忍ぶ感情 Shinobu Kanjyo
Title: Part 3: Shinobu Kanjyo
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Jun/Ohno, Sho/Nino
Genre: action, AU
Chapter: twenty-four
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Ohno Satoshi is the student of a strong ninja lord who has lived his life following his teacher’s strict guidance. But what happens when he slowly learns he has to live for himself?
Part 1: Shinobu Ishi ( Chapter one, Chapter two, Chapter three, Chapter four, Chapter five, Chapter six, Chapter seven)
Part 2: Shinobu Kokoro ( Chapter eight, Chapter nine, Chapter ten, Chapter eleven, Chapter twelve, Chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen)
Part 3: Shinobu Kanjyo ( Chapter fifteen, Chapter sixteen, Chapter seventeen, Chapter eighteen, Chapter nineteen, Chapter twenty, Chapter twenty-one, Chapter twenty-two, Chapter twenty-three
Ohno yawned as he slowly walked through the village, not bothering to cover his mouth. Going to Ogura’s had been nothing compared to his standard missions and the old man had even offered him a nice piece of tea cake, which had been delicious. The two had talked about other things besides business for almost an hour as well. Ogura had quite a few wise things to say and Ohno had realized, now that he had gotten past a lot of the drama with Jun and cleared his head a little, that Jyani was actually setting him up to take his place as leader of the village. He had probably wanted Ohno to start to become familiar with his most important contacts and friends, hence sending him to Ogura. Ohno hoped that wouldn’t be for a while, although he wasn’t sure he wanted the responsibility at any point in time, but it was an obvious reason why Jyani needed him to deliver the papers instead of someone else.
Leader didn’t mind, though. He got to stretch his legs a little after being cramped in the Main Building for five days straight, even if he had Jun to keep him company. He was feeling quite chipper compared to the anxiety sitting in his chest after returning from the disastrous mission. Although the situation with the mysterious ninja still wasn’t resolved, Jun would be safe here in the village with so many people to protect him.
For some reason, but unable to put his finger on exactly why, Ohno began heading through the town instead of back to the Main Building to give Jyani a status update. It was only mid-afternoon since Leader had gotten back earlier than he should have, and he was feeling like some ramen. And Jun would probably be wandering around here somewhere, but Ohno tried to tell himself that wasn’t the primary motive behind his detour.
He walked slowly with his thumbs tucked into his sash, unconsciously scanning the people around the street for the familiar wavy hair, and when he had arrived at the restaurant without finding him, Leader mumbled to himself that maybe he would just stop by Touma’s place first before he sat down for something to eat.
As he was headed back the way he had come, having to backtrack more than half of the expanse of the village, he spotted a familiar face in the crowd. When she spotted him in return, the girl rushed over, draping her arm over his shoulder immediately. Ohno forced a small smile even though he still knew there was some jealousy for Mao’s relationship with Jun resting in the pit of his stomach.
“Hello Ohno!” she said brightly and even though he mumbled a response, he was pretty sure it couldn’t be heard over her shimmering aura. “How’d things go this morning? Everything turn out okay?”
Ohno blinked at her as they slowly continued forward, following the thin crowd of people moving around them. “Uh…? Fine?” he guessed, not knowing what she was talking about. Ohno was pretty sure he’d never had a conversation with Mao before, at least when Jun wasn’t with him, and he wasn’t sure exactly how polite he should be.
“What’d you tell him?” she asked in a whisper, grinning madly and obviously looking for some gossip.
“What’d I tell who?” Ohno asked blankly.
“Jun! Didn’t you talk to him this morning?” Mao raised her eyebrow and was beginning to look minutely annoyed.
“No,” he replied blankly, his own brow furrowing. What was this girl talking about? “Where is Jun?” he asked after a second, realizing that Mao might know.
“The last time I saw him he was headed towards your training grounds to talk to you. Didn’t you ask me to get him for you?” she asked, her lips now turning down in a pout.
Ohno swallowed. “No, I don’t think so. Sorry, I have to go,” he said quickly, heading directly to the forest, where Mao said Jun had been headed earlier.
He hoped something wasn’t wrong.
The female ninja didn’t follow after him, instead just stood looking confused and wondering what the problem was, but she was now the last thing on Ohno’s mind as he tried to remember if he’d seen Jun at all that morning. But he’d gotten out of bed before Jun had even woken up to meet with Jyani for a little while before he took off to Ogura’s village.
When he hit someone in the shoulder with his own, he didn’t bother to stop and apologize, his conscious focused in only one direction. When he felt a hand on his upper arm, though, he whipped back around to stare at whoever was grabbing him.
“Are you Ohno?”
Leader blinked at an intimidating looking man and in his surprise didn’t push the grip off and continue down the street like he should have. Instead he stared at the stranger for a second and tried to form some coherent thoughts. The man had weirdly cut hair, long in the front and towards the back, but cropped short on either side. Inside both of his ears were some pieces of metal and Ohno didn’t even want to know how he got those in there.
“…Yes,” he replied tentatively, although the idea that he needed to find Jun hadn’t remotely disappeared from his mind.
“Oh, sorry,” the other man answered with a lopsided smile in response to Ohno’s strange look and immediately released his arm, where he had been holding on tighter than was necessary. “I’m Kouki, Kame’s roommate?” he asked as if double checking that the swordsman really had no idea who he was.
Ohno just stared at him blankly, so he continued. “Anyway, Jun told me if I saw you that he wanted to meet you. He said you would know where to go.”
Leader’s heart sped up and he wasn’t sure if it was from relief or not.
“Ah,” he replied in a daze. “Thank you.”
He almost turned to leave, but suddenly flipped back to Kouki, who was still watching him with a cautious look.
“When did you see him?” he asked quietly. The other man looked thoughtful for a second, staring up at the sky, and then turned his attention back to Ohno, trying to act lighthearted but still serious. “A few hours ago, actually. I think he was looking around the village for you or something. I don’t know.”
Ohno nodded. Of course, why would he know the reason Jun was looking for him? Although Jun was close to Kame, he’d never heard Jun mention his roommate, which meant that Ohno had even less of a reason to be close to him than Jun did.
It was weird that he had sent a message like that through someone he didn’t know very well, and just the simple fact that he had sent a message instead of seeking Ohno out himself was unnatural. Jun should have known he wasn’t due back until dusk, and even though Leader was home earlier than anticipated, for some reason he had expected Jun to be waiting for him, ready to pounce as soon as he was in sight.
“Thank you!” Ohno offered before taking off again, at a full run this time, towards the fallen log, the obvious place where Jun wanted to meet him. That was the spot that he had used to confess to the swordmaster and it was private enough that they wouldn’t have to worry about someone eavesdropping, assuming Jun actually had something important to talk about.
By the time he was tearing through the trees, Ohno was running out of breath. He had never approached the spot from this direction before, cutting through the forest from the village instead of from their training grounds, but he was confident in where he was going. In no time at all he was slowing down and wiping sweat off of his forehead.
He pushed away the last of the branches hanging in his face and blocking the small area from view, then stiffened when he saw a figure sitting on the log with his back to him, turning around at his approach.
“Ohno! You’re back!” The taller ninja said happily, standing from where he had been seated and then promptly stepped around the log to walk towards the captain.
Leader froze for a second, but when the other man began coming in his direction, he retreated a step and drew his sword from his back.
“You’re not Jun.”
The ninja across from him looked surprised, but Ohno didn’t lower his sword and after a second the beautiful face that almost identically resembled Jun's fell into a sneer instead of the happy smile that had been there a moment earlier.
“You’re more perceptive than I thought you’d be.”
The man in front of him had his hair done almost exactly like Jun’s, parted on one side and just a hint of curls as it fell across his forehead, and he had a tiny mole above his lip and another on his chin. He had been holding himself like Jun until a moment ago when Ohno called him out, and even his voice sounded similar.
But Ohno could see the differences too easily, having gotten more than close to Jun in the last week alone, not to mention over the years since he’d come into the village. This man was taller than Jun was, first of all, and his hair was shorter than his friend’s usually was. And it wasn’t only physical changes, either. As soon as the imposter had turned around, Ohno had seen the different way he held himself. Although Jun was generally pretty confident, he wasn’t around Ohno; he was shy, tentative, and gentle, and that was the biggest part in which the man had messed up. Although Jun would be eager for him to be home, he would try his hardest not to show it, even though Ohno could always see through his attempts.
Besides, Jun’s lips were much more alluring than the ones before him now.
“Yokoyama,” Ohno said, almost an accusation, and immediately followed up with worry overtaking his brain, “Where’s Jun?”
Although it was obvious this man wasn’t the one he loved, there was still no sign of the illusionist and that put Ohno on edge.
“He’s alive, if that’s what you mean,” Yokoyama responded with a heavy tone that implied many other things that weren’t voiced. “And if you want to save him, you’ll be doing exactly as I say.”
Ohno swallowed, his hand almost shaking. But he held it and his sword steady and looked at his previous student as if he wished that he could destroy him with just a gaze.
“Well, well, where to start?” he asked quietly, raising his hand to his chin and reveling in the power he held over Ohno, who was probably the strongest swordsman in the entire country. “First, throw that over there.” He pointed at Leader’s weapon and then the bushes off to his right side.
Gulping, feeling his heart almost stop, Ohno followed the directions and slowly lowered his long blade. He tossed it over to the indicated area and lost sight of it in the tall grass and other overgrowth.
It wasn’t like he was completely helpless without it, though, and usually he would say that he could easily take Yokoyama in a hand to hand fight, but the Yokoyama he knew certainly wasn’t the same as this one. The man across from him was holding himself proudly and confidently when Ohno’s apprentice had only been humble and eager to learn.
“Where’s Jun?” he demanded again when there wasn’t an immediate response.
“One step at a time, Oh-chan,” Yokoyama replied bitterly. He pulled a knife out from behind his back and looked at it deviously. He twirled it in his hands unconsciously, but was obviously very familiar with the weapon and trying to show off his skills. “Aren’t you the least bit curious of what my motives are?”
Ohno wasn’t remotely curious, but it didn’t seem like he had a choice if he wanted to save Jun, so he stood there quietly, trying to keep calm under the extreme circumstances.
Although he waited a few seconds for Ohno to say something in return, when he didn’t, Yokoyama flicked his wrist and threw the weapon towards the captain, the blade sticking into the ground just a few inches in front of Ohno’s foot. He had held himself back from flinching at the attack, but there was an obvious reason for the action, so he looked down at the hilt of the knife stick up out of the dirt, recognizing it immediately.
It was one of Jun’s blades, the thinner and lighter size than his usual pair which he had lost in their scuffle during the last mission. Jun had been carrying around these because he hadn’t replaced the lost weapons yet, and Ohno swallowed once he realized what Yokoyama was trying to tell him.
“Ah, you’ve seen it before?” the ninja chuckled, the sadistic grin still on his face. “Jun threw it at me when he realized I wasn’t really you…but I don’t think he expected me to catch it.”
Leader’s heart sped up again and he tried to steady his breathing, his eyes focused on the knife in the ground.
But Yokoyama had pulled out a second one already and was twisting it in his hands in a similar fashion as he watched for a reaction. Ohno’s eyes trained on the handle of the new weapon, trying to distinguish it, but it was moving too fast to make out properly.
After a second, though, it followed the first’s trajectory and came towards Ohno’s feet, landing right next to the first. Once again the swordmaster knew where the weapon had come from, only this time he was much more surprised.
It was Jun’s again, but it was one of the knives he had been forced to leave behind when he had saved Ohno a week ago, that particular pair a special set that Arashi had given him when he had finally been acknowledged as a part of the group by Jyani.
How did he get that? Leader thought, but didn’t voice his question.
Yokoyama didn’t offer an explanation, though, and he had pulled out another knife from somewhere, treating it the same as the first, twisting it between his hands and showing off his obvious skills with the weapon.
The third blade stuck next to Jun’s once again and Ohno examined the hilt. It took him a second longer, but he had also seen this one before.
It wasn't Jun's. It belonged to the ninja that had attacked him with a dart during their last mission.
It was slowly making sense, but how was it possible? Yokoyama couldn’t have been the one who had attacked them, could he? The chances were slim, but he had been on a mission at the same time, and if Yokoyama was actually much more experienced than he had been acting, it was possible that he had finished the mission quickly or pretended that he’d had trouble traveling… But how did he know where they were? The only way that was possible was if he had discovered Ohno’s schedule of missions and found out the details, something which would never happen…
Except that when Ohno had been teaching him, he had allowed Kame to give Yokoyama access to his missions schedule so they could plan their lessons in advance.
Ohno cursed himself for being so trusting with Yokoyama and wondered if he had been planning something like this for a while.
“I see you’re starting to understand…” the traitor said in a low voice, his lips still upturned in a smirk. “That’s right. I’ve been trying to kill you since the very beginning…
“I strong-armed Nakai into helping me get into this place by using leverage from some of my other associates. I lived in Ogura’s village for almost a full year to build up enough equity so I wouldn’t look suspicious when I moved. I practiced with a sword so I’d have an excuse to get close to you, even though I’m an expert with knives and-“ Yokoyama indicated his face, which still looked like Jun’s, “-illusions. I’m a good actor, wouldn’t you say?”
Ohno was simply staring at him with a frown, holding himself back from asking where Jun was once again and skipping all of this explanation stuff that he didn’t need.
But he wasn’t going to upset Yokoyama, so he remained quiet and didn’t say anything.
“Somehow everything worked out so perfectly. I couldn’t believe it,” Yokoyama said lightheartedly and chuckled, although his demeanor was still dark. “Jyani allowed me to live here, not realizing where I was really from, and I was even able to become your student when no one had before. It was perfect.”
Yokoyama started pacing back and forth by the log, a knife in his hand again, and Ohno noticed that it was the other half of Jun’s regular pair. Anger was rising up in his stomach, but he held his composure and gritted his teeth as he waited for Yokoyama to demand whatever he was going to for Jun’s release.
“But,” he paused, stopping his motions and looking directly at Ohno again, “you were always on guard, even during lessons. Even when I tried to play with your emotions by telling you I was in love with you, you easily pushed me away and pretended like nothing had happened. You didn’t favor me at all despite spending so much time together and overall it didn’t even seem like you were paying attention to me,” Yokoyama scoffed, his grin almost incredulous. “Even after three months, I couldn’t find one weakness to use to destroy you.
“But I got lucky again,” Yokoyama’s look turned malicious once more and he took a step towards Ohno, who didn’t dare move backwards. “I was out in the evening, meeting with one of my associates after one of those piece of shit missions that Jyani was giving me. I was coming back through the forest when I happened to notice Jun here,” the man motioned to the area around him, the fallen log a few feet behind him now, “lost in thought and not paying attention to anything. I was curious, so I stayed, and discovered the great swordmaster’s one weakness: a little fling with his fellow ninja.
“After thinking about it, it made sense, though. Although the next attack was already planned, I kept an eye on you and realized right away that you were in love with him, no matter how hard you tried to hide it.”
Yokoyama paused again, waiting for a reaction from Ohno as he explained his plot. But the captain’s expression had remained the same despite his surprise at the admission, and the fact that he had so clearly misread someone he was supposed to be close to.
“But Jun, that meddling bastard, he saved you each time I tried to kill you. Do you remember the first mission we went on together?” he reminded Ohno. “When we were supposedly attacked by a group of rouge ninja? I hired them. I knew you would try to protect me, being my teacher and all, and I got in your way as much as possible so that they could land a hit. But right before you were about to be injured, that piece of shit boyfriend of yours killed the last of them.”
Yokoyama’s expression had turned from gloating to irate and he was glaring at Ohno as if it was his fault (which it no doubt was). He slowly took another step closer to the Arashi member, the knife resting tightly in his grip and pointed directly at his prey. As he moved it around, the blade shone in the sun, which was close to setting now.
“Even though it was after I found out about the two of you, I decided to go through with the next plan anyway, meeting up with a few of my associates and planning a sneak attack.
“And once again, I almost had you… but Jun jumped in at the last minute and somehow the two of you survived. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw you looking so happy and lovey together back in the village despite the fact that you must have almost died.
“But, that, of course, brings us to the current moment.
“It was easy to call Jun out here, and although he knew it wasn’t you right away, it was too late for him,” Yokoyama concluded his narrative with that cryptic message, still not telling Ohno exactly what had happened to the man he cared so much about.
The clearing fell into silence as Yokoyama looked down at the weapon in his hand with a serene face, running his thumb slowly over the sharp blade.
“But it’s a fitting death, don’t you think? To be able to die with the person you love…” his gaze moved up to Ohno’s face and Ohno felt uneasy at the talk of death. He wasn’t worried about himself, but he wanted to save Jun if he could. Even though the right thing to do was take out Yokoyama already and reported the situation to Jyani.
But if there was even a small chance that Jun was still okay…
“It wasn’t an opportunity that I got,” Yokoyama whispered, looking down at his hands again. “I watched you slaughter Shingo and the rest of my group with my own eyes.”
Ohno swallowed again, this time feeling sweat run down the back of his neck despite the cool of night floating in around them. It was true he’d killed a lot of people in his lifetime, but the only instance that Yokoyama could be talking about was…
“We were hired to attack your village, my group and everyone who lived around my home. It wasn’t something that we wanted to do, but the money was too tempting to my master, so he ordered us to come in here and kill as many people as possible. And we followed his direction, even though I knew it was a mission that would only turn out bad for us.
“I was right. I was assigned to guard the door from across the street and prevent anyone from following as my three friends entered that building, looking for any extra supplies they could use in our favor. We didn’t realize that there was anyone in there until you turned around from the back and I watched through the doorway as you cut down my comrades like they were only blades of grass in your way.
“I was in shock. Even when your friend came to the building looking for you I couldn’t move. A second later another ninja from my group shook me out of my trance and I told him what happened. Then watched again as two of my close friends were slaughtered at your hand.”
The images of that fight were coming back and Ohno clearly remembered the ninja he had fought in Nakai’s storage house. He had been so desperate to find and protect Jun, not caring about his own injuries and running himself to exhaustion to protect his own friends. Although Ohno knew he was just doing his job, what he had to do, he couldn’t help but feel some compassion for Yokoyama, despite the situation they were in. But Jun was still first and foremost in his mind and they had been talking far too long already.
“Barely after that, my master declared that we would withdraw, but I felt like I couldn’t go on. I frantically looked for the rest of my group, only two of them unaccounted for, and found them lying in the street, one with an arrow in his throat and the other with slit neck.
“I didn’t want to move ever again, but somehow I returned home and continued to live over the next months. And I began plotting, even though I knew you were much more skilled than me and could easily beat me in a fight. I decided that I would become strong enough to kill you… by any means necessary.”
Yokoyama looked up at Ohno with a taunt face, his eyes slightly bloodshot and a snarl on his mouth as he twisted the knife once in his hand and took a step closer, standing almost directly in front of Ohno now.
They stared into each other’s eyes and Leader was prepared for whatever Yokoyama had planned for him. He looked at him sternly and with his ever neutral expression, which seemed to be making Yokoyama lose his cool faster, and patiently waited a few seconds before speaking again.
“Where’s Jun?” he asked quietly.
Yokoyama sighed, as if giving up trying to provoke him, and suddenly his mocking smile was back. “I guess I’ll take you to him. But there’s a condition,” he said with a sadistic expression.
Ohno swallowed, but didn’t otherwise move, waiting for whatever it was that the traitor wanted.
“Just stay still for a second.”
The blade of Jun’s knife flashed in Yokoyama’s hand and it was suddenly buried in the right side of Ohno’s stomach.
Leader gasped as the weapon dug into him, twisting painfully before Yokoyama withdrew it with a satisfied smirk. Unable to do anything else, Ohno fell to the ground, grasping the wound that was sending waves of pain through him. He could already feel the blood seeping out around his fingers and his body was trying to go into shock, a cold sweat quickly spreading across his forehead.
“Alright, let’s go,” Yokoyama smirked and turned to walk slowly back towards the log before stopping to watch Ohno expectantly.
The swordsmaster pushed himself up off the ground with shaking arms and legs, his hand grasping at his stomach once again in an attempt to keep what blood he could inside of him. But the drive to save Jun was still there and so he bit back the pain and began shuffling after Yokoyama, who was grinning again.
“You’d better keep up. If you don’t save him, who will?” he asked with a cruel tone and then promptly took off once more. Ohno was gasping for breath, but he forced himself up straight and told his body to just last a few minutes longer, until he could see Jun one more time.
They began heading through the forest and towards the sound of the stream, Ohno struggling to keep Yokoyama in sight, and soon they came to a deep ravine, one that Leader would never have a problem climbing down otherwise. But right now he stumbled and fell to the bottom of the hill, feeling rocks and sticks digging into various parts of his body, and then slowly managed to stand again as Yokoyama laughed at him.
They walked along the side of the steep wall of dirt, which quickly turned into a ledge, and within a minute, Ohno saw a dark spot through his blurring vision, knowing that they had arrived at wherever Jun was being kept.
As they approached the body, Yokoyama was watching him with a satisfied expression, obviously reveling in the pain he was putting the older man through, the bloody knife still held tightly in his hand. He stayed back as Ohno stumbled past him to get closer to his friend, and then approached him from behind as Leader fell to the ground next to Jun’s torso. Slowly reaching out and touching the illusionist’s face with his shaking hand, the blood from Ohno’s wound marred the pale skin of Jun’s face.
There was a swelling wound on Jun’s neck and Ohno knew that it was from a dart similar to the one that he had been hit with a week ago. This injury had gotten bigger than his had, though, and had hit the weak spot of his jugular straight on. Jun’s eyes were open halfway, watching Leader as he leaned over him, but it was obvious that he couldn’t move of his own will, even though his arms were shaking involuntary. His breath was coming in short rasps, too, and the air that was filtering in and out made the simple actions sound quite painful.
“He should have about five more minutes left,” Yokoyama explained in a mock-happy voice, and he was leaning over Ohno, looking at Jun in a similar way.
As a blade was pressed to the backside of his neck, the point pressing painfully into the bottom of his skull, Leader felt tears well up in his eyes.
There was no way he could save Jun in this situation. Even if he could somehow get the knife away from Yokoyama, which was almost impossible with the wound in his side that was practically dripping onto the ground underneath him. There wasn’t enough time to go and get Aiba or to take Jun back to the Main Building anyway, assuming what Yokoyama said was true.
All he could do was gently stroke Jun’s face, spreading blood over his cheek, and try to comfort the younger man through his evident pain.
“I’m torn between letting you watch him die and killing you right now,” Yokoyama whispered in his ear, leaning over Leader’s shoulder and pressing his blade deeper into Ohno’s skin, causing a thin line of blood to begin sliding down the back of his neck.
But as Yokoyama spoke, Jun suddenly tensed up, his whole body shaking violently and his eyes rolling into the back of his head as the poison continued to take effect. The tears actually starting falling down Ohno’s cheeks now.
He began whispering that everything would be okay, continuing to touch Jun’s face and hair, even as Yokoyama began laughing behind him. He felt the pressure of the knife increase again and closed his eyes, ready to follow Jun into the afterlife.
He waited, holding back a sob that was threatened to burst from his throat, and continued to wait, but he still wasn’t dead, even though Jun was almost thrashing under him.
“Leader!”
Ohno’s eyes burst open at the sound of Nino’s voice, but he couldn’t move with the knife still pressed deeply into his skin and he wondered why his friend was being so rash, coming into the situation loudly instead of using stealth.
But the pressure of the knife was pulled back a moment later and he turned around sharply as Nino dragged Yokoyama’s limp body to the side, a needle sticking out of his temple. Sho appeared out of a grove of trees a little ways off, running towards the group.
“Jun-“ Ohno gasped and Nino knelt down to help steady him as a sharp pain in his stomach made him double over. “Jun’s-“ he tried again, wanting to force Nino to help the other injured man, who seemed to be in a much worse situation than himself.
“Don’t worry, Aiba’s looking at Jun right now,” Nino whispered, forcing Ohno onto his back and pressing some cloth to his wound. “Don’t move too much Oh-chan,” he directed as the swordsman raised his bloodied hand to help press down on the injury. After a few heartbeats, he shifted his head to the side and felt Jun’s shaking arm against his temple, then closed his eyes, trying to hold back his desperate emotions.
Aiba’s loud, frantic voice broke the sudden silence of the clearing.
“Swallow, Jun! For God’s sake-“
Through his daze, Ohno noticed that Aiba was covering Jun’s mouth with one of his palms, two fingers shoving something past his lips, but Jun was shaking violently and the herbalist was having a hard time keeping his grip on him. Sho was standing over Ohno, trying to help hold down Jun’s trembling body as well, but Leader had no idea if their actions were doing anything.
“Jun-“ he said in a hoarse voice, then squinted his eyes shut as a new wave of pain wracked his body, his back arching involuntarily and a soft moan coming out of his mouth. Nino began saying something to him, but Ohno couldn’t hear him very clearly.
Suddenly the body next to him stopped moving and Ohno tried forcing his eyes open to look at Jun, to find out if he was okay or not, but his body wouldn’t listen to what his brain was saying. All he could see were white spots and he felt his chest constrict, breath barely making it past his lips, and Nino was yelling, but he still couldn’t make the words out.
Aiba was over him now and although Ohno wanted to tell him to save Jun, to do anything he could to save Jun, when he opened his mouth all that came out was a painful gasp. Nino was feeling his forehead while Aiba was doing something with the knife wound, but Ohno could still sense Sho leaning over the top of him to exam Jun, and he was grateful for that at least. He didn’t care if he died anymore, he just wanted Jun to live with every shaky breath he took.
Leader finally gave himself up to unconsciousness when Sho frantically told Aiba that Jun was no longer breathing… and didn’t have a pulse either.
+++
A/N: I'm pretty sure the whole third part has been building up to this chapter. There were so many bad spots I could have cut it off at. This is still bad, but at least you know that Arashi came, right? ...Right? >_> And Yokoyama's secret is out. Some people had their suspicions about him, so I'm wondering if it played out according to those suspicious.
Another kidnapping too. I have a weakness for kidnappings in case you couldn't tell. Actually I wrote this one before the Ohba story Paint, Film, and Stuffed Animals.
Otherwise, I'll be posting a few new things coming up. Of course prizes for my contest, and a fun story I've been working on. Hopefully going to get working on some of those sequel requests too...
Chapter twenty-five
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Jun/Ohno, Sho/Nino
Genre: action, AU
Chapter: twenty-four
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Ohno Satoshi is the student of a strong ninja lord who has lived his life following his teacher’s strict guidance. But what happens when he slowly learns he has to live for himself?
Part 1: Shinobu Ishi ( Chapter one, Chapter two, Chapter three, Chapter four, Chapter five, Chapter six, Chapter seven)
Part 2: Shinobu Kokoro ( Chapter eight, Chapter nine, Chapter ten, Chapter eleven, Chapter twelve, Chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen)
Part 3: Shinobu Kanjyo ( Chapter fifteen, Chapter sixteen, Chapter seventeen, Chapter eighteen, Chapter nineteen, Chapter twenty, Chapter twenty-one, Chapter twenty-two, Chapter twenty-three
Ohno yawned as he slowly walked through the village, not bothering to cover his mouth. Going to Ogura’s had been nothing compared to his standard missions and the old man had even offered him a nice piece of tea cake, which had been delicious. The two had talked about other things besides business for almost an hour as well. Ogura had quite a few wise things to say and Ohno had realized, now that he had gotten past a lot of the drama with Jun and cleared his head a little, that Jyani was actually setting him up to take his place as leader of the village. He had probably wanted Ohno to start to become familiar with his most important contacts and friends, hence sending him to Ogura. Ohno hoped that wouldn’t be for a while, although he wasn’t sure he wanted the responsibility at any point in time, but it was an obvious reason why Jyani needed him to deliver the papers instead of someone else.
Leader didn’t mind, though. He got to stretch his legs a little after being cramped in the Main Building for five days straight, even if he had Jun to keep him company. He was feeling quite chipper compared to the anxiety sitting in his chest after returning from the disastrous mission. Although the situation with the mysterious ninja still wasn’t resolved, Jun would be safe here in the village with so many people to protect him.
For some reason, but unable to put his finger on exactly why, Ohno began heading through the town instead of back to the Main Building to give Jyani a status update. It was only mid-afternoon since Leader had gotten back earlier than he should have, and he was feeling like some ramen. And Jun would probably be wandering around here somewhere, but Ohno tried to tell himself that wasn’t the primary motive behind his detour.
He walked slowly with his thumbs tucked into his sash, unconsciously scanning the people around the street for the familiar wavy hair, and when he had arrived at the restaurant without finding him, Leader mumbled to himself that maybe he would just stop by Touma’s place first before he sat down for something to eat.
As he was headed back the way he had come, having to backtrack more than half of the expanse of the village, he spotted a familiar face in the crowd. When she spotted him in return, the girl rushed over, draping her arm over his shoulder immediately. Ohno forced a small smile even though he still knew there was some jealousy for Mao’s relationship with Jun resting in the pit of his stomach.
“Hello Ohno!” she said brightly and even though he mumbled a response, he was pretty sure it couldn’t be heard over her shimmering aura. “How’d things go this morning? Everything turn out okay?”
Ohno blinked at her as they slowly continued forward, following the thin crowd of people moving around them. “Uh…? Fine?” he guessed, not knowing what she was talking about. Ohno was pretty sure he’d never had a conversation with Mao before, at least when Jun wasn’t with him, and he wasn’t sure exactly how polite he should be.
“What’d you tell him?” she asked in a whisper, grinning madly and obviously looking for some gossip.
“What’d I tell who?” Ohno asked blankly.
“Jun! Didn’t you talk to him this morning?” Mao raised her eyebrow and was beginning to look minutely annoyed.
“No,” he replied blankly, his own brow furrowing. What was this girl talking about? “Where is Jun?” he asked after a second, realizing that Mao might know.
“The last time I saw him he was headed towards your training grounds to talk to you. Didn’t you ask me to get him for you?” she asked, her lips now turning down in a pout.
Ohno swallowed. “No, I don’t think so. Sorry, I have to go,” he said quickly, heading directly to the forest, where Mao said Jun had been headed earlier.
He hoped something wasn’t wrong.
The female ninja didn’t follow after him, instead just stood looking confused and wondering what the problem was, but she was now the last thing on Ohno’s mind as he tried to remember if he’d seen Jun at all that morning. But he’d gotten out of bed before Jun had even woken up to meet with Jyani for a little while before he took off to Ogura’s village.
When he hit someone in the shoulder with his own, he didn’t bother to stop and apologize, his conscious focused in only one direction. When he felt a hand on his upper arm, though, he whipped back around to stare at whoever was grabbing him.
“Are you Ohno?”
Leader blinked at an intimidating looking man and in his surprise didn’t push the grip off and continue down the street like he should have. Instead he stared at the stranger for a second and tried to form some coherent thoughts. The man had weirdly cut hair, long in the front and towards the back, but cropped short on either side. Inside both of his ears were some pieces of metal and Ohno didn’t even want to know how he got those in there.
“…Yes,” he replied tentatively, although the idea that he needed to find Jun hadn’t remotely disappeared from his mind.
“Oh, sorry,” the other man answered with a lopsided smile in response to Ohno’s strange look and immediately released his arm, where he had been holding on tighter than was necessary. “I’m Kouki, Kame’s roommate?” he asked as if double checking that the swordsman really had no idea who he was.
Ohno just stared at him blankly, so he continued. “Anyway, Jun told me if I saw you that he wanted to meet you. He said you would know where to go.”
Leader’s heart sped up and he wasn’t sure if it was from relief or not.
“Ah,” he replied in a daze. “Thank you.”
He almost turned to leave, but suddenly flipped back to Kouki, who was still watching him with a cautious look.
“When did you see him?” he asked quietly. The other man looked thoughtful for a second, staring up at the sky, and then turned his attention back to Ohno, trying to act lighthearted but still serious. “A few hours ago, actually. I think he was looking around the village for you or something. I don’t know.”
Ohno nodded. Of course, why would he know the reason Jun was looking for him? Although Jun was close to Kame, he’d never heard Jun mention his roommate, which meant that Ohno had even less of a reason to be close to him than Jun did.
It was weird that he had sent a message like that through someone he didn’t know very well, and just the simple fact that he had sent a message instead of seeking Ohno out himself was unnatural. Jun should have known he wasn’t due back until dusk, and even though Leader was home earlier than anticipated, for some reason he had expected Jun to be waiting for him, ready to pounce as soon as he was in sight.
“Thank you!” Ohno offered before taking off again, at a full run this time, towards the fallen log, the obvious place where Jun wanted to meet him. That was the spot that he had used to confess to the swordmaster and it was private enough that they wouldn’t have to worry about someone eavesdropping, assuming Jun actually had something important to talk about.
By the time he was tearing through the trees, Ohno was running out of breath. He had never approached the spot from this direction before, cutting through the forest from the village instead of from their training grounds, but he was confident in where he was going. In no time at all he was slowing down and wiping sweat off of his forehead.
He pushed away the last of the branches hanging in his face and blocking the small area from view, then stiffened when he saw a figure sitting on the log with his back to him, turning around at his approach.
“Ohno! You’re back!” The taller ninja said happily, standing from where he had been seated and then promptly stepped around the log to walk towards the captain.
Leader froze for a second, but when the other man began coming in his direction, he retreated a step and drew his sword from his back.
“You’re not Jun.”
The ninja across from him looked surprised, but Ohno didn’t lower his sword and after a second the beautiful face that almost identically resembled Jun's fell into a sneer instead of the happy smile that had been there a moment earlier.
“You’re more perceptive than I thought you’d be.”
The man in front of him had his hair done almost exactly like Jun’s, parted on one side and just a hint of curls as it fell across his forehead, and he had a tiny mole above his lip and another on his chin. He had been holding himself like Jun until a moment ago when Ohno called him out, and even his voice sounded similar.
But Ohno could see the differences too easily, having gotten more than close to Jun in the last week alone, not to mention over the years since he’d come into the village. This man was taller than Jun was, first of all, and his hair was shorter than his friend’s usually was. And it wasn’t only physical changes, either. As soon as the imposter had turned around, Ohno had seen the different way he held himself. Although Jun was generally pretty confident, he wasn’t around Ohno; he was shy, tentative, and gentle, and that was the biggest part in which the man had messed up. Although Jun would be eager for him to be home, he would try his hardest not to show it, even though Ohno could always see through his attempts.
Besides, Jun’s lips were much more alluring than the ones before him now.
“Yokoyama,” Ohno said, almost an accusation, and immediately followed up with worry overtaking his brain, “Where’s Jun?”
Although it was obvious this man wasn’t the one he loved, there was still no sign of the illusionist and that put Ohno on edge.
“He’s alive, if that’s what you mean,” Yokoyama responded with a heavy tone that implied many other things that weren’t voiced. “And if you want to save him, you’ll be doing exactly as I say.”
Ohno swallowed, his hand almost shaking. But he held it and his sword steady and looked at his previous student as if he wished that he could destroy him with just a gaze.
“Well, well, where to start?” he asked quietly, raising his hand to his chin and reveling in the power he held over Ohno, who was probably the strongest swordsman in the entire country. “First, throw that over there.” He pointed at Leader’s weapon and then the bushes off to his right side.
Gulping, feeling his heart almost stop, Ohno followed the directions and slowly lowered his long blade. He tossed it over to the indicated area and lost sight of it in the tall grass and other overgrowth.
It wasn’t like he was completely helpless without it, though, and usually he would say that he could easily take Yokoyama in a hand to hand fight, but the Yokoyama he knew certainly wasn’t the same as this one. The man across from him was holding himself proudly and confidently when Ohno’s apprentice had only been humble and eager to learn.
“Where’s Jun?” he demanded again when there wasn’t an immediate response.
“One step at a time, Oh-chan,” Yokoyama replied bitterly. He pulled a knife out from behind his back and looked at it deviously. He twirled it in his hands unconsciously, but was obviously very familiar with the weapon and trying to show off his skills. “Aren’t you the least bit curious of what my motives are?”
Ohno wasn’t remotely curious, but it didn’t seem like he had a choice if he wanted to save Jun, so he stood there quietly, trying to keep calm under the extreme circumstances.
Although he waited a few seconds for Ohno to say something in return, when he didn’t, Yokoyama flicked his wrist and threw the weapon towards the captain, the blade sticking into the ground just a few inches in front of Ohno’s foot. He had held himself back from flinching at the attack, but there was an obvious reason for the action, so he looked down at the hilt of the knife stick up out of the dirt, recognizing it immediately.
It was one of Jun’s blades, the thinner and lighter size than his usual pair which he had lost in their scuffle during the last mission. Jun had been carrying around these because he hadn’t replaced the lost weapons yet, and Ohno swallowed once he realized what Yokoyama was trying to tell him.
“Ah, you’ve seen it before?” the ninja chuckled, the sadistic grin still on his face. “Jun threw it at me when he realized I wasn’t really you…but I don’t think he expected me to catch it.”
Leader’s heart sped up again and he tried to steady his breathing, his eyes focused on the knife in the ground.
But Yokoyama had pulled out a second one already and was twisting it in his hands in a similar fashion as he watched for a reaction. Ohno’s eyes trained on the handle of the new weapon, trying to distinguish it, but it was moving too fast to make out properly.
After a second, though, it followed the first’s trajectory and came towards Ohno’s feet, landing right next to the first. Once again the swordmaster knew where the weapon had come from, only this time he was much more surprised.
It was Jun’s again, but it was one of the knives he had been forced to leave behind when he had saved Ohno a week ago, that particular pair a special set that Arashi had given him when he had finally been acknowledged as a part of the group by Jyani.
How did he get that? Leader thought, but didn’t voice his question.
Yokoyama didn’t offer an explanation, though, and he had pulled out another knife from somewhere, treating it the same as the first, twisting it between his hands and showing off his obvious skills with the weapon.
The third blade stuck next to Jun’s once again and Ohno examined the hilt. It took him a second longer, but he had also seen this one before.
It wasn't Jun's. It belonged to the ninja that had attacked him with a dart during their last mission.
It was slowly making sense, but how was it possible? Yokoyama couldn’t have been the one who had attacked them, could he? The chances were slim, but he had been on a mission at the same time, and if Yokoyama was actually much more experienced than he had been acting, it was possible that he had finished the mission quickly or pretended that he’d had trouble traveling… But how did he know where they were? The only way that was possible was if he had discovered Ohno’s schedule of missions and found out the details, something which would never happen…
Except that when Ohno had been teaching him, he had allowed Kame to give Yokoyama access to his missions schedule so they could plan their lessons in advance.
Ohno cursed himself for being so trusting with Yokoyama and wondered if he had been planning something like this for a while.
“I see you’re starting to understand…” the traitor said in a low voice, his lips still upturned in a smirk. “That’s right. I’ve been trying to kill you since the very beginning…
“I strong-armed Nakai into helping me get into this place by using leverage from some of my other associates. I lived in Ogura’s village for almost a full year to build up enough equity so I wouldn’t look suspicious when I moved. I practiced with a sword so I’d have an excuse to get close to you, even though I’m an expert with knives and-“ Yokoyama indicated his face, which still looked like Jun’s, “-illusions. I’m a good actor, wouldn’t you say?”
Ohno was simply staring at him with a frown, holding himself back from asking where Jun was once again and skipping all of this explanation stuff that he didn’t need.
But he wasn’t going to upset Yokoyama, so he remained quiet and didn’t say anything.
“Somehow everything worked out so perfectly. I couldn’t believe it,” Yokoyama said lightheartedly and chuckled, although his demeanor was still dark. “Jyani allowed me to live here, not realizing where I was really from, and I was even able to become your student when no one had before. It was perfect.”
Yokoyama started pacing back and forth by the log, a knife in his hand again, and Ohno noticed that it was the other half of Jun’s regular pair. Anger was rising up in his stomach, but he held his composure and gritted his teeth as he waited for Yokoyama to demand whatever he was going to for Jun’s release.
“But,” he paused, stopping his motions and looking directly at Ohno again, “you were always on guard, even during lessons. Even when I tried to play with your emotions by telling you I was in love with you, you easily pushed me away and pretended like nothing had happened. You didn’t favor me at all despite spending so much time together and overall it didn’t even seem like you were paying attention to me,” Yokoyama scoffed, his grin almost incredulous. “Even after three months, I couldn’t find one weakness to use to destroy you.
“But I got lucky again,” Yokoyama’s look turned malicious once more and he took a step towards Ohno, who didn’t dare move backwards. “I was out in the evening, meeting with one of my associates after one of those piece of shit missions that Jyani was giving me. I was coming back through the forest when I happened to notice Jun here,” the man motioned to the area around him, the fallen log a few feet behind him now, “lost in thought and not paying attention to anything. I was curious, so I stayed, and discovered the great swordmaster’s one weakness: a little fling with his fellow ninja.
“After thinking about it, it made sense, though. Although the next attack was already planned, I kept an eye on you and realized right away that you were in love with him, no matter how hard you tried to hide it.”
Yokoyama paused again, waiting for a reaction from Ohno as he explained his plot. But the captain’s expression had remained the same despite his surprise at the admission, and the fact that he had so clearly misread someone he was supposed to be close to.
“But Jun, that meddling bastard, he saved you each time I tried to kill you. Do you remember the first mission we went on together?” he reminded Ohno. “When we were supposedly attacked by a group of rouge ninja? I hired them. I knew you would try to protect me, being my teacher and all, and I got in your way as much as possible so that they could land a hit. But right before you were about to be injured, that piece of shit boyfriend of yours killed the last of them.”
Yokoyama’s expression had turned from gloating to irate and he was glaring at Ohno as if it was his fault (which it no doubt was). He slowly took another step closer to the Arashi member, the knife resting tightly in his grip and pointed directly at his prey. As he moved it around, the blade shone in the sun, which was close to setting now.
“Even though it was after I found out about the two of you, I decided to go through with the next plan anyway, meeting up with a few of my associates and planning a sneak attack.
“And once again, I almost had you… but Jun jumped in at the last minute and somehow the two of you survived. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw you looking so happy and lovey together back in the village despite the fact that you must have almost died.
“But, that, of course, brings us to the current moment.
“It was easy to call Jun out here, and although he knew it wasn’t you right away, it was too late for him,” Yokoyama concluded his narrative with that cryptic message, still not telling Ohno exactly what had happened to the man he cared so much about.
The clearing fell into silence as Yokoyama looked down at the weapon in his hand with a serene face, running his thumb slowly over the sharp blade.
“But it’s a fitting death, don’t you think? To be able to die with the person you love…” his gaze moved up to Ohno’s face and Ohno felt uneasy at the talk of death. He wasn’t worried about himself, but he wanted to save Jun if he could. Even though the right thing to do was take out Yokoyama already and reported the situation to Jyani.
But if there was even a small chance that Jun was still okay…
“It wasn’t an opportunity that I got,” Yokoyama whispered, looking down at his hands again. “I watched you slaughter Shingo and the rest of my group with my own eyes.”
Ohno swallowed again, this time feeling sweat run down the back of his neck despite the cool of night floating in around them. It was true he’d killed a lot of people in his lifetime, but the only instance that Yokoyama could be talking about was…
“We were hired to attack your village, my group and everyone who lived around my home. It wasn’t something that we wanted to do, but the money was too tempting to my master, so he ordered us to come in here and kill as many people as possible. And we followed his direction, even though I knew it was a mission that would only turn out bad for us.
“I was right. I was assigned to guard the door from across the street and prevent anyone from following as my three friends entered that building, looking for any extra supplies they could use in our favor. We didn’t realize that there was anyone in there until you turned around from the back and I watched through the doorway as you cut down my comrades like they were only blades of grass in your way.
“I was in shock. Even when your friend came to the building looking for you I couldn’t move. A second later another ninja from my group shook me out of my trance and I told him what happened. Then watched again as two of my close friends were slaughtered at your hand.”
The images of that fight were coming back and Ohno clearly remembered the ninja he had fought in Nakai’s storage house. He had been so desperate to find and protect Jun, not caring about his own injuries and running himself to exhaustion to protect his own friends. Although Ohno knew he was just doing his job, what he had to do, he couldn’t help but feel some compassion for Yokoyama, despite the situation they were in. But Jun was still first and foremost in his mind and they had been talking far too long already.
“Barely after that, my master declared that we would withdraw, but I felt like I couldn’t go on. I frantically looked for the rest of my group, only two of them unaccounted for, and found them lying in the street, one with an arrow in his throat and the other with slit neck.
“I didn’t want to move ever again, but somehow I returned home and continued to live over the next months. And I began plotting, even though I knew you were much more skilled than me and could easily beat me in a fight. I decided that I would become strong enough to kill you… by any means necessary.”
Yokoyama looked up at Ohno with a taunt face, his eyes slightly bloodshot and a snarl on his mouth as he twisted the knife once in his hand and took a step closer, standing almost directly in front of Ohno now.
They stared into each other’s eyes and Leader was prepared for whatever Yokoyama had planned for him. He looked at him sternly and with his ever neutral expression, which seemed to be making Yokoyama lose his cool faster, and patiently waited a few seconds before speaking again.
“Where’s Jun?” he asked quietly.
Yokoyama sighed, as if giving up trying to provoke him, and suddenly his mocking smile was back. “I guess I’ll take you to him. But there’s a condition,” he said with a sadistic expression.
Ohno swallowed, but didn’t otherwise move, waiting for whatever it was that the traitor wanted.
“Just stay still for a second.”
The blade of Jun’s knife flashed in Yokoyama’s hand and it was suddenly buried in the right side of Ohno’s stomach.
Leader gasped as the weapon dug into him, twisting painfully before Yokoyama withdrew it with a satisfied smirk. Unable to do anything else, Ohno fell to the ground, grasping the wound that was sending waves of pain through him. He could already feel the blood seeping out around his fingers and his body was trying to go into shock, a cold sweat quickly spreading across his forehead.
“Alright, let’s go,” Yokoyama smirked and turned to walk slowly back towards the log before stopping to watch Ohno expectantly.
The swordsmaster pushed himself up off the ground with shaking arms and legs, his hand grasping at his stomach once again in an attempt to keep what blood he could inside of him. But the drive to save Jun was still there and so he bit back the pain and began shuffling after Yokoyama, who was grinning again.
“You’d better keep up. If you don’t save him, who will?” he asked with a cruel tone and then promptly took off once more. Ohno was gasping for breath, but he forced himself up straight and told his body to just last a few minutes longer, until he could see Jun one more time.
They began heading through the forest and towards the sound of the stream, Ohno struggling to keep Yokoyama in sight, and soon they came to a deep ravine, one that Leader would never have a problem climbing down otherwise. But right now he stumbled and fell to the bottom of the hill, feeling rocks and sticks digging into various parts of his body, and then slowly managed to stand again as Yokoyama laughed at him.
They walked along the side of the steep wall of dirt, which quickly turned into a ledge, and within a minute, Ohno saw a dark spot through his blurring vision, knowing that they had arrived at wherever Jun was being kept.
As they approached the body, Yokoyama was watching him with a satisfied expression, obviously reveling in the pain he was putting the older man through, the bloody knife still held tightly in his hand. He stayed back as Ohno stumbled past him to get closer to his friend, and then approached him from behind as Leader fell to the ground next to Jun’s torso. Slowly reaching out and touching the illusionist’s face with his shaking hand, the blood from Ohno’s wound marred the pale skin of Jun’s face.
There was a swelling wound on Jun’s neck and Ohno knew that it was from a dart similar to the one that he had been hit with a week ago. This injury had gotten bigger than his had, though, and had hit the weak spot of his jugular straight on. Jun’s eyes were open halfway, watching Leader as he leaned over him, but it was obvious that he couldn’t move of his own will, even though his arms were shaking involuntary. His breath was coming in short rasps, too, and the air that was filtering in and out made the simple actions sound quite painful.
“He should have about five more minutes left,” Yokoyama explained in a mock-happy voice, and he was leaning over Ohno, looking at Jun in a similar way.
As a blade was pressed to the backside of his neck, the point pressing painfully into the bottom of his skull, Leader felt tears well up in his eyes.
There was no way he could save Jun in this situation. Even if he could somehow get the knife away from Yokoyama, which was almost impossible with the wound in his side that was practically dripping onto the ground underneath him. There wasn’t enough time to go and get Aiba or to take Jun back to the Main Building anyway, assuming what Yokoyama said was true.
All he could do was gently stroke Jun’s face, spreading blood over his cheek, and try to comfort the younger man through his evident pain.
“I’m torn between letting you watch him die and killing you right now,” Yokoyama whispered in his ear, leaning over Leader’s shoulder and pressing his blade deeper into Ohno’s skin, causing a thin line of blood to begin sliding down the back of his neck.
But as Yokoyama spoke, Jun suddenly tensed up, his whole body shaking violently and his eyes rolling into the back of his head as the poison continued to take effect. The tears actually starting falling down Ohno’s cheeks now.
He began whispering that everything would be okay, continuing to touch Jun’s face and hair, even as Yokoyama began laughing behind him. He felt the pressure of the knife increase again and closed his eyes, ready to follow Jun into the afterlife.
He waited, holding back a sob that was threatened to burst from his throat, and continued to wait, but he still wasn’t dead, even though Jun was almost thrashing under him.
“Leader!”
Ohno’s eyes burst open at the sound of Nino’s voice, but he couldn’t move with the knife still pressed deeply into his skin and he wondered why his friend was being so rash, coming into the situation loudly instead of using stealth.
But the pressure of the knife was pulled back a moment later and he turned around sharply as Nino dragged Yokoyama’s limp body to the side, a needle sticking out of his temple. Sho appeared out of a grove of trees a little ways off, running towards the group.
“Jun-“ Ohno gasped and Nino knelt down to help steady him as a sharp pain in his stomach made him double over. “Jun’s-“ he tried again, wanting to force Nino to help the other injured man, who seemed to be in a much worse situation than himself.
“Don’t worry, Aiba’s looking at Jun right now,” Nino whispered, forcing Ohno onto his back and pressing some cloth to his wound. “Don’t move too much Oh-chan,” he directed as the swordsman raised his bloodied hand to help press down on the injury. After a few heartbeats, he shifted his head to the side and felt Jun’s shaking arm against his temple, then closed his eyes, trying to hold back his desperate emotions.
Aiba’s loud, frantic voice broke the sudden silence of the clearing.
“Swallow, Jun! For God’s sake-“
Through his daze, Ohno noticed that Aiba was covering Jun’s mouth with one of his palms, two fingers shoving something past his lips, but Jun was shaking violently and the herbalist was having a hard time keeping his grip on him. Sho was standing over Ohno, trying to help hold down Jun’s trembling body as well, but Leader had no idea if their actions were doing anything.
“Jun-“ he said in a hoarse voice, then squinted his eyes shut as a new wave of pain wracked his body, his back arching involuntarily and a soft moan coming out of his mouth. Nino began saying something to him, but Ohno couldn’t hear him very clearly.
Suddenly the body next to him stopped moving and Ohno tried forcing his eyes open to look at Jun, to find out if he was okay or not, but his body wouldn’t listen to what his brain was saying. All he could see were white spots and he felt his chest constrict, breath barely making it past his lips, and Nino was yelling, but he still couldn’t make the words out.
Aiba was over him now and although Ohno wanted to tell him to save Jun, to do anything he could to save Jun, when he opened his mouth all that came out was a painful gasp. Nino was feeling his forehead while Aiba was doing something with the knife wound, but Ohno could still sense Sho leaning over the top of him to exam Jun, and he was grateful for that at least. He didn’t care if he died anymore, he just wanted Jun to live with every shaky breath he took.
Leader finally gave himself up to unconsciousness when Sho frantically told Aiba that Jun was no longer breathing… and didn’t have a pulse either.
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A/N: I'm pretty sure the whole third part has been building up to this chapter. There were so many bad spots I could have cut it off at. This is still bad, but at least you know that Arashi came, right? ...Right? >_> And Yokoyama's secret is out. Some people had their suspicions about him, so I'm wondering if it played out according to those suspicious.
Another kidnapping too. I have a weakness for kidnappings in case you couldn't tell. Actually I wrote this one before the Ohba story Paint, Film, and Stuffed Animals.
Otherwise, I'll be posting a few new things coming up. Of course prizes for my contest, and a fun story I've been working on. Hopefully going to get working on some of those sequel requests too...
Chapter twenty-five