[Multi-chapter] Oretachi no chikara (15/??)
Title: Oretachi no chikara (Our power)
Authors: tsuchi8562
Beta & Plot Bunny: yuuki_saya ArigaPYON~!
Pairing: Aiba, Jun, Ohno
Genre: Fantasy, AU, Romance
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: We own only a plot!
*MASTERPOST*
Masaki wasn’t that heavy, although carrying him on the back and watching on the road was quite difficult. Aiba was still unconscious, what made the journey even more difficult. Jun still couldn’t believe in the events that happened not so long ago in front of his eyes. Whether Ninomiya trusted him and lied to the President or he was stating the vicious fact, the most important thing was that the leader of the poor district was safe. Of course pain in his heart will be a lot stronger than the bruises on his body, but at least he was alive. Now all Matsumoto could do was to think of some believable story about Sakurai. This was obviously cruel way, but the only he could choose right now. Jun reached Ohno’s house when the sun was up, but fortunately nobody noticed him. Satoshi opened the door in a rush and told his friend to lay the beaten man on the bed.
“He will be OK, right?” Mori asked breathing heavily.
“I don’t know yet. Pass me the ointment that stands on the parapet. The one in green box.” When the healer received the medicine he delicately washed off blood with warm water and started to slowly rub it in the streaks on Masaki’s back. The wounded man didn’t move even an inch, what made Satoshi’s work easier.
“He’s not moving… Is he really OK?” Matsumoto came closer and touched gently Aiba’s cheek.
“He’s sleeping. Some people react that on huge shock. Now, can you give me the gauze? I have to cover his back, to avoid infection. OK, done. Now, Mori… Tell me what exactly had happened.”
Jun started his story, but he didn’t say a word about his past; he just thought that this is not important now. Ohno listened carefully, asking few questions from time to time. When Matsumoto finished, the doctor asked about the most crucial thing.
“Do you think that Sakurai betrayed him?”
“I don’t know. To be honest I didn’t look at him while this… tortures… I was just focused on Aiba-san. It is possible; Sho was still next to his father. But on the other hand the way he was looking at Masaki and treating him while being here seemed true… I don’t know Ohno-sensei, I am confused.”
“I think that the best way to keep Masaki away from the rich district is telling him that he was captured because of Sakurai. It will be really hard to watch at him, but we don’t have any choice. In fact we are not sure that it will be a lie, right? You said that he won’t be bother by guards as long as he won’t go there, so we have to convince him that he has to stay here.”
“You know that it won’t be simple…” Jun sighed and looked at calm, unaware friend lying on the bed. Deep inside, he was sure that the president’s son is not involved in Aiba’s capture; like probably Ninomiya didn’t had anything to do with Matsumoto’s beating. It wasn’t their fault; it was the system that was guilty of this pain. If only the huge gulf disappeared… Everyone would be a lot happier…
Wanting to be fully honest with his friends, he decided to tell about the things he remembered to Ohno.
***
“Aiba-sama is sleeping?” Ami-chan looked with her head twisted a bit at the bed and tried to get inside the room.
“Yes, he is sleeping. Now, be a good girl and don’t disturb him.”
“But he promised me that he will show me Princess Kaguya again!”
“He will, but not now. He is tired and he needs a rest. Go to your parents.” Ohno was adamant; he even pushed the child to help her leave his house. As soon as the door was closed the healer heard his friend’s weak voice:
“You should let her stay…”
“And show her your wounds? You know that if this information spreads, the war will be unavoidable. People are not stupid.” Satoshi slowly checked Masaki’s back. His patient hissed when the material was removed from the cuts. “I need to smear it with the ointment again. It can burn a bit…”
“How long I was laying here?” Aiba asked between the waves of slight pain.
“Two days. Good news, it’s healing very well. You still have to lay on your stomach for a while though; but in few days everything should be OK.”
“Do you know how’s Sho is doing?” Masaki was afraid of asking that question, but the worry about his beloved man was stronger than the fear.
“I don’t care about him, and you should do the same thing. He betrayed you.”
“No, he didn’t! I am sure that he is not the one that is standing behind all of this!”
“Masaki, think for a while! Who else knew about your visit? You had been caught, tortured and Mori brought you barely alive, and you are that blind to still believe that man?!”
“Satoshi-kun, you don’t understand… I saw his eyes while the guards were…beating me… He was scared, truly scared! He…”
“Masaki!” The healer interrupted and sighed. He was aware that his taller friend is stubborn and he thinks about others more than about himself. “I will brew some herbs; they will help you fall asleep.”
“I don’t want to sleep; I want to see Sho…” Aiba whispered, but the doctor heard him.
“Out of question. You won’t see that man ever again; also you won’t go to the rich district. You were caught once; they probably doubled the guards and blocked every entrance. If you want to help your people, you won’t expose yourself on the danger anymore. Here, drink slowly. And be careful, it’s hot.”
Masaki took small bowl and looked at the steam, lost in thoughts. He knew that Ohno was right; meetings with Sho are impossible. This whole relationship was sentenced on failure from the very beginning, but he had a hope. Hope that everything will be OK; that everybody will understand. Obviously he was wrong. The wounded man tried to focus and remember every detail from the moment he was captured, but everything was blurry; it happened too fast. From all that thoughts he felt a bit dizzy and almost spill the hot liquid on his legs, so he decided to stop thinking, drink the medicine and sleep as long as he can.
When Aiba woke up he saw a tall man sitting next to his bed.
“Did I wake you up? I’m sorry, I didn’t want that…”
“It’s fine, Mori-san…”
“How are you feeling?”
“Quite good. Physically…”
“I understand that, you don’t even know how much…” Jun smiled bitterly and told his story again, finishing it on the deal between him and Ninomiya.
“He helped you in taking me home? Why?”
“I don’t know, probably because he also remembered the past? He loved me, that’s for sure. I want to believe that he did it for me, but mostly possible is that he did it for Sakurai…” Matsumoto became silent. He told too much right now, so he wanted to change the subject, but Masaki didn’t catch on that cheap trick.
“You think that Sho didn’t betray me, right? That Ninomiya helped me because he knows that Sho loves me and my death would devastate him…”
“Don’t put in my words this meaning… You should rest… I’ll go now.”
“No, stay… I don’t want to be alone; Satoshi is telling me to rest, but I am not tired at all… Can you stay for a while? I promise, I won’t cry…”
Jun smiled and nodded, getting back to his chair. Both of them were sitting in the silence; when sudden thunder sounded and the horizon was lighten by mane colorful sparks. It seemed that the rich district was having fun with fireworks.
“They’re celebrating something?” Masaki asked getting charmed by the lights.
“Maybe they have a reason?”
“Funny… We can’t afford on this attractions here. All we can do are those silly plays in the old theatre, and still only during the day. Do you know that I hate the smell of burning candles? I really hate it. Is it really that hard to share the electricity with all of us? Is having a bulb that luxury? Or refrigerator, stove… Are we worse?”
“Aiba-san, you know that we can’t find the answer. Of course we are not worse than them, we have feelings. If you threw rock at us, we bleed the same. The problem is the money. But I don’t think that this is the right time for that kind of conversation…”
“Can we do something to change it? Anything…”
“Aiba-san… Are you thinking about the people here or about the fact that if that damn wall disappear you will be able to be with Sakurai? Think about it clearly…” Matsumoto left the room, closing quietly the door behind him.
***
Jun left Ohno’s house and wander around the district without any particular destination. He felt guilty because of the last sentence he said to his friend, but that was the only way to repair his mistake from the beginning of their conversation. It was cruel, but he thought that this will stop Masaki from going to the rich district. Moreover, giving him something to think about will help him focus on the people who trust him and believe in him. It’ll be better this way. His thoughts ran towards his ex-master. Of course the situation had changed, he suddenly got back his memories, but unfortunately some feelings came back to. He still loved that vice-president, regarding their last meeting. It was hard to explain, so he stopped trying. He tried to focus on his present life, with Ohno, Aiba and the friends he met here. Still, it was frustrating to know that a simple whore can have electricity and access to proper medical care while the healer here has to limit to use only herbs. It wasn’t fair! Matsumoto stood next to the tree and hit it with his fist. He was mad; at the president, at Ninomiya, at himself. Suddenly, another memory hit him.
***
“What is it, master?” Jun asked with his sweet voice.
“Nothing that you should be interested in. Go back to sleep, it’s still early.”
“But I wanna know!” Matsumoto pouted and tried to use his old trick with his warm hands on Ninomiya’s chest, but this time he failed. Whispering some unintelligible words he went back to the bedroom, where after longer while Kazunari joined him and made him his slave again. However the courtesan didn’t forget about mysterious papers he saw that night. Usually he didn’t care about his lover’s work, but somehow this time he had a hunch that it can be really interesting and important. Asking again about the documents would be useless, so he decided to wait until Ninomiya will go to the City Council meeting and search for them.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing much, master… Nothing much…” Jun smiled and kissed the older man, trying to make him forget the question.
After few hours he was finally alone and he went straight to his master’s office as soon as the door was closed. Looking for the papers wasn’t hard; practically there were only two places when Ninomiya could hide them: his desk and supposed-to-be-left-unrevealed hiding place. The desk was closed and the key was swinging on Kazunari’s chest, so Matsumoto decided to check the small niche under the floor. He was extremely lucky because soon he could look on the documents, which happened to be plans of some kind of machine. To be honest Jun didn’t understand much from the drawings, so he just looked at them, trying to remember them. He didn’t know why he is doing that, he just felt that he should. Matsumoto didn’t know how long he was staring at those sketches, but it has to be long, because Ninomiya caught him red-handed.
“What are you think you’re doing?!”
“Master! I was just… I…” Jun didn’t know what to say. Not because he was caught, but because he didn’t know himself why he was reading it. He couldn’t avoid the punishment, but this time he had to sleep on the floor, next to the cold wall. All he could remember was one sentence on the top of one of the pages… “Power for everyone.”
Matsumoto remembered well the drawings. He closed his eyes to call back the image, and he managed to do it. He wasn’t focusing on the drawings, just on the words on both sides. He still wasn’t able to understand everything, but he was able to see the thing he wanted to see: information about things needed for the building. As far as his memory could reach, Ninomiya didn’t have one, the most important item which was extremely hard to find. He couldn’t remember the name, so he focused harder to make the letters clearer. Slowly he started to see the name: Magenthium Peroxidile. Jun could swear that he heard this name before… but where?
A sudden revelation hit him straight in his face. Ohno-sensei mentioned the name while Matsumoto was helping him with organizing his medicaments. The healer said that it’s extremely rare, but if you know where you can find it, you can even make it grow. Without thinking Jun ran towards the rich district.
***
The rich district was celebrating something actually; many people were on the streets, what made Matsumoto more visible. He didn’t care about that, and as soon as he got behind the wall, he headed to the palace hoping that the plans are still there. Jun remembered well, that Ninomiya said once that his dream is to destroy the wall. Those words were terrifying at that time, but now there were like blessing. If the vice-president was still thinking the same, he had a chance to convince him to hand the documents. Somehow that option seemed to be impossible, that’s why Matsumoto decided to simply steal them. The biggest problem was to get into the residence; as expected the security was more cautious since the incident with Aiba. However, Jun had something they didn’t; he was living in that palace for several years, he knew every room, every corridor, even secret one. Believing in himself, he went inside, heading to the place that was once his home - to Ninomiya’s bedroom. Matsumoto didn’t care about anything; he just had to get those documents. It seemed that the guards were outside; keeping an eye on the people that was partying in the main square. Because of that he reached the right room in no-time and immediately started to look for the papers. Nothing changed in this chamber; like if the time had stopped. Jun smiled; he started to remember his hot nights with the vice-president. With the documents in his hands (which he found in the niche under the floor) he put his hand on the knob, but he wasn’t the one that pressed it…