nilielh | Fast Forward. Rewind

Title : Fast Forward. Rewind (Part 12)
Pairing : Ohno/Nino, Sho/Jun (if you squint)
Rating : PG
Summary : He’d been trying to uncover the truth about the events prior to their departure from Yamato for years, but all he could dig out from it was the same thing that had been reported repeatedly on national television, regarding the congregation’s involvement in the attack in Tokyo, and nothing more.
Warning : mentions of mass murder, religious cults
Note : crossposted in AO3

Yamato, Early Spring 1995

Yamato

He did his best not to be seen, hiding in the dark like a common criminal. But that wasn’t just a mere thought now, he mused bitterly, feeling his hands tingling at the memory of the way the life bled out of the two men he’d killed tonight.

They would have killed you if you didn’t; you did it to save yourself, didn’t sound so hollow even now, but he knew it was the truth.

He shouldn’t even come back here, knowing the dangers. He might have buried the men sent to kill him and the others in their place but who knew if someone else were here to make sure they did the job? He’s risking his life being here, but he knew he had to do it. He had to go back.

For Kazu.

The building’s back door was locked, but that wasn’t entirely a problem if one knew where the building’s caretaker was keeping the spare. It didn’t even take him minutes to find it and use it to unlock the door, locking it behind him again the moment after.

Getting from there to the fifth floor was a grueling task, especially when he had to do it carefully and as quietly as he could manage it. When he got near enough to Kazu’s family’s apartment, he stopped, hearing a woman’s voice speaking from just outside the door.

He peeked from where he’d hid himself and realized it was Kazu’s mother, talking on the phone.

And what he heard had made the hairs at the back of his neck stand on end, his knees shaking he was afraid he was going to fall down in combined shock and torment.

“It’s done,” Kazu’s mother had said, “They took the children, just as you told me. It’s over. It’s over now. Please, don’t talk to me about this again. Please.”

---

Tokyo General Hospital

Tokyo, Present day

“Can you trust me?”

Nino said nothing, but the way his fingers closed tightly around his wrist told him enough. The gesture was so familiar that for a moment there, he was transported back to the past, to that moment at the rooftop, just him and Nino. When he’d reached for Nino’s hand and tugged him closer, terrified that it would be the last time that he would be able to.

The first time he’d forgotten where they were, who they were when he’d kissed him.

The knot in his chest came back stronger this time around, the need to protect Nino even more so. He could feel Nino shaking against him, could feel the way he was trying to calm himself by breathing, quiet as he struggled to pull himself together despite the difficulty.

He would take it all away if he could, suffer in Nino’s place if he could, if only to save Nino this pain but he knew that he couldn’t. There was only so much he could do for him, but he vowed that he’d do everything to keep Nino safe.

He couldn’t do so before, but he promised that wouldn’t be the case now.

He stepped closer, one arm around Nino’s waist from behind and the other he wormed around the back of Nino’s head. He pulled Nino to him and put his lips against the side of Nino’s temple, breathing softly, gentle and careful.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Kazu,” he murmured, meaning every single word. “All I ask is for you to trust me. Can you do that?”

A pause, a breath, and the slight tilt of Nino’s head that almost went unnoticed, but he felt it just the same. He smiled through the emotion that lodged itself in his throat, pulling Nino to him closer and closer still.

“Thank you.” he murmured, fishing out his phone to call the cavalry.

There weren’t many words shared between them after that, and it was simply because there wasn’t any chance for them to talk. Immediately after the other man ended the call, Nino realized he’d been lifted from the floor and into the other man’s arms, bridal-style, embarrassing as it was, and whatever complaints he would have voiced out in normal circumstances had simply died in his throat the second the other man started his descent down the stairs.

“Just until we’ve reached the next floor,” he heard the man say moments later, shifting Nino’s weight as Nino held on around the man’s shoulder for dear life. “Someone’s already waiting for us there. We could have done that earlier but I suspect it might take longer for our men to get to this floor, so I thought it would be better to improvise,”

Nino had no chance to ask what the other meant by it because then they'd stopped, and Nino realized he was being put back down to stand on his own two feet again.

“Still with me, Tokai-sensei?” the other man asked.

All Nino could do was nod.

The next moments were a blur, and Nino honestly didn’t know how to keep up with it. The last he remembered after the other man had put him down was being carefully backed against the wall, and the other man stepping forward to hug him quickly. After that, he was told to stay put, watching the other man’s back as he disappeared out of the emergency exit door.

And then the sounds of commotion, people shouting from outside the door, and the next thing he knew, Ohno was back and was helping him into another wheelchair, pushing the door open to reveal the chaos outside. The once quiet and orderly hospital hallway was littered with people and hospital staff, watching in horror as a group of uniformed men were shoving civilians face-first into the floor, shouting and ordering them to stay down at the same time their arms were being cuffed behind their backs.

There wasn’t enough time to idle about, though, because then Ohno was wheeling him around, Ohno’s movements were quick as he pushed him out of the emergency exit door without pausing, but not before throwing his jacket over Nino’s head to cover his face.

And now he was here, sitting next to the man he’d thought he wouldn’t ever get to see ever again, in the car, as he drove quietly past familiar roads and buildings, hand clutching Nino’s own on his lap.

Nino wondered where they were going, but that was honestly the least of his concerns right now.

“You have questions, I know,” Ohno murmured as if on cue, startling Nino. Somehow, it honestly felt like a normal occurrence now, Ohno startled him by literally putting Nino’s thoughts into words ever since that moment in the hospital when Ohno appeared and turned Nino’s life around.

“But I would prefer it better if I answer them later, at least once I’m certain you’re comfortable,” Ohno said, quickly giving him a glance and wincing. “That hospital robe, though it looks good on you, I swear, doesn’t seem too comfortable, if you know what I’m saying,”

Nino looked down on himself and shrugged, only remembering belatedly where the IV bag had gone now that he realized it was missing. His gaze darted to his other hand resting on Ohno’s lap, and felt his face burned at the sight of it.

“I get what you mean, but it’s not like I’ve planned to strut around wearing this. You didn’t exactly give me a chance to change before you dragged me out,” he said, as he tried to tug his hand free. Ohno didn’t let him.

“And I may need that hand back at some point, Oh-chan, okay,” he muttered, without heat, blushing harder when Ohno turned so quickly towards him in answer.

“What?”

“You called me Oh-chan,” Ohno murmured, lips twitching. “I...That’s surprising; well, I thought you already forgot. I mean -”

He chuckled loud enough to make Ohno pause, let Ohno see the way he eyed the other man closely before he looked away.

“You’ve been on my mind every day for the past twenty-five years, Oh-chan,” he whispered, and it was a confession and an apology, and maybe something more if it wasn’t so difficult to put his thoughts into words now that he was here with Ohno, when he never thought it would even be possible hours before.

“So, no; I have never forgotten you or your face, your voice or how your eyes crinkle like that when I refer to you with that name. I never did, okay? I’ve never once forgotten, Oh-chan, even when I thought I wouldn’t ever see you again.”

---

He would be lying if he said he wasn’t surprised, but it would be kind of pointless to deny what was obvious. They’d been children then, yes, but it didn’t change the fact that they’ve always been more than friends, that they’ve always been more to each other than they’ve dared to admit.

And it didn’t matter whether they thought they'd lost each other that night, more than twenty five years ago, because now, years and years later, they’re here, and they’ve found each other again.

He gripped Nino’s hand and swallowed through the lump that lodged itself in his throat, giving Nino a sideway glance. He opened his mouth to talk, but Nino beat him to it.

“I know we’d have to talk about that too, and we will, I promise, but not until you tell me what really happened. How you’re here now and what’s your involvement in all of this. And how about our friends? I need to know if they’re okay, Oh-chan, please,” Nino’s voice was pleading, and his eyes showed a myriad of emotions he could hardly stand to look.

“I’ll take you to the hospital where they’re being treated, but are you sure you’ll be okay?” he asked, just to be sure.

“I will be,” Nino answered, firmly. “I just...I need to see them, Oh-chan,” Nino pointed out. “And while we’re on our way, you can start telling me about the other stuff I asked you about,”

He sighed and squeezed Nino’s hand, allowing himself a moment to reconsider his words and his actions before he nodded.

“Where do you want me to start?”

Nino’s breath whooshed out of him in a rush, and Ohno felt more than heard it as he threaded their fingers together.

“From the beginning,” Nino murmured, “I need you to tell me what happened from the night we thought you died, Oh-chan.”

---

Undisclosed hospital in Tokyo

Tokyo, Present day

Nino couldn’t - didn’t want to imagine the horrors Ohno might have suffered from that night on, but it was hard. Every word felt like a dagger to the chest, an added burden to the existing pain he’d been carrying in his heart from the night he left Yamato.

To his credit, Ohno didn’t seem that much affected anymore, but it was a completely different matter for Nino. Learning about all these was making his chest hurt in the worst way possible, knowing that there was no way he could have undo the past no matter how much he wanted to.

“We shouldn’t...we shouldn’t have left you there,” he croaked, in which Ohno answered with just a slight shake of his head.

“I’m glad you did, because I wouldn’t have been able to save you all by myself, even if I tried,”

“You don’t know that, Oh-chan,” he insisted, only vaguely noticing Ohno maneuvering the car straight into basement parking. Ohno said nothing, still didn’t say anything as he parked the car into the first available space, killed the engine and turned to face Nino.

“There are things we can’t change anymore, Kazu, and I swear I’m okay with that,” he said, hand finding Nino’s cheek. “But it’s not to say that it made living through that nightmare easy because it wasn’t. I thought you died that night too, you see, and I had to spend the next several years grieving for you. But the universe obviously had other plans, because when I thought I’ve finally accepted the reality that I won’t be able to see you and hold you again, it brought me right where you are. Right in the place that I never thought you would be,”

“What? What do you mean?”

Ohno offered him a smile here and pulled him closer, pressed a soft, lingering kiss to the side of his lips.

“Matsumoto Jun and I trained in the LTRI together, under Serizawa-san’s guidance. Although Serizawa-san never once showed his face during the long-year training because he preferred it that way, and I guess that explains why your good friend doesn’t remember him. Or me, for that matter,” Ohno said, chuckled when he frowned harder in answer. He’s not sure what Ohno was referring to, really, and he might probably need to ask Jun about it just to clarify.

“I saw you with him on the day we got the result of the training,” Ohno followed, “We passed. That day, we were officially lawyers. But while the others were celebrating their success, I was preoccupied with something else. I was busy following you, telling myself I was hallucinating even when you’re really there. It took me weeks to find everything I could about you, and the others. I swear I would have gone to you then, and I almost did, Kazu, I almost did, but soon after I realized that I shouldn’t. I thought I did the right thing then, to keep you all safe. Until we found out that you might eventually expose yourself by asking your friends for help after the mass grave’s discovery. It was then that I realized I was wrong. None of us would ever be safe until the people we are still trying to run away from are still here and hunting us down.”

---

They were quiet after that, and Ohno figured that was to be expected too. It was a lot to take in, and not even their shared joy upon finding each other alive after years of thinking they weren’t wouldn’t change it.

“My mother was the one who sent us away that night,” it was Nino who still broke the silence after a while, his expression pinched. “Someone came and took us, though I never did manage to find out how she was able to do that. I have not seen her or talked to her since she came to see us after my father’s arrest,”

He nodded. “I know,” he said, “I found out about that from her,”

“You did? You talked to her?”

He nodded again. This was something he knew he had no right to say - he promised the older woman before when he’d found her - but he knew it was the right thing to do. He knew her reason for not letting her children know where she was had been purely done out of guilt, but it wasn’t her fault and she did her best to save her children from harm, at the very least.

“Does this mean you know where she is?” Nino quickly followed.

“Yes,” he answered.

“If I ask you to take me to her, will you?”

“Of course, Kazu,” he returned, softly. He swallowed and pulled Nino to him, knowing he was going to break Nino’s heart once again by agreeing.

Nino pulled away after a moment to look at him. Then, he asked, “What about my father?”

The question caught him off-guard. “What about him?”

Nino’s eyes were narrowed. “You said you talked to my father, so I’m guessing that you might have talked to my father too. Did you?”

He paused, then realized there was no point in keeping that a secret anyway, so he nodded.

“Okay, so what did he say? Did he apologize for what he did? For the people he killed? For almost getting us killed?” Nino asked, “You know I was actually planning on meeting him, to talk to him. I thought I could do it to ask information, but -”

“Please don’t,” he said, cutting in. The urgency in his voice must have mirrored the look on his face, because then Nino was frowning at him in return.

“What?”

He shook his head. “Please don’t...don’t go. Don't see him,” he said, “Because he didn’t know that you and your sister were alive, until today. That was my fault, I know, but I had no idea he would do the unthinkable after we’ve talked. And I have reasons to believe that he was still in contact with the cult members who aren’t in prison, like him. The same people who wanted us dead, and the same people who sent those men earlier to kill you.”