Solace
1 2 3 4 5

Author: Li Pei Fen
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama. Romance.
Status: Complete.
Pairing: Ban x Kazuki.
Summary: Ban and Kazuki go undercover searching for a necklace.
View as a Complete File

“Ready yet?” Ban knocked on the door several times before Kazuki answered.

“Y-yes, okay… you can go there ahead of me to check on the situation or something. Just give me a call on my phone if there’s something you’d like me to know,” Kazuki replied, but he wasn’t moving at all. He hadn’t even put on any of the components of her “uniform” yet.

Today, he had to wear a red dress that reached up to his ankles, and it hugged his body even more than his past uniforms. He was almost thankful that it was long, only if there wasn’t a huge slit at the left side, revealing his leg in the above-the-knee level. Plus, he couldn’t get himself to ignore the crisscrossing red lines at the back part that showed his flesh more than ever. And the shoes – it was only one and a half inches high, thankfully, but he knew he’d have a hard time walking because of the red strings that were intertwined around each of his leg. He couldn’t believe women actually like and think good of this stuff. And Hevn was just getting crazier and crazier every single day.

“Okay. Hevn’ll be back in a while to fix you up, so better hurry. You don’t want to hear her ranting again, do you?” Ban reminded, not really waiting for an answer from his partner as he slid through the door of the Honky Tonk.

Kazuki heard the bell on top of the door give its trademark ring. He guessed it was some sort of signal for him to start dressing so he did.

Everything had to end tonight. Kazuki’s expiry date for this job was starting to draw near. He was getting tired of walking around as a girl – the clothes bothered him and the shoes were just murdering his feet. And as if there weren’t enough guys poring over him when he was a guy, triple the usual number taunted him every single night.

He made sure everything was in order. He checked if his bra was not lopsided. He checked the shoes to see if they had the chance of breaking. He checked if the straps in her back would 100% not come off. And lastly, he made sure his bells were placed properly on his hair, and that he really was in his usual hairdo. He’d almost forgotten how that looked like, seeing the thousands of hairdos Hevn had tried on him so far.

“Ah, Kasumi-san, I’m glad you made it,” Hibiki walked over to greet Kazuki with a kiss on the cheek. Kazuki smiled falsely. “Minna, this is the woman I was talking about,” he said proudly to a group of people he was talking to earlier as if he’d own him.

“Hai, yoroshiku. Midou Kasumi desu [1],” he said as he shook hands with a guy accompanied by two girls on his sides.

“Kobayashi Minoru desu,” said the man.

“Kasumi-san, you can talk with him for a while, I’ll get us some drinks,” Hibiki said.

Kazuki tried to think of something to say while Hibiki was away. “So…you’re a friend of his?”

“Hmm, not really,” said the man thoughtfully and in a joking manner. “He always gets me in trouble for selling me some of his precious jewels. People run after these gorgeous stones you know. Then they want to buy it from me! As if that’d ever happen. I love these jewels as much as Hibiki does. It’s a shame he doesn’t tell me where he buys these jewelry…I’m thinking Europe, but he doesn’t want to admit it…”

“Jewels? Sell? Doesn’t he keep them? I heard he has a collection of them…” Kazuki said, heart throbbing with anxiousness. The Solace necklace may not be here after all. v “Actually, I’ve been begging him to sell them to me. He’s a good guy, but sometimes he gets dirty when it comes to jewels. He keeps the best ones for himself,” Kobayashi smiled his way out of the topic. This wasn’t quite the best thing to be talk about with a stranger, after all. Hibiki, he though, might get a bad name because of his blabbing. He was happy when someone called on him from across the swimming pool for some reason. He excused himself from Kazuki and the two girls and slipped away unnoticed.

Did Hibiki sell Solace?

But Kobayashi said he’d keep the best ones…

Then, Solace is here.

But… is Solace one of the “best” for Minase?

The two girls calling for his attention snapped Kazuki out of his thoughts. “Uh, sorry, what did you say?”

“I said,” repeated the taller woman. “How’d you get the idea or your hairstyle? Those bells look really sexy on you. And… it must’ve been hard to do that… You wrapped all your hair with strings… You hired a beautician or something? Coz your make up is professionally done too…”

Kazuki smiled out his blanked and clueless mind.

“Oh, and those shoes… they’re just pretty! They’re from Tannyeom, right? Come to think about it, this dress is also from Tannyeom! You loyal to that brand?” said the other girl in the pink dress.

Kazuki was forced to nod.

The woman squealed in delight. “Oh, great! We have something in common now…I’m Yuumi and this is my sister Aira…

“You know, you could be Tannyeom’s model, just apply, I bet they’ll accept you. You could meet that hot, hot, HOT, HOT, HOT, model from Tannyeom’s male section. But that’s really sad, though, coz I heard his contract expires in the next 4 months,” said the girl, disheartened at the thought.

Kazuki smiled again. “Aww, that’s too bad… Could you excuse me for a while? I have to go look for somebody.”

“Your boyfriend?”

“No, my ex.” That left the two girls hanging in the air. Why go look for your ex? They watched Kazuki circle around the pool to go over to the gigantic gazebo where most of the guests were.

Kazuki spotted Ban standing on one of the chairs near the shore of the beach near Minase’s house, drinking some red wine. Ban seemed to know of his presence from a long time and stood up and walked to the backside of one of the huge pillars where no one saw them.

“Solace may not be here,” Kazuki began.

“What?”

“His friend told me he’d been buying some of Minase’s jewelry, but he said Minase keeps the best ones for himself.”

“But is Solace one of the ‘best’ for Minase?”

“That’s exactly what I thought. So what do we do?”

“No way a jewel that striking is not one of the ‘best’. So I guess we’ll have to still proceed as planned.”

“I know, but…Minase seems gifted enough to think otherwise. What if he wanted to frame his friend? He’d have the money for having sold the jewel and get his friend arrested or something. I saw the way he was looking at him before he noticed I was there. He was obviously pretending to be friends with him! All he did was laugh haughtily over his friend’s words and put on an air of superiority…”

Ban considered this for a while. “It still doesn’t change anything… We can get on with the plan still, and if Solace’s not here, we’re just gonna have to check on this guy. What’s his name?”

“Kobayashi Minoru. Okay, but stay alert. I’ll let you know after I confirm that Solace is here.”

“Right.” And with that, they were off to do their separate jobs.

Hibiki stood up on the highly decorated stage with the logo of Lollipop as the backdrop. “KonBanwa, minna-san [2]! Thanks for coming tonight to celebrate Lollipop’s 5th birthday. I’m Minase Hibiki, owner of the Lollipop. Once again, I’d like to thank you all for being loyal to my night club, especially to the senior members.

“Now may I ask everyone to please be seated… And without any further delay… Dinner is served!” he declared, and watched as the people politely scrambled to find themselves some seats. Kazuki watched as Hibiki approached him. “Saa, ii meshi o tabete iku wa ne? [3]”

After dinner, Hijiri went back up the stage and said, “Now the official party starts! We’ve been too formal in celebrating Lollipop’s birthday…and let’s just say Lollipop isn’t about formality, deshou? Now you know why it says in the invitation to bring extra non-formal clothes.

“To those who wish to swim, you have the option of going to the beach or the pool. Just ask the men in the Lollipop uniform to guide you to the available shower rooms. The changing rooms are located there at the backside of the pool. And to those who won’t swim, screw you! …no, just kidding…Our renowned DJ Chao Zi is going to play some of the coolest rave music you’ve ever heard, so you can all dance along!

“Saa, hajimemashou [4]! DJ Chao Zi!” and with that, the irresistibly cool music of the DJ escaped from the booming speakers and filled the whole party area in the mansion.

“Kasumi-san, I’d have to leave you or a while. I’m changing first so I could swim already. All the wine I drank is making my body really hot! You can dress up now before the changing rooms get too crowded,” he said.

Kazuki was starting to panic inwardly. He had /no/ intention of swimming OR wearing a swimsuit in front of these people… The thought of Ban making fun of him in front of his friends when they get home was just too much. “Oh shoot! I just remembered that I left my other clothes and swimsuit in the car… Darn it, I told Paul-san not to forget to bring out my stuff…” Kazuki lied plainly. But Minase pretended not to notice this and insisted on making Kazuki swim with him.

“Oh, is that so? Well, you’re in luck, my sister has got loads of extra swim wear here. Ken, come show Miss Kasumi to Ne-chan’s [5] room. I’ll be the one to ask for permission.” With that, Minase winked at him placidly, petrifying a bewildered Kazuki.

“No!” Kazuki stopped him from walking away. “I’m… allergic to chlorine… See, I get all these horrible red spots all over, and it’s just ugly. You wouldn’t want to see them…”

“There’s still the beach.”

“I-I’m scared of night swimming in the beach! Coz, you know, my friend Juubei used to scare me a lot with stories of sea monsters he said his father fought, and… well…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there. No sea monster has dared to come within two miles from me,” he said, and placed a kiss on his cheek as he went away without turning back.

“Oh my gods…” Kazuki muttered to himself as Ken, the servant, led him to the inside of the mansion. Now that he thought of it, this could be a good thing. He could get a preview of where there were windows or doors for him to escape to later on.

This mansion seemed a lot bigger than it looked from outside. There was a grand chandelier in the hall and another one in the dining hall that they passed by as Ken led him to the great wooden staircase, which was lined with different kinds of great timber – that of oaks and mahogany, Kazuki guessed. But what alarmed him most was the number of bodyguards walking around the house. Their faces and identity were concealed especially with their all-black uniform and the look of snobbishness on them… ‘Oh well, they’d all be lying unconscious on the loor later when I get to them,’ Kazuki tried to convince himself.

Finally they reached the room. A beautiful lady of about 28 welcomed them. “You must be Kasumi. I’m Megumi, Hibiki’s sister,” she said, shaking hands with Kazuki. “Thanks, you may go, Ken…” she said as the servant bowed and left the humongous room, one that doubled the size of Kazuki’s humble apartment.

“Uhm, is it really okay? Because, really, I’d rather not swim…”

“No, no, no, it’s okay… It’s my pleasure, you’re such a pretty girl that I can’t help but help you out,” she smiled sweetly.

“Y-you’ve seen me before?”

“Of course I have. You were the one who hated the wine, right?”

“Oh, well, you see, I was a little drunk then…” Kazuki blushed a baby pink hue.

“That’s okay. Here. Choose the one you like.” She brought out her collection of swim wear from a huge drawer inside her closet filled with a wide array of clothes that even Kazuki admitted were absolutely, marvelously beautiful, and to think that he started to loathe women’s wear because of this job…

Kazuki barely stopped himself from walking out of the door upon seeing what choices of swimwear he had. It had to be either bikini, stringed bikini, one-piece but high cut, or other two-piece swimsuits.

“Saa, saa, try them. I guess you’re size is medium, but you’re tall, so a two-piece would be good… And this color would look good on you, definitely,” she picked an orange string bikini and held it up in front of Kazuki.

Kazuki tried to think fast of something… “No, that’s a little too sunny. It’s night swimming, right?”

“You’re correct, I guess…” she said thoughtfully. “You seem to be good at this stuff. Well, I see the way you’ve been dressing so I guess you are a fashionable woman… What brand do you stand by?”

“Uh, Tannyeom, I guess…” he said. Kazuki wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

“Oh, Tannyeom’s MARVELOUS. You should see their summer wear. They’re summer-y but still sophisticated. I just love the elegance of that brand! Tokoro de, how old are you?”

“Twenty…”

Ban almost tripped by the gutter of the pool when he felt a drop of warm blood shoot out of his nose. That /CANNOT/ be Kazuki. No way...

Kazuki, after much persuasion from Megumi, came out of the mansion to go swim in the beach. He wore a maroon two-piece swimsuit *[6]* and his hair was tied up in a high ponytail. Ban had to study him closer to believe that that was him.

Finally, he was able to grasp into understanding the ‘situation’. The reason why his few masculine features were not evident was because he was wearing a tubed halter top, meaning you couldn’t really see if he had real cleavage. Of course he didn’t, but the swimsuit had pads, so…

Plus, he had the curves. He bet Kazuki’s curves were deadlier than Natsumi’s or Hevn’s or Himiko’s whatsoever. It was just…there. He had a nice stomach, very intact and he had some major feminine abs. And the bottom part remained a mystery until now. Why was there no bulge? No matter how much he looked like a girl, there still HAD to be one. It was impossible! But there, he saw it, it was flat. How’d he do it? He made a mental note of asking him later when they got home. The buffoon in him started to visualize the whole thing…

“Kazuki, are you a woman?”

“Yep… So?”

“Wanna have a baby with me?”

Ban slapped his forehead under the water. What was he thinking? He shook himself physically to bring himself back to Earth. He checked if his five senses were still working properly. When he was sure that they were, Minase showed up. He distanced himself and observed them from afar.

“Oh, Kssumi-san, you look absolutely stunning. My sister has done such a wonderful job. Or maybe not. I think it’s not in the clothes; it’s in the wearer…”

“Why, thank you…” though he was at a considerable distance, Ban saw Kazuki positively blushing.

Minase drew himself closer to Kazuki as he spoke with him, unnecessarily holding his hands or slinging his hand over his shoulder. Ban shook his head in disgust and looked around. He saw a couple of bodyguards circling the place and talking with each other through radio headsets. Then he shifted back his attention to Kazuki. As a man approached them, Ban noted the look of disgust on Minase’s face. ‘This must be Kobayashi…’ he thought.

“So, Hibiki-kun, what do you say? Still wanna sell me the baby? I’d pay you any price for that…” Kobayashi said, almost pleadingly.

Kazuki was prompt in asking, “What baby?” he had a feeling they were talking about Solace. But much to his annoyance, Yuumi and her sister lured him away from the two men. He didn’t know how it happened, but the next thing he knew, he was seven meters away from the conversing men.

“Oh, Kasumi-san! That swimsuit’s just stunning!” Aira said.

“Thanks, but this belongs to Hibiki-kun’s sister, Megumi,” Kazuki said quickly, still trying to catch what Kobayashi and Minase were talking about. He was lucky enough to be able to hear Minase say, “We’ll have the final decision tomorrow. Meet me at—“

Kazuki didn’t hear the meeting place because Yuumi had spoken so loudly in his ear. “Let me guess? Tannyeom! Megumi-san loves their stuff too!” Kazuki tried hard not to slap this woman hardly.

Good thing Minase came and fetched him from the madness. He was almost readying his strings…“Excuse me girls, but I have to talk to Kasumi-san for a while…” he said, grabbing Kazuki by the arm. Kazuki wanted to kiss him then.

“Why? What is it my dear Hibiki?” Kazuki said, good mannered as usual.

“Nothing. I can see you don’t fancy the company of them, right?”

“No…Well, I actually, I don’t,” Kazuki rolled his eyes heavenward. “Imagine talking about clothes and fashion every spilt second you spend with them! …how’d you find out, anyway? Was I that obvious?” Kazuki smiled.

“Well, let’s just say I don’t fancy them too… Little girls want to sleep with me, but hell, who’d want to? Only Minoru’s being stupid enough to…” Minase smirked.

“I thought you were friends with Kobayashi-san?” This was the perfect loophole to get into the situation…

“Well, not really. The man’s a bastard, wanting me to sell him my precious jewel.”

“Yeah, I heard…He told me earlier. But you didn’t sell it, of course?”

“Of course not…He doesn’t deserve to hold or even see it again…" Minase glanced over at the three. Both Kazuki and him saw Yuumi and Aira staring at Minase.

“See? Told you the girls dig me,” he said. “But, poor them, my eyes are focused on one person already…” he continued. He stared at Kazuki meaningfully for a long time. Kazuki knew what was coming and tried to divert his attention from French-kissing him again.

“Aww, that’s so sweet…” he lied, and kissed him on the cheek. But Minase wasn’t taking the bait at all. His forehead bumped with Kazuki as their noses aligned. Kazuki wanted to push him away so badly, if only it were possible… But it wasn’t. He felt his lips on his as the waves crashed on their shoulders, as if wanting to push Minase away too.

Kazuki tried SO hard to convince himself that this was okay. After all, Minase was one of the prettiest boys he’s ever seen in his whole life. Plus, he had to get used to this by now. This was all part of the job, part of what he’s going to get paid for…

Ban was burning, protectiveness of Kazuki running through his veins as much as his blood did. Or was it just jealousy? He started glaring inwardly at the enthusiastic look on Kazuki’s face as he kissed Minase. The buffoon in him started talking to him again. ‘Kazuki shouldn’t be paid for this, he’s liking it!’ he got up and left the water permanently.

“Ban-kun, come here right NOW! Faster!” Hevn half-screamed at Ban through his cellular phone ten minutes later.

“Okay, okay…” Ban put his phone back in his pocket. He was already dressed in his normal clothes as he decided to get out of the water so much earlier than what was scheduled. He wondered what was going on… He was so overwrought as he started his car and drove to the Honky Tonk, a good one-and-a-half miles away from this place.

“Oh shoot. No one’s answering,” Kazuki said as Minase watched him call somebody on his cellular phone an hour later. “Now, how am I supposed to get home?! What kind of driver leaves the passenger behind?” Kazuki said, irritated at Ban. He just came back from looking or Ban’s Beetle everywhere but to no avail.

“Well, maybe an emergency came up…That’s okay. You can sleep here. Ne-chan and I are staying here before we get back to Tokyo next week,” Minase suggested, smiling deviously, though he tried to hide it.

Kazuki wanted to curse him. He was really thankful already that Minase did not ask to sleep with him, but because of Ban, he was left with no choice but to sleep here with this monster. “Wait, I’ll try to call up someone else,” Kazuki insisted, dialing the number to Paul’s. Of course, no one was answering at this late hour. Paul must be asleep already. He swore he’d make sure Ban would only get one-eighth of the pay for this job…

“Well, that’s just unlucky, isn’t it? I’m really sorry, but my driver’s already gotten home. He doesn’t sleep here, you know… Saa, this way. Ne-chan’s got a lot of extra clothes and stuff, no need to worry.”

Kazuki just shrugged secretly. Well, what could he do? Ban sure was nowhere near here… and he wasn’t as worried about ‘sleeping with’ Minase anymore. He had to admit, the “ne-chan” thing’s been growing on his kawaii-sensors. “Okay… thanks,” he said.

“No problem,” Minase chanced to place another kiss on Kazuki’s cheek as he led him up the house, arm around Kazuki’s waist.

“What’s the matter?” Ban asked as he met up with Hevn outside their client’s mansion.

“Where’s Kazuki-san?”

“I left him.”

“What?!”

“You didn’t tell me he had to come along! And besides he’s enjoying pretty-face Minase so much, I don’t need to worry about him being molested or shit. He’d want it.”

“Did something happen?”

“No, never mind what I said. Anyway, what’s up at this late hour?”

“Well, I just met up with our client…We got information that Solace might not be with Minase.”

“What? That’s it? Kazuki’s already told me that! Have you checked on Kobayashi Minoru yet?”

“Of course. He used to be Minase’s best friend. According to our client, Ms. Summers, he’s the one who wants Solace. He just got Minase to get it for him.”

“But he’s not giving it to Kobayashi…right?”

“We don’t know yet. We think he wants to frame Kobayashi for taking Solace. He has a scheme under his sleeve to pull any moment now that’d sure get Kobayashi out of the business.”

“Why’d he want that?”

“We don’t know yet. All we know is he’s using Solace to get back at Ms. Summers and Kobayashi…”

There was a moment of silence between the two. Ban was absent-mindedly playing with his cell phone, transferring it from one hand to the other, when suddenly he noticed he had one unread message and 3 missed calls, all from Kazuki. He checked it.

Thanks for leaving me behind, partner, I appreciate it a lot. And don’t try to apologize to me now, I’m out of battery, so you can’t send me a message or call. Anyway, I’ll be fine here, thank you. I’m staying over. And something tells me I’d be here for more than a day. I’ll just give you a call when I need you, so don’t keep your phone on silent mode. Take care, okay?

He couldn’t help but smile at the little remark at the end of the message that spoke of Kazuki’s kind side even though he might be furious at the moment for having left him there. Oh well. At least he sounded fine and confident enough to handle himself there. He figured he’d just have to explain everything tomorrow…and he still had to ask the gender-question, right?

[1] Yes, pleased to meet you. I’m Kasumi Midou.

[2] Good evening, everyone.

[3] Come on, let’s go eat some good food.

[4] Okay, let’s begin!

[5] Short for one-chan, meaning “big sister”