[fanfic] Nine Days' Wonders: second story - so bring me home
Title: Nine Days' Wonders
Pairing: Akame
Genre: AU, Japanese mythology, mystery, supernatural
Summary: Akanishi Jin, (soon) 19 years old. Kamenashi Kazuya, 17 years old. Pretty much best friends since childhood. Jin likes Kame a lot, but he doesn't like Kame's profession, thank you very much. Why does his friend have to deal with ghosts and that sort of thing anyway? And why does it look like he has to deal with them as well?
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: mild violence, mention of rape, murder, confusing dreams, abuse of italics :|
Disclaimer: I altered existing characters and places to my own liking, and I don't own anything but the plot and the OCs in this fic.
A/N: Thank you so much for beta-ing, mienai2401! :D♥ Here, have a bottle of Ramune!
Oh, er, because I want to pimp some songs. Here are two tracks I was listening to on loop while writing:
Battle Royale - Utsumi And Nanahara - Poison | MF |
Rin' - Eternal | MF | (♥!!)
Word Count: 9,168
second story - so bring me home
Jin darted a nervous glance at the old man across the street. To Jin’s dismay the latter didn't avert his eyes from him but continued grinning at him peculiarly-if you could call it grinning at all. It was a bizarre entity resembling a wide parabola on some wrinkled surface, as if it had been sculpted by someone who had no idea what an old human face should look like. Combined with the disorderly greasy white hair and the dirty single-colored yukata rags, the creature looked absolutely freaky under the evening sun.
“Kame,” Jin whispered meekly, and tugged at Kame's sleeve to draw his attention. “That old man is still following us.”
“It's following you.” Kame corrected nonchalantly and continued walking on, searching for the address scribbled on the scrap of paper he was holding. “It keeps appearing because you're expecting it to do so. I told you not to pay attention to it.”
“I can't not pay attention to him-it-whatever,” Jin said as he threw his arms in the air in despair. From the moment Jin noticed that the old guy would appear before them every time they reached a fork in the street, he constantly felt shudders running down his spine. It was extremely creepy being followed by an old man no one (except you and your friend) could see.
“Jin, it's just a momon-jii1. It's relatively harmless,” Kame commented matter-of-factly.
“Harmless!” Jin cried out. “I hear they eat children! I don't care! I just want him to go away! He gives me the creeps!”
“Alright,” Kame said at last. He sighed, then turned towards the momon-jii and said coldly, “We're busy, so piss off.”
The instant those words left Kame’s mouth the momon-jii stopped grinning and walked away hastily. The creature disappeared out of sight very quickly, as though it had never been there in the first place.
Jin sighed in relief, but couldn't resist remarking, “Kame, that was such a rude thing to say, even to a demon; and your expression was scary.”
Kame rolled his eyes. It was so typical of Jin to complain even when you did him a favor. The younger boy said, “They won't listen if you're nice to them. They can be annoyingly persistent in case you haven't noticed.”
Jin exhaled noisily and started feeling agitated again when he was reminded of what had happened that very morning.
After the incident in Hinode-machi, life resumed its usual course. In Jin's eyes, he was still himself and Kame was also still the same old Kame he had known since childhood; so everything was fine. They were still high school students going about their usual school lives. They still had to worry about getting to school punctually, finishing their homework on time and passing their tests, et cetera. They still met at the rooftop of the school to eat their lunch and still skipped classes from time to time.
The day had started out normally. Jin had been woken by the alarm, gotten out of bed with a lot of difficulty, gotten through his usual morning routine and gone to school, leaving his Classic Japanese textbook at home yet again-everything had been so normal until he went for lunch with Kame and met Ogawara-sensei.
Meeting a teacher in one’s school wasn't unusual. Not knowing the face of a teacher after entering the third school year wasn't unusual either, at least for Jin. But it was another issue if said teacher was Ogawara-sensei. The circumstances were... different.
That day, as they walked down the school corridor and chatted about the new segment of their favorite TV variety show, Jin became aware of an elderly man with a gray suit, black thick-framed glasses and very little hair on his head walking towards them leisurely. Kame greeted him with a fleeting nod and the man returned the greeting, nodding back friendly.
“Who was that teacher? I don’t think I’ve seen him before,” Jin asked Kame curiously after the man had gone from their sight.
Kame cast him a strange look. “You can see him?”
Jin snorted. “Duh, of course I can see him. He just walked past by.”
“That was Ogawara-sensei, Jin,” Kame's eyebrows knotted closer together.
“I've never heard of him before. So?”
“So? Haven’t you heard the rumors? He committed suicide five years ago.”
Jin stared at Kame. “What?”
“He committed suicide five years ago,” Kame repeated.
“What?” Jin asked again in disbelief. Fingers trembling, he pointed at the direction the man had gone. “Wait, he's dead? You mean... he's a ghost?”
Kame nodded quickly.
“Why is he suddenly here?” Jin asked, his voice rising in pitch.
“He's not suddenly here. He's always been here since he died,” Kame responded.
“But I've never seen him before!” Jin yelped.
“But you can see him now,” Kame said.
“Why?”
“I, well...” Kame stopped, frowning. “You know what? I know someone who might know more than I do.”
Hence they embarked on the journey to seek ‘someone who might know more than Kame did' straight after school.
Soon after getting rid of the momon-jii, they reached an aged U-shaped apartment block.
“I think it's here,” Kame said as he entered the entrance gate and began climbing up the stairs.
“You think it's here?” Jin asked as he followed after Kame reluctantly.
“Well, I'm not sure because his apartment room keeps changing location.”
Jin stopped dead in his tracks. “I don't really get what you mean, but just to make sure... We're not on our way to a haunted apartment, are we?”
Kame ignored his question. “Jin, we're almost there.”
“You didn't answer my question! I'm not going anywhere before you give me an answer!”
“Jin, don't be such a scaredy-cat.”
“I'm not scared, I just want to know!”
Kame eyed Jin for a moment and Jin could see Kame’s look of disbelief.
“I told you I'm not scared!” Jin protested immediately, but Kame climbed up one more step to reach the second floor without another word.
Then the door next to the stairs opened.
A head belonging to a boy around Jin's age peeked out of the door, his body followed suit as he stepped out to the hallway. The boy’s appearance was very flamboyant. His hair was short and spiky, dyed in a light, earth-brown tone. His clothing was funky and hung loosely on his frame (especially his tattered jeans); his neck, wrists and fingers were adorned with a bunch of heavy-looking accessories. Jin raised an eyebrow at the sight. The boy looked like someone who belonged to one of those groups of delinquents you could usually find in Shibuya, a representation of the rebellious youth culture.
“Hi there,” the rebel boy said and flashed a big grin at Kame. “Did you have trouble finding this place?”
Kame returned the greeting with a smile and said, “No, it was very easy to find you this time, Koki.”
Jin just looked at them in confusion. What business did they have with someone like that?
“Jin, this is Tanaka Koki,” Kame introduced. “Koki, this is Akanishi Jin. The one I told you about on the phone.”
“Yes, I see. Follow me.” The boy called Koki waved with one hand, gesturing them to go after him and went back inside the apartment.
Kame followed suit. Jin did, too, albeit hesitantly.
Stepping inside warily, Jin was very relieved to observe that the entrance hall looked like any other entrance halls he had seen elsewhere. As Jin took off his shoes he counted more than three pairs of shoes besides theirs; he assumed that the boy called Koki was not living on his own.
After taking off their shoes, the two boys entered the small living room after Koki, who disappeared out of sight for a while. They heard a lot of noise coming from the room he had gone in, followed by a swear, then even more noises, as if heavy objects were being moved around.
Kame sat down at the kotatsu table2 in the middle of the small living room, made himself comfortable and signaled for Jin to do the same.
“Koki is one of the most prospective onmyōji in divination,” Kame explained to Jin while they waited for Koki’s return.
“Wait, he's the one we're looking for? He doesn't look very trustworthy,” Jin said doubtfully.
“Hey, you! I heard what you just said,” Koki exclaimed as he returned carrying a huge carton box. He set down the box with a loud thud on the floor in front of the table. “So you don't trust my abilities? What about you? You don't have any powers at all. You're the one seeking my help, so you don't have any right to doubt me!”
“I didn't want your help! Kame dragged me here!” Jin objected.
Koki just shrugged him off and started taking items out of the box. First he withdrew a white cloth, which appeared yellow from overuse, and used it to cover the entire table. Next he picked out more equipment and laid them on the tabletop one by one.
As he did so, he turned to Kame and asked, “Why are you seeking help from me anyway? You could have found out about it on your own.”
Kame pouted. “But it's so troublesome. Besides, Koki's predictions are more accurate, and I know Koki won't refuse me because Koki is a nice guy.”
“…You're so disgusting sometimes, Kamenashi.” Koki grimaced at Kame and pulled out one last article, which looked like the shell of a giant sea turtle with periodic broken up gaps.
“A sea turtle shell!” Kame cried out in distress. “You want to do plastromancy3?”
Jin blinked in confusion.
“Alright, I'm almost ready,” Koki said gleefully. He went into what Jin understood to be the kitchen and returned with several bunsen burners. (Koki proudly declared that he had ‘borrowed’ them from his school’s chemistry lab).
“Koki, do you have any idea how much-yes, you do-now Koki, put all of this right back,” Kame demanded. “I can’t afford this.”
“You told me you wanted the best for your friend,” Koki said innocently.
“But not plastromancy!” Kame groaned. “It’s ancient! Nobody’s using it anymore!”
“It’s the best I can offer, because it’s ancient.”
“I know, but Koki, have you even done this kind of divination before?”
“Nope. I’m just as excited as you are.”
“Koki!” Kame whined.
Jin blinked again.
“Hurry up, my family will be home soon.” Koki pointed out.
“…Bloodsucker,” Kame hissed, but he gestured Jin to sit on the opposite end of the table, facing Koki.
Koki smirked. “Oh, come on, Kame-chan, I know you want it too.”
Kame grunted reluctantly in response.
Jin blinked some more.
Then the divination session began.
“I knew it.” Kame sighed.
“You should have thought twice before acting,” Koki lectured.
“I thought it would only be temporary…”
“Not with someone like him. His sense of spirituality has always been pretty strong, hasn't it?”
“Well, I guess... yes, he can sense them, but he can't differentiate between them.”
“Oh, this is bad. Now they will all pounce on him like bees on pollen.”
“Will it be that disastrous?” Kame asked worriedly.
“Well, he can see them now. And he's afraid of them, isn't he?” Koki said, tapping on one of the first cracks that appeared after having applied heat to the inside of the shell.
Kame nodded hesitantly.
“There you go,” Koki concluded.
“Hold it right there!” Jin butted in abruptly. “I don't understand a single word you guys are talking about! What bees, what pollen? What they?”
Koki looked at Jin, and then at Kame. “Kame, you better take responsibility.”
“I know.” Kame sighed and turning towards Jin, he said, “Jin, I'm sorry.”
“What? What just happened? What did you figure out?” Jin asked.
“Kame, he,” Koki said, pointing at Kame, “lifted the spell upon you.”
Jin tilted his head in confusion. “What spell...?”
“When people grow up they usually lose the ability to see what they call 'supernatural' things. However, this is a wrong definition for what really happens in the process of growing up. The ability is not lost on you; it’s only been placed under a defense spell. People stop seeing things because they closed their inner eye when under the spell, the eye that you use to see supernatural phenomena. In any case, it can be broken under certain circumstances. As with your case.”
Jin thought about it for a while, and said cautiously, “Am I correct in saying that now that the spell on me has been lifted, this means…”
“...that you can see ghosts, demons and everything of that sort now.” Kame finished the sentence for Jin.
Jin looked mortified.
“I'm sorry, Jin,” Kame said. “I lifted your defense spell in Hinode-machi. I thought it would only be temporary-it's usually only temporary. But this time...”
Jin disrupted, “Well, I don’t care! Just put the spell back on me again and everything’s fine!”
Kame licked his lips nervously. “It's not that easy. I can lift the spell, but I can’t put it back on you. I don’t know how.”
“But the eye could close on its own, one day…” Koki added with a reassuring nod. “Either the spell works again one day or it doesn’t work. But seriously, the chances are slim. You better learn how to deal with it.”
“Oh, that's just fantastic!” Jin exclaimed in dismay. “So there’s no way I can get out of this mess? Like, right now?”
Kame sighed. “We can only hope for the best.”
Jin looked at Kame accusingly and said, “It’s your fault!”
“I already apologized!” Kame said, frowning.
“I don’t care! I want to be normal again! Why can’t you make me normal again?” Jin demanded stubbornly.
“Hey, you two, if you’re going to fight, find another place to fight, not here.” Koki said, shaking his head. Then he turned to Jin and suggested seriously, “Listen, Akanishi, you should stick close to Kame and keep away from trouble.”
Kame looked at Koki questioningly, but Koki just smiled back at him as if he had done him a great favor.
“What kind of trouble?” Jin, who didn’t notice the brief interaction between the two, asked.
“You know that opposites attract. You’re the type that attracts beings from the dark because you’re very Yang4.”
“What?”
“When you couldn’t see the creatures from the dark, they couldn’t find you. Now you can see them, so they will also be able to find you. Listen to my advice: Stick close to Kame and keep away from trouble.”
“Stick close to Kame. Keep away from trouble. I got it,” Jin mumbled, intimidated by the very thought of ghosts and demons finding him and messing with his life as ghosts and demons usually liked to do.
Koki left out a laugh. “I suppose you will have a lot of difficulty getting used to your new life.”
Jin didn’t find it amusing.
“Jin can also see low ranked spirits,” Kame suddenly said. “On our way to your place he saw a momon-jii.”
“Momon-jii? Around here in town? That's rather rare,” Koki observed.
“Indeed,” Kame said. “Perhaps it was banished from the mountains.”
“Banished from the mountains?” Jin inquired curiously.
Kame explained, “Its usual habitat is in the mountains or in proximity to them. Creatures like them hate crowded places and cities in general. It must have gotten very desperate to come to a big city like Tokyo.”
“Now that you mention it,” Koki started. “Maybe it got banished from the newly purified part of Mt. Fuji.”
“Ah, yes. I heard about it.” Kame nodded.
After receiving Jin's questioning look Kame explained to Jin that there had been constant complaints from tourists about a certain dark forest region of Mt. Fuji; which was not surprising since it was the haunt of many spirits and demons. In order to please the costumers and to raise the popularity of the attraction spot, the government had decided to purify the area. As a result of the purification, most of the demons were driven out of the district. Therefore, lower ranked demons, like a momon-jii, could no longer continue living there.
“…I feel sorry for the momon-jii,” Jin said honestly.
Koki contradicted, snorting, “I don't feel sorry for it at all. It could have gone to another place in the mountain. Mt. Fuji is huge; there are a lot of places for it to go. It probably ended up in the city because it was too weak and couldn't find a place where the other inhabitants allowed it to stay.”
Jin frowned, said he still felt sorry for the momon-jii and looked to Kame for a sort of approval, but Kame didn’t make any response. And that brought the affair to an end.
They chatted for a short while, and then it was time to bid goodbye. Jin went ahead to put on his shoes at the entrance hall.
Kame, who had stayed behind on purpose, turned to Koki and asked in a low voice, “Why did you tell him that?”
“Tell him what? About the momon-jii?”
“No, earlier. Why did you tell him to be with me in order to stay away from trouble? There’s a better and more effective method to keep him safe.”
“I thought you would be happier that way.” Koki shrugged lightly.
“I don't know what you're talking about.” Kame glared at him.
Koki glared back at him, his eyes telling Kame that he was a liar, and a bad one at that. Kame turned away from him quickly and joined Jin at the door.
“Hey, don’t forget to transfer the payment by the end of this week!” Koki called out after Kame, and grinned upon seeing Kame’s annoyed look.
As they left the apartment and climbed down the stairs, Jin suddenly noticed that they were not at the same place they had been when they arrived. In fact, they were at the other end of the city district, close to Tokyo bay. They had moved south, but it was an enormous mystery to Jin how they could have been transported.
“Where are we now?” he asked, startled.
“I told you that the apartment room keeps changing its location,” Kame answered. “There are several apartments in Tokyo that look the same from the outside as well as from the inside. Koki's room switches in-between those apartments. It can be tricky to find him at times.”
“And no one has noticed any odds so far? Not even the neighbors?” Jin asked skeptically.
“Not as far as I know.” Kame answered.
“That’s so weird!”
Kame just chuckled and said, “Let’s head home; it’s getting late.”
Jin was more than happy to agree.
Fortunately, no momon-jii appeared before them on their way home. Jin was also trying very hard not to think of one, but he couldn’t help looking around in nervousness. As he did that, he happened to see a crowd of people gathered around a construction site; not knowing this would be the start of a new wave of trouble for them.
“What’s going on over there?” Jin wondered out loud, gesturing to the assembly of people on the other side of the street.
“Not sure,” Kame replied.
“I'll take a look,” Jin said and went closer to the mass, his curiosity taking over. Jin pushed his way through the crowd and it didn’t take him long to get to the front. He saw a group of workers forming a small circle around a huge freshly dug hole, with some standing and others kneeling down to examine it. All of them were in heated discussion and gestured to the ground occasionally. Jin craned his neck impatiently to get a better view.
Suddenly he thought he caught a glimpse of a faint silhouette that reminded him of a girl clothed in kimono. The contour was floating slightly above the ground where the construction workers were standing. He shuddered but couldn’t stop staring and the figure became more distinct. Then the girl turned around and their eyes met-
“Jin!” Kame dragged him out of the crowd. “Can you please try not to get into trouble?”
“What was that? Kame, I saw a-”
“Hush!”
“What was that?”
“You mustn't speak about it,” Kame said, glancing behind Jin’s back, alarmed. “…Now let's get away from here.”
When they reached Jin’s home, walking side by side, Kame whispered a curse.
“What’s wrong?” Jin asked tensely, they hadn’t exchanged a word since the episode at the construction site, and Kame’s behavior was making him worried.
Kame scratched his head and looked irritated. He suddenly asked the air by Jin’s side, “Can I spend the night?”
Jin was about to say, of course, he was sure his parents wouldn’t mind and Reio would be most happy to see Kame too, but he was cut off by Kame.
“Fine, have it your way,” Kame snarled.
Jin said, perplexed, “What? I didn’t say anything.”
Kame looked at Jin agitatedly, then looked away. “Well, I guess I’ll have to check back on you tomorrow morning.”
“You’re not staying?” Jin asked, still at a loss.
“I’m not allowed to!” Kame replied grumpily.
“I wasn’t going to say no?”
“You weren’t, but your zashiki-warashi5 said no.”
“My what?”
To that Kame just said, “Inform me if anything happens.”
After Kame had gone out of sight, Jin kicked the wall and yelled, with frustration he had accumulated throughout the day. “What’s wrong with you? Why don’t you explain anything to me? God, I hate smart-ass onmyōji! Whatever, I’ll find out on my own!”
“Oh, have to switch the channel!” Jin said with his mouth full of rice during dinner, and grabbed the remote of the TV.
“What do you want to watch, Jin?” his mother asked.
“The evening news!” Jin answered.
That night, Jin's father, mother and his younger brother eyed him like an alien as Jin changed to the news channel and actually followed it attentively.
“Bones…” Jin thought about what had been broadcasted earlier in the local segment of the news as he was brushing his teeth. “They found bones. Whom do those bones belong to?”
The girl he saw earlier… Could she be involved in this? Jin shuddered again, and tried to rid the frightening thoughts from his mind as he climbed into bed. He decided it was better to investigate the matter when the sun was shining again...
It was dark, very dark; and he was running, running for his life. He was running away from two people. There were two, but he didn't know who they were. The only thing he knew was that if he were caught, it would be the end, the end of everything.
He was running as fast as he could, but he was getting out of breath and slowing down, and they were catching up mercilessly.
He was barefoot. It was cold and hard to run on grounds littered with small stones that hurt his feet. His clothes were ripped. He had a hard time suppressing a sob, thinking about the kimono that he had borrowed from his mother after begging for it for so long. Now the kimono was ruined and Mother was going to get so mad... though he would much prefer his mother's scolding to this.
They were chasing after him pitilessly. It was scary, so scary. He shouldn't have gone and stayed out so late, but he had wanted to go out so much. He had noticed them watching him all the while, but hadn't paid much attention to them. He was with his friends and felt safe in the large crowd; they had had such fun, the blooming cherry blossoms were exceptionally beautiful that year, and he was sure he had left a good impression on the son of the landlord-such an unexpected, yet wonderful meeting!
It had been a most delightful day until he parted with his friends and was on his way home. He hadn’t expected them to be following him and assaulting him when no one was around.
Jin didn't have much time to continue thinking about his terrible twist in fortune. He was so scared and out of breath, he felt as though he was going to die if he didn’t stop to catch his breath any time soon. But he had to get away, he had to get far away. But how? His feet hurt, his lungs hurt, his heart felt like it was about to explode, and he was lost, like a wounded deer that had strayed away from its familiar part of the forest, helpless and hopeless. How could he get away? How could he ever get away from this nightmare?
How?
Then he heard a little child's voice, who sounded no more than 6 years old. “This way!” the child told him hurriedly. Small hands tugged at the end of his pajama top, which he wore to sleep. Not Mom’s kimono, this thought escaped Jin briefly. In fact, he didn’t think that his mom owned a kimono of that fashion at all.
Gradually, he could feel how the child was leading him away from the oppressive danger that had threatened to take over him completely.
“Don't look back. Don't look back.” The little child, no more than a shadow to Jin, cautioned. The child looked strangely familiar to him, like an old acquaintance he hadn’t seen for a long time. Jin was sure he had had a similar encounter before… Yes, it’s almost like what he had felt when he saw the dog spirit Kame had summoned up in Hinode-machi.
What just happened? Jin asked himself dizzily. Who was being followed if it hadn't been him? Who was so scared if it hadn't been him?
“Don’t look back!” the child shouted, louder than before.
But Jin turned his head around despite the warnings and-they pulled on her hair and caused her to fall. She tried to get up and escape, but she was too exhausted, and one of them seized the back of her small head and smashed it on the ground brutally. She let out an agonizing cry. The pain was so immense that she passed out for a few seconds. When she came back to her senses, the first thing she tasted was blood, her own blood, which disgusted and frightened her.
The other man turned her around when her body was still numbed from the shock, and then he let out a laugh. “What a pity that I can't see your face now.”
The other guy laughed, too. She couldn't see what was funny about the situation at all; she was terrified.
They didn't bother to remove her kimono. She could barely endure them touching her, and when they spread her legs and raped her, she cried out loud.
“If you scream I'm going to cut your pretty tongue,” one of them threatened.
They laughed and laughed, being pleased with her, and they beat her and violated her body, again and again.
No, stop-I just want to go home-please, someone-
And yet no one came to help her. When they finally stopped the gruesome and painful torment she found she could hardly breathe.
“What are we supposed to do with her?”
“It would be troublesome if she talked about us.”
“Would she ever talk? About such a disgraceful thing.”
“Nah, she will never talk.”
“But what if she does?”
“She's half-dead anyway.”
“Half-dead is not as good as dead. The dead can't talk.”
“But...”
“Her family is not rich, but her father is rather influential. Think about it. We might get into big trouble.”
The other remained silent.
They weren't laughing anymore.
In the end, they carried her to the roadside and threw her in the river. Her body sunk into the water like a heavy stone and was carried away by the fast flowing dark water.
Then there was-a beautiful starry night sky; blinking dots of light scattered in the darkness. How long had it been since she last saw it? The sky was vast. The air was new and alive. And yet she was suffocating. She was always suffocating. A long time ago, she suffocated because she was buried under water. Now she was suffocating because she's exposed to the open air.
Her filthy body. Embedded yellow bones sleeping on the silent riverbed. Who woke her up? For what purpose? Why was this obscene body exposed to the world after all this time? Her bones should be buried, hidden under earth, not lying denuded and laid bare beneath the sky. She could hear people talking, but the sounds were foreign to her.
Where was she? Where had the river taken her? She didn't want to stay at this place. She wanted to go home. She wanted to go home. She wanted-
Jin woke up, sweating madly, with the most terrible headache he had ever had and an extremely nauseated feeling in his stomach. He stumbled out of bed blindly, but couldn't support his body and fell on the floor with a loud thud.
The fall caused more pain, and the upsetting feeling in his stomach took over and he threw up everything he had had for dinner. He choked and coughed until nothing came out of his stomach anymore. His body wouldn't stop shaking in the darkness, and he felt so sick, so sick of himself, he was-
“Jin, what's wrong?” The light in his room switched on and his mother opened the door worriedly. She gasped in shock upon seeing Jin’s state. “Oh God, Jin, are you feeling unwell? What happened, Jin?”
She reached Jin in a few steps across the room, her hands reaching out to comfort him.
“NO!” Jin screamed. “DON'T TOUCH ME! DON'T LOOK AT ME!”
His screams woke up the rest of his family. Despite his whole family’s tireless efforts to calm him, Jin didn’t seem to be taking in anything. He refused to let anyone touch him, looked as though in shock and kept trembling; his teeth clattering like he was in biting ice-cold water.
Fortunately, Kame arrived shortly after, panting like he had just finished an entire decathlon. He went past Jin’s family, ignoring their inquiring looks, and attended to Jin immediately.
“Jin, it’s okay now,” Kame said to Jin quietly, and clutched his shoulders with a strong grip. “Look at me. It’s me, Kame. It’s okay now, Jin.”
Although Jin struggled against Kame in the beginning as well, he calmed down soon afterwards. No one questioned how Kame managed to appear so timely; they only saw that under Kame’s care, Jin finally drifted off to sleep, if still a little unsettled, and they were relieved.
As Jin drifted in and out of unsound sleep, he heard soft murmurs around him. One of the voices belonged to Kame, who sounded very crossed.
“…And you told me you could handle this and forced me to go home,” Kame whispered angrily.
“I didn’t force you,” a child said morosely.
“You failed to protect him!” Kame stated, displeased.
The child made an annoyed sound. “I almost got him out, but then he looked back. My failure? I don’t think so.”
“Why didn’t you save him earlier? Why did you let the ghost inside the house in the first place?”
“Listen, this isn't the first time Jin-kun brought a ghost home with him, and she is pretty much harmless.”
“But this time it's different!”
“Oh, yes, different. Jin-kun changed after he came back with you that morning. Of course I noticed. And this is your fault.”
“So what if it was my fault?” Kame’s upset voice grew in volume. “I wouldn't have let it gone this far, unlike you!”
“Listen, at least I protected him from getting raped and killed-”
“But he still witnessed a rape and murder! Look at him now,” Kame snapped back.
“I told you that he looked back although I told him not to!”
“You just failed to protect him!”
“I'm telling you-”
With eyes still closed, Jin opened his mouth uncertainly and asked hoarsely, “... Who are you talking to, Kame?”
Jin heard Kame exclaim his name in relief and immediately enquiring after his state. He opened his eyes, saw Kame and ... no one else. Was he just imagining things? Jin sat up and stared blankly into nothing.
“Jin?” Kame touched Jin’s cheeks gently, moved closer and looked into Jin’s eyes with worry.
“Kame, what is happening?” Jin asked.
Kame hesitated. “…Do you remember the ghost you saw at the construction site? It followed you home and fused its memories into your mind while you were dreaming.”
“…The girl? Why would she do that?” Jin asked weakly.
“Who knows? Maybe it was trying to ask you for a favor. What did it tell you?”
Jin remained silent for a while. Then he said uncertainly, “She…she said she wants to go home. That’s the last thing I remember.”
“So the ghost just wants to go home.” Kame sighed in relief. “I’m glad it’s not crying for revenge.”
Jin leaned slightly onto Kame’s shoulder. “Kame, I feel so terrible. I feel so ashamed that I'm of the same sex as those two bastards. They raped her and then killed her. How could they do that? How could anyone do that?”
Kame hugged Jin and caressed his hair, as if he was comforting a child. Normally this action would have upset Jin, but at that moment it felt strangely reassuring.
“It's alright, Jin,” Kame said. “You're not like them. You're nothing like them. It's just a dream. Forget about it, it's just a dream.”
Jin shook his head. “But it was real. It really happened. Her pain was real, I could feel it, I-”
“Jin, you're not her. What happened took place a very, very long time ago, long before you or your parents were even born, and you can't change things that happened in the past!”
“I know; I know, you don't have to tell me!” Jin shouted. He thought Kame’s logic was very irritating at times. Jin couldn’t find a way to properly express his rage than to bite Kame’s neck, which was right in front of his eyes. So he did. When he heard Kame’s hiss of pain he let go and felt accomplished, the taste of Kame’s skin in his mouth was strangely comforting.
Kame touched the fresh bite mark on his neck and glared at Jin. Oddly, Kame didn’t scold Jin; instead he said slowly, “I know how you feel, Jin.”
“You don't know. You can't possibly know,” Jin murmured.
“Jin, it's okay.” Kame stroked Jin’s back gently.
“…Kame, I just wish there was something I could do for her.”
“Yes, we have to do something about the ghost,” Kame said. “Otherwise it'll haunt you every night.”
“No, we don't have to do anything about her, Kame,” Jin said. “I want to do something for her.”
Kame looked at him. “Ultimately, it'll lead to the same thing.”
“No, the phrasing is different, and the intention behind it is different.”
“If you insist,” Kame said, lifting the edges of his lips slightly to a smile.
Jin didn’t know when he fell asleep again, but he had another dream that night.
There was-someone approaching her with steady steps. Young boy, don't look at her. Don't remind her of things long gone by. But the young boy didn’t stop. She was scared, she didn’t want to be seen.
But when the boy came into sight she sighed in relief. She was worrying too much; his eyes were blindfolded, he couldn't see her.
However, what was he doing? He brought something with him.
It was an urn. A white urn.
He took out two pairs of long, black chopsticks, then he instructed her to take one of them all of a sudden. She accepted them as told. But what was she supposed to do with them? She looked at him in confusion.
The blindfolded boy told her to stop just looking at him and do something. Wasn’t Jin the one who wanted to help her in the first place?
Help her? Oh yeah, right. He wanted to help her.
Although Kame was blindfolded, he didn't seem to have any trouble locating everything around him. He kneeled down on the earth and reached out with his chopsticks for a small item lying on the ground.
It was a bone. Jin recognized it to be a fragment from her feet. Kame passed it to him. Jin took the bone with the end of his chopsticks and transferred it to the urn as carefully as he could, reaching to the bottom and putting it to rest there. Then he proceeded to find another bone from the feet and after discovering it around small gray pebbles he passed it to Kame. Kame, in his turn, put the bone in the urn just as meticulously as possible.
In this manner they progressed, sometimes switching order (as they did for the lingual bone, the most important bone of all, whereby Kame insisted upon Jin taking over); and the number of bones inside the urn increased slowly. They were working very gingerly, making sure that the bones were assembled in the correct order. First the feet, then moving upward until they transferred her head to the urn at last. All to make sure that she'd be comfortable. Who would want to stay upside down in a funeral urn?
After all was completed, Kame closed the lid of the urn and took out a white cloth to wrap around it neatly.
Didn't Kame think it looked rather plain? Jin heard himself complaining. Would some flower pattern hurt anyone?
Kame let out a short and amused laugh, the kind of laugh Jin liked to hear from Kame and see on Kame’s face. Kame told him he was sorry, but it was the best he could get in the short time and at such a late hour.
Jin sighed and commented that if that was the case then it couldn't be helped. But flower patterns would have been nice anyway. She would have liked them.
Kame said that it was time to head back, and reached behind his head to untie the blindfold’s knot.
The moment Kame withdrew the blindfold and opened his eyes, Jin woke up.
It was already morning, but Jin felt more exhausted than before he had fallen asleep. He wondered whether it had anything to do with that last strange dream, but he couldn't tell because he barely remembered the contents of the dream. He could only remember vague fragments but that didn’t tell him anything at all.
When Kame returned, he carried a small rucksack on his back and a carefully wrapped up item in his arms.
“Here.” Kame handed the item to Jin.
Jin took it without thinking, and regretted it seconds later. “What's inside?” He gulped.
“Her bones,” Kame responded. Then he added sternly before Jin even had the chance to let his brain register the new piece of information, “Don't drop it. It wasn't easy to pick up her bones, was it? Now, get dressed and let’s get going.”
Masses of people went in and out of Tokyo Station without ever stopping. Jin waited for Kame who joined the line in front of the ticket booths.
Soon Kame came back and handed him a ticket. “We have to change to Tobu Noda Line6 at Ōmiya Station6.1, and then get out at Kawama Station6.2.”
Jin nodded. Suddenly he experienced a shudder of excitement that was not his own going through his veins. He was going home. He shook his head hastily. No, he thought, he was only bringing her home.
Kame looked at him, worry showing in his eyes. “We should bring her home and give her a proper burial as soon as possible before her influence over you grows too strong.”
The train ride itself was pretty eventless. Neither of them spoke much. Jin was holding the urn in his laps, sitting next to the window and staring at the passing scenery. Sometimes when people passed by him, they looked at him curiously, wondering what he was holding, but only briefly before they continued on their way.
One hour and 27 minutes later, the two boys and the bones in the funeral urn arrived at Kawama Station without delay.
Jin looked to the west and shivered. The river. It had already caused him great discomfort when the train reached the metal bridge, about to cross the river. He had to close his eyes and pretend the river wasn't underneath him as anxiety threatened to consume him wholly. He couldn’t see the river now, but he could still sense it and its close presence terrified him.
Kame went ahead and called after him to hurry up. Jin caught up with him instantly, trying to clear the image of the river from his mind.
Jin felt inexplicably nostalgic about the place. Jin knew this place. Her memories blended with his memories, so although he had never been to this little town before, he felt at home.
However, what had once been a field of grass in her memories had turned into a field of concrete. The open grassland, the great meadows and the old wood houses had all vanished and were now replaced by concrete streets, solid grounds and tight rows of painted houses as far as the eye could see. Even the trees were no longer the same. Jin noticed more and more upsetting incongruities as they walked on.
Soon they arrived at a major street, and Jin knew it was the street where she had lived. But it wasn’t the street she remembered either. Her father’s shop and her home should have been there, right at that corner. But it wasn’t there anymore. Unmoving, Jin stood at the corner and stared at the 7-Eleven in front of him, his face turning pale.
“Where are we?” he asked in a sad voice.
“You’re at home,” Kame answered, without turning his head.
Jin shook his head. “Here is where my home used to be, but I can’t find it anymore.”
Kame didn’t respond, instead he kept going and Jin followed him with lowered head.
They walked across the main street and further south for a while until they reached a little park.
An old man in an equally old black suit was waiting for them under the only tree in the park. He moved towards them, limping slightly, as they drew nearer. The man had an unkempt appearance; his clothes were all in black and mud-spattered at the ends. He was the kind of man you’d feel ill at ease if you met him at night, and Jin was relieved that it was still early in the morning. Seeing Kame head straight towards him, Jin figured they had some business with that old man.
“I’m the undertaker. People know me as Kurogi,” the old man introduced himself in a stern voice, and then asked, “Which of you two is Kamenashi?”
“I am.” Kame stepped forward.
Kurogi looked at him briefly, and then sighed. “You’re really still a child.”
“My age should not be subject to the matter at all.”
Kurogi frowned upon seeing the urn. “You put the bones in the urn before it went through a proper fire burial ceremony? Whose idea was that? Very amateurish.” Kurogi snorted.
“The bones were already buried under water for decades,” Kame defended his decision instantly. (Jin saw from the edge of his eyes that Kame was actually blushing in shame as he talked.)
“Sure, sure.” Kurogi grunted again, mumbling under his breath. “That’s why I hate to deal with children.”
“Kurogi-san. Thank you for agreeing to help us with the burial.” Kame bowed deeply before him. “Thank you so much and I’m very sorry for the inconvenience.”
Kame tugged at Jin’s jeans to indicate that he should do the same. Jin followed Kame’s example and lowered his head as well.
“Yes, yes, don’t be so impatient. Children these days…” Kurogi shook his head, but appeared to be more contented. Kame seemed to have hit the right spot by talking respectfully to the undertaker.
After the two boys had straightened up again Kurogi asked for the urn and looked at Jin. Jin hesitated. He felt very nervous, because it seemed so final. He had no apparent reasons to worry and Kurogi, the undertaker, was there to finish the business, and still he faltered.
But then Kame nudged him lightly and Jin stopped wavering. The urn passed on to Kurogi’s hands.
The old undertaker took the urn, walked slowly to the tree and settled it in the hole he had already dug under it. After laying the urn in place he took an old, rusted shovel and covered the grave with earth. Kame and Jin stood behind him and watched the burial without exchanging a word.
When all was said and done, Jin laid fresh flowers (he had no idea where Kame got them from) on her grave. He looked at the dewy earth and speculated how long it would take before the earth grew the same color as its surrounding and no one would know where the grave was to be found anymore, except for the stone on top of the grave.
Not before long, Kurogi parted with them, grunting all the while.
On the way back to the train station Kame suggested buying some drinks in the 7-Eleven. Jin didn’t feel as disagreeable as he thought he would be. The disappointment and distress earlier had completely vanished, and the river that Jin knew to be in the west didn’t seem as threatening either. The foreign little town had become as foreign as all foreign little towns should be. Overall, Jin felt lighter, as if a heavy weight had been lifted from him.
He told Kame about his current feelings, and Kame smiled, picking out his bottle of soft drink from the beverages refrigerator, and said it was a good sign.
“When we’re back in Tokyo, do you want to stay over at my place and spend the night as well?” Jin asked. “I’m sure my family, and the zashiki-warashi, won’t mind you staying over after you’ve done me such a great favor.”
Kame laughed. “You invited me this time, so the zashiki-warashi can’t refuse me entrance anyway.”
“Sounds great to me.” Jin smiled openly.
Back in Tokyo, Jin’s mother was so kind as to prepare clean blankets and a pillow for Kame while the boys were getting ready to sleep. Jin’s bed was still big enough to fit two teenagers and they went to bed shortly after dinner.
They chatted a little about the burial. Kame told Jin that she wasn’t buried in a proper graveyard but the park was sufficient for the matter. Moreover, Kurogi-san did everything by the books, although he was not the most pleasant fellow to have around. Jin wondered out loud why Kame had chosen a grumpy old man like Kurogi as the undertaker. Kame explained to him that he plainly didn’t have any other option because Kurogi-san had been the only local undertaker who was willing to fulfill Kame’s strange request and still believed. After a short and slightly uncomfortable silence, Kame added that although Kurogi-san was a grumpy old man, as Jin had put it, he was still a very respectable grumpy old man one could depend on. Jin murmured something along the lines of Oh, I see, and shortly after, he fell into a slumber, tired from the tension the events of the past week had caused.
After Jin's breathing had become even-indication that he was sound asleep, the younger boy lifted the blanket carefully, so as not to wake Jin, and stepped out of the bed quietly. Kame felt a small quiver when his bare feet touched the cool wood parquet floor. Spring was nearing its end and summer was approaching slowly, yet it was still chilly in the night.
Kame left the house as noiselessly as he could.
Stepping out into the night, he searched for the momon-jii they had met on their way to Koki’s apartment.
“Welcome back.” Kame heard the greeting just as he sneaked back inside Jin’s bedroom again. He glanced around him to find a little child standing at the corner of the room.
The child Kame saw was wearing a kimono with colorful flower patterns. Her hair was short and the front was cut to form short bangs. Her pale cheeks stressed her agreeable features, especially her small but clever eyes, giving her a fleeting feel of maturity. This little child would have become a beauty if she had ever had the chance to grow up.
Kame said, “… I’m back.”
“Did you settle everything?” she asked, and looked at him with her penetrating sharp eyes.
“I hope so,” Kame responded quietly. “I gave the momon-jii the bell which was possessed by the vengeful spirit I had exorcized with its promise to return to the mountain and never come back.”
“…Thank you, Kamenashi-kun,” she said genuinely.
Kame looked at the floor briefly before he raised his head to face her. “What for?” he asked.
“Thank you for everything you did for Jin-kun.”
“He's my friend. That's what friends do for each other.”
“Jin-kun would never have recovered so quickly if it hadn’t been for you.”
Kame let out a short and awkward laugh. “Jin would never have had to experience all this if it hadn’t been for me.”
“No, don't say that,” she disagreed quietly. “Although I blamed you for lifting the spell on Jin-kun, I'm glad that it was you. Had the spell been lifted under a different circumstance... Who knows what would have happened to Jin-kun? I'm glad that you're by his side to help him. You also gave away such an important spiritual item to a low ranked demon to help it find its way back home because it would make Jin-kun happy, didn’t you?”
Kame didn’t say anything, but he shifted his feet uncomfortably, as though he was very embarrassed.
“I feel hypocritical,” the child continued. “I'm mad that you put Jin-kun into such danger by lifting the spell, but I'm happy at the same time. Because now Jin-kun will be able to see me again one day.” She sighed happily.
“He can see you now,” Kame said. “He heard our conversation that night, didn’t he? Why didn't you show yourself?”
“Yes, I could, but I won't. Not now. Jin-kun will be afraid of me once he sees me, won't he?” she said sadly. “But one day. One day if Jin-kun isn’t afraid of me anymore I'll be able to meet him again. We will be able to speak again, just like before.”
Has it been very lonely? Kame wanted to ask her. She sounded so excited about the future and was so nostalgic about the past. Did you feel sad? When, one day, you found the boy who had played with you just the day before suddenly grown up and unable to see, hear or touch you anymore.
It was very sad, wasn’t it?
Kame then said, “I thought you disliked me.”
“I still don’t like you,” the child said bluntly. “Nonetheless, I’ll tolerate you in the future.”
“I don't get it. You like every single one of Jin's friends, but you just don't like me!”
“I don't like you because you'll be the one to take Jin-kun away from here.”
“Take him away?” Kame asked, puzzled.
“Having been around so many families for so long, I know it when I see it.”
“I still don't understand...”
“That's alright,” she shook her head slightly. “You should go back to sleep before Jin-kun takes up the whole bed for himself.”
Kame found it hard to disagree to that, and he sneaked back into bed as silently as possible.
After his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness in the room, he watched Jin's peaceful sleeping face lying beside him. Suddenly, Kame felt guilt washing over him like a sudden angry wave, crushing him to pieces. He tried to shake the feeling off and closed his eyes, but even with eyes closed and his mind trying hard to think of something else, he could only think of things he didn't want to think about.
He had apologized to Jin, but he didn’t mean it sincerely. He could have prevented everything, but he didn’t. He thought about what the zashiki-warashi said.
I’m happy, too, Kame realized. At this point, Jin and I, we’re in the same boat. And none of us can back out.
I’m happy.
That night, as Jin slept deeply and free from any more dreams, Kame couldn't fall asleep at all.
A/A/N: Too lazy to write another author's note at the end to be honest. But it's possible that I'll post the fourth story before the third one, because the fourth one is easier to write. And the HTML codings nearly killed me again. D: I almost had a heart attack when Firefox suddenly crashed before I hit the post button. -____-;;
I hate coding the footnotes! ajgfakwgfdkadla;f;afgakwgfdkw *facepalms* /stab