Haunted - Chapter 2
Title: Haunted
Author: phoenix_zeal
Pairing: Akame, HayaRyu
Rating: R
Genre: Angst, Romance, Ghost Story
Disclaimer: I do not make any profit from this.
Beta: Myself
Summary: It had been a couple of years since Jin and Kazuya met. The mansion was no longer haunted and their relationship seemed strong. Then they got an opportunity to live in a Scottish castle for awhile. Everything seemed to be normal at first but then odd things began to happen.
Warnings: Mentions of suicide [Non-descriptive]
Notes: Sequel to Reflections. When Jin and Kazuya are around the British characters they're speaking English unless specified otherwise. They speak Japanese when they're alone.
Prologue | Chapter 1
After seeing the ghost, Jin was pretty shaken up and didn’t feel like watching the view from the tallest tower - he was a bit scared of heights anyway. Kazuya went with him to their suite, apparent worry on his face. He’d agreed to talk to James later but for now Jin was his first priority.
“You did see her too, right?” Jin asked and Kazuya nodded. “Why did I see her? I don’t have your gift. I thought that I experienced the haunting in the mansion only because I have a connection to the place.”
“I don’t know”, Kazuya said truthfully. “You never sense anything out of the ordinary, so it’s strange that you saw her when Mr McGregor and Alice didn’t.” He paused to think for a moment. “I was a bit uneasy when Mr McGregor told us about Alice changing after they moved here.”
“Do you think that it’s got something to do with the girl?” Jin sank down on the sofa and Kazuya sat down next to him. “Why couldn’t you sense anything about the castle before?”
Kazuya wasn’t sure about anything. Normally he could read the aura of a building even if it wasn’t downright haunted. He’d get a feeling for things that had happened that and if it was a happy or sad place or something else. In the castle he felt nothing. The previous day he hadn’t thought that it was that strange because he’d been too exhausted, but now it bothered him. He wasn’t trying to block things out so why wasn’t anything coming to him?
“Something is strange”, Kazuya said after thinking for a moment. “I don’t like this.”
“I don’t like when you say things like that”, Jin said, frowning. “You’ll be able to sort things out like you always do, right? You won’t get stabbed like the last time I saw a ghost?”
“I really hope that I won’t. That was kind of Ryu’s fault and he’s not involved this time.”
“Unless we’ve had more previous lives and we lived in this castle during one of them. Then we’d have to deal with even more people in our heads.”
“Don’t say things like that.”
“Sorry.”
Both of them were frowning. They had a lot of things to think about. Kazuya thought that there was actually a possibility that Jin’s theory was true. Why else would Jin see the little girl? Perhaps it was simply because children always seemed to be drawn to Jin and he loved them. Kazuya knew that Jin had dreamt of getting married early and having children before they’d met. He felt a bit guilty about it, but Jin had never mentioned it again after the first time and they were happy together.
Kazuya pushed his insecurities away and wondered why he couldn’t sense anything in the castle. Maybe there was some kind of force there that actively kept him shut out. Or perhaps spirits and other energies were different in Scotland from what they were in Japan. He’d never been abroad before so he didn’t know.
“I really wanted this to be a relaxing trip”, Jin said when they’d been silent for a few minutes.
“I know, me too”, Kazuya said, placing his arms around Jin’s shoulders. “Maybe we’ll get everything for free now that I’ll be doing some extra work, though.”
“If you make me help you I’m going to kick you.”
“Jin, you’re a useless assistant.”
“Gee, thanks”, Jin said and bit down on Kazuya’s neck hard enough to hurt a bit.
“You’ll leave a mark”, Kazuya protested and half-heartedly tried to push Jin away.
“Wear a scarf.”
“It’s summer.”
“Yeah, so? I know you have scarves for summertime too.”
“A ghost might try to strangle me with it”, Kazuya said and that made Jin stop biting and sucking on his neck.
“Fine, I’ll leave marks where you can easily hide them under your normal clothes”, Jin said, eyes glittering mischievously.
“We’ve just seen the ghost of a little girl, my powers aren’t working properly, we have no idea what’s going on and you want to have sex?” Kazuya asked.
“Hayato’s fault.”
“If you keep blaming Hayato I’ll start to think that you don’t actually want me.”
Jin’s expression turned serious. “I do want you, Kazuya.”
“I know, I want you too. I’m not sure if this is the best time, though, I promised to talk to Mr McGregor.”
“You don’t know anything yet”, Jin pointed out and Kazuya caressed his face, smiling slightly.
“Then perhaps I should go try to find out more.”
“I don’t want you to go”, Jin said, leaning into Kazuya’s touch and closed his eyes. “I don’t feel safe without you.”
“You don’t want to go with me either”, Kazuya said. “Maybe you could keep Alice company, I bet she’s feeling pretty freaked out too. She said that it was disappointing that she’d never seen or heard a ghost yesterday when we arrived, but now when she knows there’s one she can’t see she must be afraid.”
“How am I supposed to calm her down when I’m scared too?”
“You’ve faced a ghost that wanted to kill you, Jin, I’m sure that you can handle the thought of a ghost girl. She’s probably just lost and confused. I’ll help her cross over and things will be fine.”
“It doesn’t seem that simple this time with your powers acting weird and all”, Jin said, frowning.
Kazuya didn’t want to admit that he thought so too, because it was his job to make Jin feel safe and calm. He’d wanted to bring the singer along so he could get a break from the stress of being an idol for awhile. It had already failed a bit as Alice knew who Jin was, and Kazuya didn’t want Jin to feel the additional stress that came with being frightened.
“Just trust me”, Kazuya said and kissed Jin softly. “I’ll take care of things. Ask Alice to show you the horses or something, it’ll give the both of you something else to think about.”
“Yeah, I can do that”, Jin said, smiling. “I’ve always wanted to try horseback riding.”
They exchanged a few more kisses before they left their suite. Jin went to find Alice, and Kazuya stopped at the top floor after descending the stairs in the tower the suite was located in. He exited the staircase and walked out into the corridor. It was empty; he couldn’t see or feel the presence of the little girl.
Kazuya didn’t think that any of the McGregors would be in the rooms now, and he took the liberty of checking if the doors were locked or not. He discovered that the McGregors were either very trusting people, or James had unlocked the doors because he’d guessed that Kazuya would want to enter the rooms. It was also possible that they were just too lazy to lock the doors but they didn’t strike him as lazy people.
He decided to start in Alice’s room to see if he could sense something there. Since James had only mentioned a change in her, not in himself or Harriet, it was possible that some kind of energy had its home in her room. It was a big room with lots of floral patterns and stuffed toys. There were a few posters on the wall. There was one of Jin but most of them were of painted landscapes with fantasy creatures in them.
The view from the window was stunning. Kazuya could easily imagine one of the fantasy creatures from the posters suddenly appear on a hill outside. Overall it was a lovely room and Kazuya couldn’t sense anything at all which worried him. He was leaning more towards his theory that something was deliberately blocking him out rather than believing anything else. There was no way that he could have lost the powers that had been so strong for as long as he could remember.
His family had never believed him but he knew that the powers were real and by now he had beyond enough proof. Now when he was on TV, his family had contacted him. They did stay in touch but he was keeping a bit of distance from them. He didn’t trust them enough to tell them that he was in a relationship with Jin.
Kazuya collected his thoughts and moved from room to room. He couldn’t feel a thing about what had happened in them.
“Please let me in, I just want to help”, he said in both English and Japanese but nothing happened.
After awhile he gave up and went to find James, discovering that the man was waiting for him a few steps down the main staircase.
“Jin told me that you were going to try finding something”, James said, considerably less cheerful than Kazuya had seen him before. “I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“I had no luck with my search”, Kazuya said apologetically. “I have never experienced being blocked this way before. I will continue trying later.”
Kazuya thought that he might actually have to ask Jin for help. If the little girl had appeared because of Jin, then she might show up if Kazuya could convince him to go there again. That would probably be difficult, though, and Kazuya started thinking about things he could bribe Jin with.
“I appreciate anything you can do to help”, James said. “We could save money by having real ghosts here but Alice is feeling uncomfortable and honestly, so am I. We haven’t experienced anything odd while living here but it would feel safer knowing that nothing will.”
“I understand. Is Alice okay?”
“She’s out in the stables together with Jin so I’d say she’s over the moon at the moment. Will you join them?”
“Yes, some fresh air would be nice”, Kazuya replied, smiling when James patted his shoulder.
“There’s a good lad, run along then. I’m afraid I’m too busy with work to join you but Alice is probably grateful for that.”
Kazuya laughed as James winked at him before they descended the stairs together. It was a bit weird to be treated as a young boy when he was already a proper adult, and James wasn’t that old. Kazuya supposed that he might look really young to the bearded man. Technically James was old enough to be his father.
After trying out horseback riding with Alice, Jin and Kazuya had dinner alone together - or at least as alone as they could be with other guests at the tables surrounding theirs. They didn’t talk about the event earlier that day. Kazuya wanted to make sure that Jin was in a really good mood before bringing up the possibility of the singer helping him to make the ghost appear.
“Should we talk more to Alice or Mr and Mrs McGregor before going back to our suite?” Jin asked.
“Are you warming up to Alice?” Kazuya smiled teasingly.
“No. Well, yeah.” Jin shrugged. “She’s actually not that bad.”
“She’s nice. I don’t think we’ll have to spend more time with any of them today. It’s already quite late and they probably have other things to do. If they ask we could say that we’re tired and jetlagged.”
“I’m usually the one making excuses so I won’t have to spend extra time with anyone else. What’s happened to you?”
“Maybe I am tired and jetlagged”, Kazuya said. “Or perhaps I thought that we needed a relaxing evening together, just the two of us.”
“The two of us and our past selves you mean”, Jin said but he was smiling.
“They can keep away for once, or at least try to be silent.”
“I bet Ryu is silent a lot while I’m stuck with someone who rarely shuts up.”
“Hmm, Hayato isn’t too happy with you now, is he?”
“Nope.”
They finished their meal and then ascended all of the stairs up to the tower. Their clothes and hair smelled of horses and that was a help to Kazuya’s plan. He pulled his sweater over his head and then looked at Jin.
“I know that we showered this morning but we’re smelly now, so I thought that we could take a bath together”, he said.
“Really?” Jin was surprised. “Normally you never want to take baths together with me.”
It was true; baths were something almost sacred to Kazuya. He’d be able to spend hours alone in a bathtub if the water hadn’t become cold after just awhile. There was just something about it that felt pure.
“I think that it would be nice for once”, Kazuya said and that was all it took for Jin to agree.
Kazuya was the one to prepare the bath because he wanted to get the water temperature just right. Jin usually just took showers - he was too impatient and easily bored for anything else. They discussed which way would be best for them to fit together in the bathtub. Finally they decided that Kazuya would sit in between Jin’s legs with his back to the singer. He leaned back against Jin’s chest and felt the other’s arms wrap around his waist.
“This is actually nice”, Kazuya said.
“Did you expect it not to be?” Jin asked and Kazuya could practically hear his eyebrow rise.
“No, I just thought that it might be a bit awkward since this is the first time.”
“We’ve been a couple for so long now that I wonder if anything can feel awkward anymore.”
“It can be when Hayato and Ryu are involved. We’re supposed to be the same as them but we don’t share all of their memories and experiences. The whole situation with them is so weird that it makes me wonder if we’re really the reincarnations of them.”
“We look exactly like them”, Jin said. “If we’re not their reincarnations, why would they live inside of us?”
“I don’t know”, Kazuya replied, frowning. “People usually don’t look like they did in their previous lives as far as I know. This is something that just doesn’t happen.”
“It happened to us. Why are you thinking about this now? You’ve had a couple of years to think about this.”
“I guess the fact that I can’t sense anything here feels strange and it makes me wonder about the other weird things in my life.”
“Don’t think about it now.” Jin kissed Kazuya’s shoulder. “Even Hayato is shutting up so let your thoughts be silent too.”
“Okay, I’ll try.”
“Don’t just try.”
“Look who’s being bossy”, Kazuya said, laughing. “Haven’t you understood that I’m the one giving orders in this relationship?”
“I thought that it was a give and take kind of thing”, Jin said, one of his hands sneaking lower.
“You might be right”, Kazuya said, suddenly a bit breathless.
“You know that I am. Or I could stop.”
“No, you’re definitely right. Jin?”
“Yes, Kazuya?”
“Since I couldn’t sense anything and nothing would appear when I was on my own, will you come with me tomorrow?”
“Shit, is that why you wanted us to take a bath together?” Jin asked and stopped what he’d been doing. “Sometimes you’re quite manipulative, you know. You could’ve tried a bit harder if you wanted me to do something or, I don’t know, just asked me? I’m not someone you have to bribe or loosen up so I’ll do stuff for you.”
“Jin, I’m sorry”, Kazuya said and wished that he didn’t have his back to Jin and that they weren’t in a crowded bathtub. “That’s not what this was about. I just wanted to do something nice for you, because I feel bad about getting you involved in things I know that you don’t like.”
“If that was the case, you would’ve asked me before doing this. Move, I think I’m clean enough already.”
“Please…”
“Just move”, Jin said and Kazuya did, so he could get out of the tub. “We can sleep in separate beds tonight and no one will have to wonder if there’s anything between us.”
Kazuya looked on helplessly as Jin grabbed a towel and left the bathroom. He didn’t know why the singer had reacted so badly when everything had been fine just a second earlier. Jin wasn’t a dramatic person, at least not when he wasn’t directly influenced by Hayato. Maybe he had been a couple of years ago but he was a lot calmer and more willing to talk things through now. That made Kazuya think that there had to be something else behind it but he couldn’t figure out what. Hopefully it was just from being on edge because of the ghost and from the jetlag.
Kazuya spent some more time in the bath, trying to think things through before the water became too cold and his eyes were practically closing on their own. One of the bedroom doors was closed and he assumed that that was where Jin intended to sleep. He considered knocking but decided against it and went to bed in the empty bedroom. Things between them might be better in the morning when they’d both had some sleep.
---
A/N: I was going to look through this chapter twice but yet again I ended up doing it only once because I'm a lazy ass. Also my grandpa died yesterday so I'm kind of... numb.
Trouble in paradise y'all.
Why did LJ change the look of the cuts? It looks stupid now and it's confusing.
Author: phoenix_zeal
Pairing: Akame, HayaRyu
Rating: R
Genre: Angst, Romance, Ghost Story
Disclaimer: I do not make any profit from this.
Beta: Myself
Summary: It had been a couple of years since Jin and Kazuya met. The mansion was no longer haunted and their relationship seemed strong. Then they got an opportunity to live in a Scottish castle for awhile. Everything seemed to be normal at first but then odd things began to happen.
Warnings: Mentions of suicide [Non-descriptive]
Notes: Sequel to Reflections. When Jin and Kazuya are around the British characters they're speaking English unless specified otherwise. They speak Japanese when they're alone.
Prologue | Chapter 1
After seeing the ghost, Jin was pretty shaken up and didn’t feel like watching the view from the tallest tower - he was a bit scared of heights anyway. Kazuya went with him to their suite, apparent worry on his face. He’d agreed to talk to James later but for now Jin was his first priority.
“You did see her too, right?” Jin asked and Kazuya nodded. “Why did I see her? I don’t have your gift. I thought that I experienced the haunting in the mansion only because I have a connection to the place.”
“I don’t know”, Kazuya said truthfully. “You never sense anything out of the ordinary, so it’s strange that you saw her when Mr McGregor and Alice didn’t.” He paused to think for a moment. “I was a bit uneasy when Mr McGregor told us about Alice changing after they moved here.”
“Do you think that it’s got something to do with the girl?” Jin sank down on the sofa and Kazuya sat down next to him. “Why couldn’t you sense anything about the castle before?”
Kazuya wasn’t sure about anything. Normally he could read the aura of a building even if it wasn’t downright haunted. He’d get a feeling for things that had happened that and if it was a happy or sad place or something else. In the castle he felt nothing. The previous day he hadn’t thought that it was that strange because he’d been too exhausted, but now it bothered him. He wasn’t trying to block things out so why wasn’t anything coming to him?
“Something is strange”, Kazuya said after thinking for a moment. “I don’t like this.”
“I don’t like when you say things like that”, Jin said, frowning. “You’ll be able to sort things out like you always do, right? You won’t get stabbed like the last time I saw a ghost?”
“I really hope that I won’t. That was kind of Ryu’s fault and he’s not involved this time.”
“Unless we’ve had more previous lives and we lived in this castle during one of them. Then we’d have to deal with even more people in our heads.”
“Don’t say things like that.”
“Sorry.”
Both of them were frowning. They had a lot of things to think about. Kazuya thought that there was actually a possibility that Jin’s theory was true. Why else would Jin see the little girl? Perhaps it was simply because children always seemed to be drawn to Jin and he loved them. Kazuya knew that Jin had dreamt of getting married early and having children before they’d met. He felt a bit guilty about it, but Jin had never mentioned it again after the first time and they were happy together.
Kazuya pushed his insecurities away and wondered why he couldn’t sense anything in the castle. Maybe there was some kind of force there that actively kept him shut out. Or perhaps spirits and other energies were different in Scotland from what they were in Japan. He’d never been abroad before so he didn’t know.
“I really wanted this to be a relaxing trip”, Jin said when they’d been silent for a few minutes.
“I know, me too”, Kazuya said, placing his arms around Jin’s shoulders. “Maybe we’ll get everything for free now that I’ll be doing some extra work, though.”
“If you make me help you I’m going to kick you.”
“Jin, you’re a useless assistant.”
“Gee, thanks”, Jin said and bit down on Kazuya’s neck hard enough to hurt a bit.
“You’ll leave a mark”, Kazuya protested and half-heartedly tried to push Jin away.
“Wear a scarf.”
“It’s summer.”
“Yeah, so? I know you have scarves for summertime too.”
“A ghost might try to strangle me with it”, Kazuya said and that made Jin stop biting and sucking on his neck.
“Fine, I’ll leave marks where you can easily hide them under your normal clothes”, Jin said, eyes glittering mischievously.
“We’ve just seen the ghost of a little girl, my powers aren’t working properly, we have no idea what’s going on and you want to have sex?” Kazuya asked.
“Hayato’s fault.”
“If you keep blaming Hayato I’ll start to think that you don’t actually want me.”
Jin’s expression turned serious. “I do want you, Kazuya.”
“I know, I want you too. I’m not sure if this is the best time, though, I promised to talk to Mr McGregor.”
“You don’t know anything yet”, Jin pointed out and Kazuya caressed his face, smiling slightly.
“Then perhaps I should go try to find out more.”
“I don’t want you to go”, Jin said, leaning into Kazuya’s touch and closed his eyes. “I don’t feel safe without you.”
“You don’t want to go with me either”, Kazuya said. “Maybe you could keep Alice company, I bet she’s feeling pretty freaked out too. She said that it was disappointing that she’d never seen or heard a ghost yesterday when we arrived, but now when she knows there’s one she can’t see she must be afraid.”
“How am I supposed to calm her down when I’m scared too?”
“You’ve faced a ghost that wanted to kill you, Jin, I’m sure that you can handle the thought of a ghost girl. She’s probably just lost and confused. I’ll help her cross over and things will be fine.”
“It doesn’t seem that simple this time with your powers acting weird and all”, Jin said, frowning.
Kazuya didn’t want to admit that he thought so too, because it was his job to make Jin feel safe and calm. He’d wanted to bring the singer along so he could get a break from the stress of being an idol for awhile. It had already failed a bit as Alice knew who Jin was, and Kazuya didn’t want Jin to feel the additional stress that came with being frightened.
“Just trust me”, Kazuya said and kissed Jin softly. “I’ll take care of things. Ask Alice to show you the horses or something, it’ll give the both of you something else to think about.”
“Yeah, I can do that”, Jin said, smiling. “I’ve always wanted to try horseback riding.”
They exchanged a few more kisses before they left their suite. Jin went to find Alice, and Kazuya stopped at the top floor after descending the stairs in the tower the suite was located in. He exited the staircase and walked out into the corridor. It was empty; he couldn’t see or feel the presence of the little girl.
Kazuya didn’t think that any of the McGregors would be in the rooms now, and he took the liberty of checking if the doors were locked or not. He discovered that the McGregors were either very trusting people, or James had unlocked the doors because he’d guessed that Kazuya would want to enter the rooms. It was also possible that they were just too lazy to lock the doors but they didn’t strike him as lazy people.
He decided to start in Alice’s room to see if he could sense something there. Since James had only mentioned a change in her, not in himself or Harriet, it was possible that some kind of energy had its home in her room. It was a big room with lots of floral patterns and stuffed toys. There were a few posters on the wall. There was one of Jin but most of them were of painted landscapes with fantasy creatures in them.
The view from the window was stunning. Kazuya could easily imagine one of the fantasy creatures from the posters suddenly appear on a hill outside. Overall it was a lovely room and Kazuya couldn’t sense anything at all which worried him. He was leaning more towards his theory that something was deliberately blocking him out rather than believing anything else. There was no way that he could have lost the powers that had been so strong for as long as he could remember.
His family had never believed him but he knew that the powers were real and by now he had beyond enough proof. Now when he was on TV, his family had contacted him. They did stay in touch but he was keeping a bit of distance from them. He didn’t trust them enough to tell them that he was in a relationship with Jin.
Kazuya collected his thoughts and moved from room to room. He couldn’t feel a thing about what had happened in them.
“Please let me in, I just want to help”, he said in both English and Japanese but nothing happened.
After awhile he gave up and went to find James, discovering that the man was waiting for him a few steps down the main staircase.
“Jin told me that you were going to try finding something”, James said, considerably less cheerful than Kazuya had seen him before. “I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“I had no luck with my search”, Kazuya said apologetically. “I have never experienced being blocked this way before. I will continue trying later.”
Kazuya thought that he might actually have to ask Jin for help. If the little girl had appeared because of Jin, then she might show up if Kazuya could convince him to go there again. That would probably be difficult, though, and Kazuya started thinking about things he could bribe Jin with.
“I appreciate anything you can do to help”, James said. “We could save money by having real ghosts here but Alice is feeling uncomfortable and honestly, so am I. We haven’t experienced anything odd while living here but it would feel safer knowing that nothing will.”
“I understand. Is Alice okay?”
“She’s out in the stables together with Jin so I’d say she’s over the moon at the moment. Will you join them?”
“Yes, some fresh air would be nice”, Kazuya replied, smiling when James patted his shoulder.
“There’s a good lad, run along then. I’m afraid I’m too busy with work to join you but Alice is probably grateful for that.”
Kazuya laughed as James winked at him before they descended the stairs together. It was a bit weird to be treated as a young boy when he was already a proper adult, and James wasn’t that old. Kazuya supposed that he might look really young to the bearded man. Technically James was old enough to be his father.
After trying out horseback riding with Alice, Jin and Kazuya had dinner alone together - or at least as alone as they could be with other guests at the tables surrounding theirs. They didn’t talk about the event earlier that day. Kazuya wanted to make sure that Jin was in a really good mood before bringing up the possibility of the singer helping him to make the ghost appear.
“Should we talk more to Alice or Mr and Mrs McGregor before going back to our suite?” Jin asked.
“Are you warming up to Alice?” Kazuya smiled teasingly.
“No. Well, yeah.” Jin shrugged. “She’s actually not that bad.”
“She’s nice. I don’t think we’ll have to spend more time with any of them today. It’s already quite late and they probably have other things to do. If they ask we could say that we’re tired and jetlagged.”
“I’m usually the one making excuses so I won’t have to spend extra time with anyone else. What’s happened to you?”
“Maybe I am tired and jetlagged”, Kazuya said. “Or perhaps I thought that we needed a relaxing evening together, just the two of us.”
“The two of us and our past selves you mean”, Jin said but he was smiling.
“They can keep away for once, or at least try to be silent.”
“I bet Ryu is silent a lot while I’m stuck with someone who rarely shuts up.”
“Hmm, Hayato isn’t too happy with you now, is he?”
“Nope.”
They finished their meal and then ascended all of the stairs up to the tower. Their clothes and hair smelled of horses and that was a help to Kazuya’s plan. He pulled his sweater over his head and then looked at Jin.
“I know that we showered this morning but we’re smelly now, so I thought that we could take a bath together”, he said.
“Really?” Jin was surprised. “Normally you never want to take baths together with me.”
It was true; baths were something almost sacred to Kazuya. He’d be able to spend hours alone in a bathtub if the water hadn’t become cold after just awhile. There was just something about it that felt pure.
“I think that it would be nice for once”, Kazuya said and that was all it took for Jin to agree.
Kazuya was the one to prepare the bath because he wanted to get the water temperature just right. Jin usually just took showers - he was too impatient and easily bored for anything else. They discussed which way would be best for them to fit together in the bathtub. Finally they decided that Kazuya would sit in between Jin’s legs with his back to the singer. He leaned back against Jin’s chest and felt the other’s arms wrap around his waist.
“This is actually nice”, Kazuya said.
“Did you expect it not to be?” Jin asked and Kazuya could practically hear his eyebrow rise.
“No, I just thought that it might be a bit awkward since this is the first time.”
“We’ve been a couple for so long now that I wonder if anything can feel awkward anymore.”
“It can be when Hayato and Ryu are involved. We’re supposed to be the same as them but we don’t share all of their memories and experiences. The whole situation with them is so weird that it makes me wonder if we’re really the reincarnations of them.”
“We look exactly like them”, Jin said. “If we’re not their reincarnations, why would they live inside of us?”
“I don’t know”, Kazuya replied, frowning. “People usually don’t look like they did in their previous lives as far as I know. This is something that just doesn’t happen.”
“It happened to us. Why are you thinking about this now? You’ve had a couple of years to think about this.”
“I guess the fact that I can’t sense anything here feels strange and it makes me wonder about the other weird things in my life.”
“Don’t think about it now.” Jin kissed Kazuya’s shoulder. “Even Hayato is shutting up so let your thoughts be silent too.”
“Okay, I’ll try.”
“Don’t just try.”
“Look who’s being bossy”, Kazuya said, laughing. “Haven’t you understood that I’m the one giving orders in this relationship?”
“I thought that it was a give and take kind of thing”, Jin said, one of his hands sneaking lower.
“You might be right”, Kazuya said, suddenly a bit breathless.
“You know that I am. Or I could stop.”
“No, you’re definitely right. Jin?”
“Yes, Kazuya?”
“Since I couldn’t sense anything and nothing would appear when I was on my own, will you come with me tomorrow?”
“Shit, is that why you wanted us to take a bath together?” Jin asked and stopped what he’d been doing. “Sometimes you’re quite manipulative, you know. You could’ve tried a bit harder if you wanted me to do something or, I don’t know, just asked me? I’m not someone you have to bribe or loosen up so I’ll do stuff for you.”
“Jin, I’m sorry”, Kazuya said and wished that he didn’t have his back to Jin and that they weren’t in a crowded bathtub. “That’s not what this was about. I just wanted to do something nice for you, because I feel bad about getting you involved in things I know that you don’t like.”
“If that was the case, you would’ve asked me before doing this. Move, I think I’m clean enough already.”
“Please…”
“Just move”, Jin said and Kazuya did, so he could get out of the tub. “We can sleep in separate beds tonight and no one will have to wonder if there’s anything between us.”
Kazuya looked on helplessly as Jin grabbed a towel and left the bathroom. He didn’t know why the singer had reacted so badly when everything had been fine just a second earlier. Jin wasn’t a dramatic person, at least not when he wasn’t directly influenced by Hayato. Maybe he had been a couple of years ago but he was a lot calmer and more willing to talk things through now. That made Kazuya think that there had to be something else behind it but he couldn’t figure out what. Hopefully it was just from being on edge because of the ghost and from the jetlag.
Kazuya spent some more time in the bath, trying to think things through before the water became too cold and his eyes were practically closing on their own. One of the bedroom doors was closed and he assumed that that was where Jin intended to sleep. He considered knocking but decided against it and went to bed in the empty bedroom. Things between them might be better in the morning when they’d both had some sleep.
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A/N: I was going to look through this chapter twice but yet again I ended up doing it only once because I'm a lazy ass. Also my grandpa died yesterday so I'm kind of... numb.
Trouble in paradise y'all.
Why did LJ change the look of the cuts? It looks stupid now and it's confusing.