013. (fic) SoulxSoul; Prologue & Ch.1
title: SoulxSoul; Prologue + Ch. 1 (part 1)
rating/genre: PG (?); au, drama, romance
pairing(s): ohmiya; just a touch of matsumiya
words: 3,031
summary: Nino doesn't think he's crazy, but he doesn't tell anyone about Satoshi anymore. Because how could you tell anyone that you have another person living in your body?
disclaimer: FICTION.
notes: ...so, this one's a little weird. i really wanted to finish all of chapter one before posting, but i don't know when i'll have the time, and i wanted to get this out there to test the waters, see if it catches anyone's interest. yoroshiku m(_)m
Prologue
“Kazunari-kun,” the doctor says in soft, measured tones. She always talks like that-soothing, like she’s coaxing a frightened animal out of hiding-and Kazu has always hated it.
“Have you talked to ‘Satoshi’ at all today?” she continues.
Don’t say his name like that, Kazu thinks, but all he says is, “No, ma’am.”
Liar, liar, says an amused voice in his head that is not his own. The doctor is smiling at him gently, and Kazu smiles back for very different reasons.
“That is very good to hear,” she says, riffling through some papers on her small, tidy desk. “That makes it almost…three months. The next step, Kazunari-kun,” and she fixes him with a grave, solicitous stare, “is to admit to yourself that ‘Satoshi’ is just another part of you.”
Of course he is, Kazu thinks, fighting to keep his smile from becoming a smirk.
Of course I am, Satoshi echoes defensively.
“Are you ready for that?” the doctor asks.
“Yes, ma’am, I think I am.”
The woman smiles, so proud of herself. “That’s wonderful. Well, I think that’s all for today. I’ll see you again next week.”
Kazu rises and leaves the room with a bow. As he walks the white, sterile halls of the small psychiatric office, he makes himself quiet and unnoticeable with practiced ease. Not a single person even glances at him as he exits through the waiting area. The receptionist looks up in surprise when she hears the door open and close, but Kazu is already gone.
Once he is outside, he slips on his headphones and turns up his music. It’s just another way of disappearing. No one notices a skinny teenager with an overloud WalkMan and a baggy sweatshirt. He becomes another part of the scenery, blending into the small, worn-down shops and fading paint of this small outshoot of Tokyo. It’s not his neighborhood-he goes to the doctor across town so no one he knows will see him going in and out of a psychiatrist’s office.
We won’t have to go back after next week, Satoshi says, part confidence and part reassurance. Kazu feels the warmth of an unseen arm across his shoulders.
We will, he counters, ever the realist to Satoshi’s optimism, but we’ve got her convinced now. You saw her face, she thinks she ‘cured’ me.
Kazu feels Satoshi’s assent and walks on in silence. He knows they’re both thinking about what happens next-about spending the rest of their lives pretending to be just Kazu, about never speaking to each other out loud again. It doesn’t feel right, but Kazu knows it’s what they have to do if they want to fit in, and stay out of the doctor’s stuffy little office.
He brushes gently against Satoshi’s presence in his mind-sometimes he can tell what the other boy is thinking, but right now Satoshi has closed himself up. He is there, constant, but muted.
“Mom will be happy, though,” Kazu says, then curses softly when he realizes he was talking aloud. The salaryman he just passed gives him a startled glance and then hurries away.
Yeah, Satoshi agrees, and that single word is weighted with images of his mother’s face streaked with tears, the torn remains of a scribbled note from his father who couldn’t deal with his failing company and his crazy son and just left. It’s only been two weeks, but she’s putting on a brave face for him, so afraid that this kind of trauma will only worsen his condition.
You’re not a ‘condition’, Kazu says reassuringly when he feels more than hears Satoshi’s small, guilty Sorry.
“And don’t be sorry,” he whispers aloud because there’s no one around and because the words seem stronger if they’re not just in his head.
“Love me?” and this time it is Satoshi’s voice from Kazu’s lips-just a tad deeper, and the tone is the pleading, unromantic question of a lonely child.
“Love you,” Kazu tells him quietly. He raises his right hand and kisses the palm softly. It is a gesture left over from their childhood, safe and comforting. But they are not children anymore.
Okay, Kazu says, you’re my secret now, starting today.
Okay, Satoshi returns.
Kazu walks on, ignoring the chilly autumn breeze that chases him to the train station. From the outside, he looks like a single person, small and hunched and barely there.
But on the inside he knows he will never be alone.
Chapter One
Nino was about six years old the first time he really started to understand that Satoshi wasn’t just someone he had made up.
Looking back when he is older and wiser, he thinks he probably knew all along, but at the time it had been a major realization. He had still been young enough that he didn’t understand the full implications of this, didn’t understand that Satoshi couldn’t talk to other people the same way as Nino talked to him. This had been the first time he had heard “multiple personalities”, whispered from the next room. There had been years of teasing by his classmates, concerned talks with his parents, and the hated trips to the doctor’s office.
For a time, he had believed what everyone was telling him-that he was crazy, that Satoshi wasn’t real. It had been the most painful time in his life, those tortured years when he had done what the doctors said and tried to make Satoshi go away. And for a time, Satoshi had retreated, and left Nino alone in his own head.
When he finally came to realize that having Satoshi gone was worse, much worse, than having him there, they had made their decision together.
The trips to the doctor had eventually stopped with a little clever acting on Nino’s part, and while it was hard to keep their conversations to themselves, they got better at it with practice. After that, Nino didn’t tell anyone about Satoshi. Because how could you tell anyone that you had another person living in your body?
You’re not crazy, Satoshi had told him, over and over. Eventually Nino came to believe it.
Because it’s not the same as multiple personalities. He read about it, educated himself, and he knows there are major differences. No memory loss, for one. He doesn’t black out, Satoshi doesn’t take over his body. Satoshi is just always there. If Nino lets him, Satoshi can take control-he’s done it a few times when he was up all night gaming and couldn’t stay awake, or when he needed to turn in something halfway decent for art class (something Satoshi was always better at)-but mostly the other boy is content to be an observer, his comments and observations a running monologue in Nino’s head.
For his family, it becomes something he “had trouble with” as a child. It is over, and they never talk about it. After the last doctor’s visit, his mother had moved them all to another school district, so none of his highschool friends know anything about it. And it’s easier that way. Life becomes normal, or as close to normal as possible, and eventually Nino grows up and leaves his home town.
He moves into the heart of the city, where everything is fast and loud and there are too many people, and where no one notices or really cares if you happen to talk to yourself every now and then. He had started out, on his mother’s insistence, as a student at a small art college in the city, but he soon grew bored of it. The music classes were a joke, and even Satoshi said the art classes had too many rules. They decided to drop out, and Nino works a number of odd part-time jobs so he can afford a place to live and enough video games to occupy the rest of his time, and art supplies to occupy Satoshi.
Nino doesn’t tell his mother that he’s dropped out of school, but it’s easy to keep up the charade, especially with Jun around.
Nino met Jun in one of his music classes, some history course that Jun was just taking for the credit requirements, and after they had forged a friendship through long exchanges full of snarky commentary, Jun had grudgingly admitted that he was looking for a roommate.
Jun came from money, but his parents had decided it was time he experienced financial independence and would only pay for his schooling if he paid for his own apartment. As it turns out, this is harder than Jun expected, but Nino is more than happy to fork over half the rent for a whole room to himself and a washing machine he doesn’t have to walk three blocks to get to. And, after he dropped out, Jun was a constant source of school gossip and complaints about homework that Nino could use to keep his mother convinced that he was still a good little college student.
He’s cute, Satoshi had said, only three days after they had moved in. Nino agreed, though he was inexplicably annoyed that Satoshi felt the need to point it out. He likes you, Satoshi insisted, but Nino didn’t respond, letting things play out as they would.
He’s not that surprised when Jun’s bubble of personal space starts to shrink noticeably when they’re alone in the apartment. The younger man starts to feign an interest in Nino’s video games for an excuse to sit next to him in front of the sofa. One night they come home from a party, both a little tipsy, and wind up making out in the kitchen.
It’s not something they really talk about, it’s just something they do when the mood strikes them, something comforting when they are in need of comfort. Satoshi is just glad they have found someone they can be this close to. Maybe we should tell him, Satoshi says, and they come close so many times. But Nino still remembers the look that people would give him, people he thought he was close to, when he told them about Satoshi. He doesn’t want to see that scared, pitying expression on Jun’s face.
After almost a year away from home, Nino is starting to feel safe. The little life he has carved out for himself is simple, but it’s comfortable, and it’s all he really needs. He knows that eventually Jun will graduate and move away, knows that his part-time jobs probably won’t want to keep him on once he passes thirty, but he’ll cross those bridges when he comes to them.
Really, Nino should have known that it couldn’t last. Good things never do.
***
Nino is just leaving his weekend job at the game center. He turns and offers a wave and a wicked grin to Ryo, left all alone to deal with the two dozen teenage girls who just descended on the arcade. The younger man gives him the finger in return, but Nino just laughs.
Once outside, he pulls his scarf up over his nose and huddles into his too-big winter coat.
It’s not that cold, with a quiet laugh.
It’s freezing, Nino retorts, pulling out his cellphone. There’s an email from Jun, and he reads it aloud under his breath.
“Got invited to a group date-it was a senpai so I couldn’t say ‘no’. Be out late. Wait up for me?”
Nino can sense Satoshi’s little grin, but his own mouth twists into a scowl. “Great, he’ll be drunk and horny when he gets home.”
Satoshi just chuckles to himself.
It is a Saturday night, and the streets are crowded with people as Nino makes his way to the nearest subway station. He has been at the game center for the last eight hours, and all he wants to do is spend the rest of the night in front of his PlayStation. The press of humanity doesn’t make it easy, though. Groups of businessmen in suits that were once neat and sharply pressed stumble through the throng, shouting and throwing themselves at highschool girls with bleached hair and too much make-up. Nino dodges the fleeing girls, and as he is half-turned, Satoshi spots something out of the corner of his eye.
Are those guys following us?
The words are accompanied by the image of two huddled figures in trench coats, and a memory of a similar pair standing across the street when Nino left the arcade.
Why would anyone be following us? Nino asks doubtfully, but Satoshi’s niggling paranoia is already sneaking into Nino’s own consciousness. He cuts across the street, suddenly, weaving between people on the crowded crosswalk, only looking back over his shoulder once he has reached the far side of the intersection.
And the men are still there, jogging across the street determinedly as the light gets ready to change. A dozen scenarios involving kidnapping, rape, murder, flicker through Nino’s mind. He quashes them immediately. There is no reason for anyone to want to kidnap, rape, or murder him. So he doesn’t run. He waits until he’s come to a crowded, well-lit street corner, finds an empty bench and sits down to wait.
His pursuers pause about a half a block away, uncertain. He sees them put their heads together, apparently deciding what to do-Nino has made it obvious that he’s seen them, and stares in their direction unblinkingly while they decide their next course of action.
The taller man with lighter hair gestures emphatically in Nino’s direction, but his companion makes a sharp, negating motion with one hand. All Nino can see of the second man is the back of a dark head of hair and a pair of sloping shoulders. After some more discussion, they lean back against the building they’re stopped in front of with feigned casualness. Nino rolls his eyes.
A moment later he’s standing in front of them with his arms crossed.
“Can I help you?” he says bluntly.
The pair exchange an uncomfortable glance, apparently undecided about whether or not to acknowledge Nino’s presence. The taller man nods slightly, and they both straighten up.
“Ninomiya Kazunari?” the dark haired man asks, brisk and businesslike.
“Who wants to know?” Nino replies, feeling like someone out of a bad gangster movie.
“My name is Sakurai Sho, and this is my partner, Aiba Masaki. We’ve been watching you for some time, and we’d like to have a word with you.” Sakurai pauses briefly to lick his lips. “And Satoshi.”
Nino’s breath catches in his throat, and every muscle in his body tenses to run. Satoshi is panicking as well, but his thoughts are all jumbled images and broken sentences: doctors sent them-found us-run, now-don’t make me go-Kazu, no, run-
Nino clenches his jaw, wraps Satoshi in all the warmth and reassurance he can muster, and stands his ground.
“How do you know about that?” he aks quietly.
A flicker of something like sympathy crosses Sakurai’s face, and he continues in gentler tones.
“We’re with a group called the ‘ASD’-well, there’s a lot to explain…perhaps we could all go somewhere more private?”
Nino eyes him suspiciously, but suddenly the taller man-Aiba-bounces forward.
“There was a yakiniku place back that way,” he says enthusiastically, ruining the serious mood Sakurai had been maintaining. “Aren’t you hungry? I know I am!”
Nino and Sakurai both stare at him, and he wilts visibly.
“Well, you know, I just thought it would be a nice friendly atmosphere…”
Sakurai sighs through his nose, and Nino is about to give a snarky reply when his stomach growls audibly.
“So maybe I’m hungry!” he says after an awkward pause. “Whatever, let’s just go and get this over with.”
Sakurai nods, and motions for Aiba to lead the way. As the pair begins to move away, Nino makes to follow them, but suddenly finds his feet rooted to the ground.
Kazu, please, let’s just go home, we don’t know them, please, please…
It is very rare for Satoshi to assert control over Nino’s body, and even more unusual for him to do so without Nino’s permission. Nino does what he can to comfort the other man.
Shh, it’s okay. They seem harmless, alright? If we don’t go with them, they’ll probably just keep following us. We’ll just see what they have to say, tell them ‘no’, and move on with our lives, okay?
I won’t let them take you anywhere, Satoshi says, and Nino finds his arms coming up to cross protectively over his chest, and his fingers dig almost painfully into his biceps.
He doesn’t realizes he’s squeezed his eyes shut until he hears Aiba’s voice speaking directly in front of him, and his eyes fly open again.
“Satoshi-kun?” Aiba says cautiously.
Nino feels himself pushed back, his consciousness forced into a subordinate position as Satoshi stares defiantly out through his eyes.
“Who are you?” Satoshi demands. Aiba’s eyes widen a little in surprise, but he doesn’t back away. Slowly, carefully, he puts his hands on Nino’s shoulders.
“We’re not doctors,” he says softly, “and we’re not going to try and hurt you. Either of you. I promise. We want to help you. But you have to trust us. Okay?”
And then, for just a moment, Satoshi experiences the strangest sense of déjà vu. Nino feels it pass through him, and suddenly finds something in Aiba’s brown eyes that is comforting and familiar.
For several long moments, they just stand there, frozen in this odd little tableau while the crowds part around them. Sakurai looks like he wants to say something, but is afraid to interrupt. Gradually, little by little, with each breath, Satoshi retreats.
“Okay,” Nino says at last, in his own voice.
Aiba grins and gives an encouraging nod. “Let’s go!”
This time, when Sakurai and Aiba start to walk away, Nino is able to follow. He is silent as they make their way back up the street, gently reaching towards Satoshi’s huddled consciousness.
Are you scared?
Yes.
Why?
Satoshi doesn’t reply immediately, but Nino feels the other man’s presence wrap around him possessively.
Because everything is going to change.
chapter 2
Author's Note [REDUX]: chapter completed! thanks to everyone for all the lovely comments! m(_)m from now on i'm going to try and be less lazy and actually reply to individual comments, because i really do appreciate all y'all taking the time to read my bizarre little story (^^;;)
so anyway. hope you're enjoying the ride so far! i have no idea where this is going, so...yeah. hopefully i can pull it all together into something interesting. yoroshiku! m(_)m
rating/genre: PG (?); au, drama, romance
pairing(s): ohmiya; just a touch of matsumiya
words: 3,031
summary: Nino doesn't think he's crazy, but he doesn't tell anyone about Satoshi anymore. Because how could you tell anyone that you have another person living in your body?
disclaimer: FICTION.
notes: ...so, this one's a little weird. i really wanted to finish all of chapter one before posting, but i don't know when i'll have the time, and i wanted to get this out there to test the waters, see if it catches anyone's interest. yoroshiku m(_)m
Prologue
“Kazunari-kun,” the doctor says in soft, measured tones. She always talks like that-soothing, like she’s coaxing a frightened animal out of hiding-and Kazu has always hated it.
“Have you talked to ‘Satoshi’ at all today?” she continues.
Don’t say his name like that, Kazu thinks, but all he says is, “No, ma’am.”
Liar, liar, says an amused voice in his head that is not his own. The doctor is smiling at him gently, and Kazu smiles back for very different reasons.
“That is very good to hear,” she says, riffling through some papers on her small, tidy desk. “That makes it almost…three months. The next step, Kazunari-kun,” and she fixes him with a grave, solicitous stare, “is to admit to yourself that ‘Satoshi’ is just another part of you.”
Of course he is, Kazu thinks, fighting to keep his smile from becoming a smirk.
Of course I am, Satoshi echoes defensively.
“Are you ready for that?” the doctor asks.
“Yes, ma’am, I think I am.”
The woman smiles, so proud of herself. “That’s wonderful. Well, I think that’s all for today. I’ll see you again next week.”
Kazu rises and leaves the room with a bow. As he walks the white, sterile halls of the small psychiatric office, he makes himself quiet and unnoticeable with practiced ease. Not a single person even glances at him as he exits through the waiting area. The receptionist looks up in surprise when she hears the door open and close, but Kazu is already gone.
Once he is outside, he slips on his headphones and turns up his music. It’s just another way of disappearing. No one notices a skinny teenager with an overloud WalkMan and a baggy sweatshirt. He becomes another part of the scenery, blending into the small, worn-down shops and fading paint of this small outshoot of Tokyo. It’s not his neighborhood-he goes to the doctor across town so no one he knows will see him going in and out of a psychiatrist’s office.
We won’t have to go back after next week, Satoshi says, part confidence and part reassurance. Kazu feels the warmth of an unseen arm across his shoulders.
We will, he counters, ever the realist to Satoshi’s optimism, but we’ve got her convinced now. You saw her face, she thinks she ‘cured’ me.
Kazu feels Satoshi’s assent and walks on in silence. He knows they’re both thinking about what happens next-about spending the rest of their lives pretending to be just Kazu, about never speaking to each other out loud again. It doesn’t feel right, but Kazu knows it’s what they have to do if they want to fit in, and stay out of the doctor’s stuffy little office.
He brushes gently against Satoshi’s presence in his mind-sometimes he can tell what the other boy is thinking, but right now Satoshi has closed himself up. He is there, constant, but muted.
“Mom will be happy, though,” Kazu says, then curses softly when he realizes he was talking aloud. The salaryman he just passed gives him a startled glance and then hurries away.
Yeah, Satoshi agrees, and that single word is weighted with images of his mother’s face streaked with tears, the torn remains of a scribbled note from his father who couldn’t deal with his failing company and his crazy son and just left. It’s only been two weeks, but she’s putting on a brave face for him, so afraid that this kind of trauma will only worsen his condition.
You’re not a ‘condition’, Kazu says reassuringly when he feels more than hears Satoshi’s small, guilty Sorry.
“And don’t be sorry,” he whispers aloud because there’s no one around and because the words seem stronger if they’re not just in his head.
“Love me?” and this time it is Satoshi’s voice from Kazu’s lips-just a tad deeper, and the tone is the pleading, unromantic question of a lonely child.
“Love you,” Kazu tells him quietly. He raises his right hand and kisses the palm softly. It is a gesture left over from their childhood, safe and comforting. But they are not children anymore.
Okay, Kazu says, you’re my secret now, starting today.
Okay, Satoshi returns.
Kazu walks on, ignoring the chilly autumn breeze that chases him to the train station. From the outside, he looks like a single person, small and hunched and barely there.
But on the inside he knows he will never be alone.
Chapter One
Nino was about six years old the first time he really started to understand that Satoshi wasn’t just someone he had made up.
Looking back when he is older and wiser, he thinks he probably knew all along, but at the time it had been a major realization. He had still been young enough that he didn’t understand the full implications of this, didn’t understand that Satoshi couldn’t talk to other people the same way as Nino talked to him. This had been the first time he had heard “multiple personalities”, whispered from the next room. There had been years of teasing by his classmates, concerned talks with his parents, and the hated trips to the doctor’s office.
For a time, he had believed what everyone was telling him-that he was crazy, that Satoshi wasn’t real. It had been the most painful time in his life, those tortured years when he had done what the doctors said and tried to make Satoshi go away. And for a time, Satoshi had retreated, and left Nino alone in his own head.
When he finally came to realize that having Satoshi gone was worse, much worse, than having him there, they had made their decision together.
The trips to the doctor had eventually stopped with a little clever acting on Nino’s part, and while it was hard to keep their conversations to themselves, they got better at it with practice. After that, Nino didn’t tell anyone about Satoshi. Because how could you tell anyone that you had another person living in your body?
You’re not crazy, Satoshi had told him, over and over. Eventually Nino came to believe it.
Because it’s not the same as multiple personalities. He read about it, educated himself, and he knows there are major differences. No memory loss, for one. He doesn’t black out, Satoshi doesn’t take over his body. Satoshi is just always there. If Nino lets him, Satoshi can take control-he’s done it a few times when he was up all night gaming and couldn’t stay awake, or when he needed to turn in something halfway decent for art class (something Satoshi was always better at)-but mostly the other boy is content to be an observer, his comments and observations a running monologue in Nino’s head.
For his family, it becomes something he “had trouble with” as a child. It is over, and they never talk about it. After the last doctor’s visit, his mother had moved them all to another school district, so none of his highschool friends know anything about it. And it’s easier that way. Life becomes normal, or as close to normal as possible, and eventually Nino grows up and leaves his home town.
He moves into the heart of the city, where everything is fast and loud and there are too many people, and where no one notices or really cares if you happen to talk to yourself every now and then. He had started out, on his mother’s insistence, as a student at a small art college in the city, but he soon grew bored of it. The music classes were a joke, and even Satoshi said the art classes had too many rules. They decided to drop out, and Nino works a number of odd part-time jobs so he can afford a place to live and enough video games to occupy the rest of his time, and art supplies to occupy Satoshi.
Nino doesn’t tell his mother that he’s dropped out of school, but it’s easy to keep up the charade, especially with Jun around.
Nino met Jun in one of his music classes, some history course that Jun was just taking for the credit requirements, and after they had forged a friendship through long exchanges full of snarky commentary, Jun had grudgingly admitted that he was looking for a roommate.
Jun came from money, but his parents had decided it was time he experienced financial independence and would only pay for his schooling if he paid for his own apartment. As it turns out, this is harder than Jun expected, but Nino is more than happy to fork over half the rent for a whole room to himself and a washing machine he doesn’t have to walk three blocks to get to. And, after he dropped out, Jun was a constant source of school gossip and complaints about homework that Nino could use to keep his mother convinced that he was still a good little college student.
He’s cute, Satoshi had said, only three days after they had moved in. Nino agreed, though he was inexplicably annoyed that Satoshi felt the need to point it out. He likes you, Satoshi insisted, but Nino didn’t respond, letting things play out as they would.
He’s not that surprised when Jun’s bubble of personal space starts to shrink noticeably when they’re alone in the apartment. The younger man starts to feign an interest in Nino’s video games for an excuse to sit next to him in front of the sofa. One night they come home from a party, both a little tipsy, and wind up making out in the kitchen.
It’s not something they really talk about, it’s just something they do when the mood strikes them, something comforting when they are in need of comfort. Satoshi is just glad they have found someone they can be this close to. Maybe we should tell him, Satoshi says, and they come close so many times. But Nino still remembers the look that people would give him, people he thought he was close to, when he told them about Satoshi. He doesn’t want to see that scared, pitying expression on Jun’s face.
After almost a year away from home, Nino is starting to feel safe. The little life he has carved out for himself is simple, but it’s comfortable, and it’s all he really needs. He knows that eventually Jun will graduate and move away, knows that his part-time jobs probably won’t want to keep him on once he passes thirty, but he’ll cross those bridges when he comes to them.
Really, Nino should have known that it couldn’t last. Good things never do.
***
Nino is just leaving his weekend job at the game center. He turns and offers a wave and a wicked grin to Ryo, left all alone to deal with the two dozen teenage girls who just descended on the arcade. The younger man gives him the finger in return, but Nino just laughs.
Once outside, he pulls his scarf up over his nose and huddles into his too-big winter coat.
It’s not that cold, with a quiet laugh.
It’s freezing, Nino retorts, pulling out his cellphone. There’s an email from Jun, and he reads it aloud under his breath.
“Got invited to a group date-it was a senpai so I couldn’t say ‘no’. Be out late. Wait up for me?”
Nino can sense Satoshi’s little grin, but his own mouth twists into a scowl. “Great, he’ll be drunk and horny when he gets home.”
Satoshi just chuckles to himself.
It is a Saturday night, and the streets are crowded with people as Nino makes his way to the nearest subway station. He has been at the game center for the last eight hours, and all he wants to do is spend the rest of the night in front of his PlayStation. The press of humanity doesn’t make it easy, though. Groups of businessmen in suits that were once neat and sharply pressed stumble through the throng, shouting and throwing themselves at highschool girls with bleached hair and too much make-up. Nino dodges the fleeing girls, and as he is half-turned, Satoshi spots something out of the corner of his eye.
Are those guys following us?
The words are accompanied by the image of two huddled figures in trench coats, and a memory of a similar pair standing across the street when Nino left the arcade.
Why would anyone be following us? Nino asks doubtfully, but Satoshi’s niggling paranoia is already sneaking into Nino’s own consciousness. He cuts across the street, suddenly, weaving between people on the crowded crosswalk, only looking back over his shoulder once he has reached the far side of the intersection.
And the men are still there, jogging across the street determinedly as the light gets ready to change. A dozen scenarios involving kidnapping, rape, murder, flicker through Nino’s mind. He quashes them immediately. There is no reason for anyone to want to kidnap, rape, or murder him. So he doesn’t run. He waits until he’s come to a crowded, well-lit street corner, finds an empty bench and sits down to wait.
His pursuers pause about a half a block away, uncertain. He sees them put their heads together, apparently deciding what to do-Nino has made it obvious that he’s seen them, and stares in their direction unblinkingly while they decide their next course of action.
The taller man with lighter hair gestures emphatically in Nino’s direction, but his companion makes a sharp, negating motion with one hand. All Nino can see of the second man is the back of a dark head of hair and a pair of sloping shoulders. After some more discussion, they lean back against the building they’re stopped in front of with feigned casualness. Nino rolls his eyes.
A moment later he’s standing in front of them with his arms crossed.
“Can I help you?” he says bluntly.
The pair exchange an uncomfortable glance, apparently undecided about whether or not to acknowledge Nino’s presence. The taller man nods slightly, and they both straighten up.
“Ninomiya Kazunari?” the dark haired man asks, brisk and businesslike.
“Who wants to know?” Nino replies, feeling like someone out of a bad gangster movie.
“My name is Sakurai Sho, and this is my partner, Aiba Masaki. We’ve been watching you for some time, and we’d like to have a word with you.” Sakurai pauses briefly to lick his lips. “And Satoshi.”
Nino’s breath catches in his throat, and every muscle in his body tenses to run. Satoshi is panicking as well, but his thoughts are all jumbled images and broken sentences: doctors sent them-found us-run, now-don’t make me go-Kazu, no, run-
Nino clenches his jaw, wraps Satoshi in all the warmth and reassurance he can muster, and stands his ground.
“How do you know about that?” he aks quietly.
A flicker of something like sympathy crosses Sakurai’s face, and he continues in gentler tones.
“We’re with a group called the ‘ASD’-well, there’s a lot to explain…perhaps we could all go somewhere more private?”
Nino eyes him suspiciously, but suddenly the taller man-Aiba-bounces forward.
“There was a yakiniku place back that way,” he says enthusiastically, ruining the serious mood Sakurai had been maintaining. “Aren’t you hungry? I know I am!”
Nino and Sakurai both stare at him, and he wilts visibly.
“Well, you know, I just thought it would be a nice friendly atmosphere…”
Sakurai sighs through his nose, and Nino is about to give a snarky reply when his stomach growls audibly.
“So maybe I’m hungry!” he says after an awkward pause. “Whatever, let’s just go and get this over with.”
Sakurai nods, and motions for Aiba to lead the way. As the pair begins to move away, Nino makes to follow them, but suddenly finds his feet rooted to the ground.
Kazu, please, let’s just go home, we don’t know them, please, please…
It is very rare for Satoshi to assert control over Nino’s body, and even more unusual for him to do so without Nino’s permission. Nino does what he can to comfort the other man.
Shh, it’s okay. They seem harmless, alright? If we don’t go with them, they’ll probably just keep following us. We’ll just see what they have to say, tell them ‘no’, and move on with our lives, okay?
I won’t let them take you anywhere, Satoshi says, and Nino finds his arms coming up to cross protectively over his chest, and his fingers dig almost painfully into his biceps.
He doesn’t realizes he’s squeezed his eyes shut until he hears Aiba’s voice speaking directly in front of him, and his eyes fly open again.
“Satoshi-kun?” Aiba says cautiously.
Nino feels himself pushed back, his consciousness forced into a subordinate position as Satoshi stares defiantly out through his eyes.
“Who are you?” Satoshi demands. Aiba’s eyes widen a little in surprise, but he doesn’t back away. Slowly, carefully, he puts his hands on Nino’s shoulders.
“We’re not doctors,” he says softly, “and we’re not going to try and hurt you. Either of you. I promise. We want to help you. But you have to trust us. Okay?”
And then, for just a moment, Satoshi experiences the strangest sense of déjà vu. Nino feels it pass through him, and suddenly finds something in Aiba’s brown eyes that is comforting and familiar.
For several long moments, they just stand there, frozen in this odd little tableau while the crowds part around them. Sakurai looks like he wants to say something, but is afraid to interrupt. Gradually, little by little, with each breath, Satoshi retreats.
“Okay,” Nino says at last, in his own voice.
Aiba grins and gives an encouraging nod. “Let’s go!”
This time, when Sakurai and Aiba start to walk away, Nino is able to follow. He is silent as they make their way back up the street, gently reaching towards Satoshi’s huddled consciousness.
Are you scared?
Yes.
Why?
Satoshi doesn’t reply immediately, but Nino feels the other man’s presence wrap around him possessively.
Because everything is going to change.
chapter 2
Author's Note [REDUX]: chapter completed! thanks to everyone for all the lovely comments! m(_)m from now on i'm going to try and be less lazy and actually reply to individual comments, because i really do appreciate all y'all taking the time to read my bizarre little story (^^;;)
so anyway. hope you're enjoying the ride so far! i have no idea where this is going, so...yeah. hopefully i can pull it all together into something interesting. yoroshiku! m(_)m