The Hummingbird (part 13)

[krystalkatzfics]

Title: The Humming Bird

Author: krystalkatz
Rating: G(for this part)
Length: chaptered
Genre: Au,

Pairings: Matsumoto Jun/Ninomiya Kazunari

Disclaimer: I only own the plot

They were ushered into a pleasant room, it wasn’t as decorated as the rooms in the palace but he was happy that they had made it. Nagase placed Nino down onto a chair and Kazumi handed him the baby so she could look at her brother’s ankle. Jun sank into a seat of his own wincing as he saw how bad the foot looked. It was mottled black and blue and about double the size it was meant to be.

“After you have had a bath we will treat this, okay” Kazumi told him, and Nino nodded

“Thank-you” He said softly and Jun was surprised at how formal Nino was speaking to his own sister

“Kazunari… I am sorry that I left you… I tried to write to you…” Kazumi told him obviously sensing the same stand offish attitude was trying to reassure her brother that he was welcome here.

“You can write?” Nino asked obviously amazed.

“Nagase taught me…” She nodded and Jun was glad that he was right about the letters. “He is a good man…”

“Now I feel all praised out I am going to put the little one to bed” Nagase said cradling the sleeping baby and leaving them alone

“I am happy you are happy, Kazumi-chan…” Nino murmured “I am sorry that I got you involved in this…”

“Kazunari, you baka…” Kazumi snapped “You are my brother… And I love you, Nagase he was trying to buy you from the hummingbird or at least pay for a visit… But the owner he refused…”

“Why?”

“He said he needed more money… And although Nagase is wealthy he still has to pay the fees to keep me…”

“I understand Kazumi, I have never blamed you for leaving I was always happy that you were doing well…”

“When I received mama’s message I could not believe it… You always said you would never try to run away…”

Jun looked up sharply at that and Nino looked down at his hands, the prince couldn’t work out why he was surprised. Nino had always seemed to just accept is fate as a whore and then suddenly he had agreed to run away with him.

“Mama… You sound as if you know her well” Nino whispered and Kazumi nodded

“Last year, Nagase took me to the summer festival and I met her there, Nagase had told me that there was woman who worked in the palace that looked like me…But you should bathe and rest we can talk about this after…” Kazumi said briskly now getting to her feet “Ohno-ouji…”

“Jun…” Jun said quickly “I am no longer a prince”

“I see,” Kazumi smiled bowing her head and Jun realised that the twins looked more alike than Nino had said. In his opinion Nino was the better looking of the two but that really was just personal preference “Then I will lead you to the baths… We are lucky to have an onsen here, it should sooth your body and spirit”

“Thank-you” He smiled going to help Nino slowly to his feet. He really wasn’t happy with the way his lover’s ankle looked, it looked like when Masaki had fallen out of a tree trying to play a prank on Sho. The prank had back fired and there had been a lot of debates from the doctors of the imperial city if the best thing would be too completely remove the arm. Sho had stepped in then and had performed what had seemed, to a ten year old Jun, a miracle. He had wrapped Masaki’s arm tightly every day until it had mended.

After they had been shown into the onsen and they had stripped, Jun carefully studied the ankle, pressing more deeply than he would have liked to make sure there were no broken bones. Nino stayed silent throughout but at the end his face was as white as it was with make-up and his eyes were swimming with tears.

“I am sorry, Kazu-kun, I just wanted to make sure that it was not broken…” Jun apologised quickly wiping the eyes with his thumb

“I know, Jun-sama… Is it broken?”

“No… At least I do not think so… I just believe you bruise easily” The prince answered “The water here should help…But Kazu-kun, if something hurts in future, tell me please do not pretend everything is fine…”

“I really am weak for a man” Nino sighed as Jun helped him into the water. Jun watched the way Nino’s waist length hair fanned out and had to admit that even when naked, from behind Nino looked like a woman. Jun knew the delicate movements he had been groomed with and the way he held himself would never fade. He would always be ‘girlish’ but the prince didn’t believe that made him ‘weak’ few people would be able to live Nino’s life and remain as pure and innocent as he had.

“You are not weak, Kazu-kun, you are the strongest person I have ever met” Jun told him sinking into the water of the bath and letting the natural minerals soak into his body. Nino blushed looking both surprised and pleased at the praise

“I am not as strong as you…Jun-sama…” Nino murmured softly reaching out to him and Jun was instantly to his side.

“Is everything okay?”

“I am scared” Nino whispered and Jun hugged him tightly “When the owner finds out I have gone he will send people for me… The owner will know where my sister lives…”

“I do not think so… I have heard of Nagase Tomoya, he has three houses not even the owner of the hummingbird will know which one he is in…This seems to be the most remote… For now we will be safe, Kazu-kun…”

“You truly believe that, Jun-sama?”

“Yes… I believe that” Jun nodded truthfully, he could see that Kazumi and Nagase were in love and he knew the older man wouldn’t do anything to hurt her why else would he try to buy Nino or continue to pay for a woman he was married to.

After they finished in the bath Kazumi brought them robes and led them to a bedroom telling them both to rest as food would be brought to them along with some herbs for the ankle. There were two beds made but after she had left they looked at each other and climbed onto just one

“Let me look at your foot again” The prince said and very slowly Nino did as he was asked

“It… Hurts…” Nino gasped out and Jun slowly started to massage the foot hoping to bring down the swelling. The skin was on fire and it was obvious that even as tired as he was Nino wouldn’t be able to sleep with the injury.

“Sorry, Kazu-kun… But this should help sooth it” Jun told him as he gently pressed into the arch of the foot. Nino bit down tightly at his lip tears forming in his eyes. It wasn’t long before his face relaxed though and it felt as if some of the swelling had gone down.

“It feels better now, Jun-sama” He whispered and Jun let his hands come to a stop, he rinsed them off in the water and then settled down holding his lover tightly breathing against his neck.

“What you said to me in the forest, say it again, Kazu-kun…” He told him, and Nino took a deep breath and his voice came out with slightly more confidence than it had been before

“I am in love with you”

“I am in love with you too…” Jun grinned happily his fingers running up Nino’s arm. His mind went back to the palace wondering what was going on there. He couldn’t shake the feeling that both Masaki and Nanami had been found out and were being held in the dungeon. But that was impossible Sho would never let someone hurt Masaki.

At the palace…

“Wow everybody is so busy!” Masaki said almost skipping into the office where Satoshi was sat studying the maps of the imperial city. Jun and the whore’s clothes had been found in the river to the east but his gut was telling him that they had travelled through the forest. If that was the case anything could have happened to Jun. He was a prince he wasn’t meant to be travelling through the forest, he thought angrily. He should have just stayed at home and done as their mother wanted, but he had given everything up and thrown the palace into an uproar all because of a whore.

It was true that the whore had been passible and her movements had been graceful enough to impress even the emperor but there had been something strange and almost familiar about her. The moment he had seen her he knew she was going to be trouble.

He thumped the table loudly almost apologising when Masaki jumped slightly letting out a loud gasp. The younger guy had been acting a little strangely (or at least even more strangely) since Jun’s disappearance and now something twisted in his stomach.

“Do you know something?” Satoshi asked carefully looking at his younger brother his eyes and heart filled with deep suspicion

“No, of course not” Masaki said shaking his head with his bright innocent smile firmly fixed on his face. “Why would I help them?”

“Because you are an idiot, who believes in true love even if it is impossible…”

“Maybe, but this time Nii-chan, I did not help…” Masaki said with a shrug and was about to walk off when Satoshi grabbed his arm and painfully pressed it behind his back pushing him up against the wall “Nii-chan… You are hurting!”

“And you are lying… Tell me what you know, Ma-sa-ki...” Satoshi hissed against his ear “Now!”

TBC

A/N: I feel like I’m making Ohno so mean >.< sorry… I hope you enjoy ^.^