忍ぶ感情 Shinobu Kanjyo
Title: Part 3: Shinobu Kanjyo
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Jun/Ohno, Sho/Nino
Genre: action, AU
Chapter: twenty
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Ohno Satoshi is the student of a strong ninja lord who has lived his life following his teacher’s strict guidance. But what happens when he slowly learns he has to live for himself?
Part 1: Shinobu Ishi ( Chapter one, Chapter two, Chapter three, Chapter four, Chapter five, Chapter six, Chapter seven)
Part 2: Shinobu Kokoro ( Chapter eight, Chapter nine, Chapter ten, Chapter eleven, Chapter twelve, Chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen)
Part 3: Shinobu Kanjyo ( Chapter fifteen, Chapter sixteen, Chapter seventeen, Chapter eighteen, Chapter nineteen
Ohno showed up earlier than Jun was expecting.
The sun was about to set and he’d been sitting on the fallen tree for more than an hour, visualizing the words he wanted to say to build up his confidence. He wasn’t feeling very sure of himself, but he couldn’t wait any longer for this. He didn’t want their relationship to stay lifeless, like it currently was.
Leader was shuffling through the undergrowth and looking generally unsure of the situation, but Jun could tell he knew what the topic was going to be and had already made a decision, although Jun wasn’t completely sure which way it would fall anymore, after speaking with Nino. He had seemed pretty confident that Ohno was coming around, but Ohno had been the same for three years, so maybe changing wouldn’t be so easy.
Without prompting, Ohno sat down next to Jun, who was grasping his hands together nervously but watching every move the other man made. They weren’t close enough to be touching, which made Jun tense since Ohno always sat right next to him; he wanted to feel Leader’s knee against his own more now that he ever had before.
They waited in silence for a few seconds, Jun unable to start but Ohno not prompting him to either.
Finally, after he had looked down at his hands, then to the trees growing opposite them, and then up at the sky, he got something out.
“I love you, Ohno.”
There it was. Simple and straightforward.
Jun snuck a look at his counterpart to see his reaction, but Ohno was averting his gaze to his lap.
He didn’t respond and didn’t look like he was going to anytime soon, so Jun continued in a hushed voice.
“I want to be with you forever, Leader. I want to kiss you and…” Jun swallowed nervously, “I want what Sho and Nino have, but with you.”
Tentatively and scared that the older man would immediately back away, Jun pulled together his courage and reached over to touch the hand laying on Ohno’s lap, gently taking it in one of his own. Leader stared at their intertwined fingers as Jun pulled them closer and then slowly shifted his gaze up to meet Jun’s stare head on.
He looked apprehensive, but he hadn’t rejected him yet, which Jun took as a good sign.
Scooting closer so that their legs were touching now, too, Jun covered Ohno’s hand with both of his own and rested them on their connected thighs, suddenly becoming calmer because of the near proximity. Although Ohno was the reason he was getting flustered right now, the older man had always been a comfort to him too, no matter the situation.
“There’s never going to be another person for me, Leader. Never. I’m not going to live with Mao, or anyone else. The only person I want is you,” Jun admitted with a sigh, looking down at their intertwined fingers, rubbing his lightly over Ohno’s. “I’m not going to give up, either. You’ll have to get Jyani to kick me out of the village or something.” He tried to make it sound like a joke, but at the same time he was deadly serious about the comment. The only way he’d give up on Ohno was if extreme measures were taken.
Silence overtook them again and Ohno averted his eyes in an attempt to distance himself from Jun. He wished that the other man would say something, anything. If he didn’t, Jun would continue to ramble, to talk about how much Leader meant to him, and they would be out far later than they needed to be.
“I love you, Ohno,” he repeated in a lowered voice and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to repress the heavy emotions that were coming up his throat. “I’d die for you. In a second.”
Leader swallowed, obviously feeling what Jun was. He whispered his name under his breath, but otherwise didn’t begin to respond to all of the confessions that had already been released.
“I love you,” he said again, unsure how else to get his point across. He willed himself to stop speaking so that Ohno could get a word in, but his mouth wouldn’t shut up for him. “I’m completely dedicated to you, my whole life belongs to you, Ohno. Jyani be damned.”
That caused a reaction and Leader finally turned to him again, looking apprehensive but not overly upset about the statement.
“You shouldn’t say that,” he chided gently, acting more sad than angry at the blatant rebellion of his fellow ninja. But his expression was saying that he wished he could do the same.
Jun hadn’t called Ohno out here to discuss where his loyalties were, though; he wanted to force Ohno to make a decision, basically. Jun wanted Leader to either tell him he never wanted to see him again or that he was willing to give the whole thing a shot. All the illusionist needed was one chance, he was sure of that. If he could start something it would be impossible for either of them to return to the way they were now, even if it turned messy and everything fell apart like Leader was scared of.
Feeling guilty about making things more difficult than he had meant to, Jun mumbled afterwards, “Well, if I’ll do anything for you and you’d do anything for Jyani, it’s the same thing, isn’t it?”
Ohno tried not to be overwhelmed with that direction of logic. Although it made sense, it put all the pressure on him to keep Jun under control.
And honestly, Ohno didn’t know what he would do if Jyani suddenly decided that Jun was being a nuisance or even a threat and took him away from him. He wasn’t sure he could survive if Jun had to leave, even though it would make Leader’s life generally simpler. If something happened to Jun, Ohno would be right behind him, even if it meant giving up the life he had worked so hard to create until now.
But he didn’t want to abandon everything if he didn’t have to. It was better to have Jun close enough to keep an eye on but not so near that he was tempted. That’s what Ohno thought, anyway.
Unable to react, though, the swordsman remained silent and just looked at Jun’s hands still tightly gripping onto his. He knew the younger ninja was waiting for a reply, even if it was I don’t want to talk about this right now, but in his current state, Ohno was unable to deliver.
Minutes passed and Jun didn’t continue his long string of verbal affections, but he slowly leaned his head against Ohno, resting his cheek lightly on the older man’s shoulder, and Leader couldn’t help but turn a little to watch him out of the corner of his eye.
Jun’s hair was tickling his jaw and Ohno realized how just long it had been since they had been this close. It must have been the last time they had slept together, which was a fuzzy memory in the back of his head. The feeling was nice and his counterpart smelled good and Ohno was on the verge of giving in when Jun looked up and their gazes locked.
Even though he knew what was coming-how could he not with the way Jun’s eyes were fluttering and his breath was speeding up-Ohno didn’t pull away when the younger began to shift slightly closer.
His own heart was beating rapidly in his chest and he could feel warmth rushing through his body, even though he had no idea where it came from, and he was closing his eyes even though his mind was screaming for him to retreat like he usually did.
He felt Jun’s breath on his own slightly parted lips right before the soft skin of his mouth pressing against his.
A groan almost escaped from Ohno, but he held it back, and he felt like he was hyperventilating, like he was going to lose consciousness and fall onto the ground right in front of them because he couldn’t breathe properly anymore. Jun’s mouth was hot and attracting his own like they were always meant to be that way, and the dry skin was sticking to the wetness of the inside of Ohno’s.
One of Jun’s hands slipped around to rest on the back of Leader’s head, his thumb tenderly caressing just below his ear, and he increased the pressure of the kiss, parting his own lips in the same way that Ohno had been caught in.
Unconsciously tilting his to one side, Jun slowly licked the bottom of Ohno’s top lip and then slipped his tongue past them a moment later. He began feeling around the inside of him carefully, and he gasped softly when the older man’s tongue was coaxed to caress him back.
The other hand had released Ohno’s and was now resting gently on his back, trying to bring him closer despite the fact they were already flushly side by side. The swordsman was attempting to follow the other tongue with his own as they slid past each other and Jun leisurely mapped out the secrets of the inside of his mouth.
A moment later Jun retracted his kiss just enough to catch his breath and sigh, “Leader,” with his forehead pressed against Ohno’s and his eyes still shut.
But Ohno’s fluttered open and he was gasping for air, too. He couldn’t pull his gaze away from Jun, even though the younger man was too close to focus on.
Jun swallowed a few times and then allowed himself to pull back a bit and look at Ohno once more, want and arousal blatantly showing in his eyes.
Leader’s hand was tenderly stroking Jun’s cheek before he could stop it and although he wanted another kiss, his mind was slowly coming back, telling him to clear the air.
“I can’t give you an answer. I need to think about it,” Ohno whispered, closing his eyes so he didn’t have to watch Jun’s reaction. Even after they had just shared a heated kiss, Leader still wasn’t completely dedicated to turning himself over to him, and he didn’t want to do so until he had thought of every aspect of the situation and reached a decision he could be confident in.
Jun sighed in disappointment, but it seemed like he was content with the response as well.
“I’m going to go back to the Main Building,” Ohno explained a few seconds later with his eyes fluttering open again, even though he had made no move to do so. His hand was still resting on Jun’s face, his fingers now touching his lips lightly, just as they had when Jun had been asleep in this very spot and Ohno had carried him home.
Jun swallowed, watching him closely, and hummed quietly in return, opening his mouth just slightly so that his breath softly brushed against Leader’s skin.
Somehow, with all the willpower he had, Ohno looked away and retreated out of Jun’s grasp, eventually standing and forcing himself towards the trail leading home.
He paused when he heard a shuffle of leaves a little ways off, but it didn’t continue for more than a second, and really he was just putting off the inevitable and needed to make his exit. Ohno turned back to Jun, who was staring at him, and then wished he hadn’t, because it made retreating that much harder.
+++
Aiba wondered if maybe Jun’s confession hadn’t gone as well as it should have.
Of course both of his friends looked content when he talked to them later, but Jun told him that Ohno hadn’t given him an answer and now their captain was avoiding him.
Leader was an enigma to Aiba. Jun was an ideal candidate for a boyfriend, much better than that Yokoyama boy, and besides, he was really good at cooking and really handsome, wasn’t he? And Aiba could see the way that Oh-chan looked at him, and so he just couldn’t figure out why they weren’t having sex like Nino and Sho were already.
Speaking of which-
“Ew, they’re naked again,” Jun said with a disgusted face. He had just slid the door open to their private room but had immediately closed it again upon witnessing his friends’ nudity.
Aiba just giggled, since he walked in on them all the time. It was probably the biggest downside of still sharing a room, although it was likely more of a problem for Sho and Nino than the rest of them. But Jun had recently suggested they move into a house by the Main Building or something soon, and Aiba really liked that idea, especially if Jun and Ohno got together, too. Then he could have a room to himself and maybe get a puppy.
Jun shielded his eyes with his hand and Aiba took the younger ninja’s place as he moved down the hallway and out of the line of fire. He knocked lightly on the door and called out, “I need to get my sewing stuff! I’ll just be a second!”
There was a shuffling sound and a few seconds later Sho called out, “Okay, come in!”
Aiba smiled in apology at his two friends, who were now haphazardly covered in a blanket, and rushed to the corner of the room where his stuff was kept. He grabbed everything that he needed, and probably a few things that he didn’t in his haste, and then nodded to them as he left.
Nino was sprawled out under Sho, panting heavily, but sat up as much as he could before Aiba shut the door behind him. “You guys won’t be back for a little while, right?” he asked hurriedly, and Aiba wondered if he was just checking or specifically asking them to stay away. Well, he guessed it didn’t really matter; Jun wouldn’t come back within twenty feet of the room until dinnertime now.
“Sure, whatever, take your time,” Jun yelled sarcastically from the hallway, resting against the wall so that he didn’t see either of them when Aiba had opened the door again.
“Okay, thanks!” Nino called back with a cheerful voice and Aiba closed the door with an amused smile. The pair headed back the way they came, towards the entrance of the Main Building, and Jun pressed his hands over his ears when he heard Nino moan loudly a mere second later.
They increased their pace, Aiba almost laughing and Jun looking disgruntled.
But Aiba knew how close Nino and Jun had gotten over the years, and that the illusionist, despite his complaints and annoyed expressions, was content to give the lovers their space. He was probably building up equity for when he wanted to have sex marathons with Ohno. Aiba hoped that would be happening soon, even though it meant he wouldn’t be able to spend as many late afternoons in there as he did before.
Since Ohno was avoiding Jun, spending more of his time on missions or training Yokoyama or meeting with Jyani or whatever excuse he could find not to talk with him, Aiba had begun to keep him company more over the last week than he usually would. But Jun hadn’t been pressing Ohno to respond to him; actually, although he had tried to corner Leader once yesterday, he seemed almost afraid to hear the answer and Aiba totally understood that.
Today, Jun had been leaving Nakai’s house when Aiba spotted him from the street, where he had been buying a few things for Ken, and once Jun had said he was thinking of visiting Mao, Aiba immediately volunteered to go with him.
He wanted to get his sewing things first, though, for personal reasons, and so Jun had agreed to return to the Main Building with him, where they had witnessed their friends’ love bout.
Now they were apparently headed back to Mao’s, Aiba fingering the fluffy piece of craftsmanship that he’d been working on religiously for several days in a row.
Jun was mumbling that they really needed a house between the five of them, and Aiba was nodding contently, only half paying attention. Instead he was really thinking about how he could get Ohno and Jun together with his own tactics, trying to figure out how to help win Leader over, but in a way that would be lasting and make them both happy.
It was quite a hard thing, especially with Ohno avoiding Jun so avidly recently.
Before he realized it, Aiba was standing in front of Mao’s house with Jun next to him, knocking loudly on the wooden door.
Mao answered with a smile, asking happily what they were doing there, and then invited them in when Jun didn’t demand that she leave with them. Jun smiled back, although his attitude had turned a little melancholy, but a second later Mao’s roommate ducked her head into the entranceway and Aiba stopped paying attention to anything else.
“Ah, Aiba-kun!”
He smiled nervously and gripped onto the project he held tightly between his hands as he met her gaze, his whole face blushing bright red.
She ducked back into her room, but returned a second later, Jun and Mao watching the exchange curiously.
Yuuka had in her hands a lopsided, haphazardly sewn pillow, which was about as big as her palm, and held it up proudly for Aiba to see. He only blushed brighter and looked away sheepishly with an ecstatic grin on his face.
“I got your heart, it’s so cute!” she said with excitement. “It looks a lot better than the last one! Did you come over to practice?”
Aiba nodded slowly, then held out his next heart, the one he was currently carrying and that he thought looked really good, comparatively speaking.
She gasped happily and took the handicraft, examining it. He had stitched her name into the front of this one, a new improvement from the previous, and she squeed when she realized it, then hugged Aiba tightly. Aiba tensed up, but the embrace was fleeting and a second later she had pulled away, looking down happily at the heart in her hand.
As she examined at it in detail, Aiba tried his hardest not to stammer and willed his blood to stop pumping so quickly. “S-sorry… you have so many now…” His voice was tense and he was watching her anxiously, waiting for some reassurance, which she gave not even a heartbeat later.
“No! I love them all! You’ve gotten really good!” She looked at Aiba and then pulled him gently by the hand into her bedroom, explaining that she wanted to show him where she put them all.
Jun tried not to grin as Aiba was pulled away. Suddenly a lot more things made sense, and he wondered how long Aiba’s crush had existed and if any of the rest of Arashi had noticed through all the drama Jun and Ohno were creating. Probably not, but Aiba was by far the best at relationship stuff like that, so Jun wasn’t too worried. When Aiba wanted to talk to him, he would.
Mao was smiling widely too, and slowly led Jun to her own bedroom. “You’re here to chat about something? Or just bored?”
Jun wondered if he was selfish by pretty much only seeing his childhood friend when he needed another opinion on his situation.
But she didn’t seem to mind, and listened patiently as he explained that he had finally confessed and that Ohno had simply said he couldn’t reply right away.
“Well, that’s good, isn’t it? At least you weren’t rejected,” Mao offered, seated across from him at a low table, the only piece of furniture in the tiny room besides the futon folded in the corner.
“Yeah, but… Now he won’t talk to me at all.”
“Huh?”
Jun swallowed and averted his gaze to a piece of calligraphy hanging on the wall. “He comes in late, wakes up early, spends his free time on his own, and if he sees me, immediately turns around and walks in the other direction.”
Mao sighed and looked sorry for Jun.
“I realize that he needs time to think about it, but… It’s killing me. I feel like he’s just going to dodge the topic forever.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Mao encouraged with a confident grin, “You two live in the same house, in the same room, even. Eventually he’ll get tired of avoiding you or you’ll catch him unawares.” Her expression turned mischievous and Jun didn’t want to know what kind of image she conjured up in her head with the last part of her statement. “I’d say just give it a little more time. It’ll work out. Actually, I think the longer he takes the make his decision, the better chances you have.”
Jun looked at her quizzically. “Really?” he asked suspiciously, one of his thick eyebrow raised.
“Uh huh. Up until now he’s just pushed you away, right? If he’s still thinking about it, that means he hasn’t fallen into his old groove.”
Although Jun wasn’t quite convinced at that argument, he nodded his head anyway and tried to distract himself by changing the subject.
He ended up chatting with Mao about her training, missions, and the progress she was making on that front, but eventually their conversation turned almost humorous, falling into their usual friendly banter.
A few hours later, when it was nearing time for dinner, Aiba finally poked his head in and interrupted their discussion on whether playing the samisen was a useful ninja ability or not, asking if Jun was ready to go home.
Jun teased him on the way back about having a girlfriend, but Aiba ignored him (or didn’t realize that’s what he was doing) and instead made a vague comment that Yuuka had helped him come up with a good way to help out him and Leader.
Jun tried to get some more specific details out of him, but Aiba just looked smug and said that he needed to talk to Nino and Sho about it first and that he would find out soon enough.
With a shrug, Jun let it drop, just content that his friend was willing to help him, and then began asking him about Yuuka and what exactly was going on between them.
“Oh, she was just teaching me a little about sewing,” Aiba explained with a sheepish look.
Jun was pretty sure there was more than that, if Aiba was making her little stuffed hearts once a week. But through their conversation he discovered that Yuuka was in training to become a support ninja and that he had met her a little while ago because of that. Jun figured out the rest himself from the roundabout details Aiba gave him: the herbalist most likely took a shine to her and floundered to find some reason to keep seeing her, since they didn’t work together that often. The first thing that had come up was probably sewing or something else ridiculous like that, and Aiba jumped at the chance.
That was just so like him, Jun thought as they entered the Main Building.
Before they opened the door to their private quarters, Aiba yelled out that they were going to come in and Jun covered his eyes in the hallway again, just in case.
+++
Nino warmed up to the idea immediately and Sho said it was a completely feasible plan. They would just have to talk to a few people to make it happen, but needed to make sure Jyani didn’t realize that they were trying to push the two men closer together. None of them were sure that the ninja leader knew about the turmoil between Ohno and Jun, but it never hurt to be too careful.
Although Jun knew Kame the best out of all the Arashi members, Nino had met him a few times and they had even been out to ramen once or twice. Besides, the fact that he was so close to Jun only made their plan run more smoothly.
Under the pretense that he had a few questions about a new proposal on the way they filed mission reports, Nino invited Jyani’s subordinate into the village for some dinner, and of course it would be ramen.
Kame showed up at the scheduled time, but instead of Nino meeting him alone, Aiba and Sho were also there and he realized immediately that the whole meeting was only an excuse for something else.
Although he knew next to nothing about Jun’s relationship with Ohno, just the fact that there was something going on between them was obvious, especially after the drama of the mission with Yokoyama had come up. Jun hadn’t said much to him about it, but with him being in his own situation, Kame knew exactly what it felt like and was immediately compelled to help Arashi out.
“So, it would have to be a mission for just two people,” Aiba started to explain as they waited for the ramen to be served.
“An overnight mission,” Nino added with a smirk, preparing his chopsticks as a bowl was set in front of him and eyeing the food happily.
“And it would have to be sort of hard, I guess, since otherwise it’s just too suspicious,” Sho put in his own opinion and Kame was nodding across from them.
“It might take me a few days to find one that’ll work.” He began devouring his own food as the other three did, and there were only slurping noises and grunts of deliciousness for several minutes instead of conversation.
“That’s fine. The sooner the better, but we know it’s a difficult request,” Sho replied with a mouth full of noodles, swallowing and then looking at Nino, just to make sure the younger man agreed with him.
“As long as it’s an overnight mission, I don’t care about anything else. Jun won’t be able to control himself,” Nino said with a snicker before he lifted the bowl to his mouth to take a deep drink of the broth. “And that’ll get things moving,” he added with a refreshing sound from the back of his throat.
“Got it. Don’t worry, leave it to me!” Kame said with a smile, glad that he got to be included on this little plot of the group. But he wasn’t sure he’d be able to look Jun straight in the face until he found something, so he’d better get right to work.
+++
Jun was trying to distract himself.
He had nothing to do.
Literally. Nothing.
He’d even gone to the mission office to apply for a job, one that would take him out of the village for a few days, but Kame had said he didn’t have anything like that right now and that he’d get back to him.
Occasionally he was still training with Nakai, but Yokoyama would show up randomly and he couldn’t bring himself to be around the man for more than a few minutes, even though he wasn’t doing anything particularly annoying.
So Jun had taken to wandering around the village instead, helping out with odd jobs for free, and even begging Touma to tear himself away from Yamapi long enough to help him perfect the new technique he’d found in one of Nino’s books.
After one such afternoon of training with Touma, Jun was unable to force himself to go home (he was content to avoid Ohno back, just so the older man didn’t have to stay away from the rest of Arashi, too). Instead, he was wasting time talking with Touma and Yamapi in a common room that they shared with the rest of the house, even though Yokoyama could be heard shuffling around in his private quarters and Jun wasn’t sure he would last if he came out to join the trio.
Touma was trying his hardest to be a good host, even though Jun knew he was overstaying his welcome, but it was obvious he didn’t have company over very much. He had brought some tea in, despite having been told not to worry about it by Jun, and served it to him with an over-exaggerated movement and a smile.
There wasn’t much to talk about, though, and in fact the only lasting topic that had come up was that Jun was pushing the rest of Arashi to build a house like Touma’s, followed by a discussion about floor plans and such. But Jun had the choice of either watching Touma and Yamapi act all flustered around each other because Jun was there (the three of them didn’t hang out together very often, although Jun saw more than his share of the two of them separately) or wander around the village even though it was getting dark. He had already spent enough time doing that in the last few days, so he hung around Touma’s place even though he imagined he was being a pain.
“We’ll help, of course,” Yamapi offered with a smile, twisting his own cup of tea around in his hands. “You guys helped us out after the village was attack, its only right we return the favor.”
Jun nodded in gratitude at his two friends seated across from him, but didn’t know what else to say. He was really just putting off the inevitable and should go home; Leader was probably still out or asleep already, anyway.
But, passive as he was, Jun thought he’d wait a little while longer. Just in case.
“It’s about time, too!” Touma said heartily after a short silence had overtaken them. “I bet it’s cramped, five grown men sharing a room together. Even if it is in the Main Building.”
Jun agreed immediately. “Yeah, we’re not in there too much, so it’s not really a problem right now, but, you know… As relationships progress, we’re going to need some space,” he mumbled, although he wasn’t sure that Touma or Yamapi knew of his pursuits of Ohno.
Yamapi chuckled before responding. “You walked in on Sho and Ninomiya again?” he asked knowingly and Jun grinned, even though that wasn’t the complete reason for wanting privacy.
But before he could properly respond, the front door of the house was pushed open on the other side of the room and two men walked in. They caught the attention of the group of ninja seated around the table, and Jun’s body stiffened in surprise.
“Kame?”
“Jun? What’re you doing here?” the missions manager asked with a smile that said he wasn’t expecting to see his other friend here but that he was happy he had. “I was looking for you.”
“You two know each other?” Touma asked curiously, looking back and forth between the ninja.
“Why wouldn’t we?” Kame responded with an amused expression before Jun could answer. “I work in the Main Building, don’t I? I can’t walk down the hallways without tripping over this guy’s gangly legs,” he said in a teasing tone and Jun pretended to be disgruntled even though he knew it was a joke.
“My gangly legs are nothing compared to your enormously long hair. I heard someone got trapped in it last week and you had to use a kunai to get him out,” Jun countered smoothly, trying to hold back his own haughty expression and a chuckle threatening to exit between his lips.
“Hey!” Kame’s mouth dropped open, but he was attempting to force himself not to smile, even though the rest of the men in the room were laughing at the banter already.
After the noise had dissipated, Touma explained to Jun, “Kamenashi lives here with us, and Kouki does too.” The man standing a little bit behind the missions ninja shuffled to the side and raised his hand in a greeting as he waited for Kame to bend over and take off his shoes. Jun offered the same motion back and then turned to Touma as his friend continued. “But both of them moved to another village temporarily when we had to rebuild, so I didn’t think you’d met either of them.”
“Oh, okay,” Jun replied with an understanding nod. He hadn’t ever remembered seeing the other man before, except maybe in passing, but it seemed like he was pretty close to Kame because of the near proximity they were standing at. And when the long haired man lost his balance while struggling to get his shoes off, Kouki’s hand was at his waist and he was chuckling along with him.
They looked cute together and Jun wondered if everyone was becoming happy but him.
Well, maybe he could be happy too, if he could just get Leader to talk to him, anyway.
“I was looking for you, like, all day,” Kame started as he approached the table the other three friends were sharing, Kouki still removing his shoes at the door.
“Why?” Jun asked blatantly with a raised eyebrow.
“You said you wanted a mission, didn’t you? I found one.”
But Kame was grinning from ear to ear and so Jun was more suspicious than anything about the news, especially if the other man had gone looking for him for that long just to tell him about it.
“What is it?” he asked slowly, with an air to his voice that said he didn’t trust Kame’s attitude and thought he was being trapped somehow.
But Kame just smiled back at him happily as he took a seat, ignoring the distrustful look Jun was sending him.
“Why don’t you come into the office tomorrow and I’ll give you the details? It’ll probably be an easy mission for you, but it’s sort of far away so it’s an overnight one…Probably a few days away…” As he trailed off, Kame averted his eyes, trying to stop his grin from widening, and Jun wondered if this mission would really be that good.
+++
A/N: This was a packed chapter! First the Juntoshi kiss, then Aiba's love interest, then finally Arashi intervention. XD Hopefully you guys don't feel overwhelmed. :) For those of you who don't know, Yuuka is the actress who played opposite of Aiba in My Girl. It was a random choice, and the only het pairing in the story so far. >_< I also came up with a side story for Kouki/Kame in my head, but I doubt it will ever get written. Like a million other things.
By the way, I just finished moving! I still have a little unpacking to do, but things are going smoothly overall. I have a few vacation days, so hopefully I'll be able to update before I'm overwhelmed busy with my new classes.
As for my contest, the deadline was April 8 for my birthday, but I'm considering pushing it back again... >__>
chapter twenty-one
Rating: PG13
Pairing: Jun/Ohno, Sho/Nino
Genre: action, AU
Chapter: twenty
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Ohno Satoshi is the student of a strong ninja lord who has lived his life following his teacher’s strict guidance. But what happens when he slowly learns he has to live for himself?
Part 1: Shinobu Ishi ( Chapter one, Chapter two, Chapter three, Chapter four, Chapter five, Chapter six, Chapter seven)
Part 2: Shinobu Kokoro ( Chapter eight, Chapter nine, Chapter ten, Chapter eleven, Chapter twelve, Chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen)
Part 3: Shinobu Kanjyo ( Chapter fifteen, Chapter sixteen, Chapter seventeen, Chapter eighteen, Chapter nineteen
Ohno showed up earlier than Jun was expecting.
The sun was about to set and he’d been sitting on the fallen tree for more than an hour, visualizing the words he wanted to say to build up his confidence. He wasn’t feeling very sure of himself, but he couldn’t wait any longer for this. He didn’t want their relationship to stay lifeless, like it currently was.
Leader was shuffling through the undergrowth and looking generally unsure of the situation, but Jun could tell he knew what the topic was going to be and had already made a decision, although Jun wasn’t completely sure which way it would fall anymore, after speaking with Nino. He had seemed pretty confident that Ohno was coming around, but Ohno had been the same for three years, so maybe changing wouldn’t be so easy.
Without prompting, Ohno sat down next to Jun, who was grasping his hands together nervously but watching every move the other man made. They weren’t close enough to be touching, which made Jun tense since Ohno always sat right next to him; he wanted to feel Leader’s knee against his own more now that he ever had before.
They waited in silence for a few seconds, Jun unable to start but Ohno not prompting him to either.
Finally, after he had looked down at his hands, then to the trees growing opposite them, and then up at the sky, he got something out.
“I love you, Ohno.”
There it was. Simple and straightforward.
Jun snuck a look at his counterpart to see his reaction, but Ohno was averting his gaze to his lap.
He didn’t respond and didn’t look like he was going to anytime soon, so Jun continued in a hushed voice.
“I want to be with you forever, Leader. I want to kiss you and…” Jun swallowed nervously, “I want what Sho and Nino have, but with you.”
Tentatively and scared that the older man would immediately back away, Jun pulled together his courage and reached over to touch the hand laying on Ohno’s lap, gently taking it in one of his own. Leader stared at their intertwined fingers as Jun pulled them closer and then slowly shifted his gaze up to meet Jun’s stare head on.
He looked apprehensive, but he hadn’t rejected him yet, which Jun took as a good sign.
Scooting closer so that their legs were touching now, too, Jun covered Ohno’s hand with both of his own and rested them on their connected thighs, suddenly becoming calmer because of the near proximity. Although Ohno was the reason he was getting flustered right now, the older man had always been a comfort to him too, no matter the situation.
“There’s never going to be another person for me, Leader. Never. I’m not going to live with Mao, or anyone else. The only person I want is you,” Jun admitted with a sigh, looking down at their intertwined fingers, rubbing his lightly over Ohno’s. “I’m not going to give up, either. You’ll have to get Jyani to kick me out of the village or something.” He tried to make it sound like a joke, but at the same time he was deadly serious about the comment. The only way he’d give up on Ohno was if extreme measures were taken.
Silence overtook them again and Ohno averted his eyes in an attempt to distance himself from Jun. He wished that the other man would say something, anything. If he didn’t, Jun would continue to ramble, to talk about how much Leader meant to him, and they would be out far later than they needed to be.
“I love you, Ohno,” he repeated in a lowered voice and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to repress the heavy emotions that were coming up his throat. “I’d die for you. In a second.”
Leader swallowed, obviously feeling what Jun was. He whispered his name under his breath, but otherwise didn’t begin to respond to all of the confessions that had already been released.
“I love you,” he said again, unsure how else to get his point across. He willed himself to stop speaking so that Ohno could get a word in, but his mouth wouldn’t shut up for him. “I’m completely dedicated to you, my whole life belongs to you, Ohno. Jyani be damned.”
That caused a reaction and Leader finally turned to him again, looking apprehensive but not overly upset about the statement.
“You shouldn’t say that,” he chided gently, acting more sad than angry at the blatant rebellion of his fellow ninja. But his expression was saying that he wished he could do the same.
Jun hadn’t called Ohno out here to discuss where his loyalties were, though; he wanted to force Ohno to make a decision, basically. Jun wanted Leader to either tell him he never wanted to see him again or that he was willing to give the whole thing a shot. All the illusionist needed was one chance, he was sure of that. If he could start something it would be impossible for either of them to return to the way they were now, even if it turned messy and everything fell apart like Leader was scared of.
Feeling guilty about making things more difficult than he had meant to, Jun mumbled afterwards, “Well, if I’ll do anything for you and you’d do anything for Jyani, it’s the same thing, isn’t it?”
Ohno tried not to be overwhelmed with that direction of logic. Although it made sense, it put all the pressure on him to keep Jun under control.
And honestly, Ohno didn’t know what he would do if Jyani suddenly decided that Jun was being a nuisance or even a threat and took him away from him. He wasn’t sure he could survive if Jun had to leave, even though it would make Leader’s life generally simpler. If something happened to Jun, Ohno would be right behind him, even if it meant giving up the life he had worked so hard to create until now.
But he didn’t want to abandon everything if he didn’t have to. It was better to have Jun close enough to keep an eye on but not so near that he was tempted. That’s what Ohno thought, anyway.
Unable to react, though, the swordsman remained silent and just looked at Jun’s hands still tightly gripping onto his. He knew the younger ninja was waiting for a reply, even if it was I don’t want to talk about this right now, but in his current state, Ohno was unable to deliver.
Minutes passed and Jun didn’t continue his long string of verbal affections, but he slowly leaned his head against Ohno, resting his cheek lightly on the older man’s shoulder, and Leader couldn’t help but turn a little to watch him out of the corner of his eye.
Jun’s hair was tickling his jaw and Ohno realized how just long it had been since they had been this close. It must have been the last time they had slept together, which was a fuzzy memory in the back of his head. The feeling was nice and his counterpart smelled good and Ohno was on the verge of giving in when Jun looked up and their gazes locked.
Even though he knew what was coming-how could he not with the way Jun’s eyes were fluttering and his breath was speeding up-Ohno didn’t pull away when the younger began to shift slightly closer.
His own heart was beating rapidly in his chest and he could feel warmth rushing through his body, even though he had no idea where it came from, and he was closing his eyes even though his mind was screaming for him to retreat like he usually did.
He felt Jun’s breath on his own slightly parted lips right before the soft skin of his mouth pressing against his.
A groan almost escaped from Ohno, but he held it back, and he felt like he was hyperventilating, like he was going to lose consciousness and fall onto the ground right in front of them because he couldn’t breathe properly anymore. Jun’s mouth was hot and attracting his own like they were always meant to be that way, and the dry skin was sticking to the wetness of the inside of Ohno’s.
One of Jun’s hands slipped around to rest on the back of Leader’s head, his thumb tenderly caressing just below his ear, and he increased the pressure of the kiss, parting his own lips in the same way that Ohno had been caught in.
Unconsciously tilting his to one side, Jun slowly licked the bottom of Ohno’s top lip and then slipped his tongue past them a moment later. He began feeling around the inside of him carefully, and he gasped softly when the older man’s tongue was coaxed to caress him back.
The other hand had released Ohno’s and was now resting gently on his back, trying to bring him closer despite the fact they were already flushly side by side. The swordsman was attempting to follow the other tongue with his own as they slid past each other and Jun leisurely mapped out the secrets of the inside of his mouth.
A moment later Jun retracted his kiss just enough to catch his breath and sigh, “Leader,” with his forehead pressed against Ohno’s and his eyes still shut.
But Ohno’s fluttered open and he was gasping for air, too. He couldn’t pull his gaze away from Jun, even though the younger man was too close to focus on.
Jun swallowed a few times and then allowed himself to pull back a bit and look at Ohno once more, want and arousal blatantly showing in his eyes.
Leader’s hand was tenderly stroking Jun’s cheek before he could stop it and although he wanted another kiss, his mind was slowly coming back, telling him to clear the air.
“I can’t give you an answer. I need to think about it,” Ohno whispered, closing his eyes so he didn’t have to watch Jun’s reaction. Even after they had just shared a heated kiss, Leader still wasn’t completely dedicated to turning himself over to him, and he didn’t want to do so until he had thought of every aspect of the situation and reached a decision he could be confident in.
Jun sighed in disappointment, but it seemed like he was content with the response as well.
“I’m going to go back to the Main Building,” Ohno explained a few seconds later with his eyes fluttering open again, even though he had made no move to do so. His hand was still resting on Jun’s face, his fingers now touching his lips lightly, just as they had when Jun had been asleep in this very spot and Ohno had carried him home.
Jun swallowed, watching him closely, and hummed quietly in return, opening his mouth just slightly so that his breath softly brushed against Leader’s skin.
Somehow, with all the willpower he had, Ohno looked away and retreated out of Jun’s grasp, eventually standing and forcing himself towards the trail leading home.
He paused when he heard a shuffle of leaves a little ways off, but it didn’t continue for more than a second, and really he was just putting off the inevitable and needed to make his exit. Ohno turned back to Jun, who was staring at him, and then wished he hadn’t, because it made retreating that much harder.
+++
Aiba wondered if maybe Jun’s confession hadn’t gone as well as it should have.
Of course both of his friends looked content when he talked to them later, but Jun told him that Ohno hadn’t given him an answer and now their captain was avoiding him.
Leader was an enigma to Aiba. Jun was an ideal candidate for a boyfriend, much better than that Yokoyama boy, and besides, he was really good at cooking and really handsome, wasn’t he? And Aiba could see the way that Oh-chan looked at him, and so he just couldn’t figure out why they weren’t having sex like Nino and Sho were already.
Speaking of which-
“Ew, they’re naked again,” Jun said with a disgusted face. He had just slid the door open to their private room but had immediately closed it again upon witnessing his friends’ nudity.
Aiba just giggled, since he walked in on them all the time. It was probably the biggest downside of still sharing a room, although it was likely more of a problem for Sho and Nino than the rest of them. But Jun had recently suggested they move into a house by the Main Building or something soon, and Aiba really liked that idea, especially if Jun and Ohno got together, too. Then he could have a room to himself and maybe get a puppy.
Jun shielded his eyes with his hand and Aiba took the younger ninja’s place as he moved down the hallway and out of the line of fire. He knocked lightly on the door and called out, “I need to get my sewing stuff! I’ll just be a second!”
There was a shuffling sound and a few seconds later Sho called out, “Okay, come in!”
Aiba smiled in apology at his two friends, who were now haphazardly covered in a blanket, and rushed to the corner of the room where his stuff was kept. He grabbed everything that he needed, and probably a few things that he didn’t in his haste, and then nodded to them as he left.
Nino was sprawled out under Sho, panting heavily, but sat up as much as he could before Aiba shut the door behind him. “You guys won’t be back for a little while, right?” he asked hurriedly, and Aiba wondered if he was just checking or specifically asking them to stay away. Well, he guessed it didn’t really matter; Jun wouldn’t come back within twenty feet of the room until dinnertime now.
“Sure, whatever, take your time,” Jun yelled sarcastically from the hallway, resting against the wall so that he didn’t see either of them when Aiba had opened the door again.
“Okay, thanks!” Nino called back with a cheerful voice and Aiba closed the door with an amused smile. The pair headed back the way they came, towards the entrance of the Main Building, and Jun pressed his hands over his ears when he heard Nino moan loudly a mere second later.
They increased their pace, Aiba almost laughing and Jun looking disgruntled.
But Aiba knew how close Nino and Jun had gotten over the years, and that the illusionist, despite his complaints and annoyed expressions, was content to give the lovers their space. He was probably building up equity for when he wanted to have sex marathons with Ohno. Aiba hoped that would be happening soon, even though it meant he wouldn’t be able to spend as many late afternoons in there as he did before.
Since Ohno was avoiding Jun, spending more of his time on missions or training Yokoyama or meeting with Jyani or whatever excuse he could find not to talk with him, Aiba had begun to keep him company more over the last week than he usually would. But Jun hadn’t been pressing Ohno to respond to him; actually, although he had tried to corner Leader once yesterday, he seemed almost afraid to hear the answer and Aiba totally understood that.
Today, Jun had been leaving Nakai’s house when Aiba spotted him from the street, where he had been buying a few things for Ken, and once Jun had said he was thinking of visiting Mao, Aiba immediately volunteered to go with him.
He wanted to get his sewing things first, though, for personal reasons, and so Jun had agreed to return to the Main Building with him, where they had witnessed their friends’ love bout.
Now they were apparently headed back to Mao’s, Aiba fingering the fluffy piece of craftsmanship that he’d been working on religiously for several days in a row.
Jun was mumbling that they really needed a house between the five of them, and Aiba was nodding contently, only half paying attention. Instead he was really thinking about how he could get Ohno and Jun together with his own tactics, trying to figure out how to help win Leader over, but in a way that would be lasting and make them both happy.
It was quite a hard thing, especially with Ohno avoiding Jun so avidly recently.
Before he realized it, Aiba was standing in front of Mao’s house with Jun next to him, knocking loudly on the wooden door.
Mao answered with a smile, asking happily what they were doing there, and then invited them in when Jun didn’t demand that she leave with them. Jun smiled back, although his attitude had turned a little melancholy, but a second later Mao’s roommate ducked her head into the entranceway and Aiba stopped paying attention to anything else.
“Ah, Aiba-kun!”
He smiled nervously and gripped onto the project he held tightly between his hands as he met her gaze, his whole face blushing bright red.
She ducked back into her room, but returned a second later, Jun and Mao watching the exchange curiously.
Yuuka had in her hands a lopsided, haphazardly sewn pillow, which was about as big as her palm, and held it up proudly for Aiba to see. He only blushed brighter and looked away sheepishly with an ecstatic grin on his face.
“I got your heart, it’s so cute!” she said with excitement. “It looks a lot better than the last one! Did you come over to practice?”
Aiba nodded slowly, then held out his next heart, the one he was currently carrying and that he thought looked really good, comparatively speaking.
She gasped happily and took the handicraft, examining it. He had stitched her name into the front of this one, a new improvement from the previous, and she squeed when she realized it, then hugged Aiba tightly. Aiba tensed up, but the embrace was fleeting and a second later she had pulled away, looking down happily at the heart in her hand.
As she examined at it in detail, Aiba tried his hardest not to stammer and willed his blood to stop pumping so quickly. “S-sorry… you have so many now…” His voice was tense and he was watching her anxiously, waiting for some reassurance, which she gave not even a heartbeat later.
“No! I love them all! You’ve gotten really good!” She looked at Aiba and then pulled him gently by the hand into her bedroom, explaining that she wanted to show him where she put them all.
Jun tried not to grin as Aiba was pulled away. Suddenly a lot more things made sense, and he wondered how long Aiba’s crush had existed and if any of the rest of Arashi had noticed through all the drama Jun and Ohno were creating. Probably not, but Aiba was by far the best at relationship stuff like that, so Jun wasn’t too worried. When Aiba wanted to talk to him, he would.
Mao was smiling widely too, and slowly led Jun to her own bedroom. “You’re here to chat about something? Or just bored?”
Jun wondered if he was selfish by pretty much only seeing his childhood friend when he needed another opinion on his situation.
But she didn’t seem to mind, and listened patiently as he explained that he had finally confessed and that Ohno had simply said he couldn’t reply right away.
“Well, that’s good, isn’t it? At least you weren’t rejected,” Mao offered, seated across from him at a low table, the only piece of furniture in the tiny room besides the futon folded in the corner.
“Yeah, but… Now he won’t talk to me at all.”
“Huh?”
Jun swallowed and averted his gaze to a piece of calligraphy hanging on the wall. “He comes in late, wakes up early, spends his free time on his own, and if he sees me, immediately turns around and walks in the other direction.”
Mao sighed and looked sorry for Jun.
“I realize that he needs time to think about it, but… It’s killing me. I feel like he’s just going to dodge the topic forever.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Mao encouraged with a confident grin, “You two live in the same house, in the same room, even. Eventually he’ll get tired of avoiding you or you’ll catch him unawares.” Her expression turned mischievous and Jun didn’t want to know what kind of image she conjured up in her head with the last part of her statement. “I’d say just give it a little more time. It’ll work out. Actually, I think the longer he takes the make his decision, the better chances you have.”
Jun looked at her quizzically. “Really?” he asked suspiciously, one of his thick eyebrow raised.
“Uh huh. Up until now he’s just pushed you away, right? If he’s still thinking about it, that means he hasn’t fallen into his old groove.”
Although Jun wasn’t quite convinced at that argument, he nodded his head anyway and tried to distract himself by changing the subject.
He ended up chatting with Mao about her training, missions, and the progress she was making on that front, but eventually their conversation turned almost humorous, falling into their usual friendly banter.
A few hours later, when it was nearing time for dinner, Aiba finally poked his head in and interrupted their discussion on whether playing the samisen was a useful ninja ability or not, asking if Jun was ready to go home.
Jun teased him on the way back about having a girlfriend, but Aiba ignored him (or didn’t realize that’s what he was doing) and instead made a vague comment that Yuuka had helped him come up with a good way to help out him and Leader.
Jun tried to get some more specific details out of him, but Aiba just looked smug and said that he needed to talk to Nino and Sho about it first and that he would find out soon enough.
With a shrug, Jun let it drop, just content that his friend was willing to help him, and then began asking him about Yuuka and what exactly was going on between them.
“Oh, she was just teaching me a little about sewing,” Aiba explained with a sheepish look.
Jun was pretty sure there was more than that, if Aiba was making her little stuffed hearts once a week. But through their conversation he discovered that Yuuka was in training to become a support ninja and that he had met her a little while ago because of that. Jun figured out the rest himself from the roundabout details Aiba gave him: the herbalist most likely took a shine to her and floundered to find some reason to keep seeing her, since they didn’t work together that often. The first thing that had come up was probably sewing or something else ridiculous like that, and Aiba jumped at the chance.
That was just so like him, Jun thought as they entered the Main Building.
Before they opened the door to their private quarters, Aiba yelled out that they were going to come in and Jun covered his eyes in the hallway again, just in case.
+++
Nino warmed up to the idea immediately and Sho said it was a completely feasible plan. They would just have to talk to a few people to make it happen, but needed to make sure Jyani didn’t realize that they were trying to push the two men closer together. None of them were sure that the ninja leader knew about the turmoil between Ohno and Jun, but it never hurt to be too careful.
Although Jun knew Kame the best out of all the Arashi members, Nino had met him a few times and they had even been out to ramen once or twice. Besides, the fact that he was so close to Jun only made their plan run more smoothly.
Under the pretense that he had a few questions about a new proposal on the way they filed mission reports, Nino invited Jyani’s subordinate into the village for some dinner, and of course it would be ramen.
Kame showed up at the scheduled time, but instead of Nino meeting him alone, Aiba and Sho were also there and he realized immediately that the whole meeting was only an excuse for something else.
Although he knew next to nothing about Jun’s relationship with Ohno, just the fact that there was something going on between them was obvious, especially after the drama of the mission with Yokoyama had come up. Jun hadn’t said much to him about it, but with him being in his own situation, Kame knew exactly what it felt like and was immediately compelled to help Arashi out.
“So, it would have to be a mission for just two people,” Aiba started to explain as they waited for the ramen to be served.
“An overnight mission,” Nino added with a smirk, preparing his chopsticks as a bowl was set in front of him and eyeing the food happily.
“And it would have to be sort of hard, I guess, since otherwise it’s just too suspicious,” Sho put in his own opinion and Kame was nodding across from them.
“It might take me a few days to find one that’ll work.” He began devouring his own food as the other three did, and there were only slurping noises and grunts of deliciousness for several minutes instead of conversation.
“That’s fine. The sooner the better, but we know it’s a difficult request,” Sho replied with a mouth full of noodles, swallowing and then looking at Nino, just to make sure the younger man agreed with him.
“As long as it’s an overnight mission, I don’t care about anything else. Jun won’t be able to control himself,” Nino said with a snicker before he lifted the bowl to his mouth to take a deep drink of the broth. “And that’ll get things moving,” he added with a refreshing sound from the back of his throat.
“Got it. Don’t worry, leave it to me!” Kame said with a smile, glad that he got to be included on this little plot of the group. But he wasn’t sure he’d be able to look Jun straight in the face until he found something, so he’d better get right to work.
+++
Jun was trying to distract himself.
He had nothing to do.
Literally. Nothing.
He’d even gone to the mission office to apply for a job, one that would take him out of the village for a few days, but Kame had said he didn’t have anything like that right now and that he’d get back to him.
Occasionally he was still training with Nakai, but Yokoyama would show up randomly and he couldn’t bring himself to be around the man for more than a few minutes, even though he wasn’t doing anything particularly annoying.
So Jun had taken to wandering around the village instead, helping out with odd jobs for free, and even begging Touma to tear himself away from Yamapi long enough to help him perfect the new technique he’d found in one of Nino’s books.
After one such afternoon of training with Touma, Jun was unable to force himself to go home (he was content to avoid Ohno back, just so the older man didn’t have to stay away from the rest of Arashi, too). Instead, he was wasting time talking with Touma and Yamapi in a common room that they shared with the rest of the house, even though Yokoyama could be heard shuffling around in his private quarters and Jun wasn’t sure he would last if he came out to join the trio.
Touma was trying his hardest to be a good host, even though Jun knew he was overstaying his welcome, but it was obvious he didn’t have company over very much. He had brought some tea in, despite having been told not to worry about it by Jun, and served it to him with an over-exaggerated movement and a smile.
There wasn’t much to talk about, though, and in fact the only lasting topic that had come up was that Jun was pushing the rest of Arashi to build a house like Touma’s, followed by a discussion about floor plans and such. But Jun had the choice of either watching Touma and Yamapi act all flustered around each other because Jun was there (the three of them didn’t hang out together very often, although Jun saw more than his share of the two of them separately) or wander around the village even though it was getting dark. He had already spent enough time doing that in the last few days, so he hung around Touma’s place even though he imagined he was being a pain.
“We’ll help, of course,” Yamapi offered with a smile, twisting his own cup of tea around in his hands. “You guys helped us out after the village was attack, its only right we return the favor.”
Jun nodded in gratitude at his two friends seated across from him, but didn’t know what else to say. He was really just putting off the inevitable and should go home; Leader was probably still out or asleep already, anyway.
But, passive as he was, Jun thought he’d wait a little while longer. Just in case.
“It’s about time, too!” Touma said heartily after a short silence had overtaken them. “I bet it’s cramped, five grown men sharing a room together. Even if it is in the Main Building.”
Jun agreed immediately. “Yeah, we’re not in there too much, so it’s not really a problem right now, but, you know… As relationships progress, we’re going to need some space,” he mumbled, although he wasn’t sure that Touma or Yamapi knew of his pursuits of Ohno.
Yamapi chuckled before responding. “You walked in on Sho and Ninomiya again?” he asked knowingly and Jun grinned, even though that wasn’t the complete reason for wanting privacy.
But before he could properly respond, the front door of the house was pushed open on the other side of the room and two men walked in. They caught the attention of the group of ninja seated around the table, and Jun’s body stiffened in surprise.
“Kame?”
“Jun? What’re you doing here?” the missions manager asked with a smile that said he wasn’t expecting to see his other friend here but that he was happy he had. “I was looking for you.”
“You two know each other?” Touma asked curiously, looking back and forth between the ninja.
“Why wouldn’t we?” Kame responded with an amused expression before Jun could answer. “I work in the Main Building, don’t I? I can’t walk down the hallways without tripping over this guy’s gangly legs,” he said in a teasing tone and Jun pretended to be disgruntled even though he knew it was a joke.
“My gangly legs are nothing compared to your enormously long hair. I heard someone got trapped in it last week and you had to use a kunai to get him out,” Jun countered smoothly, trying to hold back his own haughty expression and a chuckle threatening to exit between his lips.
“Hey!” Kame’s mouth dropped open, but he was attempting to force himself not to smile, even though the rest of the men in the room were laughing at the banter already.
After the noise had dissipated, Touma explained to Jun, “Kamenashi lives here with us, and Kouki does too.” The man standing a little bit behind the missions ninja shuffled to the side and raised his hand in a greeting as he waited for Kame to bend over and take off his shoes. Jun offered the same motion back and then turned to Touma as his friend continued. “But both of them moved to another village temporarily when we had to rebuild, so I didn’t think you’d met either of them.”
“Oh, okay,” Jun replied with an understanding nod. He hadn’t ever remembered seeing the other man before, except maybe in passing, but it seemed like he was pretty close to Kame because of the near proximity they were standing at. And when the long haired man lost his balance while struggling to get his shoes off, Kouki’s hand was at his waist and he was chuckling along with him.
They looked cute together and Jun wondered if everyone was becoming happy but him.
Well, maybe he could be happy too, if he could just get Leader to talk to him, anyway.
“I was looking for you, like, all day,” Kame started as he approached the table the other three friends were sharing, Kouki still removing his shoes at the door.
“Why?” Jun asked blatantly with a raised eyebrow.
“You said you wanted a mission, didn’t you? I found one.”
But Kame was grinning from ear to ear and so Jun was more suspicious than anything about the news, especially if the other man had gone looking for him for that long just to tell him about it.
“What is it?” he asked slowly, with an air to his voice that said he didn’t trust Kame’s attitude and thought he was being trapped somehow.
But Kame just smiled back at him happily as he took a seat, ignoring the distrustful look Jun was sending him.
“Why don’t you come into the office tomorrow and I’ll give you the details? It’ll probably be an easy mission for you, but it’s sort of far away so it’s an overnight one…Probably a few days away…” As he trailed off, Kame averted his eyes, trying to stop his grin from widening, and Jun wondered if this mission would really be that good.
+++
A/N: This was a packed chapter! First the Juntoshi kiss, then Aiba's love interest, then finally Arashi intervention. XD Hopefully you guys don't feel overwhelmed. :) For those of you who don't know, Yuuka is the actress who played opposite of Aiba in My Girl. It was a random choice, and the only het pairing in the story so far. >_< I also came up with a side story for Kouki/Kame in my head, but I doubt it will ever get written. Like a million other things.
By the way, I just finished moving! I still have a little unpacking to do, but things are going smoothly overall. I have a few vacation days, so hopefully I'll be able to update before I'm overwhelmed busy with my new classes.
As for my contest, the deadline was April 8 for my birthday, but I'm considering pushing it back again... >__>
chapter twenty-one