Letting you go
Title: Letting you go
Author: Masuhisa
Pairing: Sakumiya, Matsumiya
Summary: They say love can last several lifetimes…Nino knew he never should have agreed to go visit that creepy castle at some strange town. When he kept getting strange dreams at night, Nino knew he should be going, but something keeps holding him back.
Genre: Supernatural
Disclaimer: Don’t own, will one day: the 30th of February
AN: I hope at least someone remembers me. First of all, i know it's been so long since i last posted anything (that's because i just migrated, so i had loads of stuff to do). This fic is something random that i suddenly thought of (and written when only half my brain was functioning, so there might be some mistakes here and there, but i'll edit those eventually) I know that i have another fic to complete, and i promise to update that too, but for now...enjoy.
A swarm of raindrops smashed against the glass of the car window like a hive of wasps, making Nino so thankful that he was inside a car and safe from the low temperatures and thunderstorm. That was until the car jerked for the god knows how many times, making him feel his partially digested dinner coming back up his throat.
Having his superbly hot and muscular boyfriend beside him didn’t help as the rackety car sped through the deserted forest, the driver anxious to make it to their destination before midnight.
Nino was starting to regret agreeing to go on what Aiba called a ‘field trip’ to some town he had never heard of, just so the lanky man could visit some museum. The moment he found out that the trip was planned by Aiba, he knew he should have declined right away.
The gears in Nino’s part of his brain which generates his revenge plans started churning. He was about to come up with the perfect plan to get back at Aiba when a strong hand gently squeezed his. Nino glanced up at Sho who gave him a reassuring smile. All it took was one look from Sho to make Nino forget everything, including that plan of his to tear Aiba limb by limb. Pouting, Nino snuggled his head into the crook his Sho’s shoulder.
“We’re here!” announced Aiba gleefully as he pulled into a parking lot. Nino peered out of the window to take a look at their hotel. What he saw sent shivers down his spine. Nino didn’t know how Aiba did it, but he always managed to choose some eccentric place every time they went on a trip together. This one was no exception. Standing before his eyes was a huge castle made out of grey stone slabs. There was vines growing all over the place and the thunderstorm gathering above only served to make the place even spookier that it already is.
“Are you sure this is the right place?” asked Nino hesitantly, giving the castle a good look.
Aiba nodded, struggling to get their luggage out. Using two umbrellas to shelter them and their bags, the three men made their way to the main door. Like every other spooky castle, the doors were the medieval kind made from rotting wood, causing Nino to shiver when he pass through it.
Once inside, Nino glanced at the interior design. The furniture were pretty old-fashion, probably to match the age of the castle, but other than that, everything else was modern.
Before Nino could take a better look at his surroundings, a sleepy looking man with spiky golden hair, presumably a porter by his uniform, approached them with two sets of keys and took their bags.
“Hello, I’m Ohno Satoshi, and I’ll be your porter slash guide slash butler for the duration of your stay here,” said the man named Ohno, sounding as if he had memorized his lines and said them without giving it much thought.
As the four men went to their rooms, Aiba wasted no time in bombarding the poor porter with questions about the hotel.
“Is it true that his castle once belonged to a great king? Matsumoto, is it?” asked Aiba, bouncing up and down on in the lift. A split second after the porter nodded, Aiba shot him another question, “Is it true that his body is still within the castle?” Ohno nodded the second time. The third question came - “Is it true that his body never decomposed?”
By the time it got to Aiba’s third question, Nino’s brain had already gone into hibernate mode, not wanting to know or give a damn about the answers, hence he didn’t know what the answer to the last question was. But seriously, who cares? All Nino wanted was to cuddle against his adorably hot boyfriend and go to sleep.
Once they got to their room, Nino literally slammed the door shut in Aiba’s face before the latter could say anything. Finally, some peace and quiet without the ever-noisy Aiba. Not bothering to even change into his pajamas, Nino jumped straight into the large comfy bed, earning a soft chuckle from Sho who followed suit seconds later. Burying his head in the crook of Sho’s neck, Nino closed his eyes and drifted off into a deep slumber…
He found himself standing in a great golden ballroom, ladies in gorgeous gowns and men in splendid suits in front of him. He blinked. The place he was in looked extremely familiar, Nino was pretty sure he was here before, but the point was he hardly left Tokyo, let alone come to such a grand place which he knew his stingy nature would not let him do so.
Suddenly, he felt something nudge his sides. Turning around, Nino saw an old man with a short silver cane in his hands, looking at him impatiently. Behind them was an entire string ensemble, all the musician staring at him eagerly. For some unknown reason, Nino knew what he was supposed to do - sing.
He couldn’t control himself as his mouth opened and melodious lyrics started flowing out of him. Everybody started looking him, some in awe, others in delight, making Nino feel so damned embarrassed that he wanted to run away.
However, he had absolutely no control over himself, he couldn’t even move his hands! Thankfully, the song ended and Nino clamped his mouth shut. The room busted into an applause, the sound ringing loudly in his ears.
He felt a smile creep onto his face.
In the midst of the crowds, he spotted a familiar face. He was sure he had seen that face before, he just couldn’t place a finger on it. Gazing intently at that man, Nino noticed that he was staring at him just as strongly as Nino was looking at him. The curly black hair, the aristocratic nose, the aura of superiority, that man drew Nino’s attention like how the moon drew water.
He wanted to take a step closer to get a better look at that person, but when he did, everything vanished into a cloud of black mist…
“NINO!!”
“NINO, WAKE UP!!”
Nino opened his eyes groggily, the loud voice calling his name pulling him out of the dream world.
“Aiba?” asked Nino, still half-asleep, “what are you doing in my room?”
“Sho-chan let me in,” answered Aiba hurriedly, “but what are you doing in bed? We have to go visit the museum, it opens in 10 minutes!”
Nino flopped back onto his bed. It was bad enough being rudely woken up when he could be sleeping, but it was worse being woken up to go to some stupid museum. He didn’t really care about the history about the ex-castle-now-hotel they were staying in, all he wanted was to sleep.
“Come on, Kazu, get out of bed,” said another voice.
Nino sighed. Being asked by Sho, Nino was generous enough to comply, but that came at a price: a hot make out session that night and really intense sex.
Soon enough, they were walking down the corridors, down to the dungeon of the castle which had been transformed into a museum where the rich and luscious history of the castle they were staying in was displayed.
According to Aiba who heard from that sleepy looking porter, the great king Matsumoto, who used to live in that castle, died in 800BC, but the strange thing was a legend which said that his body never rotted or decomposed in anyway even after several thousand years. Apparently, the body was kept in a glass coffin and locked in a room which nobody ever found.
The trio made it to the museum which was empty since they were one of the few people staying there. In fact, the place was so unheard of that there were barely ten people in total.
Like the nerd he is, Sho went around looking at the exhibits, ‘ah-ing’ and ‘oh-ing’ at the descriptions and pictures. Nino, being Nino, didn’t partially like museums, so he decided to walk around, just to please his boyfriend, and head off to the café for some coffee.
After what felt like ages of walking, Nino concluded that he was lost. He sighed and kicked the floor in annoyance. The place was creeping him out and he really wanted to get out. Wandering around some more, Nino prayed that he would find an exit.
Luck was on his side that day, for he spotted a door which looked like the one he entered through. Not wanting to stay in that creepy museum any longer, Nino took his chances and went through the door.
The moment he was on the other side, a nauseating wave hit him like a tidal wave. His hand shot up to ease the throbbing in his head which appeared out of nowhere, but whatever he did was futile.
“Kazu…”
Nino spun around despite his aching head and the nauseating feeling, thinking somebody finally found him. But all he saw was the solid wood door which he had came through.
“Kazu…” he heard the voice again.
Nino spun 360 degrees, but he couldn’t see anyone. Taking a few steps forward with the aid of the wall, Nino spotted a sudden flash of light. Thinking it was an exit, he headed towards it.
It turns out that the flash of light wasn’t from a glass window. It came from a glass coffin. Nino stood there, shocked. Right in front of him was the rumored King’s body sealed away. The legend was true, the body did exist and it doesn’t show any sign of decomposition. Before Nino could scoff at how fake the figure looked, another wave of nausea hit him.
“Kazu, you came back…” said the voice.
Nino shook his head vigorously, not believing what was going on. The room was starting to scare the shit out of him and he knew he had to get out. Gathering what strength he had in him, Nino fled.
When he burst through the door, he rammed into someone, sending both of them to the floor.
“Kazu?”
The said man looked up and found himself sprawled all over Sho. His boyfriend was giving him strange looks, as though he is an alien or something.
“How did you do that?”
“Do what?” asked Nino, clueless as to what Sho was talking about.
“You just appeared through the wall,”
Nino wanted to chide Sho for saying such a stupid thing. While getting up, Nino caught a reflection in a glass panel in front of him. His eyes widened in shock as he turned around - the door was gone.
“Nino, are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost or something,”
“Sho…” said Nino, gasping, “This place is giving me the creeps…can we leave? Please…” adding a cute puppy dog face for good measure.
Seeing the desperateness in Nino, Sho agreed, “We will leave tomorrow morning,”
Nino nodded.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Adrenaline pumped through his blood, and Nino knew his face must have been crimson red despite the room being pitch black he couldn’t see anything other than the body on top of his.
He tightened his grip around the other person’s shoulders. He didn’t know if he should grin like an idiot at the pleasure, or cringe due to the pain as a mixture of both shot up his spine.
“Faster,” he heard himself say. The other person stopped for a moment as a pair of lips came down to claim his, and after giving him a long kiss, the other person resumed. Nino grinned to himself, wondering how Sho managed to become so good overnight when reality struck him.
That person wasn’t Sho.
The other person was lean, a stark contrast to Sho’s muscular build, and not to mention the huge difference in their hairstyles. He bit his tongue guiltily. He was sleeping with another man behind Sho’s back? Impossible! There was no way he would do such a thing to Sho. He didn’t even know who that guy on top of him is!
Squinting, Nino tried to figure out who that man was. No name came to mind. This is bad, very bad. He was sleeping with a person he didn’t even know! How would be tell Sho about it? He wanted to bang his head against a wall and hopefully die from brain damage, but something stopped him. There was a word that was itching to come out of his throat, but he had no clue what that word was. No matter how much he tried, that one word just remained trapped within him. He gave up.
Suddenly, a name rolled off his tongue, “Jun…”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Morning, sleepy head,” greeted a voice.
Nino could recognize that voice anywhere. Even though it was Sho calling him, Nino didn’t feel like emerging from his make-shift cavern of blankets for he didn’t want to face Sho after what he had done to him. Shifting around to make himself more comfortable, Nino noticed that he was fully clothed. Puzzled, he sat up.
“So you finally decided to wake up,” teased Sho from the sofa where he was reading that day’s newspaper.
Nino didn’t reply, he was busy celebrating the fact that everything was a dream! He didn’t cheat on Sho with an unknown man, and coupled with that fact that they will be leaving this creepy mansion soon, Nino could not be happier. That was until he saw that Sho’s stuff weren’t packed.
“Sho, why haven’t you packed?” asked Nino, “Aren’t we leaving today?”
Sho glanced up from the papers, “Sorry, Kazu, I know I promised that we’d leave today, but there was a snow storm last night and we’re snowed in,”
Nino raised an eyebrow suspiciously. It was only mid-autumn, how in the world can there be a snow storm in the middle of autumn. Seeing is believing, so out of bed Nino went and over to the window. Surprisingly, Sho was right - the snow piled so high that it first 5 floors were completed buried. With snow like that, it would be impossible for them to leave.
Nino sighed.
As he was about to walk away from the window, something green caught his eye. Staring out of the window in shock, Nino’s jaws hung down as he noticed that the nearby village was completely snow-free, not a single snow flake landed on the village grounds.
Something strange was definitely going on. Before Nino could give the situation any thought, a certain honey-haired man came bursting through the doors, yelling something incoherent.
“Aiba, slow down,” chided Sho.
After taking a huge breath, Aiba repeated, “They found the room where the King’s body was kept! It’s now on display at the museum,”
Sho’s eyes lit up animatedly. Jumping up from his seat, Sho insisted that they go see for themselves.
“No thanks, you guys go ahead,” said Nino, not wanting to go back to that creepy room which gave him a nauseating feeling.
“Please, Kazu,” begged Sho as he tried his best to persuade his boyfriend to go with him to witness something so extraordinary.
In the end, Nino couldn’t say no to Sho, and the three headed to the museum. Even though the discovery was a significant one, being snowed in resulted in the general public not being able to enter, thus the three friends were one of the few people who would witness the body which never rotted even after thousands of years.
Following Aiba, who was rushing to get as close as possible to the glass coffin, Nino tried not to look at the display. Even though he was certain it was fake, it still creep Nino out.
“So cool~” whispered Aiba to himself, “The king is pretty handsome, don’t you think so, Nino?”
“Un,” replied Nino half-heartily, looking anywhere but at the coffin.
“You’re not even looking!” protested Aiba as he reached over Sho to playfully force Nino to look at the King’s body. Being the bigger of the two, Aiba easily overpowered the smaller man. When Nino’s eyes landed on the king’s face, his heart skipped several beats.
It was him, that guy in his dreams. Nino’s stomach started churning as he felt Goosebumps all over his arms. It was weird for him to dream about the king. It was weird for him to so happen to stumble into the secret room where the king’s body was kept even though it was supposedly un-findable. It was weird for him to dream about having sex with him. But the weirdest part just had to be the voice in his head calling his name.
“Kazu…” breathed a voice, sending shivers down Nino’s spine. Nino reached for his head, grasping his hair hoping that it would stop his head from throbbing so violent. It got worse. He bit his tongue, hoping that the pain would take his mind of his spinning head. His grip on Sho’s hand tightened.
“Kazu? Are you alright?” asked Sho worriedly, placing his hand on Nino’s forehead as he noted how pale his boyfriend looked. Sho’s hand burnt from the coldness of Nino’s skin. He saw that Nino tried to reply, but instead of words coming out of his mouth, all Sho heard was coughs. His panic level shooting sky high, Sho half-carried, half-dragged Nino away out of the museum, thinking it was the musty air in the dungeon that caused Nino to react that way
“Kazu,” Sho tried to get a response, “Kazu, don’t scare me like this,” Nino seemed to be delirious as he didn’t give any form of response. By now, Sho’s panic-meter had already exploded. Flinging his arms around Nino and hugging him tightly, Sho hoped that he could at least get Nino warm. He would have called an ambulance, but they were snowed in so badly that calling one would be pointless. Instead, he opted for holding Nino close to him in an attempt to use his body heat to get Nino warm.
The moment he rested Nino’s head on his muscular shoulders, all the light bulbs in the vicinity exploded simultaneously, the area darkening instantly and giving Sho a near heart attack. Ladies screamed and men yelled, and amidst all the commotion, Sho was certain he saw a silhouette belonging to no one glaring at him with such intense hatred. He blinked. The silhouette vanished.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Going against his head’s orders, Nino sat up despite feeling extremely woozy as a damp towel slid down from his forehead. Blinking once, then twice, his vision finally adjusted to the bright afternoon light.
“Sho…” Nino called out, his voice so hoarse it sounded like he was croaking.
The said man glanced up from his newspapers and a smile of relief spread across his face, “Thank god you’re aright,” sighed Sho, rushing up to Nino’s side, “Are you feeling better? Do you need me to get anything?”
Nino tried to ask for something to drink, but thanks to his dry throat, all that came out was a jumble of rough noises. But Sho nodded, and immediately went to get his boyfriend a glass of water.
Randomly grabbing a glass from the shelf, Sho placed it under the tap and reached out to on the tap. The moment his fingers touched the cool metal handle, it exploded as violently as an erupting volcano, water spurting out in all directions. Needless to say, Sho was completely drenched from head to toe. Standing there dripping, Sho really tried not to swear.
Brushing his dripping fringe out of his face, Sho took the now filled cup to Nino who was giggling at the sight of a soaking Sho. After handing over the cup, Sho dragged a chair to the bedside, not wanting to sit on the bed and wet it.
He seemed to be down on his luck that day, for the moment he sat down, the chair collapsed under him, sending Sho crashing to the floor above a pile of broken wood.
“Sho!” cried Nino, watching what happened in horror.
“I’m okay,” replied Sho, rubbing his sore back. Scrambling to his feet, Sho tried to laugh it off. Sadly, he didn’t have the last laugh. Sho’s face turned beetroot as a loud rip sound echoed through the room. Sheepishly covering his exposed underwear, Sho went to look for a change of pants, cursing under his breathe at his series of unfortunate events.
“Seriously, Sho,” laughed Nino, “I know that you’re clumsy, but I didn’t realize it was this bad. It was as though someone was cursing you like crazy,”
Sho stiffened at Nino’s statement. He knew Nino meant it as a facile remark, but somehow, he had a feeling that Nino was right.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“I’m sorry,” he heard himself say.
All Nino could see was a white fabric as he pressed his face firmly into the soft cloth. The arms around his waist tightened as something nuzzled into his hair.
“It’s not your fault,” whispered a voice.
Nino returned the hug just as passionately as the other man was embracing him, “a whole year is a long time,” he sighed.
“I’ll wait for you,” came the reply, “one year, ten years, a thousand years…I’ll still wait for you,”
“That’s a very long time,” he commented, “I might not recognize you,”
“I won’t change. I’m going to remain exactly as I am right now so you would know its me,”
“I promise I’ll come back to you,”
They parted.
“Goodbye, Jun,”
They went their separate ways.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jolting awake, Nino turned and glimpsed at the bedside clock - 2:13am. Flopping back down, he shut his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. However, the contents of his dream kept keeping him awake. He didn’t know why, but ever since he arrived at the hotel, he kept getting bizarre dreams, dreams involving the owner of the castle. Prior to this trip of his, he didn’t even know who this ‘Jun’ person is.
Tossing and turning in bed, Nino tried to piece his dreams together. From his first one, he gathered that he was a performer, a singer perhaps, and he worked for Jun. And the second one, it probably meant that he was romantically involved with Jun. And the one he just woke up from suggested that he left Jun for reasons unknown.
He groaned.
All the clues added up. Everything made sense now. He was Jun’s lover. And for some reason, he had to leave Jun for a year. Jun promised to wait for him, and swore that he’ll never change so that he could recognize him.
Knowing what he must do, Nino slipped the blankets and tucked them around a snoring Sho. Giving the older man a silent apology, Nino grabbed a jacket and headed to the dungeons.
Surprisingly, the door to the museum was left unlocked when he heard Ohno mention something about the museum being always locked since they had previous cases of theft. Putting that piece of information to the back of his head, Nino crept across to the centre of the dungeon.
“Kazu…” the voice called out for him. Following the voice, Nino found himself standing by the glass coffin. Figures. Gently lifting the glass lid off, Nino gently reached out and caressed the flawless face, “I’m sorry for making you wait so long,”
Trailing his hand down to the body’s side, Nino gently slid the dagger, which he swore was never there before, in the king’s hands, “Just wait a bit more, okay?”
Closing his eyes, Nino gave himself a bitter smile as he tightened his grip around the handle, mentally preparing for the piercing pain through his heart. On the count of three, Nino swung the dagger down.
He felt it pierce through something soft, unmistakably human flesh, but the pain never came. Fluttering his eyes open, Nino gasped, “Sho…”
Hugging onto him as though his life depended on it was none other than Sho. Startled, Nino released the dagger and took a few steps backwards. He collapsed onto the ground, “Sho…”
Despite the scorching pain in his right shoulder, Sho forced a smile onto his face as he dropped down beside Nino, “Are you alright?” he asked gently, holding Nino’s hand in a reassuring way.
Feeling stupid as well as guilty, Nino swoop over and embraced Sho for all he was worth without aggravating his boyfriend’s shoulder, while Sho gently stroked his hair, repeating ‘it’s okay’.
For some unknown reason, the air inside the dungeon seemed to have become lighter, allowing the pair to breathe easier. After god knows how long in that position, Nino and Sho found the strength to stand and return to their room. Hopefully Aiba won’t be too sleepy to help treat Sho’s wound.
Supporting the injured Sho, the pair made it out of the museum. Unaware of a pair of eyes observing their every move.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“BIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGG NEEEEEEEWWWWWWWSSSSSSSS!!!” yelled Aiba at a volume louder than a clap of thunder. The two occupants bolted up from the bed, thinking that there was an emergency or something.
As Sho winced at the pain in his back, Aiba tried to regain his breath while telling his friends what the ‘big news’ was.
“You…you know…the king’s body….Ohno…Ohno said it turned to a pile of bones overnight,” said Aiba excitedly. The honey haired man had been up all night after being abruptly awaken by a flustered Nino screaming something about Sho being injured into his ear, and as he couldn’t go back to sleep, he stayed awake and went to the museum the moment it opened. That was when he founded out that the body finally decomposed.
Not believing what Aiba said, the couple got out of bed (Sho taking a longer time than usual because of his back) and headed down to the dungeons. True enough, in the glass coffin was a dusty skeleton, right where Jun’s body used to be.
“No way…” muttered Sho. Nino merely kept silent. What were the chances of everything being a huge coincidence? Nino shook his eye, telling himself that everything was a huge sham made by the hotel to attract tourists. But even he himself had trouble believing his own story.
“I guess that concludes our trip,” said Aiba, getting ready to leave.
“Aren’t we snowed in?” asked Sho raising an eyebrow.
“Oh right, you were asleep! All the snow melted last night!”
“Five stories worth of snow melted in one night?”
“Yup! Weird right? Surprisingly, the nearby village didn’t even flood,”
“Okay, shall we leave now?” asked Sho, more to Nino than to Aiba.
Nino forced a wry smile onto his face, “Sure, but there’s something I need to do first,”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The funeral was a small one, only Nino, Sho, Aiba and a few staff attended. Nino bit his lips as he watched the glass casket being lowered into the hole. The air was cool and a gentle breeze blew past every now and then. Watching men shovel soil into the pit, covering the glass coffin, Nino subconsciously took a small step forward.
With the final pat on the topmost layer of soil, the funereal was over and people started leaving one by one until there was only one small figure standing in the gardens of the huge castle.
Gingerly, Nino placed the stalk of rose in his hand in front of the tombstone.
“Goodbye, Jun,”
Straightening himself, Nino turned around and began walking towards Aiba’s car where him and Sho were waiting. With his back facing the grave, Nino didn’t see the rose he left behind float up as though someone had picked it up. Hovering in the air for a few seconds, a gentle breeze blew past, the rose turning to a pile of sand and blown away together with a curly perm and a sad smile.
The end
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Author: Masuhisa
Pairing: Sakumiya, Matsumiya
Summary: They say love can last several lifetimes…Nino knew he never should have agreed to go visit that creepy castle at some strange town. When he kept getting strange dreams at night, Nino knew he should be going, but something keeps holding him back.
Genre: Supernatural
Disclaimer: Don’t own, will one day: the 30th of February
AN: I hope at least someone remembers me. First of all, i know it's been so long since i last posted anything (that's because i just migrated, so i had loads of stuff to do). This fic is something random that i suddenly thought of (and written when only half my brain was functioning, so there might be some mistakes here and there, but i'll edit those eventually) I know that i have another fic to complete, and i promise to update that too, but for now...enjoy.
A swarm of raindrops smashed against the glass of the car window like a hive of wasps, making Nino so thankful that he was inside a car and safe from the low temperatures and thunderstorm. That was until the car jerked for the god knows how many times, making him feel his partially digested dinner coming back up his throat.
Having his superbly hot and muscular boyfriend beside him didn’t help as the rackety car sped through the deserted forest, the driver anxious to make it to their destination before midnight.
Nino was starting to regret agreeing to go on what Aiba called a ‘field trip’ to some town he had never heard of, just so the lanky man could visit some museum. The moment he found out that the trip was planned by Aiba, he knew he should have declined right away.
The gears in Nino’s part of his brain which generates his revenge plans started churning. He was about to come up with the perfect plan to get back at Aiba when a strong hand gently squeezed his. Nino glanced up at Sho who gave him a reassuring smile. All it took was one look from Sho to make Nino forget everything, including that plan of his to tear Aiba limb by limb. Pouting, Nino snuggled his head into the crook his Sho’s shoulder.
“We’re here!” announced Aiba gleefully as he pulled into a parking lot. Nino peered out of the window to take a look at their hotel. What he saw sent shivers down his spine. Nino didn’t know how Aiba did it, but he always managed to choose some eccentric place every time they went on a trip together. This one was no exception. Standing before his eyes was a huge castle made out of grey stone slabs. There was vines growing all over the place and the thunderstorm gathering above only served to make the place even spookier that it already is.
“Are you sure this is the right place?” asked Nino hesitantly, giving the castle a good look.
Aiba nodded, struggling to get their luggage out. Using two umbrellas to shelter them and their bags, the three men made their way to the main door. Like every other spooky castle, the doors were the medieval kind made from rotting wood, causing Nino to shiver when he pass through it.
Once inside, Nino glanced at the interior design. The furniture were pretty old-fashion, probably to match the age of the castle, but other than that, everything else was modern.
Before Nino could take a better look at his surroundings, a sleepy looking man with spiky golden hair, presumably a porter by his uniform, approached them with two sets of keys and took their bags.
“Hello, I’m Ohno Satoshi, and I’ll be your porter slash guide slash butler for the duration of your stay here,” said the man named Ohno, sounding as if he had memorized his lines and said them without giving it much thought.
As the four men went to their rooms, Aiba wasted no time in bombarding the poor porter with questions about the hotel.
“Is it true that his castle once belonged to a great king? Matsumoto, is it?” asked Aiba, bouncing up and down on in the lift. A split second after the porter nodded, Aiba shot him another question, “Is it true that his body is still within the castle?” Ohno nodded the second time. The third question came - “Is it true that his body never decomposed?”
By the time it got to Aiba’s third question, Nino’s brain had already gone into hibernate mode, not wanting to know or give a damn about the answers, hence he didn’t know what the answer to the last question was. But seriously, who cares? All Nino wanted was to cuddle against his adorably hot boyfriend and go to sleep.
Once they got to their room, Nino literally slammed the door shut in Aiba’s face before the latter could say anything. Finally, some peace and quiet without the ever-noisy Aiba. Not bothering to even change into his pajamas, Nino jumped straight into the large comfy bed, earning a soft chuckle from Sho who followed suit seconds later. Burying his head in the crook of Sho’s neck, Nino closed his eyes and drifted off into a deep slumber…
He found himself standing in a great golden ballroom, ladies in gorgeous gowns and men in splendid suits in front of him. He blinked. The place he was in looked extremely familiar, Nino was pretty sure he was here before, but the point was he hardly left Tokyo, let alone come to such a grand place which he knew his stingy nature would not let him do so.
Suddenly, he felt something nudge his sides. Turning around, Nino saw an old man with a short silver cane in his hands, looking at him impatiently. Behind them was an entire string ensemble, all the musician staring at him eagerly. For some unknown reason, Nino knew what he was supposed to do - sing.
He couldn’t control himself as his mouth opened and melodious lyrics started flowing out of him. Everybody started looking him, some in awe, others in delight, making Nino feel so damned embarrassed that he wanted to run away.
However, he had absolutely no control over himself, he couldn’t even move his hands! Thankfully, the song ended and Nino clamped his mouth shut. The room busted into an applause, the sound ringing loudly in his ears.
He felt a smile creep onto his face.
In the midst of the crowds, he spotted a familiar face. He was sure he had seen that face before, he just couldn’t place a finger on it. Gazing intently at that man, Nino noticed that he was staring at him just as strongly as Nino was looking at him. The curly black hair, the aristocratic nose, the aura of superiority, that man drew Nino’s attention like how the moon drew water.
He wanted to take a step closer to get a better look at that person, but when he did, everything vanished into a cloud of black mist…
“NINO!!”
“NINO, WAKE UP!!”
Nino opened his eyes groggily, the loud voice calling his name pulling him out of the dream world.
“Aiba?” asked Nino, still half-asleep, “what are you doing in my room?”
“Sho-chan let me in,” answered Aiba hurriedly, “but what are you doing in bed? We have to go visit the museum, it opens in 10 minutes!”
Nino flopped back onto his bed. It was bad enough being rudely woken up when he could be sleeping, but it was worse being woken up to go to some stupid museum. He didn’t really care about the history about the ex-castle-now-hotel they were staying in, all he wanted was to sleep.
“Come on, Kazu, get out of bed,” said another voice.
Nino sighed. Being asked by Sho, Nino was generous enough to comply, but that came at a price: a hot make out session that night and really intense sex.
Soon enough, they were walking down the corridors, down to the dungeon of the castle which had been transformed into a museum where the rich and luscious history of the castle they were staying in was displayed.
According to Aiba who heard from that sleepy looking porter, the great king Matsumoto, who used to live in that castle, died in 800BC, but the strange thing was a legend which said that his body never rotted or decomposed in anyway even after several thousand years. Apparently, the body was kept in a glass coffin and locked in a room which nobody ever found.
The trio made it to the museum which was empty since they were one of the few people staying there. In fact, the place was so unheard of that there were barely ten people in total.
Like the nerd he is, Sho went around looking at the exhibits, ‘ah-ing’ and ‘oh-ing’ at the descriptions and pictures. Nino, being Nino, didn’t partially like museums, so he decided to walk around, just to please his boyfriend, and head off to the café for some coffee.
After what felt like ages of walking, Nino concluded that he was lost. He sighed and kicked the floor in annoyance. The place was creeping him out and he really wanted to get out. Wandering around some more, Nino prayed that he would find an exit.
Luck was on his side that day, for he spotted a door which looked like the one he entered through. Not wanting to stay in that creepy museum any longer, Nino took his chances and went through the door.
The moment he was on the other side, a nauseating wave hit him like a tidal wave. His hand shot up to ease the throbbing in his head which appeared out of nowhere, but whatever he did was futile.
“Kazu…”
Nino spun around despite his aching head and the nauseating feeling, thinking somebody finally found him. But all he saw was the solid wood door which he had came through.
“Kazu…” he heard the voice again.
Nino spun 360 degrees, but he couldn’t see anyone. Taking a few steps forward with the aid of the wall, Nino spotted a sudden flash of light. Thinking it was an exit, he headed towards it.
It turns out that the flash of light wasn’t from a glass window. It came from a glass coffin. Nino stood there, shocked. Right in front of him was the rumored King’s body sealed away. The legend was true, the body did exist and it doesn’t show any sign of decomposition. Before Nino could scoff at how fake the figure looked, another wave of nausea hit him.
“Kazu, you came back…” said the voice.
Nino shook his head vigorously, not believing what was going on. The room was starting to scare the shit out of him and he knew he had to get out. Gathering what strength he had in him, Nino fled.
When he burst through the door, he rammed into someone, sending both of them to the floor.
“Kazu?”
The said man looked up and found himself sprawled all over Sho. His boyfriend was giving him strange looks, as though he is an alien or something.
“How did you do that?”
“Do what?” asked Nino, clueless as to what Sho was talking about.
“You just appeared through the wall,”
Nino wanted to chide Sho for saying such a stupid thing. While getting up, Nino caught a reflection in a glass panel in front of him. His eyes widened in shock as he turned around - the door was gone.
“Nino, are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost or something,”
“Sho…” said Nino, gasping, “This place is giving me the creeps…can we leave? Please…” adding a cute puppy dog face for good measure.
Seeing the desperateness in Nino, Sho agreed, “We will leave tomorrow morning,”
Nino nodded.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Adrenaline pumped through his blood, and Nino knew his face must have been crimson red despite the room being pitch black he couldn’t see anything other than the body on top of his.
He tightened his grip around the other person’s shoulders. He didn’t know if he should grin like an idiot at the pleasure, or cringe due to the pain as a mixture of both shot up his spine.
“Faster,” he heard himself say. The other person stopped for a moment as a pair of lips came down to claim his, and after giving him a long kiss, the other person resumed. Nino grinned to himself, wondering how Sho managed to become so good overnight when reality struck him.
That person wasn’t Sho.
The other person was lean, a stark contrast to Sho’s muscular build, and not to mention the huge difference in their hairstyles. He bit his tongue guiltily. He was sleeping with another man behind Sho’s back? Impossible! There was no way he would do such a thing to Sho. He didn’t even know who that guy on top of him is!
Squinting, Nino tried to figure out who that man was. No name came to mind. This is bad, very bad. He was sleeping with a person he didn’t even know! How would be tell Sho about it? He wanted to bang his head against a wall and hopefully die from brain damage, but something stopped him. There was a word that was itching to come out of his throat, but he had no clue what that word was. No matter how much he tried, that one word just remained trapped within him. He gave up.
Suddenly, a name rolled off his tongue, “Jun…”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Morning, sleepy head,” greeted a voice.
Nino could recognize that voice anywhere. Even though it was Sho calling him, Nino didn’t feel like emerging from his make-shift cavern of blankets for he didn’t want to face Sho after what he had done to him. Shifting around to make himself more comfortable, Nino noticed that he was fully clothed. Puzzled, he sat up.
“So you finally decided to wake up,” teased Sho from the sofa where he was reading that day’s newspaper.
Nino didn’t reply, he was busy celebrating the fact that everything was a dream! He didn’t cheat on Sho with an unknown man, and coupled with that fact that they will be leaving this creepy mansion soon, Nino could not be happier. That was until he saw that Sho’s stuff weren’t packed.
“Sho, why haven’t you packed?” asked Nino, “Aren’t we leaving today?”
Sho glanced up from the papers, “Sorry, Kazu, I know I promised that we’d leave today, but there was a snow storm last night and we’re snowed in,”
Nino raised an eyebrow suspiciously. It was only mid-autumn, how in the world can there be a snow storm in the middle of autumn. Seeing is believing, so out of bed Nino went and over to the window. Surprisingly, Sho was right - the snow piled so high that it first 5 floors were completed buried. With snow like that, it would be impossible for them to leave.
Nino sighed.
As he was about to walk away from the window, something green caught his eye. Staring out of the window in shock, Nino’s jaws hung down as he noticed that the nearby village was completely snow-free, not a single snow flake landed on the village grounds.
Something strange was definitely going on. Before Nino could give the situation any thought, a certain honey-haired man came bursting through the doors, yelling something incoherent.
“Aiba, slow down,” chided Sho.
After taking a huge breath, Aiba repeated, “They found the room where the King’s body was kept! It’s now on display at the museum,”
Sho’s eyes lit up animatedly. Jumping up from his seat, Sho insisted that they go see for themselves.
“No thanks, you guys go ahead,” said Nino, not wanting to go back to that creepy room which gave him a nauseating feeling.
“Please, Kazu,” begged Sho as he tried his best to persuade his boyfriend to go with him to witness something so extraordinary.
In the end, Nino couldn’t say no to Sho, and the three headed to the museum. Even though the discovery was a significant one, being snowed in resulted in the general public not being able to enter, thus the three friends were one of the few people who would witness the body which never rotted even after thousands of years.
Following Aiba, who was rushing to get as close as possible to the glass coffin, Nino tried not to look at the display. Even though he was certain it was fake, it still creep Nino out.
“So cool~” whispered Aiba to himself, “The king is pretty handsome, don’t you think so, Nino?”
“Un,” replied Nino half-heartily, looking anywhere but at the coffin.
“You’re not even looking!” protested Aiba as he reached over Sho to playfully force Nino to look at the King’s body. Being the bigger of the two, Aiba easily overpowered the smaller man. When Nino’s eyes landed on the king’s face, his heart skipped several beats.
It was him, that guy in his dreams. Nino’s stomach started churning as he felt Goosebumps all over his arms. It was weird for him to dream about the king. It was weird for him to so happen to stumble into the secret room where the king’s body was kept even though it was supposedly un-findable. It was weird for him to dream about having sex with him. But the weirdest part just had to be the voice in his head calling his name.
“Kazu…” breathed a voice, sending shivers down Nino’s spine. Nino reached for his head, grasping his hair hoping that it would stop his head from throbbing so violent. It got worse. He bit his tongue, hoping that the pain would take his mind of his spinning head. His grip on Sho’s hand tightened.
“Kazu? Are you alright?” asked Sho worriedly, placing his hand on Nino’s forehead as he noted how pale his boyfriend looked. Sho’s hand burnt from the coldness of Nino’s skin. He saw that Nino tried to reply, but instead of words coming out of his mouth, all Sho heard was coughs. His panic level shooting sky high, Sho half-carried, half-dragged Nino away out of the museum, thinking it was the musty air in the dungeon that caused Nino to react that way
“Kazu,” Sho tried to get a response, “Kazu, don’t scare me like this,” Nino seemed to be delirious as he didn’t give any form of response. By now, Sho’s panic-meter had already exploded. Flinging his arms around Nino and hugging him tightly, Sho hoped that he could at least get Nino warm. He would have called an ambulance, but they were snowed in so badly that calling one would be pointless. Instead, he opted for holding Nino close to him in an attempt to use his body heat to get Nino warm.
The moment he rested Nino’s head on his muscular shoulders, all the light bulbs in the vicinity exploded simultaneously, the area darkening instantly and giving Sho a near heart attack. Ladies screamed and men yelled, and amidst all the commotion, Sho was certain he saw a silhouette belonging to no one glaring at him with such intense hatred. He blinked. The silhouette vanished.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Going against his head’s orders, Nino sat up despite feeling extremely woozy as a damp towel slid down from his forehead. Blinking once, then twice, his vision finally adjusted to the bright afternoon light.
“Sho…” Nino called out, his voice so hoarse it sounded like he was croaking.
The said man glanced up from his newspapers and a smile of relief spread across his face, “Thank god you’re aright,” sighed Sho, rushing up to Nino’s side, “Are you feeling better? Do you need me to get anything?”
Nino tried to ask for something to drink, but thanks to his dry throat, all that came out was a jumble of rough noises. But Sho nodded, and immediately went to get his boyfriend a glass of water.
Randomly grabbing a glass from the shelf, Sho placed it under the tap and reached out to on the tap. The moment his fingers touched the cool metal handle, it exploded as violently as an erupting volcano, water spurting out in all directions. Needless to say, Sho was completely drenched from head to toe. Standing there dripping, Sho really tried not to swear.
Brushing his dripping fringe out of his face, Sho took the now filled cup to Nino who was giggling at the sight of a soaking Sho. After handing over the cup, Sho dragged a chair to the bedside, not wanting to sit on the bed and wet it.
He seemed to be down on his luck that day, for the moment he sat down, the chair collapsed under him, sending Sho crashing to the floor above a pile of broken wood.
“Sho!” cried Nino, watching what happened in horror.
“I’m okay,” replied Sho, rubbing his sore back. Scrambling to his feet, Sho tried to laugh it off. Sadly, he didn’t have the last laugh. Sho’s face turned beetroot as a loud rip sound echoed through the room. Sheepishly covering his exposed underwear, Sho went to look for a change of pants, cursing under his breathe at his series of unfortunate events.
“Seriously, Sho,” laughed Nino, “I know that you’re clumsy, but I didn’t realize it was this bad. It was as though someone was cursing you like crazy,”
Sho stiffened at Nino’s statement. He knew Nino meant it as a facile remark, but somehow, he had a feeling that Nino was right.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“I’m sorry,” he heard himself say.
All Nino could see was a white fabric as he pressed his face firmly into the soft cloth. The arms around his waist tightened as something nuzzled into his hair.
“It’s not your fault,” whispered a voice.
Nino returned the hug just as passionately as the other man was embracing him, “a whole year is a long time,” he sighed.
“I’ll wait for you,” came the reply, “one year, ten years, a thousand years…I’ll still wait for you,”
“That’s a very long time,” he commented, “I might not recognize you,”
“I won’t change. I’m going to remain exactly as I am right now so you would know its me,”
“I promise I’ll come back to you,”
They parted.
“Goodbye, Jun,”
They went their separate ways.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jolting awake, Nino turned and glimpsed at the bedside clock - 2:13am. Flopping back down, he shut his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. However, the contents of his dream kept keeping him awake. He didn’t know why, but ever since he arrived at the hotel, he kept getting bizarre dreams, dreams involving the owner of the castle. Prior to this trip of his, he didn’t even know who this ‘Jun’ person is.
Tossing and turning in bed, Nino tried to piece his dreams together. From his first one, he gathered that he was a performer, a singer perhaps, and he worked for Jun. And the second one, it probably meant that he was romantically involved with Jun. And the one he just woke up from suggested that he left Jun for reasons unknown.
He groaned.
All the clues added up. Everything made sense now. He was Jun’s lover. And for some reason, he had to leave Jun for a year. Jun promised to wait for him, and swore that he’ll never change so that he could recognize him.
Knowing what he must do, Nino slipped the blankets and tucked them around a snoring Sho. Giving the older man a silent apology, Nino grabbed a jacket and headed to the dungeons.
Surprisingly, the door to the museum was left unlocked when he heard Ohno mention something about the museum being always locked since they had previous cases of theft. Putting that piece of information to the back of his head, Nino crept across to the centre of the dungeon.
“Kazu…” the voice called out for him. Following the voice, Nino found himself standing by the glass coffin. Figures. Gently lifting the glass lid off, Nino gently reached out and caressed the flawless face, “I’m sorry for making you wait so long,”
Trailing his hand down to the body’s side, Nino gently slid the dagger, which he swore was never there before, in the king’s hands, “Just wait a bit more, okay?”
Closing his eyes, Nino gave himself a bitter smile as he tightened his grip around the handle, mentally preparing for the piercing pain through his heart. On the count of three, Nino swung the dagger down.
He felt it pierce through something soft, unmistakably human flesh, but the pain never came. Fluttering his eyes open, Nino gasped, “Sho…”
Hugging onto him as though his life depended on it was none other than Sho. Startled, Nino released the dagger and took a few steps backwards. He collapsed onto the ground, “Sho…”
Despite the scorching pain in his right shoulder, Sho forced a smile onto his face as he dropped down beside Nino, “Are you alright?” he asked gently, holding Nino’s hand in a reassuring way.
Feeling stupid as well as guilty, Nino swoop over and embraced Sho for all he was worth without aggravating his boyfriend’s shoulder, while Sho gently stroked his hair, repeating ‘it’s okay’.
For some unknown reason, the air inside the dungeon seemed to have become lighter, allowing the pair to breathe easier. After god knows how long in that position, Nino and Sho found the strength to stand and return to their room. Hopefully Aiba won’t be too sleepy to help treat Sho’s wound.
Supporting the injured Sho, the pair made it out of the museum. Unaware of a pair of eyes observing their every move.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“BIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGG NEEEEEEEWWWWWWWSSSSSSSS!!!” yelled Aiba at a volume louder than a clap of thunder. The two occupants bolted up from the bed, thinking that there was an emergency or something.
As Sho winced at the pain in his back, Aiba tried to regain his breath while telling his friends what the ‘big news’ was.
“You…you know…the king’s body….Ohno…Ohno said it turned to a pile of bones overnight,” said Aiba excitedly. The honey haired man had been up all night after being abruptly awaken by a flustered Nino screaming something about Sho being injured into his ear, and as he couldn’t go back to sleep, he stayed awake and went to the museum the moment it opened. That was when he founded out that the body finally decomposed.
Not believing what Aiba said, the couple got out of bed (Sho taking a longer time than usual because of his back) and headed down to the dungeons. True enough, in the glass coffin was a dusty skeleton, right where Jun’s body used to be.
“No way…” muttered Sho. Nino merely kept silent. What were the chances of everything being a huge coincidence? Nino shook his eye, telling himself that everything was a huge sham made by the hotel to attract tourists. But even he himself had trouble believing his own story.
“I guess that concludes our trip,” said Aiba, getting ready to leave.
“Aren’t we snowed in?” asked Sho raising an eyebrow.
“Oh right, you were asleep! All the snow melted last night!”
“Five stories worth of snow melted in one night?”
“Yup! Weird right? Surprisingly, the nearby village didn’t even flood,”
“Okay, shall we leave now?” asked Sho, more to Nino than to Aiba.
Nino forced a wry smile onto his face, “Sure, but there’s something I need to do first,”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The funeral was a small one, only Nino, Sho, Aiba and a few staff attended. Nino bit his lips as he watched the glass casket being lowered into the hole. The air was cool and a gentle breeze blew past every now and then. Watching men shovel soil into the pit, covering the glass coffin, Nino subconsciously took a small step forward.
With the final pat on the topmost layer of soil, the funereal was over and people started leaving one by one until there was only one small figure standing in the gardens of the huge castle.
Gingerly, Nino placed the stalk of rose in his hand in front of the tombstone.
“Goodbye, Jun,”
Straightening himself, Nino turned around and began walking towards Aiba’s car where him and Sho were waiting. With his back facing the grave, Nino didn’t see the rose he left behind float up as though someone had picked it up. Hovering in the air for a few seconds, a gentle breeze blew past, the rose turning to a pile of sand and blown away together with a curly perm and a sad smile.
The end
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