Gift for ender839! (2/4)

[santa_johnny]

Next weeks Yoko spent sharing Sho's body half-half with its owner, mostly gaining access at Sho's moments of weakness and closing away as Sho slowly witnessed his own fall, and Yoko found it hard not to get affected by it as well.

Usually Sho complained as Yoko took charge, but this particular day he was just silent. He wasn't so silent even when Jun took the side of their enemies, or found out Sho was fighting them all the time. They weren't speaking to each other at all, and Yoko even tried to cheer him up by saying "It could be worse, he could have find out you knew for years already".

"He does... I think Aiba told him..."

Yoko decided to never try to cheer him up from then on.

So this time Sho was uncharacteristically silent. Yoko knew what it meant. Sho was crying inside (and outside too, but Yoko was pretending to do something else while it happened, though it was impossible to do when sharing body with Sho) and it made Yoko feel a pity for him, despite still honestly believing Sho was a traitor.

"So... what should I do for you today?" Yoko asked, resigned to just bring it faster over with. He didn't like helping him, and sometimes he totally destroyed Sho's plans on purpose, when he couldn't deal to be part of this whole sick situation actively, but once Sho stopped speaking to him for a week and just shut himself in his room, Yoko rethought his actions. From now on, he considered himself a captive and did whatever Sho wanted to, be it giving some commands, or going for some political meetings and voicing out what Sho tells him to (and calling it all off once Sho fell asleep) but never sparing him an endless string of complaints and scoldings. which Sho took admittedly quite well though.

"It's all pointless..." Sho voiced out today instead. "I just can't seem to accept I lost"

"Better to admit it later than never" Yoko huffed at him, smirking slightly, but without any humor. There was no use pretending, even Sho could tell Yoko wasn’t truly indifferent.

"You once mentioned something about a mission..." Sho started after a while which was long enough that Yoko almost had forgotten they were talking. It took him another few moments to process what Sho meant. "That Nagase guy mentioned to you." Sho helped him.

Yoko nodded. "But I don't know anything else" And if the choice was left up to Yoko, he wouldn't choose Sho for that mission. It was a grave mistake. Yoko added in his thoughts and for once hoped Sho didn't hear him.

As he felt bitterness in the "I see" of Sho's answer, Yoko counted it as his private failure.

All Yoko could remember was Nagase mentioning some mission, Manly Bond and the guy had acted like he had explained everything to Yoko, while he hadn’t said anything of any essence. But Yoko had had long weeks with nothing much else to do than to think, and he had thought about his kidnapping a lot and supposed Nagase somehow chose him for whatever reason. Though he had no idea how much Nagase cared for Yoko’s opinion and he was quite torn: first, he kidnapped him, so probably didn’t care much, but second... he insisted that Yoko had agreed to that. Yoko still couldn’t remember that moment, but he also couldn’t ask the other while being... here. Neither he knew how to transport himself neither Sho back to... wherever was the place he had come from. He also supposed Yoko’s opinion didn’t matter, but just in case it did (which was maybe stupid, but Yoko did a lot of stupid things recently, one more thing couldn’t hurt more) he kept a close watch on Sho and had to admit the other was hard to accept as a trustful companion, seeing how he betrayed one of his best friends for an egocentric reason. He couldn’t expect that to end up well, or to preserve their bond this way, this was just stupid.

"Honestly, shouldn't you try to fix things instead of making it all worse? You're needed here, you shouldn't just escape from your own mess" Yoko spoke his mind again, clearly still not completely over some of Sho’s actions.

"I tried..." Sho said quietly, and Yoko could imagine a sad smile he got so familiar with after all that time. "For few weeks already..."

Oh. It seemed Yoko didn't notice his tries at all, and sheepishly finished the topic. Interspace politics were never his forte, he just couldn't understand the complex paths to achieve the goal through some very roundabout ways.

He received a contact from Ohno at this moment, and upon acceptance Ohno transferred to Sho's room.

"Jun wants to see you" he said without any introduction. "At the usual place. It would help if you were the fastest possible."

"Hi" Yoko voiced after Sho didn't react.

"Oh, it's Yoko. Bad luck I guess. I can't bring Sho out recently, I think it's related to his mental state."

Yoko just waited for Sho to answer, but met only with stubborn silence.

"This Jun guy doesn't really know we're sharing a body, right." Yoko tried to remember. "It will be fine then. Let's go?" the last words he meant more to Sho than Ohno, but it was only Ohno who nodded. Yoko sighed. Let's go anyway.

As they arrived at the place, Jun was already waiting and raising his eyebrow. "Where's the rest?"

"Aiba just got on his explorer mission" Ohno lied without even blinking, and Sho/Yoko looked at him dubiously. Truth was Aiba was in hospital, after trying to reach Jun in his own way, and Sho was still blaming himself about it. "And Nino still refuses to leave the airport" Sho had stopped going there after the truth had been revealed, but Yoko had done it few times, and found out Nino always knew about everything anyway. He was quite an observant fellow.

They all scattered away, Yoko thought, and only few minutes later he realized this thought actually belonged to Sho this time. He never learned to properly separate their thoughts from each other, and he wondered sometimes if Sho could. He wasn't very vocal about their strange bond. After such a long time Yoko could almost believe he was just a bug in Sho's personality. Almost.

"Jun" Ohno surprisingly continued. "I also knew about you and the Earth’s situation all this time, it wasn't just Sho-kun"

Jun snapped his eyes at him, and so did Yoko and Sho.

"I'm a Force Observator from a Galaxy you don’t even know name of, and actually this isn’t my real form. We are not exactly human shaped" he said like it was the most obvious thing. "I was sent to Earth to spy, to say it shortly. I never interfered, though I have no orders not to."

All three of them gaped.

"I observed all of you the whole time, so I have quite a good view of your situation. Those circumstances are just..." Ohno paused, searching for word, like translating. "...unfortunate. So you should hug" he declared like he was talking to two fighting kids, and smiled.

Sho blinked. It must have been a shock to him, that their strange childhood friend, who had only things for fishing and painting, who never invited any of their friends home, was actually a foreign species on a mission here. Or so Yoko thought before Sho summed that it kind of made a lot of sense.

"Are we..." Jun started insecurely, seeking for Ohno’s reassurance. "...still friends?"

Ohno showed him a thumb up and as randomly as he was, excused himself and departed, leaving two (three) awkward people alone.

Yoko felt pressed to start, as the remaining two were totally unwilling to.

"So... long time no see" he voiced and only received a short noise back. Oh my, this would take too long, he thought, and just sighed and moved forward before Jun could escape and... hugged him.

"What, stop it!" Sho cried out before he noticed it was him having control over his body again, and with trembling hands he held Jun closer. "I'm sorry..." he whispered, tears already escaping his eyes.

Jun's arms reluctantly embraced him back. "Hey, Sho, do you remember? Do you know why I chose this spot?" he asked, and Sho blushed embarrassed, while Yoko tried his best to focus on the grass around at this place that looked like outskirts but were just beyond at the end of their neighborhood. This was all he could do to leave them some privacy, for the kisses, tears, and all the other unnecessary things Yoko could live without.

After some time and more hugs and talks, Jun finally said sadly "We're still enemies but..." he looked away at the sun that was just heading for the noon. "I would be grateful if you just could retreat for a while, so that we could maybe meet again later" he shied away at his own words and added. "All five of us"

And before Sho could do anything else than nod unsure, Jun was already excusing himself "Sorry, it's not enough time for proper farewell, but that's all the time I have, we probably won't meet... for a while" Jun smiled, and turned away to walk a bit further, not even once looking behind himself before he spread his wings and flew away, leaving Sho alone.

"Well, that was like the first thing you did right" Yoko commented, quite approving of Sho's braveness, not that he could truly tell him that so directly. Sho was supposed to be the smarter one (or so Yoko had decided over all the weeks of repeating the smart commands and peeking at Sho's studying books) and Yoko felt like he should be looking up to him instead, but it somehow didn’t work in the long while, though right now Yoko kind of did.

"I wish I could just disappear..." Sho mumbled, thinking already how impossible it was now to escape the responsibilities he had yet desperately wanting to get out of Jun’s way now, it was the least he could do for him.

"You could always join Nino's lifestyle" Yoko tried, already knowing his proposition wouldn't be met with enthusiasm, before he noticed something else; a door in the sky, so he bit his lips, still unsure if he wasn't making a very bad decision himself. "Or... how about you go with me?"

Sho didn't think twice despite Yoko's hesitation as they stepped through the door.

Well, even if it was a wrong decision, Nagase could blame only himself for not explaining anything at all, and so Yoko felt pretty justified in following his own instinct.

****

They stumbled out and landed on the floor in the random mix of limbs, Yoko finding his nose in Sho's neck before he could even have chance to open his eyes, or have any control of his body. He shook his head in confusion at the sudden return of white light, and tried to detach himself without bumping his teeth or eyes into the other man's ears, brushing just beneath it as he lifted himself clumsily, but before he could move his leg from between Sho's he noticed the other was holding to him a bit scaredly.

"I think we arrived" Yoko mumbled, trying to untangle himself from now completely separate entity Sho was right under him, but catching his arm only ended up with Yoko holding Sho's hand and he got totally distracted by the flush of discomfort and embarrassment, which the other didn't seem to feel at all.

"Eh, is it you? Yokoyama-kun?" Sho looked him in the eyes like from them alone he could get any real answer, and not from Yoko's lips.

Yoko ended up struggling to escape, suddenly troubled by more than just their position. He actually never admitted to Sho that he knew him from the gas station, the resolution to never confess that odd coincidence growing quickly inside him since the beginning, and despite wavering a few times he had kept it to himself only, but now it became sort of complicated to explain his reason for that. There was no way Sho could believe Yoko never noticed. Too busy with his own thoughts he even forgot to nod or answer in any way to Sho's question.

"Where are we...?" Sho looked around, seemingly already changing his focus, and Yoko frowned as he turned to him again only to see Sho looking everywhere but at him, and his mouth hung open in unspoken questions.

"I don't know, Nagase's ship?" Yoko replied, and despite his better sense he prodded Sho a little. "You're not surprised?..."

"Oh, I certainly am" Sho frowned, slightly uncomfortable at the bright white walls with seemingly nothing on them, the view on all the four round sides the same, not counting the screens, and Yoko could relate to him pretty well in that feeling. "So, what now?" he turned to Yoko, like seeking for a guide.

Yoko stared at him, with his mouth open, and then closed again. "You knew from the beginning?" he asked, damning it all, just to put an end to this strange awkwardness.

Sho frowned, his face still a bit reserved, but eyes open. "Knew what?"

"That it's me!" Yoko exclaimed, too stressed to put up with this game.

"Well..." Sho escaped with his eyes a little as he struggled to find words. "I think there is something familiar about your eyes..." he mumbled shyly, trying a bit too hard not to make it sound gross. In Yoko's opinion, he only half succeeded in that.

"Why were you coming to my gas station then?..." Yoko finally dared the question that had haunted him for weeks, if not months already, but which he had been careful enough to bury deep in his mind. It was scary to finally say it out loud, and he worried his lips just to be able to withstand the tension. After few more moments, he finally peeked at Sho, and ready to scold him for making him wait so long for any answer...

...but what he saw was just honest confusion in Sho's eyes, as the other seemed very hard to remember after seeing how serious Yoko was about his question, but his efforts were futile as he repeats after Yoko, prompting him almost. "What gas station?..."

Yoko stared unsure for some seconds, before scolding Sho faintly "Don't joke with me..."

"Sorry, I really don't know about any gas station... Are you sure it was me?" Sho apologized sincerely, though he didn't feel any guilty. Yoko's serious expression was concerning him.

Yoko still looked like it was a joke, and frowned trying to decipher whether the man before him was just pretending, though he couldn't see any good reason for him to do so.

After a longer pause of silence, Sho talked without being truly prompted.

"The farthest I have gone to are the planets of my solar system, and the neighborhood ones. Only those occupied with humans though. I never needed the gas station stops, we have teleport intergalaxy link with them..." Sho babbled a bit. "I actually wouldn't mind going to one though, I heard you can see pretty astral sceneries from them..."

Yoko only half listened while images from his memory scrolled before his eyes; the first time Sho came to his station he looked truly like a tourist fascinated by everything, from three moons view, to the glassy wall, and spending sick amount of time inspecting all the flavours and making those big round eyes as he found out from Yoko about the refill deals.

It all seemed to fit, and not fit at all. In fact, he felt like giving up on finally gaining any sort of understanding over the events in his recent phase of existence.

They didn't have time for pondering over it endlessly, as wall opened and their leader came inside, a tough friendly smile on his face, before he spotted Sho, blinked, rapidly retreating to bump into a wall and pointed a finger right at him.

"Gosh, you scared me. Stowaways travel with us only on their own risk! We don't do any extra stops, we don't share food, though if you nag our mechanic long enough he might give you some"

Yoko sighed, feeling obligated to try to explain.

"I brought him with me out of this screen..." he said and gestured at the one in the middle, that turned out to be an empty space. "Wait, there was a screen there! It vanished"

Nagase peeked there, and his expression turned serious. "Oh, I see, you have gone through one of the door"

He then stared back at Sho, still scattered on the floor opposite to Yoko, and narrowed his eyes, then fluttered it open and close again in fast motions, like it could make him see things he couldn't, before finally giving up and nodding. "I see, or well, I don't see. But those are details. I guess Manly Bond is so great it sometimes works on its own. All is in order" he cracked an almost too wide smile. "Welcome on board, kid"

It only made Sho frown even more and Yoko had troubles not to crack into laugh, seeing him facing the exact same situation Nagase had served him before.

His urge to laugh soon disappeared after both of them inquired Nagase with questions, and all they heard in reply was that Manly Bond was just Manly Bond and you can't explain it in any other words than it meaning a bond between men, and a thing every true man needed to follow and they all happened to be linked. When they asked why was it linked and in which way and what did it mean (most of those carefully mended questions coming from Sho, and Yoko was almost grateful to have him there even if it didn't help much), Nagase turned silent for a longer while, before he answered just one single line.

"It's fate".

Very fast they resigned to rest and to think of better tactics to acquire anything of more informational value. Yoko already suspected, being optimistic in his own way, that it would take long time.

******************************************

Yoko stared into the endless space with stars glistering everywhere, but all of this looked just like a scenic decoration for him. So he instead closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of space, which today chose guitar as its main instrument and a very human accompanying voice, and he started to think that he maybe liked this song (but it might be also because he just became too used to hearing only that). This voice was different from the voices of his companions, deep and emotional in pleasant waves, not raw and jumping as Yoko's own voice, and he secretly maybe would want to have the same skill.

He wondered not for the first time if it was simply someone broadcasting music almost nonstop. It consisted of a decent range of different melodies but always with the same singing voice, making Yoko complain a bit about the limited diversity, even though he knows that those songs actually rarely disturbed him; usually just fading into the background of his thoughts.

Sometimes he even liked it, like now, but his deeply hidden sympathies still weren't excusing the rude fact that no one provided him a turning off option.

"Don't you find it strange that we hear it no matter where we are?" the voice of his companion asks, and Yoko almost jumped, startled. He must have got too used to Sho's presence if he didn't even register it when the other came into the room. They were disturbingly too close.

"It is weird" he replied, trying to cover up his surprise, though his eyes still remained unusually widened. "I even suspect we have some hidden projector in the ship, because that would be logical, and assuming that spheres sing in human voice definitely isn't." he complained out loud some more, causing his companion to smile and agree.

"Where would it be though?" he mused casually, though awkwardness could be heard somewhere beyond his words and Yoko totally blamed his own one on the well known contagious effect.

"We could search for it" he pointed out, smirking, and intended to comment further on the silly idea, but before he could his companion totally took the fake bait.

"Let's do it then!"

Yoko turned to him. "You know I didn't really mean it, right?"

The other just peeked at him in response. "How does it matter, we don't have much to do here anyway".

Yoko couldn't disagree but he still stubbornly wanted to stay, even if he had no good excuse for it even before himself. He looked outside the big convex glass of the main room they were both in at the moment, like maybe suddenly he could find anything interesting in the endless sea of shining faraway stars.

Sho was right anyway, he was just sitting and listening to song because he had nothing better to do. Even if he happened to like it, he could hear it anywhere, he thought as he got up and followed along.

***

As they walked through the place, they realized it was larger than they had expected.

"Maybe here?" Sho asked, and Yoko whined mentally (and maybe a little out loud too, since Sho had this shy amused but understanding look on his face); he had more than enough and started to doubt his decision 15 rooms before.

He opened it slightly only to see picture of pure horror inside. "What is this?" There were all sorts of monsters and creatures, half-jelly, half-animal mutations and they somehow reminded Yoko of something or someone and Sho kindly said it outloud for him.

"Wow, Aiba would enjoy this so much" Sho exclaimed but also cringed a little, and Yoko decided to take the lead and shut the door, before the creatures could realize it was open. He was already repeating to himself that some bizarre species in the ship were not his problem as long as they were shut away for a while, till the responsibility would get shifted to someone else. "Do you think we should report it to Nagase?"

"Yeah and you know, maybe we should stop this" Yoko proposed, trying to calm the shivers by rubbing his shoulders. "Let's go eat instead"

"You really can think of eating after seeing that?" Sho's eyes narrowed slightly as his lips quirked upwards.

"Shut it" Yoko almost blushed after realizing how long it was since the last time he had eaten in his actual body and nothing really could destroy this moment for him. Though he would better forget about the untasty looking alien living forms.

And so they naturally ended up in kitchen.

"There are weird creatures all around the ship" Yoko complained loudly upon his first steps inside, making sure the rest of the world knew about this horrifying insanity.

"They're my pets" said the mechanic, and Yoko already learned that his name was Koki, and who was right now cooking their meal.

"...pets?" Sho repeated, his face set in disbelief, but Yoko was a bit less subtle "Those bizarre beings made of jelly?"

"Please refer to them with respect, like to humans"

"They're definitely not humans!" Yoko protested wholeheartedly, while Sho only gaped in polite amazement.

"To me they are" Koki stated as he served them some noodles.

The smell of curry and wheat fought a bit in Yoko's mind with the need to protest further, but his stomach won and he was munching on his meal before he made a complete deal with himself "This is so delicious!" he voiced after he took another bite with confused expression, only to melt away after he felt the taste.

"You're always so energetic about food" Sho smiled after taking a seat as well.

"You should eat more too!" Yoko retaliated, his mouth already more full than not.

"I do like eating, but..." Sho defended himself a little "You scolded me enough for it already" then Sho shyly reached for his own plate and said a very warm and polite 'good appetite'.

Yoko just hoped for Sho to not remind him in words or gestures of the time he had spent in his body and everything related, like for example Sho's consideration right now as he pushed closer a pudding he knew Yoko liked. Or how he had started to look through cafe menus more often after the first week, and how he had sometimes asked Yoko on his opinion on what he had thought looked tasty. It was even harder to hide his embarrassment when Sho was actually sitting right opposite to him, smiling softly.

"It's so weird that we're not sharing a body anymore" Sho suddenly confessed, as if he was reading Yoko's mind and teasing him on purpose.

Yoko gracefully tried to focus only on eating. He really didn't want to talk about it and it was quite ironic that he felt almost more exposed to him now than before.

Koki looked at them curiously but never asked and Yoko was grateful to him for that (besides the food).

"Oh, it's food time" Nagase's energetic voice sounded from the entrance, and before any of them figured he was already eating, holding a big plate, like he had arrived with it already in hand. "Great, we can feel like a family, everyone eating together!"

For Yoko it was dubious, but he was too focused on food to care and just enjoyed the meal. Sho on the other hand looked thoughtful, and Koki neutrally content.

"I have some questions since we gathered all together" Sho started after finishing his own meal, thanking Koki properly. He looked at their sort-of-a-leader who was eating with large, heartful bites. "What is our mission exactly?" he asked, leaning a bit with his elbows on the table like with his position alone he was proving his readiness for discussion.

"Our mission?" Nagase started casually. "We're going to the Tower"

"What is it and where is it?" Sho prompted him immediately.

"There" he showed outside the glass panel. Sho followed his gaze and Yoko peeked up from his plate as well. What they saw though was without a doubt the same thing Nagase clumsily pointed to; a big slender object that was always in their vision no matter where they were travelling to in space.

"Isn't it said to be in the center of the universe?" Sho asked warily and Nagase nodded, noodles still hanging out of his mouth. "But no one can reach there. It's said to be just an illusion"

"Yeah, we can't, but we will" Nagase agreed, "But so we need a guide. It will be our task to acquire it"

"What do you mean by we?" Yoko suddenly showed more interest.

"Me, you and him" Nagase pointed out with a move of his head. "Congrats on being chosen"

"And Koki?"

"I can’t, someone needs to stay here" said Koki while setting second portion for Nagase. "And I'm the only one actually knowing how ships work among us"

Yoko had already opened his mouth to voice his opinion on how unfair it all was, but he didn't. Koki might be a quiet, keeping to himself person, but he also looked a bit scary, even if he cooked for Yoko (which was very nice of him and Yoko was almost ready to change his opinion) while wearing an almost cute apron.

But he got his doubts affirmed after this one time he had caught Koki in shower and had seen his naked ass that wasn't so scary in itself (depended on how one looked at it though), but the tattoos he had seen there had made him keep more distance and respect. He didn't want to get on the worst side of someone who might have had some dangerous past, and was even keeping dangerous unidentified species as pets.

"You can bring me a pet as a souvenir. I wanted a white Furry Toad for a while already" Koki requested, but Yoko was sure not to put it on his to-do list.

"We really have to?" Yoko whined in his desperate attempt to avoid what seemed as something inevitable.

"Well, Koki will be a bit sad if you won't" Nagase answered truthfully.

"Not this, the mission" Yoko snapped a bit, causing Sho's eyes to shift to him.

"We're already there" Nagase said and pointed out a purple planet growing bigger outside which clearly meant they were getting closer and not the other way around.

Great, so Yoko needed to pursue some mission he didn't even understand at all. Lovely. Maybe in the end he preferred to work slightly on the illegal side for Goro-san.

But it didn't feel like he had any choice now. He sighed, looked before himself, meeting Sho's eyes on accident, and reverted them back to some random elsewhere.

***

"We really have to?" this time it was not Yoko, but Sho whining, and Yoko felt disturbed (but very agreeing) at how similar this sounded with his own feelings.

All three of them were facing a big pyramid they found randomly after strolling around in some odd forest with plants extremely big and their seeds swallowing other living forms around. It was already hard to believe they wouldn't need any special vaccine or special training to stay alive on this planet ("It's an unknown planet" Sho had squeaked out. "It could have some strange diseases, the air could have some chemicals, and then after we breath, it will explode our lungs" Yoko had shuddered and taken strategical position at the very back upon those words. "No biggie, it probably shouldn't happen" Nagase had smiled as both him and Koki had pushed them out of the ship, Koki fleeing away fast enough that neither Sho or Yoko could see how their ship even looked like, and they looked at each other in perfect understanding. They were alive, somehow, but pretty much screwed.)

As Nagase was searching for the entrance, Yoko was already strolling back to the forest, before a plant tried to eat his feet, and another one already was reaching for his fingers.

"Can't we have at least some weapon?..." he whined, already back at Nagase's side as the man revealed a hole almost half his height and grinned barring most of his teeth. Yoko shook head to Sho, indicating that a safe escape route wasn't available.

"True men protect themselves with bare hands" so Nagase said and strangled some wiggly plant, like he had done all the time on their way, Yoko and Sho finding themselves almost completely relying on him for survival (which Nagase didn't mind at all), even after entering inside the tomb. Soon, they reached multiple way choice before them.

"We should split up" Nagase said and then both of his companions’ faces turned into expression of terror.

"I will be fine on my own, you go somewhere there. It will be faster this way" he said and added before walking his way "Good luck!"

"We could be killed!" Yoko cried after him, but only an echo that sound like "then it's fate" reached him.

Yoko and Sho were left on their own in this forgotten and dark path.

"Let's go after him?" Sho proposed. Yoko looked at him. "It's unreasonable to ask of us to go on our own" he tried again.

Yoko frowned. "You have no man pride?" he scolded him and took few steps forward to the different corridor. The blackness there made him stop pretty soon and he clung to anything that was close, what turned out to be Sho's elbow as the other had followed him there.

As they strolled further in complete silence, Yoko started to regret and hate his life, and for some reason that was the exact same moment Sho chose to speak out.

"Nagase is kind of mysterious."

"Too mysterious. Or more like dangerous," Yoko spat out. "We're already as good as dead"

The squeeze back on Yoko's elbow didn't make him feel any better.

"What exactly are we even searching for? Nagase said a "guide" but..."

Yoko stopped in his tracks.

"No way. No way. We're going back" he sighed deeply, angered at the realization that they didn't even know how it (was it an object? a person? a mummy?) was supposed to look. "We won't be getting lost here for nothing"

Nagase counted on them. But he could have told them more. Yoko didn't even understand why he was supposed to be doing any of this.

But as they backtracked a few steps a hole suddenly grew under their feet and Yoko felt himself tripping and falling hard on his butt, but still on the solid ground, and he realized he was the one lucky as he heard Sho vanishing down the hole. He called for him, mind rushed and so panicked, but all he found was darkness around.

He was staring blankly before he felt the floor moving and vanishing under his feet again, so he crawled, squeezing his eyes shut to stop the tears, turned and moved forward just because it was the only way left for him, almost running with every step to fight the overwhelming numbness he could feel everywhere in his body.

***

After a lot of time stumbling around in the dark, Yoko finally saw light far before him. When he reached its source, he even spotted someone, though it wasn't exactly the person he really wanted to find.

"Oh, kid" Nagase noticed him. "So those two corridors lead to the same place, I guess" he was already trying to unbury the lost passage on the way, throwing away stones and dirt, wiping the sweat with his dirty palm, and then arm, from his forehead to his neck. "I will be done soon, don't worry"

Yoko just stared and finally stumbled down on his knees.

"The other one is not with you?..."

"No..." Yoko struggled emotionlessly, his eyes shining slightly, but almost closed. "He fell... inside some trap I think..." after a moment of silence he snapped them open again though. "Can't you do something? Call him? It's all your fault that this happened! You and this missions of yours, and the way you don't tell us anything important, and leave us without anything to protect ourselves!"

"It might be my fault" Nagase answered seriously. "But I can't help it, I need you."

"We can't do anything!"

"But we have bond."

Yoko looked at him devastated.

"Sorry, I can't do anything. I don't have a bond with this fellow. Well, I do, but only indirect one through you." Nagase paused thoughtfully, strong as he was throwing away the stones. "I guess our bond didn't yet happen. Do you know I couldn't really see anything through the second screen when I tried before you, it was just black and nonresponding for me. It's only you who managed to open the door. You have a connection, you could try to communicate with him."

"I'm not longer in his body, I don't have any link..." Yoko stated slowly.

"You used to be in his body? Wow, that's a super duper close bond you have there" Nagase said with this terribly fond tone in his voice.

"How am I supposed to do it?" Yoko quickly changed the topic.

"Focus" Nagase guided him. "Concentration is the key"

****

Yoko started to help Nagase to unblock the passage, constantly and feverishly calling Sho in his mind, like he used to do when they were still together. Why was it so difficult, why couldn't he just stop doing that once he started, and as they got their way through he felt disappointed of not finding Sho on the other side.

But they did find two paths again, one of them with steps leading down and this time Yoko was the one to propose their direction. "Then our paths part here" Nagase decided.

And so they did.

****

Sho woke up to the salty fragrance and slight buzz in his head, and the feeling was a bit like waves washing over him back and forth. As he opened his eyes and looked weakly, disoriented around, he recognized it was actually a sea. Everything hurt him like he had been beaten up, and for longer moments he couldn't even move a mere inch. He breathed hard as he finally lifted up a bit and spotted the door standing there right in the middle of the beach. He looked at it, and then memories came back in a rush.

"Yokoyama-kun?!" He looked around, stiff muscles snapping and making him whine in pain a bit, but he spotted no one around, only sound of waves humming like blood in Sho's head.

He really missed the other's presence inside his mind, Sho thought and bit his lip, wondering what had even happened. He lifted his eyes to the door, and spotted three other ones behind it. He sighed and gathered himself to do what he needed to do, crawling his way to the first one, and limped as he made the last step to open and enter through it, waves washing over the shore steadily in its chaotic patterns behind him.

He shouldn't be surprised that he didn't just arrive at the second side of it, still at the same beach, but then how could he know before experiencing it for the first time alone. He closed his eyes as white light enveloped him.

****

Yoko found a whole room full of plants underground and ran as he spotted a couple of random limbs buried in it.

He ripped the plants off of Sho and hugged the slowly waking up man tight in his arms. Soon the hug was reciprocated, as the soft and weak voice sought reassurance "...Yokoyama-kun?"

"You're fine?" Yoko asked, his voice a bit overly emotional. "I was so worried"

Sho sighed or just took some deep breaths as he leaned a bit on Yoko. "I feel... kind of bitten" he frowned, feeling some scratches itching.

"I think it's because of plants, most of them got damaged as you fell on them..."

"Fell?" Sho tried to proceed slowly.

"The floor had some trap I think..." Yoko nodded patiently.

"Oh" was all Sho managed to answer.

Yoko allowed the hug to last longer, before they had to keep on moving.

But as they turned around, the entrance was now blocked completely by the plants, to the point that Yoko had doubts if it was the place he passed when getting here. He hated those wiggly stuff. Plants are supposed to be rooted, not moving around flexibly and deceptively like this.

"What should we do?..." he heard the question from Sho and all he could tell him was to try to pass through. He moved forward as first, feeling like he owed it to Sho after letting him fall. He almost tripped though over some sharp long spike, and he realized there were more of such around - most of them eroded, or, Yoko shuddered at the thought, eaten away by plants.

Only now he realized how big luck Sho had, and so he prepared himself for a lot of discomfort as he started to get his way through, ripping at the plants till their liquids sprayed all around and on his skin, but he kept on moving forward.

At first it went well but the remaining plants kept on moving in the way, so he changed his strategy and decided to focus on destroying as much as possible and escaping through the opening fast. He warned Sho, to which he nodded, and both started the process, moving step by step forward. While being already close to sneaking out, Yoko now realized plants started to surrender them from the other side too, like trying to trap them in between.

He quickly freed enough width to push Sho slightly outside first, worried that he was staying at the back too much.

As the plant moved again, his hands, already tired of using so much strength to unblock the way (and the earlier stone moving had it’s part too), had more difficulty to let it loose, and some plant managed to sneak around one of Yoko's wrists. He quickly tried to push it away, but it started to bite, and then covering more and more of Yoko's skin, like it wanted to swallow his whole arm, or even his whole body at once, and Yoko panicked for a moment.

"Quick, through the bottom" he managed to hear Sho's voice, and he really had no idea how he managed to focus enough on it, maybe because it still felt like it came directly from Yoko's own head, and he dived down the moment his wrist got free and he stumbled on the floor, crawling away from the living mess behind.

"You're okay?" soon Sho's hands were all over him and for once Yoko didn't mind.

He nodded twice as he stumbled back on his feet, and said "I think I came this way" and Sho, despite hesitating, just accompanied him along.

They moved forward in silence and slow pace, but it felt like they were going on forever. "It feels like a maze" Sho finally exclaimed quietly and Yoko couldn't agree more. Then after all the struggle they reached just a big hole in the middle of their way. Too big for them to jump it and be safe. Yoko stopped in his tracks and just stared at it, his expression sinking completely.

"Great" he spat to himself. "Sorry, I guess I did mix up the directions..." he apologized quietly.

Sho looked around, and then behind his back. "Should we maybe return the same way?" which sounded like a logical proposition but Yoko still had in mind the first time they decided to go back and he found himself catching Sho's wrist in fear he would start walking away.

"No, I think that's..." he bit his lip, not finding really any good excuse, and Sho's worried, and then just curious gaze wasn't helping him at all to come up with any. But to his surprise Sho gave up and just nodded, asking him what now then. Yoko was still reluctant to let go of his hand, when he focused hard on their surroundings, stubbornly looking for the tiniest hint of some other way out. He noticed it, a very narrow passage just across the wall. Sho's sight followed there without being asked to first. "I think this is too risky"

Yoko also thought so, but when he concentrated, he could see a way out at the other side. Maybe it was worth trying. "Let's try" he finally said and moved along, but his hand still connected to Sho kind of dragged him backwards as his companion stayed immobile, suddenly looking uneasy.

"What's wrong?" Yoko asked as Sho struggled for a bit with his answer, before exclaiming frustrated

"I am not good with heights..."

Yoko stared at him and then turned around "It's nothing much, it will be fine" but Sho's eyes just kept on widening already upon the first steps. "Just don't look down" Yoko said, but squeezed Sho's hand a little.

They moved in really slow steps, with Sho trying to back away a few times. Yoko started to find it a bit amusing, since he considered this height just normal, or at least in Yoko's range of perseverance.

"Really, how did you manage to work at this glass floor center in the planet ring?" Yoko asked, suddenly remembering.

"...I was usually dimming the floor" Sho mumbled, breathing hard to try to control the stress. "It was pretty but made me quite dizzy..."

"Huh" Yoko exclaimed, almost wanting to prompt more, but already seeing Sho in such distress made him hold back a little, especially when the height was increasing since the middle of their way, and the space they were walking on narrowing so much they had to do horizontal steps, leaning against the wall... and Yoko guessed he was himself not as good with heights as he thought he was.

As if that wasn't enough, he suddenly started hallucinating, or whatever it was since some images lined up before his eyes. There were seven people, doing pretty much the same Yoko was doing now: getting through a high place.

First was Maru, enthusiastic as he skipped forward and even doing sometimes stilled funny poses, and after getting through the other end and proving everyone it was possible to get through, he was walking back to the rest like it was nothing. So okay, he was sometimes like a guinea pig for Yoko's operating purposes, but it worked, and Maru really was the only one capable of such a thing.

Second was Subaru, and then Yasu, going hand in hand, and Yoko snickered on how literally it was, Maru parading after them with easygoing confidence.

Next was Ryo, rarely wanting to go as first, but quite often trying as the one in the middle, without bigger troubles, shining an ace smile from the other side.

Hina worried if he shouldn't go as the last one, just in case, but Yoko just shooed him away, quite impressed that such a big person could make it through quite fast.

When it came to Ohkura's turn, he kind of chickened out, but Yoko made sure to push him forward. He uncharacteristically complained a lot, and even exclaimed some hate for Yoko on the way, but he managed to the other side nicely, Maru pulling him for the last steps.

Only when Yoko's turn came as the last one, he realized that after his worry for the others had dissolved, some of his own discomfort reached the surface.

"I will wait for you here guys" he cried to the other side and started to search for some comfortable place for himself to sit down and escape his fears.

"We can't do it without one of us! Only together we work!" Subaru scolded him from afar, and most of what Yoko heard were worried and encouraging shouts until Maru came to the other side (leaving Yoko totally in awe at how he was able to do that so many times and unaffected), took Yoko's very protesting hand and some squeaks proceeded to leave his mouth as he lead them on the cliff. Then the rest of Kanjani changed their attitude from genuinely encouraging to mockingly laughing making Yoko feel only more ashamed.

But Maru's hand was firm on his, and despite Yoko's whines and slow pace, his patience was golden when he whispered encouraging and soothing words. Yoko even closed his eyes for a few moments only to snap them open again as he realized if he wasn't looking he would just fall down.

"Yuuchin, it's fine, just look!" Maru said and did some silly risky pose that didn't help to calm Yoko's nerves at all. They made it to the other side and Yoko promised himself to never again approach such high places or dangerous situations.

"Yoko-" Sho started but gasped a little as he ended up peeking down and left the words hanging unfinished, and this snapped Yoko back to reality.

That wasn't hallucination, it was a memory, he realized.

...and appearing in worst situation ever, as he held his breath when trying not to freak out as well, which didn't save him from whining.

"Okay, so you're right, this is hella scary, I'm sorry" he blurted out, unconsciously or not squeezing Sho's hand a lot.

Sho would want to look at him but was too busy not freaking out himself.

To part 3.