Fic-Raising Akame Chapter 11 (Final)
Title: Raising Akame
Rating: PG-14
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies
Genre: AU Romance
Word Count: 2,700+
Summary: Jin was barely two years old and Kazuya was a day old when they first met. From that time on, their mothers knew there exist Akame and they must serve as Akame's guardians through the years.
A/N: Yes, folks. This is the last. Thank you for reading this far.
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10
Raising Akame
Chapter 11: Twenty-five and Twenty-seven (Final)
His phone rang. Jin, sleeping on his belly, automatically reached for the bedside table but the phone wasn't there. Eyes still closed, he reached for the floor, groped around until he found his jacket and grappled inside it to retrieve the still ringing phone.
“Hmmm,” Jin said.
“Jin, where are you?”
“Am 'ere,” Jin grumbled, still half-asleep.
“What?”
“Home...” His fogged mind can only tell it was a woman's voice on the other end of the line.
“Look, I need to see you. It's about the caterer...I mean, the catering.”
Jin grunted. It's his mother.
“Where are you, Jin?” his mother asked, voice a little louder.
Jin opened his eyes. Memories of the night before all came back to him. He turned on his side. “Home,” came his reply. “I'm home.” And he ended the call.
He wasn't in his own room in his own apartment but he is home. He smiled. He lightly traced a finger from between the brows through the length of the nose down to slightly parted lips of his one great love.
Stay. That was all it took. One single word he barely heard from across the street.
And he did. He will because he wouldn't mind waking up everyday that way.
Jin kissed Kazuya, careful not to wake him. Then he got up, got dressed and left the room.
In Kazuya's kitchen, he took a paper table napkin and scribbled on it. He took a drink of cold water while he read his note again. Satisfied, he laid it down on the counter and placed the glass on top to keep it from being flown off. He took his car keys and whistled on his way out feeling like the sun shone just for him that morning.
♥
Kazuya woke up and found he was alone. The night before, he finally found the courage to ask Jin something he couldn't do seven years ago. He asked him to stay. And Jin did. At least for the night.
With a heavy heart, he got up, padded out of his room and automatically headed for the kitchen. The first thing he saw was the paper towel on the kitchen counter weighed down by a half empty glass of water. Most of the words written were already blotted by the moisture from the glass. But the handwriting was distinctly Jin's, Kazuya can tell. And the message clear enough.
♥
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For not killing me.”
“I should, you know.”
Jin knows he should feel enormously guilty but he wasn't. Not especially because the pretty young lady in front of him looked more relieved than devastated. Still, he felt compelled to say, “I'm sorry.”
Leah laughed. “You're not! You cannot stop smiling, baka!”
Jin tried to bite of the smile that won't leave him. “Well, you're not as broken as you should be.”
“You egoistic bastard,” she jokingly accused. They both laughed. When the laughter subsided, Leah turned serious. “It's okay. I was never sure if we were really in love anyway. Heck, I don't even know what being in love looks like.” She paused then said, “Until I saw you with Kazuya.”
Jin's left eyebrow slightly rose. He tilted his head, inquiring.
Leah took a deep breath. “It's called woman's instinct, Jin. You wouldn't know it because you're a man.” Then she added, “Men are stupid.”
♥
“Jesus God, Kazuya! Where the hell are you?” Jin worriedly exclaimed, pacing back and forth and looking at his phone every few seconds.
It had been two days since he left Kazuya's apartment and he has not seen nor talked to the younger man. Kazuya hadn't shown up in his shop. His assistant said he found a long letter inside the shop with a detailed instruction on preparations for the wedding reception. Kazuya neither came home to his apartment. Jin knows because he had been keeping vigil in front of Kazuya's apartment for two nights. He had not been answering his phone either. Kazuya seem to have vanished in thin air. Not even his mother knows where he is.
That morning, Jin finally received a message from Kazuya in his phone. I'm sorry. I can't have you leaving me again.
“Goddammit, Kazuya! I'm not leaving you!” he shouted at his phone when his call was again diverted to a voice mail box. “How many times do I have to tell you I won't ever leave you!” He raised his arm, intending to throw his useless phone but he stopped. Kazuya might call.
Jin didn't like the deja vù. Everytime Kazuya stopped talking to him, it last for years. The last time that happened, he thought he would never see him again. The more he thought about it, the more worried he got.
He has to know where Kazuya is. He was desperate. And the one person Jin knows who can get him Kazuya is his mother.
Jin stopped pacing and turned around. “What took you so long?” he asked impatiently as soon as his mother came down the stairs.
“I took a bath and good afternoon to you, too,” Mrs. Akanishi said, unaffected. “Leah called, by the way.”
Jin stopped. “Leah?”
“Yes, Leah. She called to apologize because she had called off the wedding.” The woman didn't bother to hide the delight in her tone.
Jin smirked at his mother. “Now that the wedding's off you can suddenly pronounce her name with no problem.”
Mrs. Akanishi smiled from ear to ear. “Well, she is such a sensible girl.” Jin smirked once more. “And how is Kazuya?”
“I don't know,” Jin replied. “Do you?”
Mrs. Akanishi lost the smile on her face. “What do you mean you don't know? What have you done now?”
“I didn't do anything! He's gone. I don't know where he is. Do you?”
The phone rang. Mother and son stopped and looked at the phone. Mrs. Akanishi motioned at Jin and went to take the call. Jin watched his mother. He got worried when his mother looked at him, face a mask of concern.
Mrs. Akanishi replaced the receiver. “Kazuya's in a hospital.”
Jin froze. “What? Why? What happened?”
“He may have gotten hit.”
Jin's heart lurched. No. No way. He grabbed his jacket and his car keys. “Which hospital?”
“I'm going with you,” his mother said. “I'll just get my coat.”
“Let's go, oka-asan!” Jin almost shouted.
On their way, the woman kept trying to assure her son that everything is going to be okay but Jin did not seem to hear her. She watched her son try to keep himself together. She watched him fend off the tears by muttering curses at other cars. She didn't even mind that Jin was driving at death-defying speed.
Mrs. Akanishi couldn't keep up with her son who half-run through the hospital corridors. But as soon as they reached the room, Jin stopped, enabling her to catch up. “It's gonna be okay, honey,” she assured him. She opened the door for him but Jin remained frozen in his step. She went in and immediately found her friend.
Mrs. Kamenashi stood up, lets go of the unconscious Kazuya's hand and stepped forward towards her long-time friend.
“How is he?” Mrs. Akanishi asked.
Before the other woman could answer, Jin charged in. He overtook his mother, nearly knocking her over. He clasped with both hands Kazuya's limp hand. “Kazuya...” Jin softly cried out. Seeing the scratches and bruises on Kazuya's sleeping face, tears started to trickle down his face. The two women stayed on the background, talking in hushed voices.
“Wake up...” Jin's voice broke. “Please wake up. Don't leave me.”
Mrs. Kamenashi approached the forlorn man. “Jin...”
Jin ignored her and continued talking to the unconscious love of his life. “I never left you. You know, I never did. So don't do this to me!”
Kazuya's mother gently laid a hand on Jin's shoulder. “Jin...”
Jin shrugged her off. “Don't leave me...Please wake up.” Tears streaming down his face, he bent down and planted a kiss on Kazuya's lips.
Kazuya's eyes fluttered open.
Jin's heart leapt. “You're awake!” Jin exclaimed. He wiped the tears from his eyes and he smiled. “You're awake, Kazu.” Just then, a nurse came in and Jin turned to her and exuberantly announced, “He's awake!”
“Because you woke him up,” the nurse scolded. “He's over-fatigued and he needs some sleep. But you woke him up.” The nurse placed on the bedside table a tray with a single glass of water. Without another word, the nurse walked out.
Jin looked at the dazed Kazuya. Then he turned and looked accusingly at the two older women.
“You won't let me explain,” Mrs. Kamenashi said, matter-of-factly.
Mrs. Akanishi pointed at herself then turned indignant. “I only said he may have gotten hit. Apparently, he just fell asleep while riding his bike.” She turned towards the other woman. “Let's go and have tea.”
Mrs. Kamenashi nodded. She then approached her son, kissed him and bid him goodbye before walking out of the room with Jin's mother.
Jin looked at Kazuya. Only then did he realize that no apparatus was attached to Kazuya. Not even a simple IV drip. “You're over-fatigued? Where the hell have you been?” he asked, irked at being made to look stupid. He angrily rubbed a hand down his face to wipe off his overzealous tears.
Kazuya blinked a few times then he tried to sit up. Jin helped him. “I've been riding my bike,” he answered, voice still hoarse from sleep. “What are you doing here?”
Jin ignored the question and sat beside Kazuya on the narrow bed, their shoulders touching.“Riding your bike for two days,” Jin repeated, dryly. “May I ask why?”
“I needed to think,” Kazuya said. “Can you hand me the water?”
Jin did and he watched Kazuya empty the glass. He took the emptied glass and replaced it on the table. “Think about what?”
Kazuya leaned back. “I woke up and you were gone. You left.”
“I left a note,” Jin said, his irritation gone and taking pity on the obviously weary man beside him.
“I know. I read it,” Kazuya was glad he was still physically weak because it drained him of emotions, too. He couldn't even feel the pain in his heart he had been nursing the whole time. He just felt numb.
Jin studied Kazuya's face. Jin had written the note in English, something he does automatically. He knows Kazuya's not to keen on the language but his words were simple enough. Brows-knitted, he asked, “Exactly what did you read?”
“C'mon, Jin. I may not be as good as you in English but neither am I that stupid. I can read 'I have to leave,' 'with Leah,' and 'Bye.' I also know what it means,” Kazuya said. Each English word that he uttered caused a pinch in his chest.
Still looking at Kazuya, Jin's frown deepened. “What about the other words? You didn't understand them?”
Kazuya turned his head to look at Jin. “What other words? Those were the only words I read.” Seeing the puzzled look on Jin's face, Kazuya took out something from the back pocket of his pants. It was the note. He slowly unfolded it on his lap then handed it to Jin.
Jin stared at the wrinkled paper napkin. He squinted his eyes and read the note. He stared at the paper again and when the truth finally dawned on him, he took the note and hit Kazuya's head with it. “Baka! The other words were blotted!” He placed the paper on Kazuya's lap. “The whole note read, 'I have to leave. I have to settle things with Leah. I love you. I'll be back soon. 'Bye.'” Jin said, pointing at each word - including those that were mere blots of ink - on the note.
“I can read English but I sure can't read ink blots!” Kazuya retorted, irked. It took him a while to realize what Jin just said. Kazuya looked at the note again, then at Jin. “You didn't leave me?”
“No,” Jin answered.
“You didn't choose Leah?”
“No.”
“You love me?”
“N--,” Jin almost said but caught himself. “Yes, I do.”
Kazuya's heart bloated. He was no longer exhausted. He felt like he was floating. He tried to bite off the smile that he couldn't stop. “What about your wedding?” he asked, wanting to be certain.
“For one,” Jin started. “Your service was terminated.” He paused, waiting for Kazuya to react. Sure enough, Kazuya's expression turned serious. Jin tried not to smile when he said, “I mean, what kind of caterer sleeps with the groom.” Kazuya smiled again. “And then the bride fired me because I decided I'd sleep with the caterer forever.” Kazuya's smile widened.
Jin leaned forward. Knowing Jin's intent, Kazuya tilted up his face. But Jin stopped short. “By the way, what exactly did you mean when you said you're sorry you can't have me leaving you again?” Jin asked instead.
Kazuya 'tsk'-ed at the interrupted kiss. He drew back. “I meant, I won't let you leave me.” Sheepishly, he pointed towards the bedside table. Jin turned to look and only then noticed the a heap of stems, leaves and multi-colored petals on it. Very softly, Kazuya mumbled, “I was going to woo you back.”
It was Jin's turn to bite off the smile on his lips as he felt his chest expand. He turned to look at Kazuya. “You intended to woo me with mangled flowers?” he teased.
Kazuya gave out a short laugh. “I guess, I fell on it,” he said, feeling silly.
Jin chuckled and said, “Baka.”
Kazuya turned his face towards Jin again. “Can we kiss now?” he asked, impatient. And they did. They kissed the kiss to finally seal their bond.
♥
Jin and Kazuya sat atop the monkey bars, legs dangling and swaying. They have been sitting there for quite some time, enjoying the soft chill of the night. Jin was leaning back, propped up by his stretched arms, hands on the bars, watching the starry skies.
Kazuya clutches the bars on both his sides, head bowed and watching their bare feet. He silently mourns for his big toenail - dark and possibly dead. The other casualty, aside from the flowers, in his unnecessary bike accident.
“Jin...” Kazuya called out after a while. Jin tilted his head to look at his special someone. Kazuya, without looking at the other man, softly said, “If you leave me again, I'll kill you.”
Jin did a double take, taken aback. Recovering, he gave out a short laugh and replied, “If I leave you again, I'll kill myself.”
Still looking down, Kazuya smiled. And they were quiet again. “So how do we thank our mothers?” he asked, after a while, finally looking up at Jin and being awed at how much he loves him.
Jin grew thoughtful. He and Kazuya were fated, he is sure. But they can only be thankful their mothers took over when fate got bogged down. “Let's get married and give them grandchildren,” Jin said.
“Like we could...” Kazuya replied looking down once more and watching both their shod feet.
Jin watched the slightly-frowning Kazuya watch their feet.“We can get married in Los Angeles,” he offered.
Kazuya's head snapped up and he glared at Jin. “I hate Los Angeles,” he declared. He does. He really does. Los Angeles for him sounded like the other woman - or man, in their case.
“Or Canada,” came Jin's quick alternate proposal, seeing Kazuya's reaction. “And we can adopt kids.”
“Yeah...” Kazuya agreed, losing the glare and smiling, thinking he'd love to raise a child with Jin.
“We'll adopt a girl and name her...Ran-chan,” Jin said. Kazuya glared at him again and elbowed his ribs. Then they both laughed, remembering that day. With smiles still plastered on their lips, they kissed. “Kazuya...” Jin murmured on Kazuya's lips. Kazuya grunted, not wanting to break the kiss. “Have you thought about doing it on the monkey bars?”
Kazuya drew back. “No,” he declared. “And no way!” As an afterthought, he added, “Which reminds me, it's your turn.”
“Not!”Jin protested. “I bottomed the last time. At the hospital, remember?”
Kazuya winced at the memory. They barely got dressed and were still catching their breaths when their mothers came in. “I bottomed twice before that. So you owe me one,” he countered, triumphant smile on his face.
Jin feigned a frown. It really doesn't matter as long as it's with Kazuya.
♥
Mrs. Akanishi sighed. “Four kids and not a single girl...” she said.
“You have two boys yourself,” Mrs. Kamenashi said. Then they both laughed. It was a conversation they have repeated through the years. A pointless one, they both know. But it was their way of rationalizing why they both knew their sons are fated.
Both women looked out the window. Their sons were atop the monkey bars on the park just across the house, laughing and jostling each other. For an instant, they saw their sons not as they are but two young boys in their old neighborhood.
“We did it, huh?” Jin's mother said with a smile.
Kazuya's mother nodded. “Yes, we did.”
The End
A/N: And yes, I did. I finally concluded this fic. Of course, I had to end with humor. You didn't expect any other from me, did you?
Final notes: Falling asleep on a bike was an idea I took from the Korean drama Kim Sam Soong. The dead toenail, I owe wooden_buttons because I told her there will be death. And lastly, babe_pig and sheenalinh for asking me to quit procrastinating and just post.
And thus, I say, arigato gozaimasu. *Ashi bows*