Jade Chapter 9

[lilly0]

Title: Jade: Chapter 9 (of 17)
Pairing: Akame. RyoxJin as brothers (not as a pairing). Various other characters.
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, crime, romance, family
Multi-chapter
Disclaimer: I don't own them or anything else JE-related. But the story is mine of course^^
Summary: Tokyo, 1981: A young bride disappears, leaving no trace but an old necklace out of jade. No one has seen her, no one knows who she is. The woman that never existed.
Tokyo, 2011: Jin, a talented photographer, is known for his sixth sense when it’s about photos and other person’s emotions. When he gets the offer to work with Tokyo’s Criminal Investigation Department, he moves to Tokyo, together with his 16-year-old brother.
There he starts to work together with the skilled, but eccentric young detective Kamenashi Kazuya.They are part of the department for Cold Cases, where forgotten and never solved cases are investigated again. Despite their first rather bad impression of each other, they soon learn that their skills complement each other almost perfectly.
The case they are working on seems mysterious, but harmless: Jade, the woman that had been erased from everyone's memory. But soon Jin and Kame realize that with this case they are awakening a sleeping lion, bringing themselves and everyone they love and care for into danger. They suddenly fall into a network of intrigues, murders and threats. On top of that they are both hiding something from each other and from everyone else... something no one is supposed to know...







Her groom had committed suicide. But she had no chance anymore to get to know it. All bonds to the real world had been cut at once. Her past, her present, her future.

"Because I have no other things to give you, no presents or explanations that will ever make you forgive me, I'm sending them to you... my tears, frozen to ice, so that you will never forget me and the pain I felt."



******

“Ryo-chan? I’m going now…”

Jin sighed when he didn’t get any answer. Ryo hadn’t talked to him since Thursday. Not only that, but Jin actually hadn’t even seen him properly. Whenever he came home from work or woke up in the morning, Ryo was in his room again or on his way to school.

He had successfully avoided every contact with him. Especially Friday night’s dinner had been fun, when first Jin and then Yuu had tried to get Ryo out of his room to eat something with them. But Ryo was never forgiving anyone easily and he knew pretty well that Jin hated it when he didn’t eat enough, because his health state wasn’t the strongest to begin with.

Nothing had helped though. No threatening, no begging, no talking. At one point Yuu had tugged Jin downstairs again, forcing him to sit down, before he had grabbed a plate with Ryo’s share from their dinner and carried it upstairs, placing it in front of Ryo’s door. “Please eat it.” he begged silently.

Jin knew that Yuu was annoyed at him for how he had treated Ryo and for his reaction. But in the end he couldn’t force Jin to change his mind. Ryo was his brother after all and he was his guardian, not Yuu.

Still, he showed Jin pretty clearly that he didn’t agree at all with how he was handling things. Jin looked upstairs, sighing when he realized that he wouldn’t get any answer from Ryo before he would drive away with Kame.

“Watch out for him, okay?”

“Sure.” Yuu mumbled.

“Yuu…”

“What!?” Yuu glared. “You didn’t listen to one single advice I gave you. I know he is your brother and not mine, but I’m your best friend, aren’t I? And I’m living here together with you. Is my opinion worth nothing?”

“That’s not it…” Jin mumbled miserably. “But in this case I had no other opportunity…”

“He isn’t talking to you since three days, Jin! You are telling me that this is the best you were capable of? Punishing him for something he didn’t even do?” Yuu complained, not even hiding his anger.

“I had no other option.” Jin tried to defend himself, something in his voice sounded so desperate that Yuu frowned.

“What do you mean?” the latter asked piercingly. “There is something I don’t know, am I right?”

Jin stayed quiet for a moment, wondering if he should tell Yuu, but then he decided against it…again. “Please watch out for him, okay?”

Yuu sighed deeply, in the end he couldn’t let Jin drive away without reassuring him. “I will.”

******

“You know how to drive a boat?” the man at the harbour asked politely.

“Of course.” Kame smiled winningly. He was wearing beach clothes. He had thought that they were appropriate, but somehow when he looked at Jin he felt out of place. Jin just looked like he totally belonged to this place…while Kame rather looked like a business man pretending to be used to the beach and ocean.

The man inspected Kame sceptically, making him blush a bit. But to his relief Jin butted in and as always his convincing attitude worked on the people around him. The man smiled brightly, nodding his head and handed Jin the keys to the boat. Jin bowed politely, glad that this here worked so well for them. Then he sighed secretly. Why couldn’t he get through to his brother like that? All other people were so easily convinced and so easy to talk to, while it was almost impossible for him to use this kind of convincing attitude towards Ryo. He actually even failed when he was trying it… otherwise he would have found a better reason to have his brother save at home, instead of grounding him for no reason.

Kame looked at Jin carefully when they were on the boat, driving out to the ocean. Jin was different to his usual self. He was absent-minded and almost sad. Though their trip here was actually going well. When they had talked to several people here, they had found out that Yamamoto-sensei really came here regularly. Almost every time he was free from university – not only for holidays.

That was the reason why they rented a boat now, because from what they heard the professor’s favourite place was a little island that could only be reached by boat.

Actually it was a huge success what they had found out, but still…Jin seemed to be almost remorseful. Just why? Kame sighed, wishing he would be able to cheer Jin up and comfort him, just like Jin had comforted him when he was watching the professor’s funeral. But he couldn’t…he didn’t know how.

He coughed a bit. “See? I really know how to drive a boat?”

Jin blinked a bit at that, he couldn’t help but smile at Kame’s proud expression. “You are right. I didn’t expect it…”

Kame chuckled. “I made my license when I was studying at university.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I’m actually a cool guy.” Kame explained.

Jin chuckled at that, touching Kame’s arm a bit. “I’m sure you are.”

Kame blushed a bit at that, his heart jumping like crazy at Jin’s touches. He bit down on his lips, trying to fight this feeling back. This was no good. Really, absolutely no good.

******

Actually Yuu was glad when Jin was finally on his way, because now he would have a possibility to make Ryo come out of his shell again. He did that in his very unique Yuu-way, which meant he didn’t do anything special at all. He merely knocked at Ryo’s door. “Hey sweety, your brother isn’t here. So come down for breakfast, alright?”

He grinned a bit when he heard Ryo’s footsteps, before a sleepy and grumpy Ryo appeared in the kitchen. “Morning…”

Yuu smiled. “Hey small one. Good morning! I almost forgot how your face looks like.”

Ryo blushed a bit. “Sorry…” he stuttered.

“It’s okay.” Yuu smiled sympathetically. “Let’s have breakfast, alright?”

When they were finished, Yuu looked at Ryo warmly. “Lots of homework to do?”

“No.” Ryo shook his head. “I finished them yesterday.”

“What?” Yuu blinked. “The work for the whole week?”

“Yes.” Ryo frowned. “I didn’t have anything better to do.” he explained bitingly.

“I’m sorry.” Yuu sighed a bit. “In the end, I couldn’t get through to your brother.” He rubbed through his hair warily, looking at the younger one nervously. “You know… I think you two need to talk.”

“No!” Ryo answered fiercely.

“Ryo…”

“I said no!” Ryo huffed. “I don’t want to!”

“Alright, alright.” Yuu tried to sooth him down, before he angled for his and Ryo’s jacket, throwing Ryo’s towards the younger one. “Here put that on.”

“What for?” Ryo asked in surprise.

“We’ll be going for a walk.” Yuu explained simply.

“Yuu…” Ryo sighed in frustration. “I’m grounded! It means I should stay in the house.”

“I know.” Yuu smiled a bit. “But Buddy needs a walk. And Jin doesn’t want me to let you alone, so…”

Ryo smiled out of a sudden, jumping up. “I’ll get Buddy.” He was about to leave the room, when he turned around again, hugging Yuu out of the blue. “I’m so glad to have you around!”

“It’s okay, really.” Yuu stuttered, trying to hide it how touched he felt. “Let’s go…” He grinned. "We can drop by at the healthcare centre. Ueda-kun is working there today. Let's pick him up too, okay?"

Ryo nodded his head, then he grinned brightly. "Do you have a crush on him?"

"EH!?" Yuu looked at Ryo in surprise, smacking the younger one teasingly. "What do you know about that, kiddo?"

Ryo chuckled. "The hungry glance you just had in your eyes..."

"Maybe I was hungry?" Yuu suggested almost helplessly.

"Yes." Ryo nodded earnestly, before he snatched the dog leash out of Yuu's hand. "Come!" he grinned. "Let's not make Tatsuya-kun wait. He for sure is hungry too..."

Yuu blushed at that, not sure what to say to that. The next 30 minutes he kept following Ryo and ranting on and on about how kids nowadays had no respect towards grown-ups. Ryo smiled brightly at that, patting Yuu's arm. "Look, we are here." He waved a bit when they approached the healthcare centre and found Ueda in the garden, about to finish his work.

"Hey you two." Ueda blinked in surprise, before he smiled happily. "What a surprise."

"We came to pick you up." Ryo smiled politely, ignoring Yuu's elbow that kept poking his side. "You look hungry..."

Despite his own embarrassment, Yuu almost had to laugh at that. Then he realized what kind of clue he had gotten from Ryo here. Smart kid. "Yes, Ryo is right. Maybe you should have lunch with us?" Secretly he swore to himself to buy his best friend's brother a present afterwards... for giving him this opportunity.



******

It took them almost 2 hours to reach the island. Actually Kame had misinterpreted the coordinates first, but Jin didn’t need to know that of course. But finally they arrived.

“Wow…” Jin blinked when he eyed the very few houses on the island. “This is…well…deserted…”

“Totally.” Kame nodded his head in surprise. “The houses seem to be empty. Well, from what I know they are only used very spontaneously. From fishermen when they need to stay out for some nights.”

“Kame-kun…there is nothing special around here! Nothing!” Jin frowned angrily. “This here is useless.”

Kame blinked, not used to this kind of negative attitude coming from Jin. He tried to smile encouragingly. “We don’t know that yet. Maybe there is some sort of secret entrance somewhere. Or an old cave… A cellar...”

Jin sighed. “Whatever…”

Kame shifted around nervously. They had to find something here, otherwise he would loose his face in front of Jin. He didn't want that to happen. Jin was already impatient enough…

But no matter how hard they tried, there was nothing around them. No secret entrance, no special building, nothing. Soon also Kame sighed in frustration, but he didn’t want to give up yet. “Did we search here?”

“Yes.”

“And at that place?”

“Yes.” Jin answered in annoyance.

Kame frowned. “You could be more helpful, you know!?” he blurt out angrily, finally loosing his patience.

Jin glared. “Well, I think I was helpful enough till now. Otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten the boat at all… Besides… who was the one getting the information from the people living here? You or me?”

Kame’s cheeks flushed angrily. “I know that I have no social abilities. Thanks for reminding me of it!!” he yelled furiously.

“Oh please, shut up.” Jin huffed. “You are like a stubborn little kid!”

Kame stared at Jin in disbelief. Later he wasn’t able to tell why it was that moment out of all that made him do something so crazy… But maybe it was because Jin had called him ‘a kid’. He rushed towards Jin, not even realizing that the other was expecting him to hit him, instead he simply grabbed Jin’s shirt, pulling him into a heated kiss.

For a moment Jin was almost paralyzed by that move, until Kame drew back, this time his cheeks were flushed in a deep red… from embarrassment. “I’m not a kid…” he tried to make a proper explanation.

Jin blinked at that, then he had to smile a bit. He grabbed Kame’s shoulders, pulling him closer again to kiss him once more. He didn’t know why, but somehow Kame had something soothing for him. Though his stomach was twitching like crazy at the moment, he also felt calm. Kame was calming him down, in a good way.

When they drew back both of them were panting heavily. Jin smiled a bit. “What exactly was that for?”

“I…” Kame rubbed over his head. “Sorry for jumping you.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I like being jumped…” Jin joked.

Kame smiled in relief that Jin was not angry or pushing him away again. He looked at him warily. “You are worried, aren’t you? Something private?”

“You realized?” Jin asked, sitting down on a rock on a small hill.

Kame smiled, sitting down next to the latter, leaning against him. “Of course.”

“I had a fight with my brother.” Jin explained. “Now he isn’t talking to me…”

“I’m sorry.” Kame said silently, not sure what to answer to Jin. He was seriously bad at comforting people and at giving them any good advices.

“It’s okay…” Jin smiled warily. “I’ll try to solve it when we are back at home.” He sighed. “Sorry for my moody attitude here.”

“Don’t worry.” Kame grinned a bit, not able to hide his happiness that he and Jin had kissed. Then he blinked. What if Jin wouldn’t see it that way? What if it was just a random kiss for him and nothing more? He looked at the other warily, his gaze inspecting him nervously.

Jin laughed a bit when he saw Kame’s strange expression. He reached out his hand to brush through the other’s curly hair, before he bent forward again to place another kiss on Kame’s lips.

Kame sighed happily. He wanted to repeat the kiss, but unfortunately he got interrupted by his phone. He smiled apologetically at Jin, before he answered it.

Jin watched his friend curiously, wondering why he looked annoyed and almost angry while he was talking – obviously with their chief. When Kame hung up again, he looked at Jin nervously. “They saw the man again.” he explained carefully. “Before we left I asked some friends of the security police to watch out for your brother and for Shirota-kun. One of them saw a man similar to the one that attacked Ryo. He was sneaking around your house.” He bit his lips. “The chief said he will organize some more security for you. So that you don’t need to worry too much.”

Jin stared at Kame in utter shock, not saying anything. He was almost frozen in his movements, before he suddenly woke up again, angling for his phone. He dialled his own number as fast as he could. When Yuu picked up he sighed in relief.

“Jin is that you?”

“Yes, Yuu, listen!” Jin panted heavily while talking. “Watch out for Ryo! Don’t let him leave the house!!”

Yuu blinked in surprise. “You don’t want me to let Ryo leave the house?” he repeated, not sure if he did understand everything completely. He turned around a bit when he heard something behind him, frowning in worry. Was that Ryo? Did he hear something? Or was it something else? Yuu frowned. Somehow the whole tensed situation started to get down to him… he was so sure that he had heard footsteps.

“Please tell Ryo that it’s really important!” Jin begged Yuu. “Please. It’s not because I want to punish him…”

Yuu nodded his head, realizing that something had to be seriously off. “I understand. I will tell him…” he turned his head a bit, walking upstairs to peek into Ryo’s room. When he closed the door, he sighed a bit. “He is asleep right now. I will tell him later.”

“Thanks.”

When Jin had hung up, Yuu frowned. Something was off… and he knew he needed to be careful with Ryo, so that the boy wouldn’t overreact. He sighed a bit, waiting a few hours, before he went upstairs to call Ryo for dinner.

He knocked at the boy’s door, calling his name. When there was no answer, Yuu frowned. Was Ryo still asleep? He opened the door silently, his eyes growing wide out of a sudden. He gasped in shock, rushing into Ryo’s room. It was empty. Yuu’s eyes twitched in panic, he turned around, searching through the whole house, but there was no sign of Ryo.

DAMN!

******

Jin sighed deeply, frowns of worry on his forehead. Kame reached out his hand to touch Jin forehead softly, trying to brush away the frowns. “I won’t let anything happen to you and your family.” he mumbled. “I won’t! I promise!”

Something in Kame’s voice made Jin blink. He sounded as if this was really his personal problem… as if he was responsible. Jin’s sixth sense for peoples’ emotions started to work again. “Why do you sound as if it’s your fault?” he asked bluntly.

Kame blushed a bit, his hands trembling slightly. “It’s… you are reading too much into this. I’m just worried.” He turned away from Jin, not wanting him to see his guilty expression. This was his fault and he knew it. How should he ever explain that Jin?

He jumped up. “I’ll search a bit more, okay?”

Jin nodded his head, watching how Kame left. Was he really reading too much into it? Maybe Kame felt simply overwhelmed? Jin was about to stand up as well, when he suddenly heard a loud yell.

He jumped up in shock. “KAZUYA!?” he cried out, not even realizing that he had just used Kame’s first name. He rushed into the direction the yell had come from, scanning the area. Then he paused in shock. Kame was not around.

He wasn’t anywhere…

“KAZUYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

******

Note: Hey dear friends and readers! Thanks so much for all your support!! So, I wanted to tell you that my Request Post is open. If you feel like requesting a specific pairing or situation you can do so HERE