Make You Mine /// Fifteenth Lie: Heavy Damage
Title: Make You Mine
Pairing: Akanishi Jin x Kazuya Kamenashi //Akame//
Genre: Romance, AU
Rating: PG-13 and up.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story. I don't make profit with this.
Summary: The first impression counts and Kazuya's first impression of Jin is not the best. However, Jin is determined to get to know Kazuya - and Kazuya makes up a few lies, which suddenly become huge... And then, the tide is turning.
A/N: English isn't my mother tongue, but I lived in the UK for quite a time, so I basically write and speak well. You're welcome to correct any mistakes, though. Of course.
So, here I am... back from from writing my k_x entry and from holidays and term papers. And, finally, I have internet again. I lived without any for the past weeks.
I bring a new chap of Make You Mine and hope you guys will all like it. It's from fluff to angst again... but the angst just had to come. And this time, it's some serious angst.
Please enjoy it :) ♥
Previous Chapters:
First Lie: Who am I?
Second Lie: Find Me
Third Lie: Exposed
Fourth Lie: On Repeat
Fifth Lie: More of You
Sixth Lie: Not My Fault
Seventh Lie: Out of Reach
Eighth Lie: Leaving You
Ninth Lie: Hold On
Tenth Lie: Secret
Eleventh Lie: Broken Lovers
Twelfth Lie: Worry About You
Thirteenth Lie: I Won't
Fourteenth Lie: Only My Illursion
Fifteenth Lie: Heavy Damage
Kazuya closed the door behind himself, as he got into his hotel room and leaned against it for a moment, tilting his head back and closing his eyes.
The flight had been long and it could not have been any worse than what it had been like. Ueda had talked to him like an old friend and after all while, Kazuya had felt more irritated than scared.
He looked around the room now and noticed that the manager suite of their Redline hotel in New York looked quite similar to the one in Tokyo.
Someone had brought his luggage upstairs already and dinner was prepared for him at the table in the living room.
Kazuya frowned, as he spotted the small package next to the phone. He picked it up and moved it in his hands, opening it then.
He smiled, as he recognised his ring and read the small message attached:
Welcome to New York. Here’s a little reminder of me.
Laughing, Kazuya put it down and picked up the phone, dialling in a number.
“Akanishi”, Jin answered.
“Hey”, Kazuya said and leaned against the dresser.
“Kazuya.” Jin’s voice got warmer. “Did everything go well?”
Kazuya hesitated for a moment. “I got the ring.”
“I thought you should wear it again”, Jin said.
“Thanks.” Kazuya smiled. “How are you doing?”
“I just came home. You sound tired.”
“I am tired”, Kazuya answered. “I couldn’t sleep during the flight.”
“Were you too busy flirting with the stewardess?” Jin’s voice sounded indignant.
“That, too.” Kazuya laughed. “I’ll go to bed now; just wanted to call you first.”
“Wait”, Jin said. “Natsuki’s here. She wants to talk to you.”
“Sure”, Kazuya immediately said.
“Good night, pretty.”
“Good night.” Kazuya waited a moment and heard a few rustling sounds.
“Kazu-nii”, Natsuki said then.
“Hey, love”, Kazuya greeted her. “How was your day?”
“Papa picked me up from preschool early today.” She made a small pause. “You had disappeared this morning!”
Kazuya bit his lip. “I’m on a business trip to New York.”
“I was very mad that you didn’t say goodbye.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to wake you up that early.”
“Will you be back for my birthday?”
“On Friday.” Natsuki’s voice was tensed.
“I’ll be back by then. I’ll be back on Wednesday.”
“Great. You can come to my party”, Natsuki said excitedly.
Kazuya laughed. “I’d love that.”
“I miss you, Kazu-nii”, she said quietly and Kazuya felt his heart drop, as he realised that there was nothing in the world he wanted more than to take her into his arms right now.
“I miss you, too”, he said and sighed. It was true, not just a phrase. He really missed her.
And, Kazuya thought, he missed Jin.
“What”, Natsuki said suddenly and her voice sounded muffled. Kazuya frowned. “Papa says I have to say good night. He wants to talk to you again.”
“Take care, Natsuki-chan. I’ll call again”, Kazuya said and waited for Jin to take back the phone.
“Are you kidding me?”
Kazuya frowned. “What?”
“I just got a message from Ueda on my cell phone.” Jin sounded angry. “He was on the same flight?”
Kazuya closed his eyes. His plan of keeping it from Jin hadn’t worked. “And in the seat next to me. What did he write?”
“That he’ll use the time you two are going to spent in New York.”
“Makes me look forward to it even more.”
Jin groaned. “Don’t make fun of that.” He paused for a moment. “I’m coming over.”
“Jin, this is not Yokohama. You can’t just come over”, Kazuya argued.
“I’m not letting him near you”, Jin said. “That guy is a psycho and I won’t risk…”
“You won’t risk Natsuki to stay behind and to be an easy target”, Kazuya interrupted. “I don’t need you here.”
“But…”
“I can handle it”, Kazuya said calmly. “I told you, I am not the one you have to worry about. Natsuki is most important.”
“I won’t have a single peaceful minute, Kazuya”, Jin countered. “Of course, Natsuki is most important, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t worry about you.”
“You can worry, that is okay.” Kazuya smiled. “But you don’t have to act on it.”
“You say it, as if…”
“As if I knew you’d love me”, Kazuya finished Jin’s sentence. “And that’s why you’ll trust me to handle this.”
Jin breathed in loudly. “I’ll call every two hours.”
“God, please don’t.” Kazuya laughed.
“I really don’t like the thought”, Jin said.
“Okay. I’ll call you every evening, okay?”
Jin made a humming sound. “I’m not happy with this, though.”
“Why? I’m having so much fun”, Kazuya said sarcastically and smiled, as he heard Jin laugh. “Natsuki said she misses me.”
“Yeah, I heard that”, Jin answered. “She was pretty upset this morning, when you weren’t there.”
“We should have told her”, Kazuya murmured.
“She was just afraid you wouldn’t be back for her birthday. So, it’s okay now.”
“Okay”, Kazuya said and turned again to take the ring. “I won’t keep you any longer.”
“Take care, Kazuya”, Jin just said. “Really. If you’re not calling, I’ll be on the next plane.”
“I got it”, Kazuya answered. “Take care, too. And of Natsuki.”
“Love you”, Jin murmured quietly.
Kazuya shut his eyes and closed his fingers around the plain silver ring. “Good night, Jin.”
Kazuya watched Ueda, as he took his seat at the other side of the long table. Fortunately, they sat far from each other.
It was late morning and as they had all been invited to the fair, the host of the fair had prepared a brunch. There were people from all important hotel companies from all over the world and Kazuya was rather impressed.
His English was good, but he never used it much in Japan, so Kazuya wasn’t too confident in talking, so he kept quiet most of the time.
Now, however, he didn’t have much of a choice, so he cheerfully talked to the man from Dubai and friendly thanked the waiter who served him some tea.
He even managed to avoid Ueda further when they made their way to the fair after a few hours. However, when they reached the hall, Ueda suddenly showed up next to him.
“You were pretty quiet yesterday in the plane”, Ueda said. “And now, you keep avoiding me. We just have these few days together, you know.”
Kazuya gave him a short glance, while he looked at the example of a hotel room. “I’d prefer you not talking to me.”
“But”, Ueda said and leaned a bit closer. “Why should we pretend to not know each other?”
“Because you ruined enough of my life already. I don’t want to have anything to do with you anymore, Tatsuya.” Kazuya turned.
“Akanishi is a mistake”, Ueda said and made Kazuya stop with that. “You made a huge mistake, when you decided to be with him.”
Kazuya raised a brow, as he turned again and got closer to Ueda, so that no one else would hear what they were talking about. “Because of his daughter? I don’t have a problem with him being a father.”
“His daughter - that cute little Natsuki-chan, isn’t it? - is not the mistake, Kazuya”, Ueda answered. He put on a sarcastic smile. “You’ll have to deal with a lot more trouble. That guy isn’t clean.”
Kazuya frowned slightly. Ueda had said something similar on Christmas already; and that time, he had been right. He had known more about Kazuya and had warned him - yet, Kazuya had fallen for Jin’s lie back then.
“What are you talking about?”
Knowing he had won, Ueda shrugged. “I’m just saying that he is in deep trouble and he’ll pull you into it. You’re already in trouble and you don’t even realise it.”
Kazuya took a sharp breath. “You know something about those threats.”
Ueda smiled. “I already knew when they came to question me about that break-in into your flat. Someone doesn’t like to see you with Akanishi.”
“It’s not you”, Kazuya noticed.
“Did you think I’d be that blunt?” Ueda made a pouting face. “That’s an insult. I’ve never gave threats like that.”
“You know who it is, don’t you?” Kazuya got closer to him and gave Ueda a fierce look. “Who is it?”
“I may have helped out a bit, because I know your habits”, Ueda answered.
“Tatsuya”, Kazuya said firmly. “Who is it?”
“As if I’d tell you. Stay away from Akanishi and nothing will happen.”
Kazuya put a hand to Ueda’s arm, as he wanted to turn. “Wait. There’s an innocent child involved; how can you not care about…”
Ueda gave Kazuya a cold look, as he shrugged his hand off. “You should worry about yourself, Kazuya. The one in danger is you.”
Kazuya let him go, his expression confused.
Whoever sent those threats was after Jin, not after Kazuya. Jin was the target, the one that person wanted to reach by all means.
Of course, Kazuya understood that whoever was after Jin like that wasn’t happy to see Jin with him, but eventually, he was a grown-up man and capable of looking out for himself.
And whoever targeted Jin was definitely aware of the fact that hurting Kazuya wouldn’t be as painful for Jin as hurting Natsuki.
Still, for the rest of the week, every look from Ueda, every word he said, made Kazuya feel even more uncomfortable and insecure about himself and Jin.
Kazuya didn’t like to call it a mistake; but, Jin was probably a bit too calm and relaxed about the whole situation.
When they’ve been talking on the phone, Kazuya had told Jin about it and Jin had reacted rather relaxed, had told Kazuya that it was alright. No one would be able to get close to Natsuki, she was never left alone and he’d never put her into danger.
Kazuya knew that Jin took care of his daughter and that he was right.
Yet, he couldn’t stop worrying about it. It was just too deep in his mind to forget about it.
On his last day, he came back to his suite with that thought on mind.
He had seen a lot of things, had listened to quite some presentations and his notebook was full of notes for what they could need in their hotels, too.
In every free minute, however, he had caught Ueda’s looks, his knowing looks, and it had brought Kazuya straight back to wondering.
He sighed now, as he opened the door and stepped in, putting down his laptop case.
“Long day?”
Kazuya raised his look and stared at Jin. His hands froze at the collar of his coat that he had just wanted to take off.
“What a surprise to see you here, Jin! What are you doing here”, Jin mimicked Kazuya’s voice and approached him slowly. “I came to pick you up, Kazuya.”
Kazuya blinked his eyes once and lowered his hands. “From the airport”, Kazuya said. “I asked you to pick me up from the airport, not from New York.”
“Oh, I must have mixed up things then.” Jin smiled and stopped in front of Kazuya.
“Where’s Natsuki?”
Jin raised a brow. “One could assume you have a relationship with my daughter and not me.” He tilted his head and frowned slightly. “What I wouldn’t approve of, by the way.”
Kazuya laughed gently. “No, seriously. If you’re here, where is Natsuki?”
“I am so happy to see you, too”, Jin commented. “Don’t I even get a kiss for coming here?”
With a smile, Kazuya leaned in and gave Jin a long kiss. He sighed and pulled Jin close.
“Natsuki sleeps in the bedroom”, Jin answered, as Kazuya pulled back and gave Jin a definite look. “We can’t.”
Kazuya laughed again and left his arms around Jin’s waist. “I missed you.”
Jin framed his face and smirked. “Now, that sounds like what I expected to hear.”
“Doesn’t Natsuki have school?”
Shrugging, Jin ran his thumbs over Kazuya’s jaw. “I thought she would like to see New York, too.”
“The flight back is…”
“Tuesday night”, Jin finished it off. “We have the whole day tomorrow to go sightseeing.”
Kazuya blinked his eyes. “You spoil her; you know that, don’t you?”
“It’s a birthday present”, Jin said. “I couldn’t possibly leave her alone.”
“You didn’t have to come here, though”, Kazuya marked and smiled. “But I am happy you did.”
“Your comments are getting better”, Jin murmured and caught Kazuya’s lips in another kiss.
“Did you have dinner”, Kazuya asked then.
Jin nodded. “We’re both pretty tired.”
Kazuya smiled. “Okay. Go to bed then. I will stay here on the couch.”
Frowning, Jin tilted his head. “You want to sleep on the couch.”
“Sure. You and Natsuki take the bed.”
“You could fit at least five men in there, so why would you sleep here?”
Kazuya gave Jin a confused look. “But Natsuki…”
“Is sleeping”, Jin said. “And way too young to get a wrong impression, when you are sleeping in a bed with us.” He took Kazuya’s hand and pulled him along.
Kazuya saw Natsuki curled up beneath the blanket of the bed, her head bedded on one of the cushions. He walked over and sat down at the edge of the bed, watching her, while Jin got changed.
“She’s going to stay between us”, Kazuya commented with an indignant look to Jin.
Jin came over and started to undo Kazuya’s tie. “I hope you don’t mean that as a metaphor for the rest of our relationship.”
Kazuya smiled, but then, he batted away Jin’s hand, as he started to unbutton Kazuya’s shirt and threw a look at Natsuki.
“She’s sleeping”, Jin just commented.
“Still, I won’t let you undress me, when she’s in the room.” Kazuya got up and glanced at Jin, as he stripped off his shirt. “Stop those naughty thoughts.”
Jin turned and shook his head. “She also can’t read my thoughts.”
Kazuya smiled and got changed, before he crawled beneath the blanket next to Natsuki.
“She’ll be so thrilled to wake up next to you”, Jin commented as he joined on the other side. “For the past week, all I heard was ‘Kazu-nii here, Kazu-nii there.’ Annoying.”
Kazuya smiled and ran a hand over Natsuki’s cheek.
“She’s probably a bit too young to wake up next to her crush”, Jin mentioned. “I’m not sure whether I like that.”
Kazuya grinned and reached out his hand from Natsuki’s cheek to Jin’s. “I guess it’s up to you whether she’s going to wake up next to me again.”
Jin took Kazuya’s hand and pulled it to his lips. “Not too soon. I am not convinced that she’s old enough”, he said. “So, you’ll have to be satisfied to wake up next to me again for the time being.”
Kazuya’s grin grew wider and he laced his fingers with Jin’s before Jin turned off the light.
It was the first night in that week that Kazuya didn’t worry at all, as he fell asleep.
Jin woke up quite early the next day and smiled, as he felt Natsuki had nuzzled against him. She lay close and had the fingers of one hand curled into his shirt.
Smiling, Jin decided it as a win for himself against Kazuya. After all, a girl would always love her dad most.
Kazuya lay behind her and had a hand under his cheek. His face was peaceful and he had one hand on Natsuki’s waist, his fingers still laced with Jin’s.
Jin squeezed them gently and ran his thumb over the back of Kazuya’s hand. Kazuya blinked his eyes and then, gave him a sleepy look.
“Good morning, pretty”, Jin said. “Look, who’s her absolute favourite.”
Kazuya laughed and pulled his hand from Jin’s to stretch. “Morning.”
Jin kissed Natsuki’s forehead and softly tickled her side, until she wound in his arms. She yelped and turned away from him. Jin felt how she froze in his arms and then, she quickly turned again and buried her face at Jin’s chest.
Kazuya gave Jin a confused look and Jin grinned.
“She’s embarrassed”, Jin mouthed quietly. “Natsuki, let’s get up.”
She nodded and crawled over Jin to hurry out of the room.
Jin looked after her, before he turned again and rested his head on the pillow. Kazuya shifted closer.
“Usually, this would be one of the moments, she would hide in my cupboard”, Jin pointed out.
Kazuya frowned. “What do you mean?”
“When she’s angry or embarrassed or just wants to bug me a bit, she hides in the cupboard in my dressing room”, Jin answered. “Behind my suits, there’s a little cupboard that she uses as her scret hideout.”
Kazuya laughed gently. “That’s cute.”
“When she hid there the first time, I almost called the police, because I couldn’t find her”, Jin told him. “But when she disappears now, I always know where to find her. Now, for you having her seen like this, I bet she would like to disappear there.”
Kazuya shook his head. “She’s a real girl, isn’t she?”
Jin smiled and nodded.
“What are we going to do today?”
“Sightseeing”, Jin answered. “I bet you hadn’t had time for that yet.”
Kazuya shook his head. “Not much.”
“Then, I’ll show you two around a bit”, Jin said and leaned in to place a short kiss to Kazuya’s lips.
They got up, too and Kazuya took a shower first, while Jin dressed Natsuki and did her hair. When Kazuya came back, she was finished already and sat on the bed, brushing Mi-chan’s hair.
Kazuya just wore shorts and quickly put on a Shirt and jeans, before he sat down next to her. His hair was still wet and he glanced at Jin, as he left to the bathroom.
“You look pretty”, Kazuya said and gently tugged Natsuki’s tail. It was short and not even one third of her hair was in.
She beamed and blushed a bit. “Mi-chan has to get dressed, too.”
“Did you bring her clothes?” Kazuya looked at the box she had placed next to herself.
Natsuki nodded. “You can decide what she is going to wear today.”
Kazuya smiled and when Jin came back a few minutes later, they had just dressed Mi-chan in a pink dress with a violet butterflies pattern.
They spent the day with Jin guiding them around the places he wanted to show them. They bought new shoes for Natsuki and took her to a family restaurant, after they had walked kilometres.
Later, as Kazuya sat on the plane back to Tokyo, he looked out of the window and smiled.
Jin sat next to him and went through the material Kazuya had collected at the fair, while Natsuki watched the movie that was shown.
This was how it was supposed to be, Kazuya thought. They’d get back in the early afternoon and Natsuki would only have one more day of school, before she’d have her birthday on Friday.
Jin had told Kazuya that it was the first year that he had allowed her to give an actual birthday party for her friends. She had invited four girls from preschool and they would have cake together and the usual games at his house.
On Saturday, he had planned to go to an amusement park with her and Kazuya threw Jin a look now, as he thought just how much Jin spoiled her.
Still, she was a good child.
“Kazuya”, Jin said suddenly and looked up. “There’s something I wanted to ask.”
Kazuya tilted his head.
“I’m trying to get off a little early on Friday to pick Natsuki up from preschool, what leaves me to a tight schedule tomorrow.” Jin glanced at Natsuki who sat between them. “Would you mind picking her up tomorrow afternoon? I promise I pay back the favour sometime soon.”
Kazuya smiled. “Sure. I don’t mind. You don’t have to pay back.”
“No, you’ll lose quite some time at work and I know tomorrow is busy for you, too. But I don’t trust anyone else in this.”
“It’s okay, Jin”, Kazuya repeated. “I don’t mind.”
Jin smiled. “Okay, thanks.”
Kazuya felt strangely reminded of his childhood, as he came into the building of the preschool the next day.
Everything felt smaller than in a normal place; the ceiling felt lower, the doors narrow, the chairs tiny.
Kazuya smiled and bowed to the caretaker. “I’m Kamenashi, I came to pick up Natsuki-chan.”
The woman smiled and nodded. “Akanishi-san informed us about it. Please, follow me.”
Kazuya did as she said and looked around. Everything was bright and colourful. In the windows, there were flowers with smiling faces, the cupboards for the shoes were painted in neon colours and all doors had photos on them.
The woman with the green apron stopped and opened the door to a room.
Loud noises made their way out and hit Kazuya. He heard laughter, crying, voices and the sound of different toys. A boy ran by and imitated the sound of the model-plane in his hand.
“Natsuki-chan”, the caretaker said loudly and Kazuya spotted her at the other end of the room, where she sat on a table, a pencil in her hand.
She stared at him for a moment, before she got up and quickly ran over to Kazuya.
“Kazu-nii”, she said breathlessly, as Kazuya lifted her up. She wound her arms around his neck. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m picking you up today”, he answered. Apparently, Jin had left that as a surprise for his daughter. “I’m a little late, though.”
She shook her head and pressed a kiss to Kazuya’s cheek. “Are you taking me home?”
Kazuya laughed. “Of course. We can cook something together.”
Her eyes lit up. “Really?”
Nodding, Kazuya left the room and put her down on a bench. He easily spotted her shoes and got them for her, before he helped her to put them on.
They politely bowed to the staff of the preschool and Natsuki waved them goodbye, walking beside Kazuya, holding his hand.
“They’ll all think you’re my boyfriend”, she said and grinned at him widely.
Kazuya returned it and squeezed her hand. “They probably do.” He opened the car and helped her into the passenger’s seat first.
On their way home, Natsuki kept on blabbering about preschool and gave Kazuya a short overview of her friends. She told him about them and which of them she had invited for the next day and for what reasons, until they reached Jin’s house.
Kazuya opened up the door and Natsuki ran in first, hurrying up to her room, while Kazuya took in the mail first and placed it on the table in the kitchen. He checked the fridge and the contents of the cupboards, making up his mind what he and Natsuki could make for dinner.
Then, he followed Natsuki upstairs and checked on her in her room. She sat on her bed and looked a little insecure, so Kazuya walked over and sat next to her.
“Hey, don’t you want to come downstairs with me to cook something nice?”
She lifted her face to him and gave Kazuya a long look. “I asked Papa a few days ago”, she suddenly said. “If I should confess to the boy I like.”
Kazuya felt his heart sped up. She had told Jin about it. He wasn’t sure whether he could handle this. “What did he tell you?”
Natsuki bit her lip. “He said I should wait for the boy to confess to me. But, I think…”
Kazuya put a hand over her mouth and she gave him a confused look from big round eyes.
Frowning, Kazuya listened into the room and narrowed his eyes. He heard another noise downstairs and it didn’t take much to recognise it as the sound of a window opening.
His heart beat even faster now and he threw Natsuki a look and gestured her to be quiet.
Time had come. Kazuya had tried to push it from his mind and tell himself that everything would be okay.
But he had known that, whoever was after them, would eventually take the last step and come to confront them.
All Kazuya could do now was to protect Natsuki from him.
Following a sudden idea, he lifted Natsuki and carried her to Jin’s bedroom, where he closed the door without a sound. He hurried to the dressing room and as they were inside, he approached the suits.
“Natsuki”, he said quietly and firm, as he pushed the suits aside and saw the small door. “I need you to hide now.”
She stared at him with big eyes. “Kazu-nii, what…”
“You have to promise me to not come out of this place”, Kazuya said and framed her face, as she sat on the floor of the cupboard. “No matter what you hear now. Promise it.”
She blinked her eyes and nodded.
“You will only leave this place, when your father opens this door. Only then, no one else, okay?” Kazuya gave her a serious look and waited for her nod.
Then, he leaned in and placed a gentle peck to her lips. “I love you, Natsuki-chan”, he said quietly. “So, promise to stay here until your father comes and gets you.”
She still stared at him speechlessly, as Kazuya drew back and closed the door. He pushed back the suits and then, left the dressing room.
As he left Jin’s bed room, he heard a door open downstairs and took a deep breath, before he made his way to the stairs.
“Jin, you’re early”, he said cheerfully. Whoever had broken into the house should think Kazuya didn’t suspect a thing. “I brought Natsuki to your parents, just as you said. They’ll take her out for dinner later.”
He reached the last step and looked around, but couldn’t see anyone. His heartbeat pounded wildly in his ears and Kazuya approached the door to the living room.
He just hoped Natsuki would stay in her hideout. If anything would happen to her…
It was his last thought, before something hard hit his head from behind and everything around him turned black.
Jin looked up, as someone knocked his door.
He quickly threw a glance at the watch on his wrist and thought that it was almost time to get home.
“Akanishi-san”, the girl from reception said and her voice was shaky. “There are a few detectives from the police.”
Jin frowned. “Detectives?”
She nodded.
“Send them in”, Jin said and got up. He saw the two men walking in and recognised one of them as the detective he had met in Kazuya’s flat.
Instantly, Jin knew something had happened.
“Akanishi-san”, Nakagawa greeted him. “I am sorry to disturb.”
“What’s wrong”, Jin asked.
“We need you to accompany us to the station”, the detective said. “There’s been a fire at your home.”
Jin stared at him and felt all blood rushing from his head. Natsuki and Kazuya were supposed to be in that house.
“A neighbour noticed it and called the fire brigade”, Nakagawa explained. “The landlord confirmed that it was your flat.”
Some heavy last fell off of Jin’s chest. “My flat”, Jin said and took a deep breath. “Just my flat.”
“However”, Nakagawa went on. “The landlord didn’t identify the man we found in the flat as you. He couldn’t identify him.”
Jin stared at him with a frown. “Someone was inside?”
The detective nodded. “I could identify him”, he said and gave Jin a long look.
Jin knew what it meant and all kinds of thoughts suddenly rushed through his head, while his heart skipped several beats.
“It’s Kamenashi”, Nakagawa said.
Jin kept staring at him, his lips felt numb; yet, he managed to make them move.
“Natsuki.”
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Thanks a lot for reading. I promise to not leave you hanging for too long!! ♥
Pairing: Akanishi Jin x Kazuya Kamenashi //Akame//
Genre: Romance, AU
Rating: PG-13 and up.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story. I don't make profit with this.
Summary: The first impression counts and Kazuya's first impression of Jin is not the best. However, Jin is determined to get to know Kazuya - and Kazuya makes up a few lies, which suddenly become huge... And then, the tide is turning.
A/N: English isn't my mother tongue, but I lived in the UK for quite a time, so I basically write and speak well. You're welcome to correct any mistakes, though. Of course.
So, here I am... back from from writing my k_x entry and from holidays and term papers. And, finally, I have internet again. I lived without any for the past weeks.
I bring a new chap of Make You Mine and hope you guys will all like it. It's from fluff to angst again... but the angst just had to come. And this time, it's some serious angst.
Please enjoy it :) ♥
Previous Chapters:
First Lie: Who am I?
Second Lie: Find Me
Third Lie: Exposed
Fourth Lie: On Repeat
Fifth Lie: More of You
Sixth Lie: Not My Fault
Seventh Lie: Out of Reach
Eighth Lie: Leaving You
Ninth Lie: Hold On
Tenth Lie: Secret
Eleventh Lie: Broken Lovers
Twelfth Lie: Worry About You
Thirteenth Lie: I Won't
Fourteenth Lie: Only My Illursion
Fifteenth Lie: Heavy Damage
Kazuya closed the door behind himself, as he got into his hotel room and leaned against it for a moment, tilting his head back and closing his eyes.
The flight had been long and it could not have been any worse than what it had been like. Ueda had talked to him like an old friend and after all while, Kazuya had felt more irritated than scared.
He looked around the room now and noticed that the manager suite of their Redline hotel in New York looked quite similar to the one in Tokyo.
Someone had brought his luggage upstairs already and dinner was prepared for him at the table in the living room.
Kazuya frowned, as he spotted the small package next to the phone. He picked it up and moved it in his hands, opening it then.
He smiled, as he recognised his ring and read the small message attached:
Welcome to New York. Here’s a little reminder of me.
Laughing, Kazuya put it down and picked up the phone, dialling in a number.
“Akanishi”, Jin answered.
“Hey”, Kazuya said and leaned against the dresser.
“Kazuya.” Jin’s voice got warmer. “Did everything go well?”
Kazuya hesitated for a moment. “I got the ring.”
“I thought you should wear it again”, Jin said.
“Thanks.” Kazuya smiled. “How are you doing?”
“I just came home. You sound tired.”
“I am tired”, Kazuya answered. “I couldn’t sleep during the flight.”
“Were you too busy flirting with the stewardess?” Jin’s voice sounded indignant.
“That, too.” Kazuya laughed. “I’ll go to bed now; just wanted to call you first.”
“Wait”, Jin said. “Natsuki’s here. She wants to talk to you.”
“Sure”, Kazuya immediately said.
“Good night, pretty.”
“Good night.” Kazuya waited a moment and heard a few rustling sounds.
“Kazu-nii”, Natsuki said then.
“Hey, love”, Kazuya greeted her. “How was your day?”
“Papa picked me up from preschool early today.” She made a small pause. “You had disappeared this morning!”
Kazuya bit his lip. “I’m on a business trip to New York.”
“I was very mad that you didn’t say goodbye.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to wake you up that early.”
“Will you be back for my birthday?”
“On Friday.” Natsuki’s voice was tensed.
“I’ll be back by then. I’ll be back on Wednesday.”
“Great. You can come to my party”, Natsuki said excitedly.
Kazuya laughed. “I’d love that.”
“I miss you, Kazu-nii”, she said quietly and Kazuya felt his heart drop, as he realised that there was nothing in the world he wanted more than to take her into his arms right now.
“I miss you, too”, he said and sighed. It was true, not just a phrase. He really missed her.
And, Kazuya thought, he missed Jin.
“What”, Natsuki said suddenly and her voice sounded muffled. Kazuya frowned. “Papa says I have to say good night. He wants to talk to you again.”
“Take care, Natsuki-chan. I’ll call again”, Kazuya said and waited for Jin to take back the phone.
“Are you kidding me?”
Kazuya frowned. “What?”
“I just got a message from Ueda on my cell phone.” Jin sounded angry. “He was on the same flight?”
Kazuya closed his eyes. His plan of keeping it from Jin hadn’t worked. “And in the seat next to me. What did he write?”
“That he’ll use the time you two are going to spent in New York.”
“Makes me look forward to it even more.”
Jin groaned. “Don’t make fun of that.” He paused for a moment. “I’m coming over.”
“Jin, this is not Yokohama. You can’t just come over”, Kazuya argued.
“I’m not letting him near you”, Jin said. “That guy is a psycho and I won’t risk…”
“You won’t risk Natsuki to stay behind and to be an easy target”, Kazuya interrupted. “I don’t need you here.”
“But…”
“I can handle it”, Kazuya said calmly. “I told you, I am not the one you have to worry about. Natsuki is most important.”
“I won’t have a single peaceful minute, Kazuya”, Jin countered. “Of course, Natsuki is most important, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t worry about you.”
“You can worry, that is okay.” Kazuya smiled. “But you don’t have to act on it.”
“You say it, as if…”
“As if I knew you’d love me”, Kazuya finished Jin’s sentence. “And that’s why you’ll trust me to handle this.”
Jin breathed in loudly. “I’ll call every two hours.”
“God, please don’t.” Kazuya laughed.
“I really don’t like the thought”, Jin said.
“Okay. I’ll call you every evening, okay?”
Jin made a humming sound. “I’m not happy with this, though.”
“Why? I’m having so much fun”, Kazuya said sarcastically and smiled, as he heard Jin laugh. “Natsuki said she misses me.”
“Yeah, I heard that”, Jin answered. “She was pretty upset this morning, when you weren’t there.”
“We should have told her”, Kazuya murmured.
“She was just afraid you wouldn’t be back for her birthday. So, it’s okay now.”
“Okay”, Kazuya said and turned again to take the ring. “I won’t keep you any longer.”
“Take care, Kazuya”, Jin just said. “Really. If you’re not calling, I’ll be on the next plane.”
“I got it”, Kazuya answered. “Take care, too. And of Natsuki.”
“Love you”, Jin murmured quietly.
Kazuya shut his eyes and closed his fingers around the plain silver ring. “Good night, Jin.”
Kazuya watched Ueda, as he took his seat at the other side of the long table. Fortunately, they sat far from each other.
It was late morning and as they had all been invited to the fair, the host of the fair had prepared a brunch. There were people from all important hotel companies from all over the world and Kazuya was rather impressed.
His English was good, but he never used it much in Japan, so Kazuya wasn’t too confident in talking, so he kept quiet most of the time.
Now, however, he didn’t have much of a choice, so he cheerfully talked to the man from Dubai and friendly thanked the waiter who served him some tea.
He even managed to avoid Ueda further when they made their way to the fair after a few hours. However, when they reached the hall, Ueda suddenly showed up next to him.
“You were pretty quiet yesterday in the plane”, Ueda said. “And now, you keep avoiding me. We just have these few days together, you know.”
Kazuya gave him a short glance, while he looked at the example of a hotel room. “I’d prefer you not talking to me.”
“But”, Ueda said and leaned a bit closer. “Why should we pretend to not know each other?”
“Because you ruined enough of my life already. I don’t want to have anything to do with you anymore, Tatsuya.” Kazuya turned.
“Akanishi is a mistake”, Ueda said and made Kazuya stop with that. “You made a huge mistake, when you decided to be with him.”
Kazuya raised a brow, as he turned again and got closer to Ueda, so that no one else would hear what they were talking about. “Because of his daughter? I don’t have a problem with him being a father.”
“His daughter - that cute little Natsuki-chan, isn’t it? - is not the mistake, Kazuya”, Ueda answered. He put on a sarcastic smile. “You’ll have to deal with a lot more trouble. That guy isn’t clean.”
Kazuya frowned slightly. Ueda had said something similar on Christmas already; and that time, he had been right. He had known more about Kazuya and had warned him - yet, Kazuya had fallen for Jin’s lie back then.
“What are you talking about?”
Knowing he had won, Ueda shrugged. “I’m just saying that he is in deep trouble and he’ll pull you into it. You’re already in trouble and you don’t even realise it.”
Kazuya took a sharp breath. “You know something about those threats.”
Ueda smiled. “I already knew when they came to question me about that break-in into your flat. Someone doesn’t like to see you with Akanishi.”
“It’s not you”, Kazuya noticed.
“Did you think I’d be that blunt?” Ueda made a pouting face. “That’s an insult. I’ve never gave threats like that.”
“You know who it is, don’t you?” Kazuya got closer to him and gave Ueda a fierce look. “Who is it?”
“I may have helped out a bit, because I know your habits”, Ueda answered.
“Tatsuya”, Kazuya said firmly. “Who is it?”
“As if I’d tell you. Stay away from Akanishi and nothing will happen.”
Kazuya put a hand to Ueda’s arm, as he wanted to turn. “Wait. There’s an innocent child involved; how can you not care about…”
Ueda gave Kazuya a cold look, as he shrugged his hand off. “You should worry about yourself, Kazuya. The one in danger is you.”
Kazuya let him go, his expression confused.
Whoever sent those threats was after Jin, not after Kazuya. Jin was the target, the one that person wanted to reach by all means.
Of course, Kazuya understood that whoever was after Jin like that wasn’t happy to see Jin with him, but eventually, he was a grown-up man and capable of looking out for himself.
And whoever targeted Jin was definitely aware of the fact that hurting Kazuya wouldn’t be as painful for Jin as hurting Natsuki.
Still, for the rest of the week, every look from Ueda, every word he said, made Kazuya feel even more uncomfortable and insecure about himself and Jin.
Kazuya didn’t like to call it a mistake; but, Jin was probably a bit too calm and relaxed about the whole situation.
When they’ve been talking on the phone, Kazuya had told Jin about it and Jin had reacted rather relaxed, had told Kazuya that it was alright. No one would be able to get close to Natsuki, she was never left alone and he’d never put her into danger.
Kazuya knew that Jin took care of his daughter and that he was right.
Yet, he couldn’t stop worrying about it. It was just too deep in his mind to forget about it.
On his last day, he came back to his suite with that thought on mind.
He had seen a lot of things, had listened to quite some presentations and his notebook was full of notes for what they could need in their hotels, too.
In every free minute, however, he had caught Ueda’s looks, his knowing looks, and it had brought Kazuya straight back to wondering.
He sighed now, as he opened the door and stepped in, putting down his laptop case.
“Long day?”
Kazuya raised his look and stared at Jin. His hands froze at the collar of his coat that he had just wanted to take off.
“What a surprise to see you here, Jin! What are you doing here”, Jin mimicked Kazuya’s voice and approached him slowly. “I came to pick you up, Kazuya.”
Kazuya blinked his eyes once and lowered his hands. “From the airport”, Kazuya said. “I asked you to pick me up from the airport, not from New York.”
“Oh, I must have mixed up things then.” Jin smiled and stopped in front of Kazuya.
“Where’s Natsuki?”
Jin raised a brow. “One could assume you have a relationship with my daughter and not me.” He tilted his head and frowned slightly. “What I wouldn’t approve of, by the way.”
Kazuya laughed gently. “No, seriously. If you’re here, where is Natsuki?”
“I am so happy to see you, too”, Jin commented. “Don’t I even get a kiss for coming here?”
With a smile, Kazuya leaned in and gave Jin a long kiss. He sighed and pulled Jin close.
“Natsuki sleeps in the bedroom”, Jin answered, as Kazuya pulled back and gave Jin a definite look. “We can’t.”
Kazuya laughed again and left his arms around Jin’s waist. “I missed you.”
Jin framed his face and smirked. “Now, that sounds like what I expected to hear.”
“Doesn’t Natsuki have school?”
Shrugging, Jin ran his thumbs over Kazuya’s jaw. “I thought she would like to see New York, too.”
“The flight back is…”
“Tuesday night”, Jin finished it off. “We have the whole day tomorrow to go sightseeing.”
Kazuya blinked his eyes. “You spoil her; you know that, don’t you?”
“It’s a birthday present”, Jin said. “I couldn’t possibly leave her alone.”
“You didn’t have to come here, though”, Kazuya marked and smiled. “But I am happy you did.”
“Your comments are getting better”, Jin murmured and caught Kazuya’s lips in another kiss.
“Did you have dinner”, Kazuya asked then.
Jin nodded. “We’re both pretty tired.”
Kazuya smiled. “Okay. Go to bed then. I will stay here on the couch.”
Frowning, Jin tilted his head. “You want to sleep on the couch.”
“Sure. You and Natsuki take the bed.”
“You could fit at least five men in there, so why would you sleep here?”
Kazuya gave Jin a confused look. “But Natsuki…”
“Is sleeping”, Jin said. “And way too young to get a wrong impression, when you are sleeping in a bed with us.” He took Kazuya’s hand and pulled him along.
Kazuya saw Natsuki curled up beneath the blanket of the bed, her head bedded on one of the cushions. He walked over and sat down at the edge of the bed, watching her, while Jin got changed.
“She’s going to stay between us”, Kazuya commented with an indignant look to Jin.
Jin came over and started to undo Kazuya’s tie. “I hope you don’t mean that as a metaphor for the rest of our relationship.”
Kazuya smiled, but then, he batted away Jin’s hand, as he started to unbutton Kazuya’s shirt and threw a look at Natsuki.
“She’s sleeping”, Jin just commented.
“Still, I won’t let you undress me, when she’s in the room.” Kazuya got up and glanced at Jin, as he stripped off his shirt. “Stop those naughty thoughts.”
Jin turned and shook his head. “She also can’t read my thoughts.”
Kazuya smiled and got changed, before he crawled beneath the blanket next to Natsuki.
“She’ll be so thrilled to wake up next to you”, Jin commented as he joined on the other side. “For the past week, all I heard was ‘Kazu-nii here, Kazu-nii there.’ Annoying.”
Kazuya smiled and ran a hand over Natsuki’s cheek.
“She’s probably a bit too young to wake up next to her crush”, Jin mentioned. “I’m not sure whether I like that.”
Kazuya grinned and reached out his hand from Natsuki’s cheek to Jin’s. “I guess it’s up to you whether she’s going to wake up next to me again.”
Jin took Kazuya’s hand and pulled it to his lips. “Not too soon. I am not convinced that she’s old enough”, he said. “So, you’ll have to be satisfied to wake up next to me again for the time being.”
Kazuya’s grin grew wider and he laced his fingers with Jin’s before Jin turned off the light.
It was the first night in that week that Kazuya didn’t worry at all, as he fell asleep.
Jin woke up quite early the next day and smiled, as he felt Natsuki had nuzzled against him. She lay close and had the fingers of one hand curled into his shirt.
Smiling, Jin decided it as a win for himself against Kazuya. After all, a girl would always love her dad most.
Kazuya lay behind her and had a hand under his cheek. His face was peaceful and he had one hand on Natsuki’s waist, his fingers still laced with Jin’s.
Jin squeezed them gently and ran his thumb over the back of Kazuya’s hand. Kazuya blinked his eyes and then, gave him a sleepy look.
“Good morning, pretty”, Jin said. “Look, who’s her absolute favourite.”
Kazuya laughed and pulled his hand from Jin’s to stretch. “Morning.”
Jin kissed Natsuki’s forehead and softly tickled her side, until she wound in his arms. She yelped and turned away from him. Jin felt how she froze in his arms and then, she quickly turned again and buried her face at Jin’s chest.
Kazuya gave Jin a confused look and Jin grinned.
“She’s embarrassed”, Jin mouthed quietly. “Natsuki, let’s get up.”
She nodded and crawled over Jin to hurry out of the room.
Jin looked after her, before he turned again and rested his head on the pillow. Kazuya shifted closer.
“Usually, this would be one of the moments, she would hide in my cupboard”, Jin pointed out.
Kazuya frowned. “What do you mean?”
“When she’s angry or embarrassed or just wants to bug me a bit, she hides in the cupboard in my dressing room”, Jin answered. “Behind my suits, there’s a little cupboard that she uses as her scret hideout.”
Kazuya laughed gently. “That’s cute.”
“When she hid there the first time, I almost called the police, because I couldn’t find her”, Jin told him. “But when she disappears now, I always know where to find her. Now, for you having her seen like this, I bet she would like to disappear there.”
Kazuya shook his head. “She’s a real girl, isn’t she?”
Jin smiled and nodded.
“What are we going to do today?”
“Sightseeing”, Jin answered. “I bet you hadn’t had time for that yet.”
Kazuya shook his head. “Not much.”
“Then, I’ll show you two around a bit”, Jin said and leaned in to place a short kiss to Kazuya’s lips.
They got up, too and Kazuya took a shower first, while Jin dressed Natsuki and did her hair. When Kazuya came back, she was finished already and sat on the bed, brushing Mi-chan’s hair.
Kazuya just wore shorts and quickly put on a Shirt and jeans, before he sat down next to her. His hair was still wet and he glanced at Jin, as he left to the bathroom.
“You look pretty”, Kazuya said and gently tugged Natsuki’s tail. It was short and not even one third of her hair was in.
She beamed and blushed a bit. “Mi-chan has to get dressed, too.”
“Did you bring her clothes?” Kazuya looked at the box she had placed next to herself.
Natsuki nodded. “You can decide what she is going to wear today.”
Kazuya smiled and when Jin came back a few minutes later, they had just dressed Mi-chan in a pink dress with a violet butterflies pattern.
They spent the day with Jin guiding them around the places he wanted to show them. They bought new shoes for Natsuki and took her to a family restaurant, after they had walked kilometres.
Later, as Kazuya sat on the plane back to Tokyo, he looked out of the window and smiled.
Jin sat next to him and went through the material Kazuya had collected at the fair, while Natsuki watched the movie that was shown.
This was how it was supposed to be, Kazuya thought. They’d get back in the early afternoon and Natsuki would only have one more day of school, before she’d have her birthday on Friday.
Jin had told Kazuya that it was the first year that he had allowed her to give an actual birthday party for her friends. She had invited four girls from preschool and they would have cake together and the usual games at his house.
On Saturday, he had planned to go to an amusement park with her and Kazuya threw Jin a look now, as he thought just how much Jin spoiled her.
Still, she was a good child.
“Kazuya”, Jin said suddenly and looked up. “There’s something I wanted to ask.”
Kazuya tilted his head.
“I’m trying to get off a little early on Friday to pick Natsuki up from preschool, what leaves me to a tight schedule tomorrow.” Jin glanced at Natsuki who sat between them. “Would you mind picking her up tomorrow afternoon? I promise I pay back the favour sometime soon.”
Kazuya smiled. “Sure. I don’t mind. You don’t have to pay back.”
“No, you’ll lose quite some time at work and I know tomorrow is busy for you, too. But I don’t trust anyone else in this.”
“It’s okay, Jin”, Kazuya repeated. “I don’t mind.”
Jin smiled. “Okay, thanks.”
Kazuya felt strangely reminded of his childhood, as he came into the building of the preschool the next day.
Everything felt smaller than in a normal place; the ceiling felt lower, the doors narrow, the chairs tiny.
Kazuya smiled and bowed to the caretaker. “I’m Kamenashi, I came to pick up Natsuki-chan.”
The woman smiled and nodded. “Akanishi-san informed us about it. Please, follow me.”
Kazuya did as she said and looked around. Everything was bright and colourful. In the windows, there were flowers with smiling faces, the cupboards for the shoes were painted in neon colours and all doors had photos on them.
The woman with the green apron stopped and opened the door to a room.
Loud noises made their way out and hit Kazuya. He heard laughter, crying, voices and the sound of different toys. A boy ran by and imitated the sound of the model-plane in his hand.
“Natsuki-chan”, the caretaker said loudly and Kazuya spotted her at the other end of the room, where she sat on a table, a pencil in her hand.
She stared at him for a moment, before she got up and quickly ran over to Kazuya.
“Kazu-nii”, she said breathlessly, as Kazuya lifted her up. She wound her arms around his neck. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m picking you up today”, he answered. Apparently, Jin had left that as a surprise for his daughter. “I’m a little late, though.”
She shook her head and pressed a kiss to Kazuya’s cheek. “Are you taking me home?”
Kazuya laughed. “Of course. We can cook something together.”
Her eyes lit up. “Really?”
Nodding, Kazuya left the room and put her down on a bench. He easily spotted her shoes and got them for her, before he helped her to put them on.
They politely bowed to the staff of the preschool and Natsuki waved them goodbye, walking beside Kazuya, holding his hand.
“They’ll all think you’re my boyfriend”, she said and grinned at him widely.
Kazuya returned it and squeezed her hand. “They probably do.” He opened the car and helped her into the passenger’s seat first.
On their way home, Natsuki kept on blabbering about preschool and gave Kazuya a short overview of her friends. She told him about them and which of them she had invited for the next day and for what reasons, until they reached Jin’s house.
Kazuya opened up the door and Natsuki ran in first, hurrying up to her room, while Kazuya took in the mail first and placed it on the table in the kitchen. He checked the fridge and the contents of the cupboards, making up his mind what he and Natsuki could make for dinner.
Then, he followed Natsuki upstairs and checked on her in her room. She sat on her bed and looked a little insecure, so Kazuya walked over and sat next to her.
“Hey, don’t you want to come downstairs with me to cook something nice?”
She lifted her face to him and gave Kazuya a long look. “I asked Papa a few days ago”, she suddenly said. “If I should confess to the boy I like.”
Kazuya felt his heart sped up. She had told Jin about it. He wasn’t sure whether he could handle this. “What did he tell you?”
Natsuki bit her lip. “He said I should wait for the boy to confess to me. But, I think…”
Kazuya put a hand over her mouth and she gave him a confused look from big round eyes.
Frowning, Kazuya listened into the room and narrowed his eyes. He heard another noise downstairs and it didn’t take much to recognise it as the sound of a window opening.
His heart beat even faster now and he threw Natsuki a look and gestured her to be quiet.
Time had come. Kazuya had tried to push it from his mind and tell himself that everything would be okay.
But he had known that, whoever was after them, would eventually take the last step and come to confront them.
All Kazuya could do now was to protect Natsuki from him.
Following a sudden idea, he lifted Natsuki and carried her to Jin’s bedroom, where he closed the door without a sound. He hurried to the dressing room and as they were inside, he approached the suits.
“Natsuki”, he said quietly and firm, as he pushed the suits aside and saw the small door. “I need you to hide now.”
She stared at him with big eyes. “Kazu-nii, what…”
“You have to promise me to not come out of this place”, Kazuya said and framed her face, as she sat on the floor of the cupboard. “No matter what you hear now. Promise it.”
She blinked her eyes and nodded.
“You will only leave this place, when your father opens this door. Only then, no one else, okay?” Kazuya gave her a serious look and waited for her nod.
Then, he leaned in and placed a gentle peck to her lips. “I love you, Natsuki-chan”, he said quietly. “So, promise to stay here until your father comes and gets you.”
She still stared at him speechlessly, as Kazuya drew back and closed the door. He pushed back the suits and then, left the dressing room.
As he left Jin’s bed room, he heard a door open downstairs and took a deep breath, before he made his way to the stairs.
“Jin, you’re early”, he said cheerfully. Whoever had broken into the house should think Kazuya didn’t suspect a thing. “I brought Natsuki to your parents, just as you said. They’ll take her out for dinner later.”
He reached the last step and looked around, but couldn’t see anyone. His heartbeat pounded wildly in his ears and Kazuya approached the door to the living room.
He just hoped Natsuki would stay in her hideout. If anything would happen to her…
It was his last thought, before something hard hit his head from behind and everything around him turned black.
Jin looked up, as someone knocked his door.
He quickly threw a glance at the watch on his wrist and thought that it was almost time to get home.
“Akanishi-san”, the girl from reception said and her voice was shaky. “There are a few detectives from the police.”
Jin frowned. “Detectives?”
She nodded.
“Send them in”, Jin said and got up. He saw the two men walking in and recognised one of them as the detective he had met in Kazuya’s flat.
Instantly, Jin knew something had happened.
“Akanishi-san”, Nakagawa greeted him. “I am sorry to disturb.”
“What’s wrong”, Jin asked.
“We need you to accompany us to the station”, the detective said. “There’s been a fire at your home.”
Jin stared at him and felt all blood rushing from his head. Natsuki and Kazuya were supposed to be in that house.
“A neighbour noticed it and called the fire brigade”, Nakagawa explained. “The landlord confirmed that it was your flat.”
Some heavy last fell off of Jin’s chest. “My flat”, Jin said and took a deep breath. “Just my flat.”
“However”, Nakagawa went on. “The landlord didn’t identify the man we found in the flat as you. He couldn’t identify him.”
Jin stared at him with a frown. “Someone was inside?”
The detective nodded. “I could identify him”, he said and gave Jin a long look.
Jin knew what it meant and all kinds of thoughts suddenly rushed through his head, while his heart skipped several beats.
“It’s Kamenashi”, Nakagawa said.
Jin kept staring at him, his lips felt numb; yet, he managed to make them move.
“Natsuki.”
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Thanks a lot for reading. I promise to not leave you hanging for too long!! ♥