Solace
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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

“Good morning, my Kasumi-san…” said Minase as he ran into Kazuki on the grand staircase on the following morning. He placed a kiss on his cheek as usual.

“Good morning.” He had to get used to this life soon or it’ll be his downfall. Well, it was already a good thing that he got to sleep in a separate room of his own…

“Morning, Ne-chan…” Kazuki thought it was highly cute of Minase as he greeted his sister with a kiss on the cheek too.

“Morning,” Megumi yawned as he greeted Kazuki.

“Is it gonna be ‘good morning’ all day or are we getting some breakfast?” Minase said, smiling.

“Man, I’m definitely starving!” Megumi exclaimed as they made their way down the spiral staircase.

Breakfast in Minase’s place was easily dinner for average people like Kazuki. There was a great banquet of food laid before them. Kazuki had no trouble filling his empty stomach, though Minase and his sister were criticizing some of the food. They were obviously gourmets, after all.

“So what’re you doing today, Ne-chan?” Minoru asked after sipping some mushroom soup off his bowl.

“Don’t know…Hang, I guess. No work today for Megumi!” she said proudly, biting off a piece of bacon. “How about you?”

“Have some job with Kobayashi-the-git later…Stupid monkey’s still has to hear from me again. As if I’ll say something different. Everything’s been planned perfectly well from the start…”

Kazuki almost choked on his noodles. “You’re gonna see Kobayashi-san today?” he asked, but Hibiki had no time to answer as Megumi suddenly butted in, whether intentionally or not.

“Sou da! Why don’t you come shop with me, Kasumi-san? A new mall’s opened here a couple of days I go…I wanted to check it out…” she invited.

“Oh, that’s where we’re meeting too… I suggest we all come together, why don’t we?” Hibiki said, smiling at the idea. Whether he imagined it or not, Kazuki thought Megumi frowned a bit.

“Sure, that’d be great!” Kazuki exclaimed, living what he said.

“Oh, you look absolutely dazzling, as always,” as if not getting enough of Kazuki’s cheek, Hibiki kissed him again.

“De shou? I told you I’d make him look perfect…” Megumi said, smiling proudly at the wardrobe he put Kazuki in as he didn’t have spare clothes anymore.

Kazuki wore a blue sleeveless geometrical top that exposed his belly. To fashionably cover the too revealing shirt, he had a matching blue fishnet long-sleeved top to cover him a bit. And much to the delight of Kazuki, he was made to wear a pair of pants – one that were too tight on the top and loose below, but it was okay because he thought the design was pretty. It was a camouflage cloth in different shades of blue instead of green, and there were silver hangings around where the belt should be. [1]

“Thanks,” Kazuki said, taking the arm that Hibiki offered as they stepped out of the mansion.

They arrived at the newly-opened shopping precinct in no less than ten minutes. Megumi dragged Kazuki and Hibiki over to Tannyeom as soon as they got there and bought clothes, shoes, and accessories like crazy. Now Kazuki had an idea of how wonderful Tannyeom’s clothes were. No wonder it had lots of fans, especially the women who opt for a sophisticated kind of clothing. Much to his surprise, Megumi was fitting clothes on him and buying them as a present for him, too. She seemed to have taken a liking to Kazuki a lot since the day they first met.

“Hayaku, ne-chan! [2] I’m already done with mine and you aren’t even halfway through!” Hibiki said, emerging from Tannyeom’s male section with two paper bags labeled with Tannyeom’s trademark logo.

Megumi looked at him and realized that he was right, she had been carried away too much. “Oh—Well, you and Kasumi-chan could go drink some coffee first or something. I’ll just give you a call to tell you where I’ll be next.”

“You’re meeting with Kobayashi-san, right?” Kazuki asked, raising once again the subject of Solace once they got out of Tannyeom.

“Yep. But he hasn’t called yet so that means he’s not yet here.”

“What are you going to talk about, anyway?”

“Well, see, I have this necklace he wants to buy from me. Not that he has a chance of getting it, though. There’s no way he’d get it in his hands. Not ever,” Hibiki said, and Kazuki saw a different expression crawling on Hibiki’s eyes, one that he’s never seen yet. He seemed angry at something and at the same time there was a hint of absolute protectiveness, over the necklace, perhaps.

Just when Kazuki was getting ready to grill Minase about it, his cell phone rang. He wanted to chuck it out the door of the café they just stepped into, but he saw that it was Ban calling. He excused himself for a while and stepped outside, because there was something private he needed to talk about to Ban, of course. “Hello?”

“Kazuki. Look, I’m sorry I left you last night. Hevn called –“

“No, it’s okay. I’m actually thankful you left me.” Judging by the pause on the other line, Kazuki guessed that Ban thought he enjoyed being with Minase. “No, it’s not what you think. Look, I’m in the mall right now—“

“With him?” Ban interrupted.

“Anyway, I changed my mind. There could be NO WAY Hibiki’s selling Solace to that Minoru.”

“So you are with him. And you call him by his first name now, huh?” Ban was obviously undergoing intense jealousy. Kazuki rolled his eyes in exasperation of this.

“Whatever. You want to continue with the job or not?” Kazuki said, and he inferred by the silence that Ban shot at him that he was allowed to continue speaking. “Good. Now, look here. This guy is positively obsessed with Solace. I bet all my wages he won’t sell it.”

“But Hevn got information that Minase might be trying to get back at Ms. Summers and Kobayashi for something. He is trying to frame the guy, like you guessed!”

“Might be, okay. She said ‘might be’. But that would make no sense! He doesn’t want to sell it, but he wants to frame him using Solace? How could he frame Kobayashi for stealing Solace if Solace’s NOT even with Kobayashi?”

“I don’t know… But Kobayashi did get Minase to get Solace for him, that’s what we know. Just continue to watch after that guy and try to get him to talk about Solace’s whereabouts. And take care, too.” Ban didn’t leave any second for Kazuki to say anything as he said his last word. He immediately put down the phone after that, making Kazuki feel a little guilty for some reason.

Kazuki didn’t have energy for the rest of their mall-hopping day. He was a witness to the Kobayashi-Minase meeting, but there was really nothing remarkable about it. He turned down the request, as Kazuki expected. Though near the end, Kobayashi mentioned something Kazuki thought was of high importance.

“Hibiki-kun, if you really value the most important thing in your life, then I suggest you give this game up and hand me the jewel,” Kobayashi had said in a low voice as he swept past them with his bodyguards trailing behind him.

Thinking it over, Kazuki supposed that there was a more valuable jewel than Solace involved…Or was it not Solace Kobayashi had been begging Minase to hand over? Maybe the ‘most important thing’ he was talking about was Solace? Then, Kobayashi had to be in some sort of control over Solace to be able to use it as bait for Minase… Kazuki was confused… the information Ban and he had was useless… they proved to be of no help now, as there seemed to be something bigger involved in this mess.

And to add to his confusion, Kazuki saw Hibiki clutch his fist tightly; looked down and muttered, “Ne-chan…” Kazuki could not make out the expression by which the word was said. Could it be that Megumi was also involved in this, after all?

By the time they got back home, the three of them headed straight for their rooms. Kazuki was a little sorry that he had to go home now, and he was still gaining on Solace a lot. He wished that there were some excuse he could pull off so they could let him stay over this place some more…

Just then, he heard a knock on the door. “Come in,” Kazuki said, mindlessly folding his clothes and put it inside his bag.

“Oh, Hibiki-kun, doushita? Sono kurai na kao…? [3]” Kazuki asked, and he felt a little pain in his chest for seeing him so down. He was always such a high-spirited perverted kid. But still, he was cute and happy most of the time…

“Kasumi-san, please stay a little longer, please…” he begged, walking forward and embracing a bewildered Kazuki.

Kazuki patted his back gently and said, “Okay,” a little too happy than he wanted it to come out originally. “But could you tell me why?” he asked gently.

“Ne-chan… I never saw her smile a real smile in ages… and now, you came, and you make her so happy…Please just stay, as long as you want or can. Please…” he begged.

Kazuki thought this was ridiculous. Megumi seemed like a pretty healthy and normal adult, save the abnormal enthusiasm for Tannyeom’s clothes…and it was just too surprising to hear that he, Kazuki, a stranger, was able to make her smile more than her real brother did. He thought she was so lucky to have a sweet, naughty little brother like Hibiki… then why hadn’t she been able to smile?

Kazuki held Hibiki’s pretty face up with both hands and made him look at him. “Tell you what. I can stay here for a week or so, whatever you want, or however long it will take for me to help Megumi-san smile regularly… I’ll go talk to her later, ne?” Kazuki said as he tenderly looked at him, kissing him lightly on the lips. “So don’t give me that sad face! You’ll look older than Megumi in two weeks if you keep doing that.”

Kazuki took a deep breath and knocked on Megumi’s door two hours after dinner. When he heard her say “Come in”, he opened the door and stepped inside with a smile plastered on his face.

In less than three minutes’ time, they were conversing so merrily that it was almost impossible to stop them.

“…and then, Juubei was suddenly talking about how he was born for the purpose of protecting me… and I was like, ‘Oh, juubei, you’re so old-fashioned…’ But that was sweet, right? He was so cute then!” Kazuki chuckled as he told stories about him and Juubei.

“Awww, that was cute! I wish I had a lover like that!” Megumi said, smiling widely.

“Oh, so you mean, you don’t have a boyfriend now?” Kazuki asked out of plain curiosity.

Megumi became a little serious. “Well, you know, I had one before…just one, he was my first. And after we got separated, I’ve never had another man in my whole life. Here’s his picture.” She stood up and walked over to a drawer and bought out a big photo album.

While watching her, Kazuki said, “How could that happen? I mean, you’re so pretty, Megumi-san, you look so much like your brother, except you’re a girl version… If I were a complete stranger, I’d have guessed you were twins…”

Megumi came back with the photo album opened. “Here. That’s him.” She was pointing at a really handsome teenager who had his arm slung over the shoulder of who was positively a ten-year younger Hibiki.

“Oh, kakkoi!” Kazuki said. As he stared and admired at the person in the picture, a light bulb lit in his head. “But, wait, this can’t be—“

“Yes, it is Kobayashi. Couldn’t believe right? He looked a lot hotter when he was younger.” Megumi grinned a little. “But now, all his work made him look like an old prune. He’s the same age as me, but, huh, I sure know how to maintain looking like my age. He looks ten years older than us!” she joked.

Kazuki couldn’t believe it. Now he understood why Megumi frowned earlier that morning upon hearing this guy’s name. And come to think of it, Megumi was only out of her room during last night’s party to drag Kazuki out to the beach and never came out after that; and a while ago, she wasn’t there during the Hibiki-Minoru meeting… Kazuki’s head was spinning as Megumi turned the pages of the album; he saw different pictures of the young Kobayashi Minoru with the ten-year-younger Megumi, Hibiki and another pretty foreign girl who, without doubt, looked like…

“Who’s this?” Kazuki asked her impatiently, pointing at the familiar girl.

“Oh that…She used to be my best friend since kindergarten. Victoria Summers… that girl was the one who stole everything from me,” she said.

“Stole everything…?”

“I found out when I was 20 that she and Kobayashi’s been cheating me. They’ve been together for a long time too… I thought then that we were nearly getting married, but, voila! They’re having an affair behind my back. And to think that Kobayashi was my boyfriend for over 5 years already!”

Victoria Summers, just like I thought… our client was Megumi-san’s best friend…and she had an affair with Kobayashi… But, didn’t she tell Ban and me that Hibiki used to be his lover?

“I’m so sorry to hear that, Megumi-san… Don’t worry, bad luck always finds its way to bad people…” he said, trying to sound positive. After all, it might’ve been really hard on Megumi’s part. Three years of making you believe that someone loved you…

But what was more important was the fact that there was something personal going on between their client and Minase’s family. What if the whole object of the job was something personal? And Ban did say that Hibiki’s trying to get back at Kobayashi and Ms. Summers, right?

“Hibiki-kun,” Kazuki greeted as he entered Hibiki’s room. He saw that he was getting ready to take a bath. “Oh, would you want me to wash your back for you?” Kazuki said, an idea popping his head.

“S-sure…” Hibiki said, unsure of what to say.

“I talked to Megumi-san a while ago…” Kazuki said, five minutes later when he was washing Minase’s back in his bathtub.

“So you know now why she hasn’t been happy all these years?”

“Yeah, pretty much… You know what? I think it’s all this Summer girl’s fault… cause she’s pretty evil for someone so pretty. You were the same age as her, right?” Kazuki said, opening the porthole for a meaningful conversation.

“Yep… Shame on her! I actually planned to ask her out, but when I found out her ‘thing’ with Minoru… sheesh, no way I’m coming closer to that girl ever again…” he said.

Kazuki was only half-listening. He was staring down the water, lost in a tangle of thoughts. Then he asked something that he didn’t even know he was thinking about subconsciously until it came out. “Hibiki-kun, do you think it’s possible for you to be able to love another man?”

“Hah! That doesn’t require thinking for me! No way! NOT ever! I’m ever loyal to women…why do you ask, anyway?”

Kazuki, feeling a little hurt, lied, “Nothing. It’s just that my friend has been madly in love with someone who’s the same gender as he…”

“Oh, you’re still wearing this bracelet I gave you?” Minase said, noticing the ornament that hung on the wrist that rested on his shouder.

“Yeah. I think it’s rather pretty…” Kazuki said, holding his wrist up to admire its modishness.

“So I heard the jewel you and Kobayashi-san’s fighting over has a name, Megumi-san mentioned it a while ago…What is it?” Kazuki asked, heart pounding heavily in his chest with nervousness.

“Solace.” Bingo. Good thing Minase was open to him about it. “It’s a really, really beautiful and valuable necklace from Europe.”

“Ooh, I’ve read about that before. That’s a really old necklace from England, right? But my favorite was the Hope Diamond, the one they say is cursed. Makes it even more interesting, if you ask me. Also the Heart of the Ocean, that’s really, really pretty too,” Kazuki said, trying to sound casual.

Minase smirked. He turned around to face the stunned Kazuki who was wearing only a bathrobe. He stood up to level himself to Kazuki’s face, not bothering to cover up his nakedness. Tenderly, he ran the back of his hand over Kazuki’s soft facial skin and said, “You really are a gift from heaven, aren’t you?”

He slowly closed the gap between their lips as he kissed him, and Kazuki was very sure that this kiss was different. Unlike the past ones that were done out of pure lechery. It was as if Minase was pouring out his heart to him through their mouths that served as a gateway for mixed emotions. Now, Kazuki was beginning to learn to appreciate Hibiki much more than before. He could feel his pain and suffering now, so much so that Kazuki felt a little dizzy.

Minase Hibiki was an adult who was young; he needed to be cuddled and embraced; needed to be kissed. He needed a kind of love that he knew no one has ever given him, not even his sister. And Kazuki knew he was someone perfect for the criteria, except that he was a man…

Kazuki held both sides of Minase’s face, then gradually running his hand through his dark brown hair that was of the same color as his own. He finally settled his arms to rest over Minase’s neck, just as the kiss kept coming. A lot of it. And before he knew it, he realized he was kissing him back, too.

Minase was beginning to slowly remove the robes that hung loosely on Kazuki’s shoulders. That brought him back to the ground instantly. He broke away from Minase and fixed his robe, before he had the chance of seeing his ‘true identity’. “I’m sorry,” Kazuki said, unsure of what the apology was for, but he knew he was sorry about something.

“That’s okay… Hey, wanna go see Solace?” Minase said nonchalantly, trying to sound cool and as if it didn’t bother him at all. But Kazuki knew he was upset for being turned down a while ago.

But still, Kazuki couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Exactly the one thing he wanted from the start, being offered to him loosely like this.

“Sure…”

Minase led him into a dark room somewhere inside the house. Kazuki couldn’t figure out exactly how they ended up here. Minase didn’t bother turn the lights on and whether it was purposely done or not was out of his knowledge. Kazuki heard a sound from someplace close by, as he couldn’t see anything. Then he heard a door open, a door that was different from normal wooden creaking doors. It sounded as if it was opening from the floor up, not from left to right.

Then bright light suddenly crept from the opposite side of the door, where cool air-conditioned air was coming from, too. Kazuki tried to adjust to the bright light as fast as he could as he was eager to see Solace. Little by little, he was starting to make out the interior of the room. It was big with white everywhere – walls, ceiling and floor. There were glass cases containing several jewels in them. There was also hidden cameras camouflaged on the white walls. By the looks of it, this room was highly secured, as Ms. Summers had warned them.

“Here’s the baby,” Minase said, pointing over to an emphatically raised glass case that contained one magnificent necklace. Exactly like the one they saw in the picture, only a million times more striking in the flesh.

“Woah…” Kazuki couldn’t help himself from saying this. “This… this is beautiful,” he said, awestruck.

“I warned you, didn’t I?” Hibiki joked. “Now if you were in my place, would you sell this to someone who hurt your most beloved sister?”

“No way… But you’d probably get a HELL lot of money for this thing… I mean, you can’t spend this,” Kazuki said, still not taking his eyes away from Solace.

“I know, but you can’t have this feeling if you had a lot of money in exchange for it. See, here,” Minase stood behind Kazuki and positioned him in such an angle that he saw Solace in the best angle possible. “I’ll show you why this baby is called Solace.”

Kazuki continued to stare at it. And he was beginning to experience a light sensation, as if he was being lifted off the ground. It was…peaceful. It was as if the necklace was a goddess staring back at him with the softest eyes and the kindest heart one could ever find.

“What do you feel?”

Kazuki didn’t need to think. There was only one word that could describe this feeling. “Solace.”

“Sorry, I’ll be back tomorrow, I swear. I still have your clothes, remember?” Kazuki said the next day, as if he needed to promise. He was definitely coming back...for the necklace. “Bye, Hibiki-kun, Megumi-san!” he said, as he stepped into the cab he called.

He called up Ban a while ago and told him that he’d be back in Tokyo for tonight. He definitely had to talk about a lot of things. He had to share everything he knew. He was his partner, after all.

“Had fun having great sex with Minase?” Ban greeted as they met in an empty dark and very narrow alleyway behind their meeting place. They decided not to go someplace recognizable, as Minase might send someone to follow Kazuki.

Kazuki instinctively slapped Ban on the face, so fast that he didn’t have time to control himself as his hand hit his skin hard. “What the hell is wrong with you? You think I’m enjoying my job? Hn?” Kazuki said, irritated.

“Well, seems like you do,” Ban said, lighting a cigarette, not making a fuss about the pain in his left cheek.

“I had to travel a long way here, and this is how I’m getting paid for my hard work? If you’re so good, then why don’t you do it?” Kazuki demanded.

“I can’t, coz I don’t enjoy the company of pretty boys like Minase.” Ban said coolly, not looking at Kazuki.

“What the—? Look, I’m trying extremely hard not to lose my temper here. But this is ridiculous, Ban, it just is! Are you being jealous? Because I think you are, right? That’s it, you’re just jealous. You always have been. You’re just a jealous–-“

But before Kazuki could finish what he was trying to say, Ban pinned him on the wall, two split seconds after he threw his cigarette to the floor. Then as if happening by magic as he didn’t notice it happen, Kazuki felt lips pressed hard upon his own, the intoxicating taste of mentholated saliva pouring into his mouth like venom.

Ban held Kazuki’s face in his hands and kissed him greedily. His tongue was probing Kazuki’s mouth for an answer. Will it be acceptance? Or rejection, just like always?

The answer was wordlessly given as Kazuki pushed him away. Neither of them was speaking nor looking at each other.

/Two hours later/

“Damn car!” Ban cursed as he lost hope in being able to fix the Beetle pronto. “Could I stay over at your place for tonight, thread spool? I’m going to have to fix this in the morning,” Ban said without glancing at Kazuki. They were on speaking terms again after that “alleyway incident”, because they were able to talk about Solace freely while Ban was driving to Kazuki’s house, but they still had an uneasy feeling toward the other.

“I can’t go home with this thing broken. And your house is only around the corner, right?” Ban asked.

“Sure, I don’t mind,” Kazuki said as they both continued to push the helpless car towards their destination.

“Poor thing had to break now…” Kazuki said.

“Don’t pity it. It’s the almighty Beetle, don’t you know?” Ban said jokingly, smirking under a haze of smoke emitted by his cigarette.

Around fifteen minutes later, they were already in Kazuki’s humble apartment. “It’s not much, but make yourself at home,” Kazuki said.

“You kidding? This is like, one of the most organized and neatest places I’ve ever seen! I’ll never be comfortable here,” Ban said, eyeing the very orderly bookshelf near the very clean living room set.

Kazuki smirked as he immediately got himself changed to his usual pajamas. How he missed the soft silky feel of the cloth against his skin… He bent down to pick up his used shirt that fell on the floor opposite Ban’s direction. Then he got up to talk to Ban about where he could sleep, but when he turned around, Ban was already there in front of him. His body was only two inches away from him, and Kazuki felt uncomfortable so he said, “If you want, I have extra pajamas…I’ll go get them now—“ but Ban had already caught his wrist before he was able to move an inch away from him.

“Yes or no? You haven’t answered my question yet,” Ban said, suddenly turning dead serious.

Kazuki knew this would come. He didn’t know what to say. Who would have guessed Ban liked him ‘that way’ anyway? He took a deep breath and said, “Look here, Ban. I’m really sorry. My mind and heart says no,” he said firmly.

“I see why you’re saying ‘no’. You, being the romantic woman you are, think that I like you only because you looked good in a skirt. Well guess what, you’re wrong. I don’t know this either, but I think I really, really like you. I’ve been thinking about you 24/7… You’re just driving me crazy. And this has got to stop! Kazuki, please, just give me a chance…” Ban pleaded.

Ban pulled Kazuki into another deep kiss, wishing it might help him say ‘yes’.

“I think it’s hard to love someone who isn’t sure about his feelings. Just try again when you’re decided so neither of us end up getting hurt…” Kazuki said matter-of-factly.

And so they spent the rest of the night in silence, and tired as they were, it was a sleepless night. Every uneasy moment was wished and waited to pass, as they pondered silently about a multitude of thoughts running through their confused minds, waiting for the dawn.

[1] I know it’s kinda hard to get what I’m trying to say, but I do have this
 outfit! And I have it on picture, exactly like the one I’m describing here, so
e-mail me if you want to see it… ^^

[2] Hurry up, sister!

[3] Hibiki, what’s the matter? That depressed look…?