CHAPTER FIVE
Revelations

"Since when did it started happening again?" Kat asked the man seated in front of her.

They were in a coffee shop just a few blocks away from Yuki Eiri's apartment. And now they were here, looking intently in their mugs as they talk.

"Ever since I got to the apartment." Jed replied.

"Let me look at your hands." Kat instructed after locking gazes with him. "Why?" Jed asked.

"I know what you do. You think that inflicting wounds on your arm would lessen the pain that you were feeling. So stop being such a child and give me your arm." Kat said, now glaring at her older brother.

"I didn't do anything..." Jed said as he guided his arm to Kat's line of view. As soon as he saw Kat's widened eyes at what she saw, Jed automatically said, "Well, except for the first ones. They really did hurt."

"Jed..." Kat closed her eyes after seeing the fresh wounds on her brother's arm which was covered by the sleeves of his trench coat. Then she opened her eyes and scowled at him, "Are you crazy?" Kat almost shouted. "Your nose is already bleeding and still you cut yourself! Do you really want to suck yourself dry? What is the fucking matter with you?"

"This is better than what I used to do..." Jed calmly said as he gazed outside the window. It was still raining slightly.

"Bullshit!" Kat hissed. "Jed, please... Stop this. We'll figure out a way to make it stop from hurting. This is hurting me, you do know that, don't you?"

Jed looked at his sister's pained expression and nodded slightly. "We've been to every neurologist, Kat. The best in Japan. And they all have the same answer, 'Just be patient.' Well I'm running out of it."

"Then maybe that's what we need. Time. Much more of it." Kat said as she held Jed's hands in hers.

'The only problem is we don't have time...' Jed thought as he looked at their hands then to her.

"Promise me, Jed. No more cutting. For me?" Kat pleaded to her brother.

"And another thing. You have to tell Yuki-san about this." Jed was surprised at his sister's words.

"I'm not saying you have to tell him everything. You have to tell him about the things that make your nose bleed and make you shout out in pain. Besides, he's not the type to gossip so you don't really have to worry about anything. Remember, you are living in his house."

Jed thought about it for a few minutes. "Fine." Jed said to his sister as he looked outside again. Kat only smiled at her brother's response.

"We have to get back. It's almost seven. Yuki has an appointment at eight." Jed said as he stood up.

"Hai." Kat returned to her cheerful mood as she grabbed her brother's hand and walked out of the shop. Jed only smiled at his sister's sudden mood changes.

Yuki was out in the balcony of his apartment as he drank his cup of coffee.

Then he saw him. He was hand in hand with a really beautiful girl.

The girl was chatting cheerfully as they approached Yuki's house. He was smiling at the girl who was also smiling at him. Then he saw them approach the Porsche Carrera GT parked on the sideway of the road. Jed kissed Kat's forehead and with that, she got into her car and accelerated through the streets. He never noticed until now how Jed looked when he smiled. He glowed when he smiled. He couldn't help feeling somewhat jealous of the closeness the siblings had.

Yuki looked at Jed who was still smiling as he watched his sister go. Then swiftly Jed locked gazes with him as if he sensed all along that his every move was being watched. Yuki was a bit shocked. He couldn't understand if he was embarrassed that he was just seen looking at him or if he was afraid that Jed's eyes could actually kill him.

He breathed deeply, hopefully unknowing to Jed, and with a final look at the young man on the streets, he turned around and went into his apartment.

'Why was he looking at me?' Jed now looked at the empty balcony of his home for another two months. He dismissed the thought as he entered the compound. He looked at his black Ducati Multistrada 620. He remembered the time when he changed his Yamaha with a Ducati because the former was too slow to keep up with Yuki's driving. So that's why he got a much faster motorcycle.

After he stepped out of the elevator, he got into the apartment. He went straight to living room, prepared to clean up the mess that was there an hour and a few minutes ago. He was surprised to see that everything was cleaned and there were no more signs of beer on the hardwood floor.

He proceeded to the hallway and saw that the lights were on in Yuki's study. 'He must be working on something.' Jed knows better than to disturb someone who was working. But in this case, it's now or never.

"Hey," Jed began while leaning on the wall beside the door. "Thank you for cleaning up the mess. I'm really sorry about all that." He sighed deeply. He recalled what Kat said in the coffee shop. 'She's right. For me to protect him fully, he has to trust me.' With another deep sigh, he started again.

"Look, I'm not really good with explaining things but I think it's time that you should know, considering that I have to be on your tail 24/7. Do me a favor and just don't open the door until I'm finished, ok? Ok..."

"I lied, about earlier." Jed tried to come up with the right words for his story. "I am sick and there's a chance that I might die because of it. It's not like what you think. I don't have cancer or whatever. I have some... issues. That thing you saw earlier, it was like a flashback about a painful memory that I didn't want to remember anymore."

'There, that was nice, in a way that I didn't really tell him that I can't remember anything...'

"The reason Kat was so worried about me is that..." Jed swallowed before continuing, "I do a lot of stuff everytime I remembered those kind of things."

"And those things are?" Yuki asked as he opened the door and leaned on the opposite wall in front of Jed.

Jed's eyebrows furrowed at the sight of the author. "I told you not to come out until I'm finished."

"Hn." Yuki replied. "Continue..."

Jed looked at his eyes, amber meeting brown. Jed looked away and as asked, he continued, "Nicotine, alcohol, drugs..." Jed looked straight into Yuki's eyes before saying, "and suicide."

Yuki looked straight into his eyes. He mentally replayed the words that were just spoken to him, Nicotine, alcohol drugs, and suicide. He closed his eyes as he breathed deeply. When he opened his eyes, he saw Jed look away from him as if afraid of what he was about to say. People like him didn't want pity, which he knew. He understood Jed's situation because, like him, the last thing he ever wanted after the incident in New York was pity.

"I don't give a damn about the shit you do." He calmly said as he walked away from the guy in front of him, "Just don't kill yourself inside my house."

He observed Jed's reaction at the corner of his eye as he walked away from him. Jed smiled, it was small but it was heartfelt. He praised himself for being correct in thinking that the other didn't want any pity.

"I've got to meet Mizuki today." Yuki said coolly as he got his blazer from the sofa and exited the apartment. He noticed Jed following him from behind.

'That went well.' Jed thought as he smiled mentally. He was expecting the usual, "Oh you poor thing…" or the constant "Are you alright?" He hated those things. It kept on reminding him that something is terribly wrong with him. He was really thankful that Yuki did neither of those things. He should've known better. A person like Yuki didn't give a damn about others.

He didn't lie to Yuki, but he didn't also tell the truth.

Nicotine. He smoked before. At least a pack a day. It kept him calm and sane for the time being. Alcohol. He still drinks but not like before. He knows the consequences and that is why he was very thankful that he was not an addict to both vices.

The third and the fourth one, though, were a bit complicated.

Drugs, he had tried a lot of them. Ecstasy, marijuana, heroin. The "high" made him forget about all the pain he experienced. He could still remember the time when Kat was so mad at him when she found out that he was doing drugs. She cried so much that her eyes were swollen for at least two days. He couldn't understand why she was the one who cried when it should've been him. After that, he tried hard to quit. He practiced his sword-fighting day and night. He went to skeet shooting ranges to practice his skills as a sniper. He occupied himself with more important things like keeping their business on the road.

Suicide. He could still count the times when he attempted it. He hadn't met Kat that time yet, so he was still at a loss and his head felt like it was going to explode any minute because of the damned flashbacks, which was all a blur by the way. He couldn't even remember how he survived all of it with only scratches on his body. He tried slashing his wrist four times. Drowning himself two times. He even stole sleeping pills from the hospital and tried using those a couple of times. Lastly, like some movies, he tried to jump off a bridge, once. Though he did all of these, someone or something always kept him from dying. He couldn't quite place it but somehow it's like, it's not yet meant to be. He wanted to die a lot of times, but as time passed, he already accepted the fact that something was still in store for him.

So now, he settled for cutting himself. Something about the blood coming out of his skin kept him, well, okay. But he had to stop it, he knew that. At least for his sister. The last thing he wanted was to see his sister sad.

He also settled for strawberry pocky. It was something introduced to him by Kat. She said it could be an alternative for the vices he did. Remarkably, it really helped. He even liked the treat. He even has at least five boxes of it in his bag. It always made him smile to think how ironic it is. An assassin who loved to eat pocky... Now that's a funny picture.

"Do you really have to bring that with you." His train of thoughts was suddenly cut when he heard a voice beside him. He looked at the thing that the blonde was referring to... His katana.

He looked at the man beside him in the elevator and said, "This is my weapon. Of course, I have to bring it with me wherever I go."

"Couldn't you have settled with a gun, instead?" Yuki asked as he looked back at the door of the lift.

"Bullets are traceable to guns. Though we stay anonymous when purchasing ours, we still have to be precautious. There is a slight possibility that the guns could be traced to us." He replied simply.

Yuki looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"What?" Jed asked.

"You really kill people for a living?" Yuki asked after the ding, that announced that they've reached the ground floor.

Jed paused. "It's what I'm good at." Jed simply said as he exited the lift and proceeded to his motorcycle.

"Good morning Yuki-san. Would you like to order something? My treat." Mizuki, Yuki's editor, cheerfully said as she gave Yuki the menu.

They were in the recently opened Starbucks Café. It was an outdoor café which has tables with large blue umbrellas over it, matching both the colors of the table and the chair.

Mizuki looked at the man standing beside Yuki. He looked young and had light brown hair and eyes. She observed him from head to toe and stopped for a few minutes on the samurai sword he was holding with both hands in front of him. She looked at him and said, "And you are?" She noticed the man look at her with a blank expression and back at the streets. She looked at the blonde seated in front of her as he told the waitress what kind of coffee he wanted.

"Jed, my bodyguard." Yuki stated as he relaxed in his chair.

Mizuki merely smiled at the notion of the great Yuki Eiri having a bodyguard. "I never knew you were the "bodyguard" type, Yuki-san. I thought you hated those kind of men." She said as she sipped her cup of capuccino.

"I do." Yuki said as he looked straight into Mizuki, clearly emphasizing the present tense of his verbs.

"Then why did you get one?" Mizuki smiled as she noticed the author getting agitated.

"Long story." He replied.

"I've got all the time in the world." She said as she smirked at Yuki.

Yuki glared at her and with a vicious tone said, "Well, I don't. So cut the crap and tell me what this thing is all about."

Mizuki just laughed at the outburst. "Always the impatient one, Yuki Eiri. Alright then, let's get down to business. But first," She looked at the bodyguard beside Yuki. "You could sit down, you know... Jed, right?" Jed looked at her and coolly said, "Don't mind me. I'm fine." Then he looked away again.

"Alright then." She faced Yuki. "Yuki-san, we can't publish your books within two months. We could only publish it within at least four months, so by then, you would be in America." Mizuki said as she sipped her coffee again, still looking at Yuki's eyes.

"Do something about it." Yuki stated with no expression in his voice.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"I said, do something about it." Yuki repeated. "I want the books published before I go. I want it done within two months."

Now it was Mizuki's chance to burst. "Are you joking? Who do you think you are?" Mizuki breathed deeply to calm her nerves. "This is the best we could do, Yuki-san. This is the best I could do. It's your fault anyway, you missed the deadline so don't you dare blame us for cramming." She took a final sip from her coffee and stood up. She grabbed her purse from the table. "Goodbye, Yuki-san." She looked at the brown-haired guy standing. "Goodbye, Jed and seriously, you should sit down. You stand out too much." And with a last look at the author, left the café.

Jed looked at Mizuki get into her car, a bit bewildered about what she said ealier. 'Standing out?' He gazed at all the people around him and almost all of them were looking at him. He could see some school girls giggling as soon as he caught sight of their table. Majority of them were looking at him, specifically his katana. 'I am standing out.' He hid his katana in his trench coat and sat on the chair opposite to Yuki which was occupied by the editor a few moments ago.

"Unbelievable." He heard Yuki whisper. Jed just couldn't stop himself. He had to say it. "It's your fault."

Yuki looked at him, taken aback by his words.

"The world won't follow your every move. You have to follow its moves." Jed started. "If they can't publish your book when you want it to be, you're just gonna have to settle for a later publishing. The important thing is it's being printed. If you really are an author, then that should be on top of your list."

After saying that, he saw Yuki bow his head in full concentration.

Then he saw a girl came up to the author, tapping his shoulders. "Yuki-sama?" the girl asked. 'Great, another one. I wonder if there's still some green tea bags in the cupboard.' Jed thought as he looked away.

Yuki silently nodded as he sipped his black coffee, clearly making it known to the girl that he wasn't in the mood for any flirtations. "I would like to ask you a question," Jed heard the girl say almost inaudible, "is he your lover?"

Jed's eyes immediately locked with Yuki's. They both had the same disbelieving expression.

"Hell no." Yuki coolly said after gaining composure.

"That's great."

Jed saw Yuki raise an eyebrow.

Then the girl continued, "Uhm... my friends, over there, was wondering if we could have your name or number." Jed thought she was talking to Yuki, but no, she was staring directly at him. Sensing the awkwardness of the situation, the girl quickly continued, "It's just that we thought you were some kind of an image model or something..."

Jed breathed deeply and stared blankly at the girl in front of him. It was the first time he ever heard someone describe him as a handsome person, especially a stranger. Well, his sister, once said that he's got the looks but he had always dismissed the thought, keeping in mind that it was his sister saying such things.

He studied the girl. She was pretty, in the school girl kind of way. Any guy could definitely be attracted to this kind of girl in seconds.

"I'm not an image model." He said simply.

"Then why are you with him?" She motioned to the blonde beside her.

"I'm his bodyguard." Jed answered.

"So that was why you were standing like a statue beside him a few minutes ago..." the girl said as she rested her chin on her fingertips.

"This is pathetic." Jed heard Yuki hiss as he stood up and paid the bill. Jed also stood up to follow his client.

"Can you at least tell me what your name is?" He heard the girl call out.

Jed turned his head around to look directly at the girl. "Jed." He said in a monotonous voice.

Then he saw the girl smile widely and the girls behind her come up and somewhat teasing her for what she had just done.

He got into his sleek black motorcycle, put his helmet on, and followed suit to the black BMW in front of him.

Author's Notes:

I know this chapter's full of crap but at least something about Jed was revealed, right? The girl thing is just like something to show how good-looking Jed really is. I'll try my best to deliver better chapters next time. It's just that I got a lot of things to do and my brain is not really working at its full capacity. till next time, peace out!

ayos lang, basta't kasama
konting alak lang, kahit walang pulutan