fic: Remains (5/7)
Title: Remains
Author: prologuesized
Pairing: Akame (Short side-pairings: Jin/OC, Pi/OC - hopefully it won't scare you away, though, I tried to keep them readable)
Rating: R
Genre: AU, Sci-fi, Romance, Adventure, Action
Disclaimer: Actually, I own a couple of side-characters. That's about it.
Summary: Akanishi Jin lives the life of a writer stuck in a world he feels he has no control over or pressing interest on. However, everything changes when he drives over a stranger by the name of Kamenashi Kazuya - a man who proves to be from an another world and universe entirely, whisking him away to an adventure through universes and time in order to fulfil his vendetta and stop his enemy from succeeding in his plan to maintain reign over as many universes as possible and starting out a universe-wide war.
Author Note: SPEECHES IN ITALICS = ENGLISH. You should be able to make them out. Just thought I’d say that.
Ahhhh a lot of stuff in here! I hope you’ll enjoy it.
Total wordcount: 53,900
Chapter wordcount: 8,000
Chapter 5
There they were again, in the swirl of blinding lights that stung his eyes and made them water. Jin held on to Kame in the non-gravity space and hoped to god that if he was to let go and fall he wouldn’t go straight down to what felt like the visual form of infinity.
“Will they follow?” he gasped as Kame fished for the weird gadget-filled stick of his once again. Kame started adjusting them to his liking and Jin felt left out of the situation once again.
“They might but it won’t matter,” Kame muttered as an answer. “Everything that enters takes its own time and continuity in here. They won’t be in the same time as us and it’ll be impossible for them to get to us in here. We’re safe unless they manage to see where we enter and keep track of it but the chances to that are close to zero.”
Jin followed a man in some sort of modern armour moving in an indescribable speed somewhere hundreds of metres away, going around in circles. He decided not to ask Kame to be specific. He wouldn’t understand anyway.
“How can you move in here?” he questioned anxiously, still holding onto Kame. “I feel almost no friction in here and we’re floating in the air. I don’t get it.”
“Practice, skills and theory,” Kame answered too simply. Jin grimaced and groaned. Kame took the cue. “I can’t explain it. If I’d dump you in here, I’m sure you’d manage it in a month or so.” Not a very appealing thought - he wouldn’t be alive in a month or so unless he got away from there every now and then to at least feed and empty himself. “If there is little friction you just need to make more of it. Big moves and pulls, determination. Don’t try to treat it like the world’s atmosphere and ground, that won’t work. You need to learn to move in here.”
“Without proper friction?” Jin snorted. “Impossible. I think I’ll let you do the moving.”
Kame somehow managed to walk-float to one swirl of brightly and hotly blaring universes and stuck his gadget stick in, stopping it. Jin tried to peek over his shoulder. It was odd how one couldn’t see in before properly entering. It was just light.
“What are you doing?” he questioned, feeling adrenaline still pumping in his veins. “What’s the stick for?”
“I’ll show you,” Kame offered and withdrew the stick, quickly sticking the empty end back in the same universe before it managed to slide away. “Is there anything you recognize?”
Their heads were pressed tightly together as they examined the gadgetry Kame had somehow managed to firmly attach to the stick. Jin didn’t want to know how strong glue and tape his universe provided him with.
“Ah, that’s temperature,” he exclaimed excitedly, feeling a smile form on his face. “20°C. That’s warm.”
“Yeah,” Kame agreed. “But the oxygen level seems to be too low and it looks pretty dead in there,” he pursed his lips and Jin realised Kame had somehow managed to make a quickly-fading picture form on one small screen. His eyes widened in wonder.
“Wow, that’s just… there’s nothing,” he gasped. “No people or cities, just ground.”
“We won’t be going in there,” Kame agreed and removed his stick from the universe. “Alright, let’s hunt for another one.”
The next one had a temperature of nearly 200°C but luckily Kame could feel the warmth in his hand as soon as he had stuck his devices in so that he could remove it without technical failures. After the 10th try Jin started to grow bored.
“Last time we entered the first one we came across,” he muttered with his hands wrapped around Kame’s abdomen. “Just find one already!”
“I told you it isn’t so easy,” Kame snapped back at him. “Just hold on and don’t disturb me, I’m trying. Do you think I want to keep floating in here?”
Jin snorted louder and rolled his eyes. Maybe not but he didn’t seem to be picking up his speed.
Kame seemed to be getting a popping vein on his temple, though. Ah. He really could be annoying then.
“Let’s try this one, then,” Kame groaned and wrapped one of his arms around him. Jin tightened his grip. “Don’t let go.”
They slid in and Jin felt the refreshing and light sensation of going through dry and weightless waves of water once again before he could detect the harsh ground under his feet. He stumbled and held on tighter to Kame.
“This feels and seems pretty normal,” he approved the place, sniffed and straightened his winter jacket, feeling his shirt running up his stomach underneath. Fuck clothes. Kame stepped closer and pulled him down a bit.
“Don’t yank away, if you break this I swear I’m going to kill you,” he was warned before he could feel a thin silver chain sliding over his head. He stared at Kame in shock as the man opened the onyx oval carefully and started turning the wheels inside with his polished-to-black nail.
He couldn’t really feel anything - it wasn’t a physical sensation. Then again, one couldn’t avoid any nauseating physical sensations when everything around started going with a speed probably a couple of hundred times faster than normal.
“I’m going to puke,” he complained and raised a hand over his mouth. Sometimes he wondered how Kame managed to go through everything without any signs of an upset stomach or even a slight migraine. It was impossible.
Kame stopped the wheels and removed the necklace. Jin spat to the ground and glared at him accusingly, rubbing his stomach.
“What did you do?” he demanded to know. Kame slid the pendant back under his jacket and rolled his eyes.
“Turned time, obviously,” he muttered loudly as an answer. “Forward. I think this should be around 2010.”
Jin pursed his lips and realised that the buildings around them seemed more solid and high. He offered his hand to Kame, still giving him the nasty glare. He totally deserved it for doing things on his own without asking him first again.
“Let’s go and hunt for some people,” he stated, explaining his sudden action. Kame seemed confused for a while before smiling a bit awkwardly and taking his hand, walking fast ahead of him and starting to pull him with him.
Not quite what he had planned, but he figured it had to do.
After five minutes of futile searching and quickly setting sun they were still left outside in the cold in what felt like an abandoned city. Jin was getting the chills and Kame seemed exceptionally wary as he pulled him to one of the darker alleys from the main streets.
“I think we should change scenery,” Kame whispered to him anxiously. “Something doesn’t feel right in here.”
“Do you think it’s a zombie apocalypse?” Jin wondered aloud, shivering and trying to peek back to the streets. “It’s so creepy and silent.”
“Who knows, but I’d like to say don’t be ridiculous,” Kame moaned and winced, grasping a gentle hold of his wrist. “But I think we should switch places nonetheless. Better not take chances.”
“Mm,” Jin agreed and turned around to see Kame.
For a while he saw just Kame. There was a gentle and worried look on his face, somehow concerned and protecting. He felt warm.
That was before he saw the eyes gleaming somewhere over and behind him.
He could’ve sworn blood drained from his face. Kame turned around out of reflex just as he pulled him with him backwards, tripping out of clumsiness and cursing as the creature dashed at them. Kame screamed in horror. Shit.
“SWITCH, SWITCH, I’M HOLDING ON!” he screamed in fear himself, trying to somehow roll himself over Kame. Oh fuck, he saw fangs and the creature’s breath smelled like a grand dumping area.
Talking about nausea.
He felt the pressure building up right at the moment he stared at the creature eye to eye. He swore he’d never forget those huge, gleaming eyes with narrow pupils and a bloodthirsty look.
Never had he been so happy at being in the fucking boring continuum, gasping for air and trembling.
“Oh fucking hell,” he muttered weakly. Kame nodded in agreement, hanging onto him just as tightly as he hung to him. He really hated this whole universe thing. Couldn’t they just settle down?
“Are you hurt?” Kame checked concernedly, trying to detect any sign of pain on his face. Jin shook his head. “No? Good. Okay, that’s good. For a while I was worried,” he said and turned to grasp his gadget-stick again. Jin could still sense concern and worry on his face. He firmed his hold.
“Maybe next time,” Kame exhaled, his breathing still slightly sped up and heavy. He stuck his stick in another blaring universe and Jin grimaced at the feeling of electricity running up and down his arms.
It was fine going in and staying far away but being this close to them was anything but appealing. He really hated this place.
“Alright, seems safe enough,” Kame nodded as he examined the results of his inspecting. “It looks worrying but I can see people and there doesn’t seem to be radiation.”
They slipped through the watery layer once again and hit the ground in the middle of some street. Kame immediately started walking ahead as if nothing had happened. Jin stumbled after him.
Only a few people were here and there and no one seemed particularly happy. Everyone appeared to be grave tired and glared at other groups than their own. After detecting so much hostility in so little amount of people Jin grew uneasy and pressed against Kame.
God, it was cold.
Kame examined his necklace nervously. “I think we’re at the right time,” he noted to Jin before slipping it back under his jacket. “But I wouldn’t expect any friendliness or help in this universe. We’re on our own.”
“What do you think happened?” Jin gossiped, walking anxiously side by side with Kame. It really was cold and his teeth were starting to chatter. The night was setting too. The streetlights didn’t cast as much light as in his universe and it seemed somehow really cold and green. It was almost like a warning sign but at least there were people on the streets.
“I don’t know,” Kame shrugged. “Countless of things could’ve happened and we aren’t going to ask. I don’t think we’ll ever know. Come,” he called and pulled him to one of the alleyways again. Jin sighed and groaned as he followed limply. Seriously. Kame and his dark alleyways. They weren’t really his thing. Hadn’t Kame dashed under his car from such a place too? And the fight that collided with him. Kame and his fucking alleyways.
“I’m tired,” Jin admitted. “It’s cold.”
Kame turned to look at him, a pitying look in his eyes for a while. He seemed to consider something and looked up at the dark sky, sighing. No stars were at sight. It was pitch black darkness once they left the streetlights.
“Do you think we’ll f-find a warm place to sleep at?” Jin tried. “Somewhere inside?”
Kame grimaced and shook his head. Jin understood his point. Anyone they had seen hadn’t appeared the slightest bit of hospitable. He bit his lip. God, he hated winter nights. But if they started searching for a new place now then who knew when they’d come across a place safe enough to stay at?
He had had his share of monsters for a lifetime, thank you. Once was quite enough. It still gave him the creeps.
“…Come here,” Kame called for gently and set his rucksack in the ground. Well, at least it was dry and not covered in some undetectable and toxic substance. Jin sat down against the concrete wall and sighed as Kame rummaged through his bag, pulling out a thin sheet of something that probably tried to resemble a duvet.
“You’ve got to be kidding with me,” he wailed. “That’s not going to warm us one bit!”
“It’s the best we have,” Kame groaned and pushed him to the ground. Jin yelped as he fell. Kame sat down next to him, covering them with the duvet and shuffling as close as he could. It should’ve probably felt more disturbing but… it made sense.
“Body heat,” Kame mumbled and sniffed in the cold, pressing closer. Jin could detect his slightly rapid heartbeat and a hidden nervousness in his voice.
He was too tired to wonder.
“When I get a cold, I’m making sure I’ll be sneezing over you all the time,” he muttered and inhaled deeply. “…Good night.”
“Good night,” Kame answered quietly.
Silence followed under the pitch black sky and a dim green shade from the city lights. No one in the universe made a sound.
--
Jin woke up to lovely silence that danced around him. His face felt cold and muscles frozen but under the blanket there was an odd warmness if he ignored the slight chill right under the upper layer of his skin.
He closed his eyes and inhaled the polluted air deep, tasting its thinness on his numbed tongue. He could swear there was some slight frost on his eyelashes, small white dots disturbing his vision. He didn’t bother removing his hands from the warmth and wiping them dry. It would’ve broken the spell around him.
He could feel warmth radiating from his side and turned his head slightly to see Kame soundly asleep next to him, turned to his side. His mouth was hanging slightly open and he seemed the sort of peaceful he never quite managed to obtain whilst awake. Jin wondered if he ever had.
Silly thoughts during the morning’s sunrise. Lovely shades of gold danced on Kame’s hair and in the awfully thin duvet they shared.
Jin could see the white cloud of frost dancing in the air whenever they breathed and enjoyed a particularly long exhale. Crystal diamonds sparkled and reflected colourful spectrums.
He would’ve tried to touch them with his cool fingertips had he bothered to bring them to the crisp morning air. But he didn’t.
He couldn’t quite put his finger on the reason why he didn’t feel so grumpy. His stomach was growling and a headache was nicely reminding him of his caffeine deprivation but still his mind felt too stable to throw a fit. Whatever it meant.
A snowflake fell on his lips. He was kissed by the early winter’s first-snow. A small smile found its way on his lips. He didn’t know if it was the first-snow for this universe, but for him it was the first one of this particular winter. It was quite enough.
More flakes started falling. They danced and swirled around them, soft and light. It must’ve really been cold outside.
Jin let his eyes fall blissfully closed again after shuffling closer to Kame in order to share more warmth. The trick seemed to be working after long-term mutualism. It felt good.
He let his body relax and the hazy state between sleep and awareness lull him in. The entire world was softly spinning and being carried by the gentlest of waves.
He didn’t know how long it took but he could feel Kame shuffling tiredly by his side. His ears picked up on a silent yawn and heavier breaths, ones that bothered him in the awake-state. He himself couldn’t quite force himself up yet.
It was better to play the role of a heavy sleeper and enjoy the comfortable temperature for as long as he could. He never really was a morning person after all.
He could feel Kame’s warm and almost odourless breath grazing his face. The tickling felt sort of nice.
It had been a while since he had had any sort of enjoyable intimacy with anyone. He had quite forgotten how lovely of a feeling it was.
Kame’s body pressed softly closer and a hesitant hand set down on the slight curve of his hip. He could hear Kame’s heartbeat in his ears. It sounded pained. Now that he thought about it Kame’s breathing sounded a bit pained too.
He wondered if Kame’s face would seem pained if he was to open his weary eyes.
He could feel wet droplets from the melted snowflakes on his face as Kame’s breathing got closer. …His face got closer.
Jin could feel his heartbeat speeding up. It felt right. The closeness. …For once it really did feel right. Amazingly so.
Kame’s lips hovered only a few millimetres from his. He was hesitant. In the end Jin could hear a beaten sigh and Kame merely pressed their foreheads together, shuffling even closer.
Maybe Kame wanted to go back to sleep. Maybe he wanted to pretend like he did - maybe they just both wanted to be close but neither dared to.
He wanted to dare. He could feel the pull.
He closed the gap between their lips and let his eyes flutter slightly open. Kame winced and tried to pull away in shock but Jin finally moved his hands to the nape of his neck, raised his body slightly and kissed him better.
Two pairs of warm, gentle lips were massaging each other under the golden rays of morning sunshine and falling first-snow. Quite a cliché they were.
Kame warmed up to his touch and kissed him back, lips sucking and pulling on his. Jin could feel his own breath hitching. He pulled slightly away, the frosts from their breaths tangled together and forming droplets on their lips. Kame’s eyes stared at his, his hands slowly making their way up his shoulders.
There was an odd bang somewhere within him. It almost made him want to cry but that could’ve just been his morning mood-swings. He leaned down to press his lips a bit more demandingly on Kame’s and Kame answered, growing hungrier and more desperate every second.
Kame rolled them over and settled on his lap. He pulled his mittens off and caressed his face with trembling fingers and palms. They pressed their noses and foreheads together, enjoying the racing breathing between them. Jin could feel Kame’s pounding heart against his chest.
It was silent and motionless for a while if the hesitant but determined caresses didn’t count. Jin circled his arms around Kame’s lean back and kept him close. Their eyes kept shuffling to each other and away and there was nothing they could do.
It would’ve been a perfect time to confess yet neither did. They waited and waited, trying to urge each other with the caresses and occasionally touching lips, occasionally sucking lips but still neither did. Neither had the courage to open their mouths to break the silence and tell what already pranced through both of their heads.
Kame let out a disappointed sigh and almost withdrew hesitantly but Jin tore his own mittens away and placed his hands on Kame’s shoulder blades in panic. His heart sped up even more. …No. He didn’t want that. Separation.
He had felt the bang. That was it. It was all he needed to know right now.
He forced his torso upwards slightly to reach Kame’s lips again, trying to appear as eager as he felt. He prayed Kame could feel it, that Kame would actually stay and the bang would hold on to all the cracks they had and would be having. It was too overwhelming.
He buried his face and breathed in Kame’s scent from his neck, trying to shuffle closer. Kame flinched but Jin could feel a pleasant tremble running up his spine even through the thick winter jacket the stranger had given him on the streets with no snowfall.
He started slowly opening the buttons in Kame’s winter jacket and to his surprise Kame didn’t shy away but unzipped his, pulling him out of it faster than he managed to unbutton his. It was kind of unsettling. Kame fixed the duvet over them, making sure the warmth wasn’t escaping anywhere and shed his own jacket. Jin could feel the firm muscles better under the thin layer of his shirt.
His heart was running really fast by now and he didn’t want to imagine the look on his face. He wasn’t even quite sure what it would be - what did the desire he felt at the moment look like? He was convinced he looked like an idiot, a lost and helpless idiot who suddenly was helplessly head over heels in love with someone superior who was doing dirty things on him.
Hey. That setting didn’t seem quite right. He furrowed his brow in dislike.
Kame disappeared somewhere under the duvet and Jin could feel his jeans’ zipper sliding down maddeningly. How did they end up in some abandoned alleyway having sex in the cold, outside and exposed like this? Crazy. Absolutely crazy.
He didn’t want to give it away though. Not when he kicked his shoes off and felt his clothing disappear from under his waist.
The ground felt cold even though they had done a decent job in previously warming it through the hours.
“M-my wallet,” he managed to mumble and Kame’s head peeked out from under the duvet with a confused look on his face. Jin swallowed and tried his best to get his incoherent head straight. “C-condoms. Condoms.”
“Are you diseased?” Kame asked straight. Jin winced and closed his eyes. Maybe he should’ve just kept his mouth closed. …Condoms did feel a bit like in need for either a girl or some random one night stand that didn’t matter. …He wondered what he made Kame feel like. He was almost tempted to lie.
“No,” he mumbled and ran his fingers through Kame’s hair shakily. “I just thought. You know. There’s no harm but…”
To his surprise after Kame withdrew himself under the blanket he could feel shuffling and the sound of breaking the seal of the plastic wrapper rang in his ears.
He really didn’t do himself a favour in not making himself feel more like a girl now, did he? He cursed silently and bit his lip as he could feel Kame’s fingers and lips on his naked skin and in places he rather kept unmentioned.
There was a lot of awkward and uneasy shuffling before Kame returned properly on top of him, sliding his head from under the duvet. Jin could feel a soft rocking on his hips and winced, reaching down for himself.
Pain he could handle. He might’ve been a little rusted but he could handle it and it wasn’t like Kame wasn’t being as careful with him as he possibly could, when given the situation and lacking equipment.
Jin wrapped his free arm better around the body on top of him and let it slide down the toned back to the hips. He grasped a hold of Kame’s buttocks and rocked him in a pleasant way while Kame’s lips attacked his neck, making him writhe.
Every now and then, he saw white. He wasn’t sure whether it was their frosted breaths, the snow or merely something related to their doings - sometimes in the middle of sexual intercourse he just lost the track of things like that.
Kame was good, though. It felt amazing with Kame as the man devoured him, held and rocked into and out of him like something he had yearned for for the longest of time. Perhaps he had, perhaps, perhaps.
Now that he thought about it, Kame had been the gentlest to him for the longest of time. It had all built up to this moment now, to the peaceful and right moment with no words exchanged, merely occasional sounds and bodily unison.
Jin wailed quietly as he came in his hand, crushed between the two sandwiched bodies. Ridiculous. He caught Kame’s lips in a kiss and could feel Kame wince and jerk slightly as he followed his lead, heart beating rapidly.
Kame broke the unison and collapsed over him, wrapping him tightly in his arms. Jin smiled in his shoulder. …This was how he wanted to be. Like this and perhaps with Kame, very likely with Kame. Even with all the man’s annoyances… this was what he wanted to wake up in the morning to.
Hell, he couldn’t quite remember the last time he hadn’t been so cranky in the morning. He wished to god it wasn’t going to follow now after a small moment of bliss and happiness.
“Why did it feel so good with you on top?” he wondered with a mutter, circling his hands around Kame’s naked hips. Kame pressed a kiss on the bridge of his nose, his breathing heavy against his face. The closeness made his hair stand erected.
“Because I feel so much for you. I have so much for you that you can’t even begin to have it for me,” he mumbled, his voice a few pitches higher than the usual. “I have so many things I haven’t told you. It feels so bad and I’m so afraid of losing you.”
A lot of words that made him feel important and cherished in one incoherent speech. Jin pecked Kame’s lips softly, sitting up and wrapping the duvet better around them. Some cold air got in and they shivered, grimacing at each other. Maybe winter wasn’t quite the correct timing for outside activity.
“I think I might love you,” Jin mumbled, keeping their close proximity up. “I just realised. It sounds stupid but it’s just something I thought.”
Not maybe the most romantic or believable way of saying it but it managed to make Kame chuckle oddly nonetheless. Maybe he could’ve enjoyed it more if he hadn’t sound so guilt-ridden.
Jin withdrew concernedly. He didn’t quite like Kame’s tone and babbling.
“…What’s wrong?” he prodded warily. He had a feeling he was about to come down from his high. Kame was going to break his ignorant little bubble and he was not going to like it. It was written all over Kame’s pretty face. “What are you keeping from me?”
Kame gulped and pressed his lips into a tight line. Jin grew concerned and impatient. The falling snow was settling down on Kame’s hair, remaining there in the complex structures. He wanted to wipe it away but didn’t feel like getting closer to Kame. Not before he knew.
“Jin…” Kame tried starting but Jin shook his head and glared at him warningly. He wasn’t going to take any of Kame’s pretty little stories anymore. Not now. He was in too deep for his shit. He wanted cold facts.
What could it be if it made Kame so anxious? He couldn’t think of anything. It was unnerving.
“I’m so sorry, Jin,” Kame managed to get out of his mouth, bowing his head down and fighting to keep his words steady and free from stumbling and stuttering. “I’m sorry I lied to you. I just didn’t think… It’s all… I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Please.”
An apology was never a safe way to start a serious conversation. It started to feel threatening and Jin had a strong feeling he was about to be beaten down. He felt his expression harden and muscles tense as he shoved Kame lightly, silently urging him on.
“You can return to your universe,” Kame admitted, voice strained. “You can but you shouldn’t. If you just remove that ring you’ll be back before you even realise it but don’t,” he begged, taking a hold of his hands. Jin groaned.
“So you lied to me?” he grumbled coldly. “That’s big. That’s a fucking big thing you lied about, I thought I’d never see anyone I knew ever again! It isn’t your decision to make!” he flared up, starting to feel up the ground to find his missing clothing. “What’s so bad about me going back? I can always come with you and then return with you when you’re ready. It’s where I belong, Kame. It’s my place in this… this… fuck, how do you even call something that consists of all of those idiotic universes!?”
Kame drew in a deep breath. Jin flinched.
“…That wasn’t it, was it?” he laughed unbelievingly. “You have more.”
Kame bit his lip, seemingly even more and more lost and anxious. He felt withdrawn and all Jin could really focus on was the distance. The motherfucking distance between them. It whisked Kame light-years away.
Kame leaned forwards, wrapped his arms gently around him and pressed his face against his clothed chest. Jin wanted to be softer on him but he couldn’t. It only made him miserable.
It felt like the beginning of an end.
Funny. It had only just a few moments ago felt like the beginning of something long-lasting. Something strong and vibrant that was now veiled with misery and greyness.
“If I go to my own universe and kill Yokoyama without giving the universes the chance to divide… some possibilities that now exist will cease existing,” Kame whispered, agony lacing his voice. His thin fingers ran hesitantly up and down his back, getting tangled in the fabric of his shirt. “I’ve entered a universe where he’s killed Tackey - once my revenge is over it cannot exist anymore. The me entering that universe will vanish into nothingness as well and cannot ever reach the places I’ve reached afterwards.”
Jin listened. Sometimes he hated how complex Kame’s world could be. More often than not he found himself without the ability to comprehend Kame’s monologues.
“…Will you… disappear?” he asked anxiously, wrapping his arms tighter around Kame. …Would he do it? With such a prize to pay? He couldn’t, just couldn’t. “No. Don’t. Not now.”
“No. No no no,” Kame grimaced, gripping him tighter, his breathing escalating. All remains of the previous bliss and peacefulness were fast gone, left in the past moment. It probably couldn’t ever be the same again. “The then-future me will cease existing but I’ve travelled through time and won’t follow as a ghost what I’ve done mindlessly, I live my own life. I’m gone from those places, nothing will happen to me. I’ll be alright.”
“Then I don’t get it,” Jin admitted, gritting his teeth. “Then what are you stressing so much about?”
“If that universe disappears without a trace, taking everything it contains with it along with every single one of its galaxies… once the ghost-me following time will enter it cannot. It’ll slip into nothingness as well. It cannot go to places I’ve gone afterwards,” Kame tried to explain. Jin cursed in his mind why Kame couldn’t just make it simple to him. If he would’ve things would’ve been a lot easier for both of them, he was sure.
He started thinking harder, trying to make something, anything out of Kame’s absurdities.
“…Will I cease existing?” he realised, mouth hanging slightly open. “Are you going to kill me, Kame?”
“No,” Kame shook his head again in frustration, withdrawing to an arm’s length and holding on tightly to his shoulders. Jin swore bruises were forming on his skin where Kame’s fingers pressed strongly. “Not if you’re with me. If you just stay with me nothing will happen to you.”
“Then what is it?!” Jin finally lost his nerve. “Do you intend to keep me here guessing like a complete idiot for the rest of the day? Just spit it out! I hate it when you make me feel like a fool,” he grimaced dangerously, finally found his boxers, pushed Kame off and started pulling them on.
“It’s your universe,” Kame whispered with numb lips, eyes glazed. “In total I think for now it’s about sixty universes plus their countless divisions.”
Jin’s head snapped up. …He had to be misunderstanding. He was just an idiot who didn’t get anything Kame ever talked about - that’s what it had to be again. The thing he was thinking about had to be as ridiculous and pathetic of an interpretation of Kame’s words as it could. There couldn’t be any sense behind the conclusion his mind reached.
“Jin, your universe will cease existing,” Kame repeated. “Of course there’s the sector which carries the possibility of me never entering that will go on peacefully without my disturbance, but that isn’t yours. I entered yours. It’s going to vanish,” Kame apologized, his hands sliding down his arms as he studied the disbelieving and anxious expression that spread on his face.
“No,” he muttered stupidly. “What about everyone? My family and friends? People who exist there? What about them?”
Kame remained quiet. …Jin understood.
Panic. He stood on his feet, leaving the warmth and safety of the duvet and shivering furiously in the freezing morning air. It couldn’t be.
He pressed his fingers furiously on the ring Kame had provided him with and backed away threateningly. Kame shot up to his feet, covering his body with the duvet. Their clothes lay exposed on the ground, dampened by the snow and dirtied by the ground.
“No, don’t,” Kame stuttered. “If you go I can’t find you anymore. I can’t save you.”
“Oh really?” Jin spat furiously. “So now I matter? What about everyone else?! Your vendetta is more important than billions and billions of people! Or more? Oh god, it’s more,” he realised in shock. “I can’t believe you. You’re seriously going for it. You’re going for it like it’s nothing at all.”
“It’s not that simple,” Kame tried to defend himself while pulling his boxers on. Jin dashed at his jeans and shoes, dressing himself up furiously.
“I’ve had enough,” he declared strongly as he zipped up his jacket. Kame grasped his sleeve strongly, holding on tight to him. He yanked his hand violently away. “Let me go!”
“What if I don’t do it?!” Kame bellowed at him furiously, face reddened. “You know why he killed Tackey, you know it, I told you! What if he starts taking over universes, what if we get universe wide wars!? Is that better?”
“That’s an excuse,” Jin snorted, fixing his hair. “That’s your excuse for mass murder.”
“It’s not really murder,” Kame tried. “I’m just changing the natural flow of things.”
“How about you fucking STOP PLAYING A GOD!” Jin roared and pushed Kame violently, making him stumble to the ground. “You’re such a hypocrite. They’re evil because they killed someone yet you’re planning to do it for an uncountable amount of people all around the universes. That’s sick. You’d kill my family. You’d kill Pi and all of my friends, you’d kill everyone I ever knew to get back at this Yokoyama of yours. You’re disgusting.”
Kame’s eyes glistened and he was biting back bitter tears. Jin couldn’t tell if he was any better.
“Why can’t you just let it be?” he asked quietly. “Just let go already. People get killed, it happens. Don’t become worse than them.”
“I told you ever since the beginning,” Kame smiled sadly, his shoulders hanging exhaustedly. “There are only bad guys in this war. The good guys don’t exist.”
Jin smiled bitterly. …It was too much. He turned around and started hurrying away.
“Where are you going?!” Kame yelled after him. Jin fastened his steps even though Kame’s didn’t follow. He probably didn’t dare to come after him. “Jin! It isn’t safe here!”
“I don’t care!” Jin spat out his last words and turned around the corner without looking back.
He pressed his palm on his mouth to keep quiet. He couldn’t cry, he had to stay in control. He didn’t cry. Things weren’t that bad.
…Who was he trying to fool? He was stuck in a hostile universe that seemed to have everything but warmth, he didn’t know anyone, his money probably wouldn’t exist in this place, his heart was broken and there was a maniac on the loose about to destroy his right place in the existing everything.
He fiddled with the ring in his pinky but didn’t dare to remove it. He just couldn’t.
If he did, who was to say he wouldn’t disappear too?
A strong possibility was that Kame wouldn’t stop but continue onward with his plan without him and succeed in his horrible task.
At least he shouldn’t feel a thing.
--
No food, no cigarettes, no coffee, no people to converse with - nothing. The plain streets were filled with people mostly avoiding his gaze and moving in tight packs, dodging other groups and him as they slipped by.
He walked forwards and tried to look around and determine the functions and ways of the place just like Kame had taught was important. The walls and store windows were filled with posters of an unfamiliar face and printings with what was probably text but he didn’t have the ability to read.
Did everything have to be made so difficult for him?
Somewhere in the far distance, deeper in the city perhaps, the only concrete sounds were blasting. The voice carried far, probably with the usage of technology that (thank god) seemed to exist even in this place. Jin sniffed, pulled his freezing hands in his sleeves and let his feet carry him forward on the hostile streets.
The buildings rose far high towards the sky, reaching for the dirty gray clouds. No matter how much he tried to look, he couldn’t detect anything green, not even simple balcony flowers. Decorations didn’t seem to exist in this universe and a lot of things seemed simply broken.
Of course the place he’d end up stuck in had to be so pretty goddamn fucking depressing. And it deserved all of the curse words directed at it if not even a million more.
He wiped his weary eyes shakily and tried to lock his emotions in. What was the use of letting his thoughts run freely when all they could bring him was helplessness, pain and fear? What he had gone through was the sickest kind of betrayal and there was no use arguing against it. The good intentions were gone and failed with selfishness and cruelty.
He followed the loudly blaring noises that lead him to the front of a big glass-walled building that didn’t rise quite as far as the other buildings but seemed at least a thousand times more elegant and important than them. On the third floor’s spacious balcony was standing a man with his four bodyguards, two on each side, giving a speech. Jin walked into the mass of people surrounded, looking disgusted but not saying a word as they stared at the same sight as him.
“Excuse me,” he tried to mutter quietly as he forced his way through the crowd. It was unsettling to see so many people in here so close to each other in such an enormous group.
He squinted his eyes to detect the faces of the people standing far above him when a nasty grip set on his shoulder, startling him. He turned around and stared face to face with a man in a sort of formal-looking attire.
The man said something to him threateningly and Jin looked around, the crowd’s eyes shifting at him in-between their paid focus to the person giving the speech. He felt sweat prickling on his forehead. It couldn’t be anything good.
“Everything alright?” the man switched language and Jin felt relief washing over him at the familiar sound of Japanese grazing his ears. He opened his mouth in order to respond before he saw the narrowing eyes of the man.
Maybe it was a trap. Words got stuck on his throat.
“Huh?” he tried to switch in English and hide his near screw up. “Whaaat?”
The man seemed as surprised and clueless as him, a hand still pressing on his shoulder as he seemed to ponder between the possibilities of what to do.
Jin felt his palms sweating and heart racing as he waited for what felt like an eternity. He couldn’t detect in how big of a trouble he was in but it couldn’t be anything good. Especially since he didn’t really belong here.
If they would ask for papers or identity, he’d be butchered in no time.
Finally the man shook his head but started dragging him across the crowd towards the building.
Now, how would he get himself out of this? He wasn’t Kame, he didn’t carry with him a fucking time-manipulator as the man liked to call it nor had he ever been taught how to enter the goddamn continuum.
For how long had he even been alone? A simple funny hour?
He really was a trouble magnet.
People stared at him rudely as he was pushed past the Asian-looking security men in the same kind of attires as the man dragging him and he was pushed in with still no privacy thanks to the glass windows. He was gulping as the man dragged him further in.
At least the floor wasn’t made of glass. It could’ve been slippery under his feet.
He wondered if the entire building would break if someone fell badly enough and cracked the glass. What a security threat. Unless it was hardened some way. It probably was so. The people within the building didn’t seem to be too liked by the people standing outside.
The man dragged him forcibly in a room surrounded by actual coverings where eight people sat and laughed, cards in their hands and obviously in mid-game.
“Yamapi,” the man holding him called and Jin felt his eyes widen as his eyes found the said man, raising his hand and waving. “You know English, right?”
“English?” Yamapi answered in confusion and looked at him. “Someone speaks English in here? Jesus. Now that’s a surprise.”
“Maybe he’s a foreigner. But I think you should check,” the man shrugged and pushed him towards the replicate of his friend. Yamapi pouted and put his cards in the man’s hand, removing himself from his seat and pushing the man holding him down.
“I’m trusting you with my game, Toma!” Pi kicked the chair jokingly but still very, very seriously. “If you make me fall behind, you’re paying for the damage!”
A man laughed maliciously from the other side of the table. Jin felt the urge to roll his eyes but held on to his clueless expression. He wasn’t supposed to understand Japanese.
If only had he been a better liar.
“Okay, come,” Yamapi instructed him, as he started dragging him out of the room and up the stairs. Jin jogged to keep up with what he had to tell himself was a stranger but still managed to sting nastily.
He wondered if he should just remove the ring in his hand and get away while he still could but what if he would eventually disappear anyway? …He didn’t want to. Dying was scary.
Only as a last resort, he promised himself as an iron fist gripped tightly his intestines. Only as a last resort.
He was pushed into a small room with covered walls on the fifth floor. He panted as Pi sat him forcibly in a chair and pulled one from under a table to himself, sitting on it the wrong way around and leaning his arms to its backrest as he threateningly looked at him.
“What is your name?” Yamapi started with a bit funnily sounding English. Jin wondered if he should lie but couldn’t come up with anything but Kame’s name fast enough and he had a feeling if he’d let that slip through his mouth he’d really be done for.
“Akanishi Jin,” he answered and immediately proceeded to curse himself mentally. If this was somehow related to Kame’s chasers, he was done for. They knew his name.
Still, Yamapi seemed to remain oblivious and raised his eyebrows, urging him on. “Japanese name?”
“I’m American,” Jin proceeded to answer, hoping to god his English skills would save him. Thank god for what it seemed Yamapi’s English skills didn’t quite match his.
Wait. Did America even exist in this universe?
“American?” Pi nodded and grunted, his eyebrows furrowing as if he was deep in thought. “…American.”
Jin gulped. He better not have talked himself straight to trouble.
He couldn’t even plead his friend for mercy because it wasn’t his friend. His friend was on the bad side in this place.
Someone knocked in the door and both of their heads snapped at the direction as Koki opened the door. Jin froze and stared at him eye-to-eye. Still, there didn’t appear to be any sign of recognition from the other man’s side.
Another bunch who just hadn’t stumbled across him yet, then?
“Koki,” Yamapi breathed out in relief. “Can you remember where America is?”
Jin felt his palms sweating. Oh shit. Oh shit. He was done for.
Koki furrowed his eyebrows. “America?”
“Yeah,” Pi nodded, still seemingly bothered about the matter. “He says he’s from America. Speaks English.”
“And they expect us to remember all of this place’s countries,” Koki snorted in annoyance. “No idea. I’ve heard it somewhere, maybe it’s a little place somewhere or something.”
Not so little. That was almost degrading to the America he knew. Jin proceeded to bite his lip and look around the room while he uneasily shifted on his chair. He couldn’t show he understood what the men were talking about. It was a miracle no one had seen through his bad lying yet.
“Maybe,” Yamapi shrugged. “I wonder if I should check.”
No. No no no no no, Yamapi couldn’t check, what if America didn’t exist here? From the sound of it there was a great possibility for that. Jin felt his blood run cold.
“Nah,” Koki shook his head. “What was he even taken in for? Speaking English? We’ve come across a lot of people who speak similar languages. Just let him go, he looks like he’s ready to shit his pants.”
Jin felt colour rushing to his cheeks and faked a cough fit to cover it up. The two men’s eyes were on him and he rubbed his arm in a warming manner, nodding with a grimace on his face.
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” he assured. “Cold.”
“Ah. Alright,” Yamapi nodded. “I’ll help you out.”
Koki patted Yamapi’s shoulder before he stopped, remembering something.
“Oh yeah, I had a reason to be looking for you,” he said. “Someone’s reported seeing Kamenashi around. It could be a false alarm but Yokoyama wants us to go and check anyway. He tells you to grab your gun and join the force.”
Now there were an awful lot of familiar names. Jin felt fear creeping up his spine.
“Now?” Yamapi whined. “I’m in the middle of a game!”
“All of NEWS is going,” Koki rolled his eyes. “We need to search the entire city. Just let the man go, grab your gun and let’s go.”
“Fuck,” Yamapi scoffed and helped Jin up from the chair. “Sometimes I don’t like this job.”
“Tell me about it,” Koki moaned. “I’m sick of Kamenashis. If only killing him once would be enough but he just keeps popping up.”
Alright, now there was killing involved. Jin couldn’t help but stare at Pi and Koki.
He was held captive by murderers. …His best friend was a murderer.
When he was let out he forced his way through the crowd. He had to find Kame first.
He gave one last look at the balcony where the man still went on with his speech. Now that he really focused, the three people standing around him were threateningly familiar to him. The spokesperson’s face was familiar too.
It was the one plastered all over the windows in the city.
He ran faster.
Maybe Kame was long gone already.
Author: prologuesized
Pairing: Akame (Short side-pairings: Jin/OC, Pi/OC - hopefully it won't scare you away, though, I tried to keep them readable)
Rating: R
Genre: AU, Sci-fi, Romance, Adventure, Action
Disclaimer: Actually, I own a couple of side-characters. That's about it.
Summary: Akanishi Jin lives the life of a writer stuck in a world he feels he has no control over or pressing interest on. However, everything changes when he drives over a stranger by the name of Kamenashi Kazuya - a man who proves to be from an another world and universe entirely, whisking him away to an adventure through universes and time in order to fulfil his vendetta and stop his enemy from succeeding in his plan to maintain reign over as many universes as possible and starting out a universe-wide war.
Author Note: SPEECHES IN ITALICS = ENGLISH. You should be able to make them out. Just thought I’d say that.
Ahhhh a lot of stuff in here! I hope you’ll enjoy it.
Total wordcount: 53,900
Chapter wordcount: 8,000
Chapter 5
There they were again, in the swirl of blinding lights that stung his eyes and made them water. Jin held on to Kame in the non-gravity space and hoped to god that if he was to let go and fall he wouldn’t go straight down to what felt like the visual form of infinity.
“Will they follow?” he gasped as Kame fished for the weird gadget-filled stick of his once again. Kame started adjusting them to his liking and Jin felt left out of the situation once again.
“They might but it won’t matter,” Kame muttered as an answer. “Everything that enters takes its own time and continuity in here. They won’t be in the same time as us and it’ll be impossible for them to get to us in here. We’re safe unless they manage to see where we enter and keep track of it but the chances to that are close to zero.”
Jin followed a man in some sort of modern armour moving in an indescribable speed somewhere hundreds of metres away, going around in circles. He decided not to ask Kame to be specific. He wouldn’t understand anyway.
“How can you move in here?” he questioned anxiously, still holding onto Kame. “I feel almost no friction in here and we’re floating in the air. I don’t get it.”
“Practice, skills and theory,” Kame answered too simply. Jin grimaced and groaned. Kame took the cue. “I can’t explain it. If I’d dump you in here, I’m sure you’d manage it in a month or so.” Not a very appealing thought - he wouldn’t be alive in a month or so unless he got away from there every now and then to at least feed and empty himself. “If there is little friction you just need to make more of it. Big moves and pulls, determination. Don’t try to treat it like the world’s atmosphere and ground, that won’t work. You need to learn to move in here.”
“Without proper friction?” Jin snorted. “Impossible. I think I’ll let you do the moving.”
Kame somehow managed to walk-float to one swirl of brightly and hotly blaring universes and stuck his gadget stick in, stopping it. Jin tried to peek over his shoulder. It was odd how one couldn’t see in before properly entering. It was just light.
“What are you doing?” he questioned, feeling adrenaline still pumping in his veins. “What’s the stick for?”
“I’ll show you,” Kame offered and withdrew the stick, quickly sticking the empty end back in the same universe before it managed to slide away. “Is there anything you recognize?”
Their heads were pressed tightly together as they examined the gadgetry Kame had somehow managed to firmly attach to the stick. Jin didn’t want to know how strong glue and tape his universe provided him with.
“Ah, that’s temperature,” he exclaimed excitedly, feeling a smile form on his face. “20°C. That’s warm.”
“Yeah,” Kame agreed. “But the oxygen level seems to be too low and it looks pretty dead in there,” he pursed his lips and Jin realised Kame had somehow managed to make a quickly-fading picture form on one small screen. His eyes widened in wonder.
“Wow, that’s just… there’s nothing,” he gasped. “No people or cities, just ground.”
“We won’t be going in there,” Kame agreed and removed his stick from the universe. “Alright, let’s hunt for another one.”
The next one had a temperature of nearly 200°C but luckily Kame could feel the warmth in his hand as soon as he had stuck his devices in so that he could remove it without technical failures. After the 10th try Jin started to grow bored.
“Last time we entered the first one we came across,” he muttered with his hands wrapped around Kame’s abdomen. “Just find one already!”
“I told you it isn’t so easy,” Kame snapped back at him. “Just hold on and don’t disturb me, I’m trying. Do you think I want to keep floating in here?”
Jin snorted louder and rolled his eyes. Maybe not but he didn’t seem to be picking up his speed.
Kame seemed to be getting a popping vein on his temple, though. Ah. He really could be annoying then.
“Let’s try this one, then,” Kame groaned and wrapped one of his arms around him. Jin tightened his grip. “Don’t let go.”
They slid in and Jin felt the refreshing and light sensation of going through dry and weightless waves of water once again before he could detect the harsh ground under his feet. He stumbled and held on tighter to Kame.
“This feels and seems pretty normal,” he approved the place, sniffed and straightened his winter jacket, feeling his shirt running up his stomach underneath. Fuck clothes. Kame stepped closer and pulled him down a bit.
“Don’t yank away, if you break this I swear I’m going to kill you,” he was warned before he could feel a thin silver chain sliding over his head. He stared at Kame in shock as the man opened the onyx oval carefully and started turning the wheels inside with his polished-to-black nail.
He couldn’t really feel anything - it wasn’t a physical sensation. Then again, one couldn’t avoid any nauseating physical sensations when everything around started going with a speed probably a couple of hundred times faster than normal.
“I’m going to puke,” he complained and raised a hand over his mouth. Sometimes he wondered how Kame managed to go through everything without any signs of an upset stomach or even a slight migraine. It was impossible.
Kame stopped the wheels and removed the necklace. Jin spat to the ground and glared at him accusingly, rubbing his stomach.
“What did you do?” he demanded to know. Kame slid the pendant back under his jacket and rolled his eyes.
“Turned time, obviously,” he muttered loudly as an answer. “Forward. I think this should be around 2010.”
Jin pursed his lips and realised that the buildings around them seemed more solid and high. He offered his hand to Kame, still giving him the nasty glare. He totally deserved it for doing things on his own without asking him first again.
“Let’s go and hunt for some people,” he stated, explaining his sudden action. Kame seemed confused for a while before smiling a bit awkwardly and taking his hand, walking fast ahead of him and starting to pull him with him.
Not quite what he had planned, but he figured it had to do.
After five minutes of futile searching and quickly setting sun they were still left outside in the cold in what felt like an abandoned city. Jin was getting the chills and Kame seemed exceptionally wary as he pulled him to one of the darker alleys from the main streets.
“I think we should change scenery,” Kame whispered to him anxiously. “Something doesn’t feel right in here.”
“Do you think it’s a zombie apocalypse?” Jin wondered aloud, shivering and trying to peek back to the streets. “It’s so creepy and silent.”
“Who knows, but I’d like to say don’t be ridiculous,” Kame moaned and winced, grasping a gentle hold of his wrist. “But I think we should switch places nonetheless. Better not take chances.”
“Mm,” Jin agreed and turned around to see Kame.
For a while he saw just Kame. There was a gentle and worried look on his face, somehow concerned and protecting. He felt warm.
That was before he saw the eyes gleaming somewhere over and behind him.
He could’ve sworn blood drained from his face. Kame turned around out of reflex just as he pulled him with him backwards, tripping out of clumsiness and cursing as the creature dashed at them. Kame screamed in horror. Shit.
“SWITCH, SWITCH, I’M HOLDING ON!” he screamed in fear himself, trying to somehow roll himself over Kame. Oh fuck, he saw fangs and the creature’s breath smelled like a grand dumping area.
Talking about nausea.
He felt the pressure building up right at the moment he stared at the creature eye to eye. He swore he’d never forget those huge, gleaming eyes with narrow pupils and a bloodthirsty look.
Never had he been so happy at being in the fucking boring continuum, gasping for air and trembling.
“Oh fucking hell,” he muttered weakly. Kame nodded in agreement, hanging onto him just as tightly as he hung to him. He really hated this whole universe thing. Couldn’t they just settle down?
“Are you hurt?” Kame checked concernedly, trying to detect any sign of pain on his face. Jin shook his head. “No? Good. Okay, that’s good. For a while I was worried,” he said and turned to grasp his gadget-stick again. Jin could still sense concern and worry on his face. He firmed his hold.
“Maybe next time,” Kame exhaled, his breathing still slightly sped up and heavy. He stuck his stick in another blaring universe and Jin grimaced at the feeling of electricity running up and down his arms.
It was fine going in and staying far away but being this close to them was anything but appealing. He really hated this place.
“Alright, seems safe enough,” Kame nodded as he examined the results of his inspecting. “It looks worrying but I can see people and there doesn’t seem to be radiation.”
They slipped through the watery layer once again and hit the ground in the middle of some street. Kame immediately started walking ahead as if nothing had happened. Jin stumbled after him.
Only a few people were here and there and no one seemed particularly happy. Everyone appeared to be grave tired and glared at other groups than their own. After detecting so much hostility in so little amount of people Jin grew uneasy and pressed against Kame.
God, it was cold.
Kame examined his necklace nervously. “I think we’re at the right time,” he noted to Jin before slipping it back under his jacket. “But I wouldn’t expect any friendliness or help in this universe. We’re on our own.”
“What do you think happened?” Jin gossiped, walking anxiously side by side with Kame. It really was cold and his teeth were starting to chatter. The night was setting too. The streetlights didn’t cast as much light as in his universe and it seemed somehow really cold and green. It was almost like a warning sign but at least there were people on the streets.
“I don’t know,” Kame shrugged. “Countless of things could’ve happened and we aren’t going to ask. I don’t think we’ll ever know. Come,” he called and pulled him to one of the alleyways again. Jin sighed and groaned as he followed limply. Seriously. Kame and his dark alleyways. They weren’t really his thing. Hadn’t Kame dashed under his car from such a place too? And the fight that collided with him. Kame and his fucking alleyways.
“I’m tired,” Jin admitted. “It’s cold.”
Kame turned to look at him, a pitying look in his eyes for a while. He seemed to consider something and looked up at the dark sky, sighing. No stars were at sight. It was pitch black darkness once they left the streetlights.
“Do you think we’ll f-find a warm place to sleep at?” Jin tried. “Somewhere inside?”
Kame grimaced and shook his head. Jin understood his point. Anyone they had seen hadn’t appeared the slightest bit of hospitable. He bit his lip. God, he hated winter nights. But if they started searching for a new place now then who knew when they’d come across a place safe enough to stay at?
He had had his share of monsters for a lifetime, thank you. Once was quite enough. It still gave him the creeps.
“…Come here,” Kame called for gently and set his rucksack in the ground. Well, at least it was dry and not covered in some undetectable and toxic substance. Jin sat down against the concrete wall and sighed as Kame rummaged through his bag, pulling out a thin sheet of something that probably tried to resemble a duvet.
“You’ve got to be kidding with me,” he wailed. “That’s not going to warm us one bit!”
“It’s the best we have,” Kame groaned and pushed him to the ground. Jin yelped as he fell. Kame sat down next to him, covering them with the duvet and shuffling as close as he could. It should’ve probably felt more disturbing but… it made sense.
“Body heat,” Kame mumbled and sniffed in the cold, pressing closer. Jin could detect his slightly rapid heartbeat and a hidden nervousness in his voice.
He was too tired to wonder.
“When I get a cold, I’m making sure I’ll be sneezing over you all the time,” he muttered and inhaled deeply. “…Good night.”
“Good night,” Kame answered quietly.
Silence followed under the pitch black sky and a dim green shade from the city lights. No one in the universe made a sound.
--
Jin woke up to lovely silence that danced around him. His face felt cold and muscles frozen but under the blanket there was an odd warmness if he ignored the slight chill right under the upper layer of his skin.
He closed his eyes and inhaled the polluted air deep, tasting its thinness on his numbed tongue. He could swear there was some slight frost on his eyelashes, small white dots disturbing his vision. He didn’t bother removing his hands from the warmth and wiping them dry. It would’ve broken the spell around him.
He could feel warmth radiating from his side and turned his head slightly to see Kame soundly asleep next to him, turned to his side. His mouth was hanging slightly open and he seemed the sort of peaceful he never quite managed to obtain whilst awake. Jin wondered if he ever had.
Silly thoughts during the morning’s sunrise. Lovely shades of gold danced on Kame’s hair and in the awfully thin duvet they shared.
Jin could see the white cloud of frost dancing in the air whenever they breathed and enjoyed a particularly long exhale. Crystal diamonds sparkled and reflected colourful spectrums.
He would’ve tried to touch them with his cool fingertips had he bothered to bring them to the crisp morning air. But he didn’t.
He couldn’t quite put his finger on the reason why he didn’t feel so grumpy. His stomach was growling and a headache was nicely reminding him of his caffeine deprivation but still his mind felt too stable to throw a fit. Whatever it meant.
A snowflake fell on his lips. He was kissed by the early winter’s first-snow. A small smile found its way on his lips. He didn’t know if it was the first-snow for this universe, but for him it was the first one of this particular winter. It was quite enough.
More flakes started falling. They danced and swirled around them, soft and light. It must’ve really been cold outside.
Jin let his eyes fall blissfully closed again after shuffling closer to Kame in order to share more warmth. The trick seemed to be working after long-term mutualism. It felt good.
He let his body relax and the hazy state between sleep and awareness lull him in. The entire world was softly spinning and being carried by the gentlest of waves.
He didn’t know how long it took but he could feel Kame shuffling tiredly by his side. His ears picked up on a silent yawn and heavier breaths, ones that bothered him in the awake-state. He himself couldn’t quite force himself up yet.
It was better to play the role of a heavy sleeper and enjoy the comfortable temperature for as long as he could. He never really was a morning person after all.
He could feel Kame’s warm and almost odourless breath grazing his face. The tickling felt sort of nice.
It had been a while since he had had any sort of enjoyable intimacy with anyone. He had quite forgotten how lovely of a feeling it was.
Kame’s body pressed softly closer and a hesitant hand set down on the slight curve of his hip. He could hear Kame’s heartbeat in his ears. It sounded pained. Now that he thought about it Kame’s breathing sounded a bit pained too.
He wondered if Kame’s face would seem pained if he was to open his weary eyes.
He could feel wet droplets from the melted snowflakes on his face as Kame’s breathing got closer. …His face got closer.
Jin could feel his heartbeat speeding up. It felt right. The closeness. …For once it really did feel right. Amazingly so.
Kame’s lips hovered only a few millimetres from his. He was hesitant. In the end Jin could hear a beaten sigh and Kame merely pressed their foreheads together, shuffling even closer.
Maybe Kame wanted to go back to sleep. Maybe he wanted to pretend like he did - maybe they just both wanted to be close but neither dared to.
He wanted to dare. He could feel the pull.
He closed the gap between their lips and let his eyes flutter slightly open. Kame winced and tried to pull away in shock but Jin finally moved his hands to the nape of his neck, raised his body slightly and kissed him better.
Two pairs of warm, gentle lips were massaging each other under the golden rays of morning sunshine and falling first-snow. Quite a cliché they were.
Kame warmed up to his touch and kissed him back, lips sucking and pulling on his. Jin could feel his own breath hitching. He pulled slightly away, the frosts from their breaths tangled together and forming droplets on their lips. Kame’s eyes stared at his, his hands slowly making their way up his shoulders.
There was an odd bang somewhere within him. It almost made him want to cry but that could’ve just been his morning mood-swings. He leaned down to press his lips a bit more demandingly on Kame’s and Kame answered, growing hungrier and more desperate every second.
Kame rolled them over and settled on his lap. He pulled his mittens off and caressed his face with trembling fingers and palms. They pressed their noses and foreheads together, enjoying the racing breathing between them. Jin could feel Kame’s pounding heart against his chest.
It was silent and motionless for a while if the hesitant but determined caresses didn’t count. Jin circled his arms around Kame’s lean back and kept him close. Their eyes kept shuffling to each other and away and there was nothing they could do.
It would’ve been a perfect time to confess yet neither did. They waited and waited, trying to urge each other with the caresses and occasionally touching lips, occasionally sucking lips but still neither did. Neither had the courage to open their mouths to break the silence and tell what already pranced through both of their heads.
Kame let out a disappointed sigh and almost withdrew hesitantly but Jin tore his own mittens away and placed his hands on Kame’s shoulder blades in panic. His heart sped up even more. …No. He didn’t want that. Separation.
He had felt the bang. That was it. It was all he needed to know right now.
He forced his torso upwards slightly to reach Kame’s lips again, trying to appear as eager as he felt. He prayed Kame could feel it, that Kame would actually stay and the bang would hold on to all the cracks they had and would be having. It was too overwhelming.
He buried his face and breathed in Kame’s scent from his neck, trying to shuffle closer. Kame flinched but Jin could feel a pleasant tremble running up his spine even through the thick winter jacket the stranger had given him on the streets with no snowfall.
He started slowly opening the buttons in Kame’s winter jacket and to his surprise Kame didn’t shy away but unzipped his, pulling him out of it faster than he managed to unbutton his. It was kind of unsettling. Kame fixed the duvet over them, making sure the warmth wasn’t escaping anywhere and shed his own jacket. Jin could feel the firm muscles better under the thin layer of his shirt.
His heart was running really fast by now and he didn’t want to imagine the look on his face. He wasn’t even quite sure what it would be - what did the desire he felt at the moment look like? He was convinced he looked like an idiot, a lost and helpless idiot who suddenly was helplessly head over heels in love with someone superior who was doing dirty things on him.
Hey. That setting didn’t seem quite right. He furrowed his brow in dislike.
Kame disappeared somewhere under the duvet and Jin could feel his jeans’ zipper sliding down maddeningly. How did they end up in some abandoned alleyway having sex in the cold, outside and exposed like this? Crazy. Absolutely crazy.
He didn’t want to give it away though. Not when he kicked his shoes off and felt his clothing disappear from under his waist.
The ground felt cold even though they had done a decent job in previously warming it through the hours.
“M-my wallet,” he managed to mumble and Kame’s head peeked out from under the duvet with a confused look on his face. Jin swallowed and tried his best to get his incoherent head straight. “C-condoms. Condoms.”
“Are you diseased?” Kame asked straight. Jin winced and closed his eyes. Maybe he should’ve just kept his mouth closed. …Condoms did feel a bit like in need for either a girl or some random one night stand that didn’t matter. …He wondered what he made Kame feel like. He was almost tempted to lie.
“No,” he mumbled and ran his fingers through Kame’s hair shakily. “I just thought. You know. There’s no harm but…”
To his surprise after Kame withdrew himself under the blanket he could feel shuffling and the sound of breaking the seal of the plastic wrapper rang in his ears.
He really didn’t do himself a favour in not making himself feel more like a girl now, did he? He cursed silently and bit his lip as he could feel Kame’s fingers and lips on his naked skin and in places he rather kept unmentioned.
There was a lot of awkward and uneasy shuffling before Kame returned properly on top of him, sliding his head from under the duvet. Jin could feel a soft rocking on his hips and winced, reaching down for himself.
Pain he could handle. He might’ve been a little rusted but he could handle it and it wasn’t like Kame wasn’t being as careful with him as he possibly could, when given the situation and lacking equipment.
Jin wrapped his free arm better around the body on top of him and let it slide down the toned back to the hips. He grasped a hold of Kame’s buttocks and rocked him in a pleasant way while Kame’s lips attacked his neck, making him writhe.
Every now and then, he saw white. He wasn’t sure whether it was their frosted breaths, the snow or merely something related to their doings - sometimes in the middle of sexual intercourse he just lost the track of things like that.
Kame was good, though. It felt amazing with Kame as the man devoured him, held and rocked into and out of him like something he had yearned for for the longest of time. Perhaps he had, perhaps, perhaps.
Now that he thought about it, Kame had been the gentlest to him for the longest of time. It had all built up to this moment now, to the peaceful and right moment with no words exchanged, merely occasional sounds and bodily unison.
Jin wailed quietly as he came in his hand, crushed between the two sandwiched bodies. Ridiculous. He caught Kame’s lips in a kiss and could feel Kame wince and jerk slightly as he followed his lead, heart beating rapidly.
Kame broke the unison and collapsed over him, wrapping him tightly in his arms. Jin smiled in his shoulder. …This was how he wanted to be. Like this and perhaps with Kame, very likely with Kame. Even with all the man’s annoyances… this was what he wanted to wake up in the morning to.
Hell, he couldn’t quite remember the last time he hadn’t been so cranky in the morning. He wished to god it wasn’t going to follow now after a small moment of bliss and happiness.
“Why did it feel so good with you on top?” he wondered with a mutter, circling his hands around Kame’s naked hips. Kame pressed a kiss on the bridge of his nose, his breathing heavy against his face. The closeness made his hair stand erected.
“Because I feel so much for you. I have so much for you that you can’t even begin to have it for me,” he mumbled, his voice a few pitches higher than the usual. “I have so many things I haven’t told you. It feels so bad and I’m so afraid of losing you.”
A lot of words that made him feel important and cherished in one incoherent speech. Jin pecked Kame’s lips softly, sitting up and wrapping the duvet better around them. Some cold air got in and they shivered, grimacing at each other. Maybe winter wasn’t quite the correct timing for outside activity.
“I think I might love you,” Jin mumbled, keeping their close proximity up. “I just realised. It sounds stupid but it’s just something I thought.”
Not maybe the most romantic or believable way of saying it but it managed to make Kame chuckle oddly nonetheless. Maybe he could’ve enjoyed it more if he hadn’t sound so guilt-ridden.
Jin withdrew concernedly. He didn’t quite like Kame’s tone and babbling.
“…What’s wrong?” he prodded warily. He had a feeling he was about to come down from his high. Kame was going to break his ignorant little bubble and he was not going to like it. It was written all over Kame’s pretty face. “What are you keeping from me?”
Kame gulped and pressed his lips into a tight line. Jin grew concerned and impatient. The falling snow was settling down on Kame’s hair, remaining there in the complex structures. He wanted to wipe it away but didn’t feel like getting closer to Kame. Not before he knew.
“Jin…” Kame tried starting but Jin shook his head and glared at him warningly. He wasn’t going to take any of Kame’s pretty little stories anymore. Not now. He was in too deep for his shit. He wanted cold facts.
What could it be if it made Kame so anxious? He couldn’t think of anything. It was unnerving.
“I’m so sorry, Jin,” Kame managed to get out of his mouth, bowing his head down and fighting to keep his words steady and free from stumbling and stuttering. “I’m sorry I lied to you. I just didn’t think… It’s all… I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Please.”
An apology was never a safe way to start a serious conversation. It started to feel threatening and Jin had a strong feeling he was about to be beaten down. He felt his expression harden and muscles tense as he shoved Kame lightly, silently urging him on.
“You can return to your universe,” Kame admitted, voice strained. “You can but you shouldn’t. If you just remove that ring you’ll be back before you even realise it but don’t,” he begged, taking a hold of his hands. Jin groaned.
“So you lied to me?” he grumbled coldly. “That’s big. That’s a fucking big thing you lied about, I thought I’d never see anyone I knew ever again! It isn’t your decision to make!” he flared up, starting to feel up the ground to find his missing clothing. “What’s so bad about me going back? I can always come with you and then return with you when you’re ready. It’s where I belong, Kame. It’s my place in this… this… fuck, how do you even call something that consists of all of those idiotic universes!?”
Kame drew in a deep breath. Jin flinched.
“…That wasn’t it, was it?” he laughed unbelievingly. “You have more.”
Kame bit his lip, seemingly even more and more lost and anxious. He felt withdrawn and all Jin could really focus on was the distance. The motherfucking distance between them. It whisked Kame light-years away.
Kame leaned forwards, wrapped his arms gently around him and pressed his face against his clothed chest. Jin wanted to be softer on him but he couldn’t. It only made him miserable.
It felt like the beginning of an end.
Funny. It had only just a few moments ago felt like the beginning of something long-lasting. Something strong and vibrant that was now veiled with misery and greyness.
“If I go to my own universe and kill Yokoyama without giving the universes the chance to divide… some possibilities that now exist will cease existing,” Kame whispered, agony lacing his voice. His thin fingers ran hesitantly up and down his back, getting tangled in the fabric of his shirt. “I’ve entered a universe where he’s killed Tackey - once my revenge is over it cannot exist anymore. The me entering that universe will vanish into nothingness as well and cannot ever reach the places I’ve reached afterwards.”
Jin listened. Sometimes he hated how complex Kame’s world could be. More often than not he found himself without the ability to comprehend Kame’s monologues.
“…Will you… disappear?” he asked anxiously, wrapping his arms tighter around Kame. …Would he do it? With such a prize to pay? He couldn’t, just couldn’t. “No. Don’t. Not now.”
“No. No no no,” Kame grimaced, gripping him tighter, his breathing escalating. All remains of the previous bliss and peacefulness were fast gone, left in the past moment. It probably couldn’t ever be the same again. “The then-future me will cease existing but I’ve travelled through time and won’t follow as a ghost what I’ve done mindlessly, I live my own life. I’m gone from those places, nothing will happen to me. I’ll be alright.”
“Then I don’t get it,” Jin admitted, gritting his teeth. “Then what are you stressing so much about?”
“If that universe disappears without a trace, taking everything it contains with it along with every single one of its galaxies… once the ghost-me following time will enter it cannot. It’ll slip into nothingness as well. It cannot go to places I’ve gone afterwards,” Kame tried to explain. Jin cursed in his mind why Kame couldn’t just make it simple to him. If he would’ve things would’ve been a lot easier for both of them, he was sure.
He started thinking harder, trying to make something, anything out of Kame’s absurdities.
“…Will I cease existing?” he realised, mouth hanging slightly open. “Are you going to kill me, Kame?”
“No,” Kame shook his head again in frustration, withdrawing to an arm’s length and holding on tightly to his shoulders. Jin swore bruises were forming on his skin where Kame’s fingers pressed strongly. “Not if you’re with me. If you just stay with me nothing will happen to you.”
“Then what is it?!” Jin finally lost his nerve. “Do you intend to keep me here guessing like a complete idiot for the rest of the day? Just spit it out! I hate it when you make me feel like a fool,” he grimaced dangerously, finally found his boxers, pushed Kame off and started pulling them on.
“It’s your universe,” Kame whispered with numb lips, eyes glazed. “In total I think for now it’s about sixty universes plus their countless divisions.”
Jin’s head snapped up. …He had to be misunderstanding. He was just an idiot who didn’t get anything Kame ever talked about - that’s what it had to be again. The thing he was thinking about had to be as ridiculous and pathetic of an interpretation of Kame’s words as it could. There couldn’t be any sense behind the conclusion his mind reached.
“Jin, your universe will cease existing,” Kame repeated. “Of course there’s the sector which carries the possibility of me never entering that will go on peacefully without my disturbance, but that isn’t yours. I entered yours. It’s going to vanish,” Kame apologized, his hands sliding down his arms as he studied the disbelieving and anxious expression that spread on his face.
“No,” he muttered stupidly. “What about everyone? My family and friends? People who exist there? What about them?”
Kame remained quiet. …Jin understood.
Panic. He stood on his feet, leaving the warmth and safety of the duvet and shivering furiously in the freezing morning air. It couldn’t be.
He pressed his fingers furiously on the ring Kame had provided him with and backed away threateningly. Kame shot up to his feet, covering his body with the duvet. Their clothes lay exposed on the ground, dampened by the snow and dirtied by the ground.
“No, don’t,” Kame stuttered. “If you go I can’t find you anymore. I can’t save you.”
“Oh really?” Jin spat furiously. “So now I matter? What about everyone else?! Your vendetta is more important than billions and billions of people! Or more? Oh god, it’s more,” he realised in shock. “I can’t believe you. You’re seriously going for it. You’re going for it like it’s nothing at all.”
“It’s not that simple,” Kame tried to defend himself while pulling his boxers on. Jin dashed at his jeans and shoes, dressing himself up furiously.
“I’ve had enough,” he declared strongly as he zipped up his jacket. Kame grasped his sleeve strongly, holding on tight to him. He yanked his hand violently away. “Let me go!”
“What if I don’t do it?!” Kame bellowed at him furiously, face reddened. “You know why he killed Tackey, you know it, I told you! What if he starts taking over universes, what if we get universe wide wars!? Is that better?”
“That’s an excuse,” Jin snorted, fixing his hair. “That’s your excuse for mass murder.”
“It’s not really murder,” Kame tried. “I’m just changing the natural flow of things.”
“How about you fucking STOP PLAYING A GOD!” Jin roared and pushed Kame violently, making him stumble to the ground. “You’re such a hypocrite. They’re evil because they killed someone yet you’re planning to do it for an uncountable amount of people all around the universes. That’s sick. You’d kill my family. You’d kill Pi and all of my friends, you’d kill everyone I ever knew to get back at this Yokoyama of yours. You’re disgusting.”
Kame’s eyes glistened and he was biting back bitter tears. Jin couldn’t tell if he was any better.
“Why can’t you just let it be?” he asked quietly. “Just let go already. People get killed, it happens. Don’t become worse than them.”
“I told you ever since the beginning,” Kame smiled sadly, his shoulders hanging exhaustedly. “There are only bad guys in this war. The good guys don’t exist.”
Jin smiled bitterly. …It was too much. He turned around and started hurrying away.
“Where are you going?!” Kame yelled after him. Jin fastened his steps even though Kame’s didn’t follow. He probably didn’t dare to come after him. “Jin! It isn’t safe here!”
“I don’t care!” Jin spat out his last words and turned around the corner without looking back.
He pressed his palm on his mouth to keep quiet. He couldn’t cry, he had to stay in control. He didn’t cry. Things weren’t that bad.
…Who was he trying to fool? He was stuck in a hostile universe that seemed to have everything but warmth, he didn’t know anyone, his money probably wouldn’t exist in this place, his heart was broken and there was a maniac on the loose about to destroy his right place in the existing everything.
He fiddled with the ring in his pinky but didn’t dare to remove it. He just couldn’t.
If he did, who was to say he wouldn’t disappear too?
A strong possibility was that Kame wouldn’t stop but continue onward with his plan without him and succeed in his horrible task.
At least he shouldn’t feel a thing.
--
No food, no cigarettes, no coffee, no people to converse with - nothing. The plain streets were filled with people mostly avoiding his gaze and moving in tight packs, dodging other groups and him as they slipped by.
He walked forwards and tried to look around and determine the functions and ways of the place just like Kame had taught was important. The walls and store windows were filled with posters of an unfamiliar face and printings with what was probably text but he didn’t have the ability to read.
Did everything have to be made so difficult for him?
Somewhere in the far distance, deeper in the city perhaps, the only concrete sounds were blasting. The voice carried far, probably with the usage of technology that (thank god) seemed to exist even in this place. Jin sniffed, pulled his freezing hands in his sleeves and let his feet carry him forward on the hostile streets.
The buildings rose far high towards the sky, reaching for the dirty gray clouds. No matter how much he tried to look, he couldn’t detect anything green, not even simple balcony flowers. Decorations didn’t seem to exist in this universe and a lot of things seemed simply broken.
Of course the place he’d end up stuck in had to be so pretty goddamn fucking depressing. And it deserved all of the curse words directed at it if not even a million more.
He wiped his weary eyes shakily and tried to lock his emotions in. What was the use of letting his thoughts run freely when all they could bring him was helplessness, pain and fear? What he had gone through was the sickest kind of betrayal and there was no use arguing against it. The good intentions were gone and failed with selfishness and cruelty.
He followed the loudly blaring noises that lead him to the front of a big glass-walled building that didn’t rise quite as far as the other buildings but seemed at least a thousand times more elegant and important than them. On the third floor’s spacious balcony was standing a man with his four bodyguards, two on each side, giving a speech. Jin walked into the mass of people surrounded, looking disgusted but not saying a word as they stared at the same sight as him.
“Excuse me,” he tried to mutter quietly as he forced his way through the crowd. It was unsettling to see so many people in here so close to each other in such an enormous group.
He squinted his eyes to detect the faces of the people standing far above him when a nasty grip set on his shoulder, startling him. He turned around and stared face to face with a man in a sort of formal-looking attire.
The man said something to him threateningly and Jin looked around, the crowd’s eyes shifting at him in-between their paid focus to the person giving the speech. He felt sweat prickling on his forehead. It couldn’t be anything good.
“Everything alright?” the man switched language and Jin felt relief washing over him at the familiar sound of Japanese grazing his ears. He opened his mouth in order to respond before he saw the narrowing eyes of the man.
Maybe it was a trap. Words got stuck on his throat.
“Huh?” he tried to switch in English and hide his near screw up. “Whaaat?”
The man seemed as surprised and clueless as him, a hand still pressing on his shoulder as he seemed to ponder between the possibilities of what to do.
Jin felt his palms sweating and heart racing as he waited for what felt like an eternity. He couldn’t detect in how big of a trouble he was in but it couldn’t be anything good. Especially since he didn’t really belong here.
If they would ask for papers or identity, he’d be butchered in no time.
Finally the man shook his head but started dragging him across the crowd towards the building.
Now, how would he get himself out of this? He wasn’t Kame, he didn’t carry with him a fucking time-manipulator as the man liked to call it nor had he ever been taught how to enter the goddamn continuum.
For how long had he even been alone? A simple funny hour?
He really was a trouble magnet.
People stared at him rudely as he was pushed past the Asian-looking security men in the same kind of attires as the man dragging him and he was pushed in with still no privacy thanks to the glass windows. He was gulping as the man dragged him further in.
At least the floor wasn’t made of glass. It could’ve been slippery under his feet.
He wondered if the entire building would break if someone fell badly enough and cracked the glass. What a security threat. Unless it was hardened some way. It probably was so. The people within the building didn’t seem to be too liked by the people standing outside.
The man dragged him forcibly in a room surrounded by actual coverings where eight people sat and laughed, cards in their hands and obviously in mid-game.
“Yamapi,” the man holding him called and Jin felt his eyes widen as his eyes found the said man, raising his hand and waving. “You know English, right?”
“English?” Yamapi answered in confusion and looked at him. “Someone speaks English in here? Jesus. Now that’s a surprise.”
“Maybe he’s a foreigner. But I think you should check,” the man shrugged and pushed him towards the replicate of his friend. Yamapi pouted and put his cards in the man’s hand, removing himself from his seat and pushing the man holding him down.
“I’m trusting you with my game, Toma!” Pi kicked the chair jokingly but still very, very seriously. “If you make me fall behind, you’re paying for the damage!”
A man laughed maliciously from the other side of the table. Jin felt the urge to roll his eyes but held on to his clueless expression. He wasn’t supposed to understand Japanese.
If only had he been a better liar.
“Okay, come,” Yamapi instructed him, as he started dragging him out of the room and up the stairs. Jin jogged to keep up with what he had to tell himself was a stranger but still managed to sting nastily.
He wondered if he should just remove the ring in his hand and get away while he still could but what if he would eventually disappear anyway? …He didn’t want to. Dying was scary.
Only as a last resort, he promised himself as an iron fist gripped tightly his intestines. Only as a last resort.
He was pushed into a small room with covered walls on the fifth floor. He panted as Pi sat him forcibly in a chair and pulled one from under a table to himself, sitting on it the wrong way around and leaning his arms to its backrest as he threateningly looked at him.
“What is your name?” Yamapi started with a bit funnily sounding English. Jin wondered if he should lie but couldn’t come up with anything but Kame’s name fast enough and he had a feeling if he’d let that slip through his mouth he’d really be done for.
“Akanishi Jin,” he answered and immediately proceeded to curse himself mentally. If this was somehow related to Kame’s chasers, he was done for. They knew his name.
Still, Yamapi seemed to remain oblivious and raised his eyebrows, urging him on. “Japanese name?”
“I’m American,” Jin proceeded to answer, hoping to god his English skills would save him. Thank god for what it seemed Yamapi’s English skills didn’t quite match his.
Wait. Did America even exist in this universe?
“American?” Pi nodded and grunted, his eyebrows furrowing as if he was deep in thought. “…American.”
Jin gulped. He better not have talked himself straight to trouble.
He couldn’t even plead his friend for mercy because it wasn’t his friend. His friend was on the bad side in this place.
Someone knocked in the door and both of their heads snapped at the direction as Koki opened the door. Jin froze and stared at him eye-to-eye. Still, there didn’t appear to be any sign of recognition from the other man’s side.
Another bunch who just hadn’t stumbled across him yet, then?
“Koki,” Yamapi breathed out in relief. “Can you remember where America is?”
Jin felt his palms sweating. Oh shit. Oh shit. He was done for.
Koki furrowed his eyebrows. “America?”
“Yeah,” Pi nodded, still seemingly bothered about the matter. “He says he’s from America. Speaks English.”
“And they expect us to remember all of this place’s countries,” Koki snorted in annoyance. “No idea. I’ve heard it somewhere, maybe it’s a little place somewhere or something.”
Not so little. That was almost degrading to the America he knew. Jin proceeded to bite his lip and look around the room while he uneasily shifted on his chair. He couldn’t show he understood what the men were talking about. It was a miracle no one had seen through his bad lying yet.
“Maybe,” Yamapi shrugged. “I wonder if I should check.”
No. No no no no no, Yamapi couldn’t check, what if America didn’t exist here? From the sound of it there was a great possibility for that. Jin felt his blood run cold.
“Nah,” Koki shook his head. “What was he even taken in for? Speaking English? We’ve come across a lot of people who speak similar languages. Just let him go, he looks like he’s ready to shit his pants.”
Jin felt colour rushing to his cheeks and faked a cough fit to cover it up. The two men’s eyes were on him and he rubbed his arm in a warming manner, nodding with a grimace on his face.
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” he assured. “Cold.”
“Ah. Alright,” Yamapi nodded. “I’ll help you out.”
Koki patted Yamapi’s shoulder before he stopped, remembering something.
“Oh yeah, I had a reason to be looking for you,” he said. “Someone’s reported seeing Kamenashi around. It could be a false alarm but Yokoyama wants us to go and check anyway. He tells you to grab your gun and join the force.”
Now there were an awful lot of familiar names. Jin felt fear creeping up his spine.
“Now?” Yamapi whined. “I’m in the middle of a game!”
“All of NEWS is going,” Koki rolled his eyes. “We need to search the entire city. Just let the man go, grab your gun and let’s go.”
“Fuck,” Yamapi scoffed and helped Jin up from the chair. “Sometimes I don’t like this job.”
“Tell me about it,” Koki moaned. “I’m sick of Kamenashis. If only killing him once would be enough but he just keeps popping up.”
Alright, now there was killing involved. Jin couldn’t help but stare at Pi and Koki.
He was held captive by murderers. …His best friend was a murderer.
When he was let out he forced his way through the crowd. He had to find Kame first.
He gave one last look at the balcony where the man still went on with his speech. Now that he really focused, the three people standing around him were threateningly familiar to him. The spokesperson’s face was familiar too.
It was the one plastered all over the windows in the city.
He ran faster.
Maybe Kame was long gone already.