A Winter Apart - Chapter 8
Thanks a ton to my regular readers!! Your support is much appreciated!! I've put a quick summary here of the last chapter as I realise that it's been a while since I updated!
Genre: Angst, romance
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Plot's mine, but JE or the lyrics used here are not...and yes this is fiction!
Sugoi - Great!!
Tadaima - I'm back (home)
Itadakimasu - Let's eat.
N/B: Maybe I should have clarified this earlier. Shinjuku has a well-known red-light zone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 8
“Morning…” Jin groaned as he came down the stairs running a hand through his messy hair. He rubbed his temples and shook his head.
Matsumi placed a plate on the table and looked up at her fiancé. “Morning…” There was a pause. She turned to their open kitchen and fetched another cup. Jin stood at the bottom of the stairs with one hand on the banisters still trying to focus. There was the sound of hot water being poured before a careful ‘thunk’ of a mug hitting the glass dining table was heard.
Another pause.
Matsumi sat down and began to eat her breakfast. “I called in at the office and told them you’d be late this morning.” She glanced up at him, then opened the morning paper and began to read it. “Your tea is getting cold.”
“Oh…thank you…” Jin walked over to the table and picked up the mug. He lifted it to his lips as if to drink it, but paused and glanced back down at Matsumi before looking away again and sipped his tea.
Another pause.
Matsumi flicked over the page onto the financial news. “The driver brought you home last night.”
Jin glanced sideways at her and nodded. “Ah.” He took another sip.
Another pause.
“Did the social not go well?”
Jin looked at Matsumi. “No… the social was fine…They seemed very happy when they left.”
Matsumi put down her chopsticks onto the chopstick rest on the glass table with a quiet, controlled clang.
Another pause.
Jin downed the rest of the tea and placed the mug onto the glass table. Matsumi looked up at him at which point he looked away awkwardly, then down at his fingers. Bringing his hand up to his nose as if to sneeze, he looked down again than ran his hand through his hair. “I er…I’m sorry… for making you worry. I was… yeah…” Jin looked away again.
He heard the quiet folding of the morning paper and Matsumi clearing away her breakfast. Taking the dishes into the kitchen she continued with her back to him. “It’s a good job Kamenashi-san so happened to be in the area.” She paused. Jin looked at her.
“Kamenashi?” His eyebrows knotted. Now that she mentioned it…
Her tone was matter-of-fact. “It is strange for him to be in that side of down.” She paused again. “But either way… I am glad he was there last night.” She turned and looked at him. “Or what would you have done?”
Jin nodded.
“I’m going to work before I’m late. I’ll see you at the office.”
Kame flicked his pen back and forth in one hand as he read the article. Spotting an odd wording, he put the pen in his mouth and turned to his laptop to look for another alternative. Glancing back and forth between the article and the screen, Kame clicked his tongue. He could just leave it, but… He paused and stared at the page, the pen twirling in his hand again. Or he could just rearrange the whole paragraph so it flowed better.
He turned back to the laptop.
“YOU HAVE MAIL.”
Kame put his pen in his mouth and clicked the inbox.
“Akanishi Jin. Sakura.”
Kame paused and took the pen from his mouth. He looked up out of the window and ran his tongue nervously over his lips before deciding to open it.
“Kazuya,
My fiancée wants to invite you for dinner next week to thank you. Koki and Nakamaru will be coming as well. Which day are you free?
Matsumi said that you so happened to be in the area last night. You’re hiding something from me aren’t you? Whatever it is, just say it Kazuya.
~Jin.”
Kame breathed in and sat back in his chair murmuring half-angrily, “God you’re still so blunt! You just say what you think don’t you!” His mouse hovered over the reply button. Should he reply? He looked up out onto a late afternoon Tokyo, pausing to think before clicking the mouse:
“Akanishi-san,
Please thank your fiancée for me. It is very kind of her.”
He paused.
“I am busy next week. Many apologies. Maybe next time.”
Kame’s hands hovered above the keyboard.
“I just so happened to be passing the area and by chance spotted you. It was nothing really.
Thanks again.
~Kamenashi.”
He re-read the e-mail as he moved the mouse over the send button. Pause. He moved the cursor again and highlighted the last few sentences. His hand then moved to the button on the edge of the keyboard.
Delete.
“Send.”
Matsumi stood in the kitchen slowly slicing the sushi that she’d made. She decided to come home early tonight and make dinner. Glancing at the hi-fi, she washed her hands and picked up the remote. Pausing for a moment, she changed the music: “Water Music” by Handæl. She put down the remote and sliced the sushi again into very neat, equal pieces.
“Lunch as promised.”
Matsumi placed the lunch box wrapped in a light cloth on the hospital bed table.
“WHOA!!!” Jin sat up in bed at the sight of food. He looked from Matsumi to the lunchbox and back again. “Did you make it?”
“No Akanishi-kun it appeared out of thin air and I’m the delivery woman!”
Jin grinned and ran his hand through his hair and looked at Matsumi like a boy for whom Christmas has come early. “Thank you so so much!!!! Can I eat it now?” Jin asked sheepishly.
“No Akanishi-kun, I bought it in for you to stare at.” She arched an eyebrow bemusedly. He was so young in so many ways, but it was kind of adorable.
Jin carefully untied the lunch box and opened it, murmuring half-embarrassed. “You know I was joking right, like when I said you could make me lunch! I didn’t know you’d take it seriously!”
Matsumi laughed. “I know but if it makes you this happy I’m glad I took you seriously.” Jin looked up at her and there was a pause. They locked eyes for a moment, before she blushed and coughed and looked away. “Anyway… taste it first before you say anymore! Haha! For all you know it might taste awful!”
Jin grinned again and picked up the chopsticks. “Itadakimasu!!!” He picked up the first piece of sushi, dipped it into the soy sauce and popped it into his mouth.
“SUGOI!!!!” He tried to shout with his mouth full and ended up having to cover his mouth to stop the sushi falling from his mouth. Matsumi clapped her hand to her forehead as she watched him look back at her eyeswide.
“Finish chewing before you yell god!” She rolled her eyes.
Jin swallowed the sushi. “It’s great!! It’s really yummy!! God I miss decent food!!” He picked up another with his chopsticks and carried on eating and murmuring in amazement at the same time. “Honestly Nishikido-chan…It’s amazing!!”
She laughed and looked at him fondly and put her hands in her pockets to hide the plasters on her fingers where she’d accidentally cut herself. She hadn’t seen him laugh and smile like this for a long time as the last few months of recovery had been hard for him. If it made him this happy, all her efforts earlier were well worth it.
“Tadaima…”
Matsumi leant back to look towards the doorway, then back at what she was doing. She heard Jin take off his shoes and step into their spacious home.
“You making dinner?”
Matsumi nodded and carried on. There was a pause before she heard Jin walk over towards her. She jumped slightly as she suddenly felt Jin’s arms wrap around her waist and his face nuzzling into her neck.
“You’re making sushi…”
“Jin, don’t come up behind me when I’m cutting.”
There was a pause and Jin clasped Matsumi tighter and kissed the bare flesh at the nape of her neck. “I’m sorry…about last night.”
Matsumi stopped cutting.
“It won’t happen again. I promise. Forgive me?”
Matsumi paused for a moment before sliced a piece of sushi off and held it in front of his mouth. “Get off me so that I can finish making dinner. You have an early start for your Kyoto meeting tomorrow!!”
Jin grinned and took the sushi in his mouth.
Kame leaned his head against the window and crossed his arms over his body as he stared out onto the passing scenery. The rocking of the train was comforting and he appreciated the silence of the quiet carriage. It gave him time to think and being away from Tokyo was strangely calming. With everything that's happened lately he hadn’t really been given time to just gather himself together, to sort his emotions, to calm down. Leaving Tokyo behind felt as if all the strings that had been pulling him in different directions lately just disappeared.
Kame closed his eyes and shifted slightly in his seat resting a leg onto his knee. Sometimes he felt quite pathetic actually; how one person can provoke so many emotions, so many memories. He felt stupid that he was being affected like this by mere thoughts.
Afterall they were just memories.
“Can you honestly stand your son growing up in this environment? Have pity on your own son!”
There was an unconcerned flick of a newspaper.
“You’re not even listening to me!”
“There is nothing wrong with him here in Tokyo. It’s not like I’m asking him to work. He goes to school he comes home.”
There was a pause.
“You know full well that he’s been attracting attention. I refuse to let my son walk the same path as his parents.”
“You don’t have a choice. I say no.”
“Kazuya is going to Kyoto. I will not let him grow up surrounded by dirty business, by hosts, by twisted bastards like - “
Silence.
“Surrounded by the work like this… I’m sending him to Kyoto… even… even if it means I have to… work again…”
Silence.
Outside a small lonely figure leant his head back against the dark walls of hallway. A silent tear slid slowly down the curvature of his face, nails dug deep into the centre of his palm, and he did not care that his teeth drew blood as they bit down on his lower lip to hold back the sobs.
Kyoto… He’d spent five happy years there. Well relatively speaking anyway. They were quite uneventful and passed with relative ease. Save for his good academic performance he managed to remain pretty inconspicuous to the rest of his classmates as he kept as much to himself as possible. Yet it suited him just fine. He glanced down at the beautifully carved sandalwood box that sat on the seat beside him. Moving a hand he affectionately brushed some dust that had fallen onto the surface. He never found out how his mother managed to keep him in Kyoto, whether his father eventually came round to agreeing with his mother, or whether her mother had to ‘work again’ to pay for his tuition.
Kame turned his head and leant on the windowpane again. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know, but either way he will never forget the debt he owed to his mother.
Jin flicked the pen back and forth over his finger as he turned over another page of the proposal. Scribbling a note to himself on the side he turned and opened up his laptop.
“Tickets please…”
Jin looked up at the train conductor making his way through the carriage and reached into his jacket pocket to dig out his ticket.
“Thank you sir.”
“Excuse me, but is there a restaurant car on this train and what time are we due in Kyoto?”
“We should arrive in Kyoto around 10 sir. There’s restaurant car; it’s two cars from this one sir, but if you want a drink, a trolley service should come through shortly.”
“Thanks.” Jin nodded and glanced out of the window onto a crisp morning and glanced at his watch before turning his attention back to his work.
Kame felt his stomach grumble and remembered that he didn’t actually have breakfast this morning. He wasn’t sure when this habit of skipping breakfast started again, but it wasn’t doing him too much good. He pulled himself out of his seat and picked up the sandalwood box and made his way towards the restaurant car.
Kame stood in front of his locker putting his morning books away before taking out the things he needed for the afternoon. He’d been avoiding Jin for a few days now, and the same the other way it seems. Kame pulled the collar of his shirt closer to his neck and shut his locker. Ever since that evening they seemed to stay out of each other’s way. He’d yet to return Jin’s coat to him, but he’d also needed to pluck up the courage to bring it back and give it to him. It wasn’t like he wasn’t use to avoiding people… and… it was probably for the best anyway. He turned around the corner and heard the noisy banter of a voice he somehow seemed to recognise instantly. Looking up he caught sight of Jin fooling with Koki and Nakamaru. Kame’s feet stopped and he instantly turned on his heel. He’d take the long way to the library.
Kame chewed the inside of his cheek as he made his way down the corridor of lockers which were beginning to fill with people as they fetched their lunches. He could feel eyes glancing at him; some still moved subtly out of his way. The ‘rumours’ about his background had died down now, but the atmosphere still lingered. He swerved his way through the crowds then up the backstairs towards the top floor of the school building. It was quieter up on the higher floors.
His feet turned the corner but he stopped short as he almost walked right into the figure leaning casually against the wall outside the library tossing a coin into the air and catching it again. Kame quietly clicked his tongue.
“Going to study through the lunch hour again?”
The coin tossed.
Kame said nothing and turned his head to stare at the library notices.
“You haven’t eaten yet have you?”
The coin tossed again.
“None of your business Jin. Unlike some I actually do my work.” He bit his tongue. He didn’t mean to say it like that, but Kame just wasn’t sure how to react to him right now.
Jin caught the coin in his hand again.
“You skipped breakfast too didn’t you?”
Kame turned his head and looked at the figure still leaning unperturbed under his gaze against the wall. Kame didn’t reply and moved passed him towards the library door.
The coin tossed again.
“Play a bet with you. If this next toss is a head, you’re coming to lunch with me. If it’s a tail I’ll leave you to carry on starving yourself.”
Kame turned his head angrily, “Just who gave you the permission-“
The coin tossed.
Jin caught it on the back of his hand.
Pause.
Jin held out his hands towards him and uncovered it.
“One salmon teriyaki please.”
“Yes sir, anything thing else?”
“Yeah…and a lemon tea.”
“Eat here?”
Kame paused. “No…it’s okay thanks.”
He dug into his pocket for his wallet and stood back to wait for the meal, glancing around the small restaurant car wondering if he’ll had time for lunch today. Well this meal should hold him out for a bit.
Jin closed his laptop and glanced at his watch. The trolley service doesn’t seem to have come through yet. He ran his thumb over his lips as he pondered what to do. He opened his briefcase and remembered he didn’t bring a bottle of water either. Jin scratched his head, and decided he might as well go to the restaurant car and pick up a bottle of water and maybe an onigiri for later. Picking up his laptop and tucking his briefcase below the seat he got up and made his way towards the restaurant car.
“Salmon Teriyaki sir!”
Kame murmured a thank you and picked up what probably was going to be his brunch. He pondered for a moment as to whether to sit in the restaurant seeing as he didn’t leave anything on his seat anyway.
“Actually is it okay if I sat here?”
“No problems sir, please do.”
As Kame made his way to a table, the sound of a mobile phone made him look up. It was coming from just beyond the doors that separated the restaurant car from the one behind.
“Oh you can’t use a mobile phone in here can you…?”
“No sir…”
“Okay in that case I won’t stay. Thanks.”
He remembered that he had to call Ueda to confirm about the arrangements about his mother’s ashes being moved to Kyoto that he’d helped him enquire. Kame nodded to the chef and moved back towards the car in front of the restaurant where he’d been seated before.
“Yes Matsumi I should be home tonight…” He paused and nodded. “Yeah… I’ll try and contact Kamenashi again… yeah...alright see you tonight.” Jin closed his mobile and lightly pressed the button to open the door of the restaurant car.
“Hi what would you like?”
Jin paused and looked at the menu. “Choices choices…” He stood for a minute before reaching into his pocket for a coin. Tossing it into the air he caught it on the back of his hand. Looking up at the chef Jin grinned. “Salmon Teriyaki please.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The chapter is a bit of an 'in-between' chapter so sorry about the lack of excitement.
I do apologise (again) for the late update! Graduations are very happy, but hectic occasions! ^.^;; I've decided to write a few lines every few days about what I'm doing just so you guys know I haven't forgotten about the fics - if I don't update in a while, I'm just very busy! But feel free to poke me if you get impatient for updates, especially cos now I have two fics going! XD;;
Thanks for reading!!
Genre: Angst, romance
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Plot's mine, but JE or the lyrics used here are not...and yes this is fiction!
Sugoi - Great!!
Tadaima - I'm back (home)
Itadakimasu - Let's eat.
N/B: Maybe I should have clarified this earlier. Shinjuku has a well-known red-light zone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 8
“Morning…” Jin groaned as he came down the stairs running a hand through his messy hair. He rubbed his temples and shook his head.
Matsumi placed a plate on the table and looked up at her fiancé. “Morning…” There was a pause. She turned to their open kitchen and fetched another cup. Jin stood at the bottom of the stairs with one hand on the banisters still trying to focus. There was the sound of hot water being poured before a careful ‘thunk’ of a mug hitting the glass dining table was heard.
Another pause.
Matsumi sat down and began to eat her breakfast. “I called in at the office and told them you’d be late this morning.” She glanced up at him, then opened the morning paper and began to read it. “Your tea is getting cold.”
“Oh…thank you…” Jin walked over to the table and picked up the mug. He lifted it to his lips as if to drink it, but paused and glanced back down at Matsumi before looking away again and sipped his tea.
Another pause.
Matsumi flicked over the page onto the financial news. “The driver brought you home last night.”
Jin glanced sideways at her and nodded. “Ah.” He took another sip.
Another pause.
“Did the social not go well?”
Jin looked at Matsumi. “No… the social was fine…They seemed very happy when they left.”
Matsumi put down her chopsticks onto the chopstick rest on the glass table with a quiet, controlled clang.
Another pause.
Jin downed the rest of the tea and placed the mug onto the glass table. Matsumi looked up at him at which point he looked away awkwardly, then down at his fingers. Bringing his hand up to his nose as if to sneeze, he looked down again than ran his hand through his hair. “I er…I’m sorry… for making you worry. I was… yeah…” Jin looked away again.
He heard the quiet folding of the morning paper and Matsumi clearing away her breakfast. Taking the dishes into the kitchen she continued with her back to him. “It’s a good job Kamenashi-san so happened to be in the area.” She paused. Jin looked at her.
“Kamenashi?” His eyebrows knotted. Now that she mentioned it…
Her tone was matter-of-fact. “It is strange for him to be in that side of down.” She paused again. “But either way… I am glad he was there last night.” She turned and looked at him. “Or what would you have done?”
Jin nodded.
“I’m going to work before I’m late. I’ll see you at the office.”
Kame flicked his pen back and forth in one hand as he read the article. Spotting an odd wording, he put the pen in his mouth and turned to his laptop to look for another alternative. Glancing back and forth between the article and the screen, Kame clicked his tongue. He could just leave it, but… He paused and stared at the page, the pen twirling in his hand again. Or he could just rearrange the whole paragraph so it flowed better.
He turned back to the laptop.
“YOU HAVE MAIL.”
Kame put his pen in his mouth and clicked the inbox.
“Akanishi Jin. Sakura.”
Kame paused and took the pen from his mouth. He looked up out of the window and ran his tongue nervously over his lips before deciding to open it.
“Kazuya,
My fiancée wants to invite you for dinner next week to thank you. Koki and Nakamaru will be coming as well. Which day are you free?
Matsumi said that you so happened to be in the area last night. You’re hiding something from me aren’t you? Whatever it is, just say it Kazuya.
~Jin.”
Kame breathed in and sat back in his chair murmuring half-angrily, “God you’re still so blunt! You just say what you think don’t you!” His mouse hovered over the reply button. Should he reply? He looked up out onto a late afternoon Tokyo, pausing to think before clicking the mouse:
“Akanishi-san,
Please thank your fiancée for me. It is very kind of her.”
He paused.
“I am busy next week. Many apologies. Maybe next time.”
Kame’s hands hovered above the keyboard.
“I just so happened to be passing the area and by chance spotted you. It was nothing really.
Thanks again.
~Kamenashi.”
He re-read the e-mail as he moved the mouse over the send button. Pause. He moved the cursor again and highlighted the last few sentences. His hand then moved to the button on the edge of the keyboard.
Delete.
“Send.”
Matsumi stood in the kitchen slowly slicing the sushi that she’d made. She decided to come home early tonight and make dinner. Glancing at the hi-fi, she washed her hands and picked up the remote. Pausing for a moment, she changed the music: “Water Music” by Handæl. She put down the remote and sliced the sushi again into very neat, equal pieces.
“Lunch as promised.”
Matsumi placed the lunch box wrapped in a light cloth on the hospital bed table.
“WHOA!!!” Jin sat up in bed at the sight of food. He looked from Matsumi to the lunchbox and back again. “Did you make it?”
“No Akanishi-kun it appeared out of thin air and I’m the delivery woman!”
Jin grinned and ran his hand through his hair and looked at Matsumi like a boy for whom Christmas has come early. “Thank you so so much!!!! Can I eat it now?” Jin asked sheepishly.
“No Akanishi-kun, I bought it in for you to stare at.” She arched an eyebrow bemusedly. He was so young in so many ways, but it was kind of adorable.
Jin carefully untied the lunch box and opened it, murmuring half-embarrassed. “You know I was joking right, like when I said you could make me lunch! I didn’t know you’d take it seriously!”
Matsumi laughed. “I know but if it makes you this happy I’m glad I took you seriously.” Jin looked up at her and there was a pause. They locked eyes for a moment, before she blushed and coughed and looked away. “Anyway… taste it first before you say anymore! Haha! For all you know it might taste awful!”
Jin grinned again and picked up the chopsticks. “Itadakimasu!!!” He picked up the first piece of sushi, dipped it into the soy sauce and popped it into his mouth.
“SUGOI!!!!” He tried to shout with his mouth full and ended up having to cover his mouth to stop the sushi falling from his mouth. Matsumi clapped her hand to her forehead as she watched him look back at her eyeswide.
“Finish chewing before you yell god!” She rolled her eyes.
Jin swallowed the sushi. “It’s great!! It’s really yummy!! God I miss decent food!!” He picked up another with his chopsticks and carried on eating and murmuring in amazement at the same time. “Honestly Nishikido-chan…It’s amazing!!”
She laughed and looked at him fondly and put her hands in her pockets to hide the plasters on her fingers where she’d accidentally cut herself. She hadn’t seen him laugh and smile like this for a long time as the last few months of recovery had been hard for him. If it made him this happy, all her efforts earlier were well worth it.
“Tadaima…”
Matsumi leant back to look towards the doorway, then back at what she was doing. She heard Jin take off his shoes and step into their spacious home.
“You making dinner?”
Matsumi nodded and carried on. There was a pause before she heard Jin walk over towards her. She jumped slightly as she suddenly felt Jin’s arms wrap around her waist and his face nuzzling into her neck.
“You’re making sushi…”
“Jin, don’t come up behind me when I’m cutting.”
There was a pause and Jin clasped Matsumi tighter and kissed the bare flesh at the nape of her neck. “I’m sorry…about last night.”
Matsumi stopped cutting.
“It won’t happen again. I promise. Forgive me?”
Matsumi paused for a moment before sliced a piece of sushi off and held it in front of his mouth. “Get off me so that I can finish making dinner. You have an early start for your Kyoto meeting tomorrow!!”
Jin grinned and took the sushi in his mouth.
Kame leaned his head against the window and crossed his arms over his body as he stared out onto the passing scenery. The rocking of the train was comforting and he appreciated the silence of the quiet carriage. It gave him time to think and being away from Tokyo was strangely calming. With everything that's happened lately he hadn’t really been given time to just gather himself together, to sort his emotions, to calm down. Leaving Tokyo behind felt as if all the strings that had been pulling him in different directions lately just disappeared.
Kame closed his eyes and shifted slightly in his seat resting a leg onto his knee. Sometimes he felt quite pathetic actually; how one person can provoke so many emotions, so many memories. He felt stupid that he was being affected like this by mere thoughts.
Afterall they were just memories.
“Can you honestly stand your son growing up in this environment? Have pity on your own son!”
There was an unconcerned flick of a newspaper.
“You’re not even listening to me!”
“There is nothing wrong with him here in Tokyo. It’s not like I’m asking him to work. He goes to school he comes home.”
There was a pause.
“You know full well that he’s been attracting attention. I refuse to let my son walk the same path as his parents.”
“You don’t have a choice. I say no.”
“Kazuya is going to Kyoto. I will not let him grow up surrounded by dirty business, by hosts, by twisted bastards like - “
Silence.
“Surrounded by the work like this… I’m sending him to Kyoto… even… even if it means I have to… work again…”
Silence.
Outside a small lonely figure leant his head back against the dark walls of hallway. A silent tear slid slowly down the curvature of his face, nails dug deep into the centre of his palm, and he did not care that his teeth drew blood as they bit down on his lower lip to hold back the sobs.
Kyoto… He’d spent five happy years there. Well relatively speaking anyway. They were quite uneventful and passed with relative ease. Save for his good academic performance he managed to remain pretty inconspicuous to the rest of his classmates as he kept as much to himself as possible. Yet it suited him just fine. He glanced down at the beautifully carved sandalwood box that sat on the seat beside him. Moving a hand he affectionately brushed some dust that had fallen onto the surface. He never found out how his mother managed to keep him in Kyoto, whether his father eventually came round to agreeing with his mother, or whether her mother had to ‘work again’ to pay for his tuition.
Kame turned his head and leant on the windowpane again. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know, but either way he will never forget the debt he owed to his mother.
Jin flicked the pen back and forth over his finger as he turned over another page of the proposal. Scribbling a note to himself on the side he turned and opened up his laptop.
“Tickets please…”
Jin looked up at the train conductor making his way through the carriage and reached into his jacket pocket to dig out his ticket.
“Thank you sir.”
“Excuse me, but is there a restaurant car on this train and what time are we due in Kyoto?”
“We should arrive in Kyoto around 10 sir. There’s restaurant car; it’s two cars from this one sir, but if you want a drink, a trolley service should come through shortly.”
“Thanks.” Jin nodded and glanced out of the window onto a crisp morning and glanced at his watch before turning his attention back to his work.
Kame felt his stomach grumble and remembered that he didn’t actually have breakfast this morning. He wasn’t sure when this habit of skipping breakfast started again, but it wasn’t doing him too much good. He pulled himself out of his seat and picked up the sandalwood box and made his way towards the restaurant car.
Kame stood in front of his locker putting his morning books away before taking out the things he needed for the afternoon. He’d been avoiding Jin for a few days now, and the same the other way it seems. Kame pulled the collar of his shirt closer to his neck and shut his locker. Ever since that evening they seemed to stay out of each other’s way. He’d yet to return Jin’s coat to him, but he’d also needed to pluck up the courage to bring it back and give it to him. It wasn’t like he wasn’t use to avoiding people… and… it was probably for the best anyway. He turned around the corner and heard the noisy banter of a voice he somehow seemed to recognise instantly. Looking up he caught sight of Jin fooling with Koki and Nakamaru. Kame’s feet stopped and he instantly turned on his heel. He’d take the long way to the library.
Kame chewed the inside of his cheek as he made his way down the corridor of lockers which were beginning to fill with people as they fetched their lunches. He could feel eyes glancing at him; some still moved subtly out of his way. The ‘rumours’ about his background had died down now, but the atmosphere still lingered. He swerved his way through the crowds then up the backstairs towards the top floor of the school building. It was quieter up on the higher floors.
His feet turned the corner but he stopped short as he almost walked right into the figure leaning casually against the wall outside the library tossing a coin into the air and catching it again. Kame quietly clicked his tongue.
“Going to study through the lunch hour again?”
The coin tossed.
Kame said nothing and turned his head to stare at the library notices.
“You haven’t eaten yet have you?”
The coin tossed again.
“None of your business Jin. Unlike some I actually do my work.” He bit his tongue. He didn’t mean to say it like that, but Kame just wasn’t sure how to react to him right now.
Jin caught the coin in his hand again.
“You skipped breakfast too didn’t you?”
Kame turned his head and looked at the figure still leaning unperturbed under his gaze against the wall. Kame didn’t reply and moved passed him towards the library door.
The coin tossed again.
“Play a bet with you. If this next toss is a head, you’re coming to lunch with me. If it’s a tail I’ll leave you to carry on starving yourself.”
Kame turned his head angrily, “Just who gave you the permission-“
The coin tossed.
Jin caught it on the back of his hand.
Pause.
Jin held out his hands towards him and uncovered it.
“One salmon teriyaki please.”
“Yes sir, anything thing else?”
“Yeah…and a lemon tea.”
“Eat here?”
Kame paused. “No…it’s okay thanks.”
He dug into his pocket for his wallet and stood back to wait for the meal, glancing around the small restaurant car wondering if he’ll had time for lunch today. Well this meal should hold him out for a bit.
Jin closed his laptop and glanced at his watch. The trolley service doesn’t seem to have come through yet. He ran his thumb over his lips as he pondered what to do. He opened his briefcase and remembered he didn’t bring a bottle of water either. Jin scratched his head, and decided he might as well go to the restaurant car and pick up a bottle of water and maybe an onigiri for later. Picking up his laptop and tucking his briefcase below the seat he got up and made his way towards the restaurant car.
“Salmon Teriyaki sir!”
Kame murmured a thank you and picked up what probably was going to be his brunch. He pondered for a moment as to whether to sit in the restaurant seeing as he didn’t leave anything on his seat anyway.
“Actually is it okay if I sat here?”
“No problems sir, please do.”
As Kame made his way to a table, the sound of a mobile phone made him look up. It was coming from just beyond the doors that separated the restaurant car from the one behind.
“Oh you can’t use a mobile phone in here can you…?”
“No sir…”
“Okay in that case I won’t stay. Thanks.”
He remembered that he had to call Ueda to confirm about the arrangements about his mother’s ashes being moved to Kyoto that he’d helped him enquire. Kame nodded to the chef and moved back towards the car in front of the restaurant where he’d been seated before.
“Yes Matsumi I should be home tonight…” He paused and nodded. “Yeah… I’ll try and contact Kamenashi again… yeah...alright see you tonight.” Jin closed his mobile and lightly pressed the button to open the door of the restaurant car.
“Hi what would you like?”
Jin paused and looked at the menu. “Choices choices…” He stood for a minute before reaching into his pocket for a coin. Tossing it into the air he caught it on the back of his hand. Looking up at the chef Jin grinned. “Salmon Teriyaki please.”
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The chapter is a bit of an 'in-between' chapter so sorry about the lack of excitement.
I do apologise (again) for the late update! Graduations are very happy, but hectic occasions! ^.^;; I've decided to write a few lines every few days about what I'm doing just so you guys know I haven't forgotten about the fics - if I don't update in a while, I'm just very busy! But feel free to poke me if you get impatient for updates, especially cos now I have two fics going! XD;;
Thanks for reading!!