. So to ban the evil out and to clean the body we have to take the body of the Treaty and set it on fire. The fire will consume everything that doesn't belong in this world and give way for the truth to come out. Did you know that fire is the only thing that can totally destroy your precious Treaty?"
"Setting fire again? Give me a break, you are repeating yourself. Setting someone on fire is a bit of a lame way to murder someone." Jun smirked. He could feel the two men behind him tense up a little as the Dark Priest angrily stood up.
"Are you mocking one of the holy Indian rituals?"
"Oh I'm sorry, my mistake for confusing a holy ritual with murder."
"Matsumoto I think it's a good idea if you shut up right now." Ohno mumbled but not really convincing. It sounded more like he was encouraging him to go on.
"It is not murder if you kill for the greater good!"
"It is murder if you kill an innocent woman, no matter in what name you do it!"
"That woman is in no way innocent! She should have died together with my father, she has no right to be the Treaty! Nobody has the right to be the Treaty! Balance belongs to nature!" By the flames burning in the man's eyes Jun knew he didn't have much time anymore now. Luckily the men behind him had lost their interest in holding him as tight as possible a little while ago and using the element of surprise he suddenly pulled himself out of their hands. With a few quick moves he managed to get both of the man on the ground but froze when he turned around and saw Saad just a few feet away with a gun pointed at him. Next to him Ohno appeared, with the same kind of gun pointed at him as well.
"You can take care of that woman, I'll take him. I still have a score to settle with this one." Jun tried to think of a way out but when he saw the maniac smile on the smaller man's face he could only hope he was a bad shooter.
"Too bad you had to destroy your last chance to live a bit longer. It's a shame I can't see the look on your face now when we kill that bitch. Oh well..." Ohno smiled widely as he placed his finger on the trigger. "Goodbye Matsumoto."