Me without you Chapter 17 (Junba, Sakumiya)
Title: Me without you 16/20
Pairing: Junba, Sakumiya, Ohno/?, others possible
Rating: up to R
Genre: AU, romance
Plot: Although they are both young students at college, both the youngest brothers within three, and both part of high society, there are worlds between Jun and Masaki. Jun comes from a rich, traditional and conservative family, while Masaki's family gained wealth and fame by luck. Masaki is cheerful and enjoys life to the fullest. Jun is unusually earnest and distanced. Although part of the same glamorous world, their paths would have never crossed, they would have never even talked, but then Masaki's brothers decide he needs to catch up with his studies, and hire Jun as his tutor. With being so different it seems they will never get closer, until they realize that they both hold a sad secret.
Note: This is dedicated to
yukitsubute. I had (and still have) a lot of fun writing this, and I wonder where it takes me to. I can promise you some fluff, some fun and some drama (the usual ^^) There might even be some hurt & comfort.
“I know, we decided to support the lovebirds,” Shingo says through the phone and Takuya can almost see his teasing grin in front of him. “And you and Sho-kun’s new-found all-understanding my-brother-is-so-cute-kyaaaaaaaa mode is really refreshing-”
“Come to the point,” Takuya interrupts him dryly.
“Just tell Masaki to come home at one point,” Shingo says with a chuckle. “I assume he has lost track of time but we need his help tomorrow for-“
“Masaki is not here,” Takuya interrupts him, not even listening to his rambling anymore. “I thought he and Jun are at your place.”
Shingo is quiet for a moment, then he laughs. It doesn’t sound too convinced though. “Come on, why would they make something up? I’m sure they are in Jun’s room or…”
“Shingo,” Takuya says earnestly, turning around to wave at Sho, signalling him to come closer. “They are not here.” He puts the phone aside for a moment. “Did you see Masaki and Jun?” he asks.
Sho blinks. “Aren’t they at Ryo’s place?”
Takuya turns his attention to the phone again. “Did you hear that?” His heart is suddenly racing. He knows he should remain calm, it’s just logical that it’s a misunderstanding, but he has a feeling it isn’t. Jun might be slightly dramatic sometimes, but he is also really considerate. He would never let such a misunderstanding and confusion happen.
“Yes,” Shingo says, sounding strained all of a sudden. “Satoshi just told me, Masaki said to him he and Jun would be at Kame’s place.”
Takuya is speechless for a moment. It’s the perfect distraction strategy from these two. They will now have to phone all their friends while not knowing anything at all. And he is sure their friends won’t know anything either. Still, they just have to try it and call them. It’s common sense to do it that way. Jun and Masaki probably knew that. And while they call all their close friends they'll lose quite some time. On the contrary Jun and Masaki will win time... Just what for?
He hangs up.
“What the hell is going on?” Sho asks immediately, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“Jun and Masaki are nowhere to be found and told everyone a different place they are staying at.”
Sho’s eyes widen. “I’ll call Nino!” he offers. “Someone has to know where they are!”
No, Takuya thinks, he is sure no one knows where they are.
~~~
They meet at Takuya’s and Sho’s house because it’s bigger and in the end they hope to find something here that will give them a clue.
“Since when are they missing?” Satoshi asks. “For real now. It was in the middle of the night when we noticed that they are absent, but since when are they actually missing?”
Just as Takuya predicted none of them was able to reach the guys, Jun’s phone was switched off, and it seems Masaki has left his switched off at home. Just like that. There was no note, nothing, and no one of their friends saw them. “Kame says, Jun wasn’t in his class today,” Nino suddenly points out. “Shun-san told me the same when I called. He was very worried. Jun never misses a class.”
“When is his class normally?” Takuya wants to know.
“Pretty early. It seems like around 9AM.”
Sho stays quiet throughout their talk. He feels sick all of a sudden. What if something serious happened to them? What if they are in danger? His younger little brother, all alone...
“Did something happen?” Satoshi finally dares to ask. “Did you guys and Jun have a fight?” When Takuya and Sho glare at him for implying that they did their little brother wrong again, Satoshi raises his hands in defence. “I don’t mean anything bad, really, but Masaki is absolutely not dramatic normally. Running away is nothing he would do.”
“It’s nothing Jun would do either,” Takuya points out sharply. He is right, Sho thinks. If Jun had wanted to run away, he would have done so long ago and not after they finally took a step towards each other and got along. Everything was working out well between them. Why would Jun suddenly disappear just like that?
“I’m just asking,” Satoshi repeats carefully. “I mean, I know I didn’t have any argument with Masaki. What about you Shingo?”
Shingo stays quiet for a while, making Satoshi’s eyes go wide. “You did?”
“No!” Shingo shakes his head vehemently. “I was just thinking about a talk I had with him around two days ago…”
“What kind of talk?” Nino wants to know.
“He was bothered by something. It had something to do with Jun, but he said he couldn’t tell me. It was impossible to talk about it, it seems. And I just remembered the things Takuya-kun told me, which I can’t tell anyone either.” He looks at Takuya. “Sorry for mentioning something like this now.” But Takuya just shakes his head, smiling slightly, and Shingo continues. “So, I tried to give him some advice, the best I could do without knowing anything.”
“I kind of had a similar talk with Jun,” Takuya slowly admits. “Not an argument at all. But damn, he looked down, like really down. I have never seen him like that. I knew it had to be something major, but I knew asking him what it is wouldn’t help and wouldn’t make him open up. So, I told him about Shingo-kun and how we handle things we can’t just talk about normally. I told him several things, and tried to make him face the past, whatever it is, and look forward again. Stuff like that…”
“So maybe they are?” Nino says all of a sudden. “Maybe both of them took your advices to heart and decided to do something about it?”
“They just left us,” Sho mumbles miserably, finally allowing his fear to show.
“No, they didn’t,” Nino huffs. “Jun loves you guys, and Masaki loves his family too.”
Sho looks at him through questioning eyes. “Then why did they go?”
“Maybe because they had to,” Nino points out
Shingo blinks. “What do you mean?”
“Maybe they had to do it. We might not be able to understand it, but maybe this is the only solution they saw to face whatever they need to face,” Nino muses.
“I wished we could call the police,” Sho mumbles, his heart clenching slightly at the thought of his innocent cute helpless little brother strolling around in the middle of nowhere.
“Good thing you can’t,” Nino points out carefully.
Takuya frowns. “Maybe you are right,” he says all of a sudden. “When Jun and I talked he suddenly got a lot more resolute. Maybe this is something they had to do.”
“But what are we supposed to do now,” Satoshi asks. “I can’t just sit here, knowing Masaki could just be anywhere.”
“It’s our fault,” Takuya says all of a sudden. “Mine and Sho's. Ever since we gave him his inheritance from his mother he was different. In the letter our father left he begged his wife for forgiveness. We shouldn’t have handed Jun everything just like that.”
Sho nods, Takuya is right.
“Of course you should have!” Shingo blurts out. “It’s not your fault. Your father hid all this stuff from Jun on purpose, probably because he didn’t want him to think of his mother or to have any connection to her. He was just a pathetic jerk.”
“Still…” Takuya says quietly, but his voice trails off.
“Is something missing?” Satoshi asks all of a sudden.
They all look up at this question, and it dawns on Sho that they haven’t even checked on what these two took along or if they took something along. Unbelievable, they are so useless as older brothers. “I’m looking at Jun’s room,” he offers, mainly to do something.
“I’ll help,” Nino says.
Takuya and Shingo decide to roam the other part of the house, while Satoshi will check at his and Shingo's own place. He has asked Kazama and Ryo for help.
“He is alright,” Nino says when the door closes behind them and they are alone in Jun’s room. Everything is so tidy, Jun’s always so tidy. Even before he left he apparently cleaned up. There is basically nothing lying around, just the envelope they handed him before is lying on Jun's table. The key is gone though, apparently Jun picked his mother’s belongings up from the bank.
“It’s our fault,” Sho says with tears burning in his eyes. “Takuya is right. We weren’t thinking. We just handed Jun the key and the documents we found at our father’s old office, and didn’t think that for him it would be like a step into the past.”
“It’s not your fault,” Nino urges. “You wanted to be honest with him. You didn’t want to lie. And you were right, you needed to give him his mother’s inheritance! There was no way to keep it away from Jun.”
“Maybe we should have talked with him about it,” Sho says, his heart clenching slightly when he wonders what kind of things Jun dealt with on his own.
“About what!?” Nino huffs. “It’s obvious Jun didn’t want to talk about whatever he felt. He is not ready! And he deserved to know the truth and to receive his mother’s belongings. There was no such a thing as a right timing for it.”
Sho sighs, turning around to look at Nino directly. He really has a pair of the most beautiful eyes he has ever seen. They look at him so honestly now, so much caring and understanding in them. “Do you really think so?”
Nino nods. “You think about your family all the time, Jun would never do something to hurt you. He loves you guys.”
Sho nods and suddenly can’t resist the urge to wrap his arms around Nino’s body and pull him closer. He feels so warm. “Thank you,” he mumbles against his hair.
He can feel Nino smile against his chest.
“Maybe we should try and find something?” Sho says after a while and only reluctantly lets go of Nino’s warm body. But finding Jun and Masaki just has priority for now.
~~~
“What else do you know?” Ryo is on the phone, breathlessly talking to Kame.
Satoshi and the others have just returned to Takuya’s and Sho’s place again, and noted that two backpacks are missing, some food, and probably some smaller stuff. Seems like Masaki took Satoshi’s navigation system with him.
“What does he want to do with that?” Satoshi muses. “It’s for lakes and alike.”
“They are not planning on crossing the ocean, are they?” Sho asks, sudden panic rising in him again.
“Please,” Shingo grumbles, slowly losing his good mood as it seems. “Don’t be so overdramatic, you are freaking us out.”
Sho pouts slightly. “I’m just worried.”
“We all are,” Satoshi intervenes before they can start arguing. What does Masaki want with his navigation system though? It’s for whenever he goes fishing, nothing special. For him to find his way through a few forests to some lakes. What else is there about it?
Ryo still talks on the phone, coughing lightly. “Don’t get into hyperventilating now,” Satoshi points out when he realizes his obvious excitement.
Ryo ignores him and his advice, as always, and closes the phone, looking at them through huge eyes. “They took the train.”
“What?” Takuya asks in surprise.
“Seems like someone who is also in Kame’s and Jun’s class was running late, and he passed Jun and a tall guy with auburn hair - I guess we know who that is. They were at the station. Not the big one, not for the shinkansen. It’s a suburban one. I think even a local line.”
“Did he see where they wanted to go?” Shingo asks, his head perking up.
“No, unfortunately not, he was worried about being too late and just wondered why he saw Jun there.” Ryo lets out a sigh. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Takuya says all of a sudden. “It means they didn’t go too far into the country. That’s a good sign.” He turns around. “Satoshi-kun, try to find the description for that navigation system of yours. We might need to find out what else it can be used for.”
Satoshi nods too, finally a small step forward. He turns to look at Nino. The latter has been surprisingly quiet. “Is everything alright?”
“I just wondered,” Nino says all of a sudden, blushing slightly when everyone turns to look at him. He is holding a card in his hands. A post-card to be more specific. “What’s this?”
“A post-card,” Satoshi explains dumbfounded.
“No? Really?” Nino mimics him, rolling his eyes.
“Why are you asking though?” Sho asks curiously.
“It’s just… it was at Jun’s desk, right underneath the huge envelope you guys gave him.”
“The one with our father’s last words?” Takuya asks.
“Yes. There were a bunch of cards there.” Nino turns the card slightly, eyeing its cover. “There is nothing written on them though” He turns it around and also takes some more of them from the table where they gathered all possible hints. “But they are all from the same place. Isn't that weird? Do you know this place?”
Takuya takes a step closer, taking a few of the cards into his hand. “These are not postcards. They are photos.” His eyes widen. He turns to Sho. “This is…”
“Yes,” Sho says quietly. “What do they want to do there?”
A/N: So, Jun and Masaki indeed left without a word. But it seems Nino found a clue and Takuya and Sho knew where they went to? I'm sorry for the lack of Junba here, we'll soon have their side to this part of the story too. I promise!
Pairing: Junba, Sakumiya, Ohno/?, others possible
Rating: up to R
Genre: AU, romance
Plot: Although they are both young students at college, both the youngest brothers within three, and both part of high society, there are worlds between Jun and Masaki. Jun comes from a rich, traditional and conservative family, while Masaki's family gained wealth and fame by luck. Masaki is cheerful and enjoys life to the fullest. Jun is unusually earnest and distanced. Although part of the same glamorous world, their paths would have never crossed, they would have never even talked, but then Masaki's brothers decide he needs to catch up with his studies, and hire Jun as his tutor. With being so different it seems they will never get closer, until they realize that they both hold a sad secret.
Note: This is dedicated to
yukitsubute. I had (and still have) a lot of fun writing this, and I wonder where it takes me to. I can promise you some fluff, some fun and some drama (the usual ^^) There might even be some hurt & comfort.
“I know, we decided to support the lovebirds,” Shingo says through the phone and Takuya can almost see his teasing grin in front of him. “And you and Sho-kun’s new-found all-understanding my-brother-is-so-cute-kyaaaaaaaa mode is really refreshing-”
“Come to the point,” Takuya interrupts him dryly.
“Just tell Masaki to come home at one point,” Shingo says with a chuckle. “I assume he has lost track of time but we need his help tomorrow for-“
“Masaki is not here,” Takuya interrupts him, not even listening to his rambling anymore. “I thought he and Jun are at your place.”
Shingo is quiet for a moment, then he laughs. It doesn’t sound too convinced though. “Come on, why would they make something up? I’m sure they are in Jun’s room or…”
“Shingo,” Takuya says earnestly, turning around to wave at Sho, signalling him to come closer. “They are not here.” He puts the phone aside for a moment. “Did you see Masaki and Jun?” he asks.
Sho blinks. “Aren’t they at Ryo’s place?”
Takuya turns his attention to the phone again. “Did you hear that?” His heart is suddenly racing. He knows he should remain calm, it’s just logical that it’s a misunderstanding, but he has a feeling it isn’t. Jun might be slightly dramatic sometimes, but he is also really considerate. He would never let such a misunderstanding and confusion happen.
“Yes,” Shingo says, sounding strained all of a sudden. “Satoshi just told me, Masaki said to him he and Jun would be at Kame’s place.”
Takuya is speechless for a moment. It’s the perfect distraction strategy from these two. They will now have to phone all their friends while not knowing anything at all. And he is sure their friends won’t know anything either. Still, they just have to try it and call them. It’s common sense to do it that way. Jun and Masaki probably knew that. And while they call all their close friends they'll lose quite some time. On the contrary Jun and Masaki will win time... Just what for?
He hangs up.
“What the hell is going on?” Sho asks immediately, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“Jun and Masaki are nowhere to be found and told everyone a different place they are staying at.”
Sho’s eyes widen. “I’ll call Nino!” he offers. “Someone has to know where they are!”
No, Takuya thinks, he is sure no one knows where they are.
~~~
They meet at Takuya’s and Sho’s house because it’s bigger and in the end they hope to find something here that will give them a clue.
“Since when are they missing?” Satoshi asks. “For real now. It was in the middle of the night when we noticed that they are absent, but since when are they actually missing?”
Just as Takuya predicted none of them was able to reach the guys, Jun’s phone was switched off, and it seems Masaki has left his switched off at home. Just like that. There was no note, nothing, and no one of their friends saw them. “Kame says, Jun wasn’t in his class today,” Nino suddenly points out. “Shun-san told me the same when I called. He was very worried. Jun never misses a class.”
“When is his class normally?” Takuya wants to know.
“Pretty early. It seems like around 9AM.”
Sho stays quiet throughout their talk. He feels sick all of a sudden. What if something serious happened to them? What if they are in danger? His younger little brother, all alone...
“Did something happen?” Satoshi finally dares to ask. “Did you guys and Jun have a fight?” When Takuya and Sho glare at him for implying that they did their little brother wrong again, Satoshi raises his hands in defence. “I don’t mean anything bad, really, but Masaki is absolutely not dramatic normally. Running away is nothing he would do.”
“It’s nothing Jun would do either,” Takuya points out sharply. He is right, Sho thinks. If Jun had wanted to run away, he would have done so long ago and not after they finally took a step towards each other and got along. Everything was working out well between them. Why would Jun suddenly disappear just like that?
“I’m just asking,” Satoshi repeats carefully. “I mean, I know I didn’t have any argument with Masaki. What about you Shingo?”
Shingo stays quiet for a while, making Satoshi’s eyes go wide. “You did?”
“No!” Shingo shakes his head vehemently. “I was just thinking about a talk I had with him around two days ago…”
“What kind of talk?” Nino wants to know.
“He was bothered by something. It had something to do with Jun, but he said he couldn’t tell me. It was impossible to talk about it, it seems. And I just remembered the things Takuya-kun told me, which I can’t tell anyone either.” He looks at Takuya. “Sorry for mentioning something like this now.” But Takuya just shakes his head, smiling slightly, and Shingo continues. “So, I tried to give him some advice, the best I could do without knowing anything.”
“I kind of had a similar talk with Jun,” Takuya slowly admits. “Not an argument at all. But damn, he looked down, like really down. I have never seen him like that. I knew it had to be something major, but I knew asking him what it is wouldn’t help and wouldn’t make him open up. So, I told him about Shingo-kun and how we handle things we can’t just talk about normally. I told him several things, and tried to make him face the past, whatever it is, and look forward again. Stuff like that…”
“So maybe they are?” Nino says all of a sudden. “Maybe both of them took your advices to heart and decided to do something about it?”
“They just left us,” Sho mumbles miserably, finally allowing his fear to show.
“No, they didn’t,” Nino huffs. “Jun loves you guys, and Masaki loves his family too.”
Sho looks at him through questioning eyes. “Then why did they go?”
“Maybe because they had to,” Nino points out
Shingo blinks. “What do you mean?”
“Maybe they had to do it. We might not be able to understand it, but maybe this is the only solution they saw to face whatever they need to face,” Nino muses.
“I wished we could call the police,” Sho mumbles, his heart clenching slightly at the thought of his innocent cute helpless little brother strolling around in the middle of nowhere.
“Good thing you can’t,” Nino points out carefully.
Takuya frowns. “Maybe you are right,” he says all of a sudden. “When Jun and I talked he suddenly got a lot more resolute. Maybe this is something they had to do.”
“But what are we supposed to do now,” Satoshi asks. “I can’t just sit here, knowing Masaki could just be anywhere.”
“It’s our fault,” Takuya says all of a sudden. “Mine and Sho's. Ever since we gave him his inheritance from his mother he was different. In the letter our father left he begged his wife for forgiveness. We shouldn’t have handed Jun everything just like that.”
Sho nods, Takuya is right.
“Of course you should have!” Shingo blurts out. “It’s not your fault. Your father hid all this stuff from Jun on purpose, probably because he didn’t want him to think of his mother or to have any connection to her. He was just a pathetic jerk.”
“Still…” Takuya says quietly, but his voice trails off.
“Is something missing?” Satoshi asks all of a sudden.
They all look up at this question, and it dawns on Sho that they haven’t even checked on what these two took along or if they took something along. Unbelievable, they are so useless as older brothers. “I’m looking at Jun’s room,” he offers, mainly to do something.
“I’ll help,” Nino says.
Takuya and Shingo decide to roam the other part of the house, while Satoshi will check at his and Shingo's own place. He has asked Kazama and Ryo for help.
“He is alright,” Nino says when the door closes behind them and they are alone in Jun’s room. Everything is so tidy, Jun’s always so tidy. Even before he left he apparently cleaned up. There is basically nothing lying around, just the envelope they handed him before is lying on Jun's table. The key is gone though, apparently Jun picked his mother’s belongings up from the bank.
“It’s our fault,” Sho says with tears burning in his eyes. “Takuya is right. We weren’t thinking. We just handed Jun the key and the documents we found at our father’s old office, and didn’t think that for him it would be like a step into the past.”
“It’s not your fault,” Nino urges. “You wanted to be honest with him. You didn’t want to lie. And you were right, you needed to give him his mother’s inheritance! There was no way to keep it away from Jun.”
“Maybe we should have talked with him about it,” Sho says, his heart clenching slightly when he wonders what kind of things Jun dealt with on his own.
“About what!?” Nino huffs. “It’s obvious Jun didn’t want to talk about whatever he felt. He is not ready! And he deserved to know the truth and to receive his mother’s belongings. There was no such a thing as a right timing for it.”
Sho sighs, turning around to look at Nino directly. He really has a pair of the most beautiful eyes he has ever seen. They look at him so honestly now, so much caring and understanding in them. “Do you really think so?”
Nino nods. “You think about your family all the time, Jun would never do something to hurt you. He loves you guys.”
Sho nods and suddenly can’t resist the urge to wrap his arms around Nino’s body and pull him closer. He feels so warm. “Thank you,” he mumbles against his hair.
He can feel Nino smile against his chest.
“Maybe we should try and find something?” Sho says after a while and only reluctantly lets go of Nino’s warm body. But finding Jun and Masaki just has priority for now.
~~~
“What else do you know?” Ryo is on the phone, breathlessly talking to Kame.
Satoshi and the others have just returned to Takuya’s and Sho’s place again, and noted that two backpacks are missing, some food, and probably some smaller stuff. Seems like Masaki took Satoshi’s navigation system with him.
“What does he want to do with that?” Satoshi muses. “It’s for lakes and alike.”
“They are not planning on crossing the ocean, are they?” Sho asks, sudden panic rising in him again.
“Please,” Shingo grumbles, slowly losing his good mood as it seems. “Don’t be so overdramatic, you are freaking us out.”
Sho pouts slightly. “I’m just worried.”
“We all are,” Satoshi intervenes before they can start arguing. What does Masaki want with his navigation system though? It’s for whenever he goes fishing, nothing special. For him to find his way through a few forests to some lakes. What else is there about it?
Ryo still talks on the phone, coughing lightly. “Don’t get into hyperventilating now,” Satoshi points out when he realizes his obvious excitement.
Ryo ignores him and his advice, as always, and closes the phone, looking at them through huge eyes. “They took the train.”
“What?” Takuya asks in surprise.
“Seems like someone who is also in Kame’s and Jun’s class was running late, and he passed Jun and a tall guy with auburn hair - I guess we know who that is. They were at the station. Not the big one, not for the shinkansen. It’s a suburban one. I think even a local line.”
“Did he see where they wanted to go?” Shingo asks, his head perking up.
“No, unfortunately not, he was worried about being too late and just wondered why he saw Jun there.” Ryo lets out a sigh. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Takuya says all of a sudden. “It means they didn’t go too far into the country. That’s a good sign.” He turns around. “Satoshi-kun, try to find the description for that navigation system of yours. We might need to find out what else it can be used for.”
Satoshi nods too, finally a small step forward. He turns to look at Nino. The latter has been surprisingly quiet. “Is everything alright?”
“I just wondered,” Nino says all of a sudden, blushing slightly when everyone turns to look at him. He is holding a card in his hands. A post-card to be more specific. “What’s this?”
“A post-card,” Satoshi explains dumbfounded.
“No? Really?” Nino mimics him, rolling his eyes.
“Why are you asking though?” Sho asks curiously.
“It’s just… it was at Jun’s desk, right underneath the huge envelope you guys gave him.”
“The one with our father’s last words?” Takuya asks.
“Yes. There were a bunch of cards there.” Nino turns the card slightly, eyeing its cover. “There is nothing written on them though” He turns it around and also takes some more of them from the table where they gathered all possible hints. “But they are all from the same place. Isn't that weird? Do you know this place?”
Takuya takes a step closer, taking a few of the cards into his hand. “These are not postcards. They are photos.” His eyes widen. He turns to Sho. “This is…”
“Yes,” Sho says quietly. “What do they want to do there?”
A/N: So, Jun and Masaki indeed left without a word. But it seems Nino found a clue and Takuya and Sho knew where they went to? I'm sorry for the lack of Junba here, we'll soon have their side to this part of the story too. I promise!