A/N: Rated M for sexual themes.
August 21st Waxing Gibbous 9:34pm Rank 7
Minako promised to keep her eyes closed but she could feel the anticipation growing in her chest. Jin called her to the shrine at around 9pm, after that he'd led her to a dark building a bit closer to the port, almost in the exact middle of where they lived. One of his hands were wrapped around her eyes, but the other held onto her own protectively. At least she wasn't in any danger of falling and breaking every bone in her body. They were moving up stairs, and through doorways. That much was obvious.
"Do you like it?"
Light spills onto her eyes, momentarily blinding her. It takes a lot of blinking before they adjust but by then, she has already lost the ability to speak. The walls are a soft gray but the ceiling is a dark blue. The roof is high, with an adjustable light. A soft, plush, brown carpet covers the floor. The bed is kind of plain: A western style frame and mattress with blue and green covers. A small dresser stands at the end. Across from the bed is a table. Jin's silver briefcase and some of his grenade tools are already scattered on top.
She is shocked into blankness. Her brain fails her. There is no explanation for what she is seeing, at least, not one she can believe in. This is room. Just a simple room with barely anything in it, so why did she feel like everything inside her belonged here? "You...What is all this?"
"You said you weren't ashamed to be with me, but I don't really want people to see us together. So...I got us this...Do you like it?" He is frowning, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. Minako lacks the words to answer him. There are no words at all, for this situation.
She collapses onto the floor, falling hard onto her knees. Jin is yelling something at her but none of his words reach her. He pulls her onto her feet and practically drags her to the bed, sitting her gently against the headrest. He sit by her thighs, slapping her gently in the face. His own face holds nothing but concern.
"Hey. Mina. You're scaring me. What's wrong? If you don't like it, I can throw everything out. This place is just a rental and it's cheap."
The thought of him throwing the place away snaps her out of her stupor and her eyes tear itself back to attention. She flings her arms around him, tackling him so hard he falls backward onto the bed. He couldn't escape her if he tried. "NO! No...I like it. I like it. I'm just...happy. Really, really happy."
Hours later, Minako has returned to being herself. I have my laptop out of my briefcase so I can work, digging through messages on the revenge website and doing some more basic work for Takaya. Minako is lying against my back with the blanket wrapped around her, most of it spilling onto me. Our little room is warm, and it flows into me, burning away the cold that had buried itself into my bones.
This time is everything I want. I could be with her as myself. I could still do what I needed to do for Takaya. I could have everything as long as I was here with her. The thought brings a smile to my face.
My hands are busy but my mind is mostly occupied on her. We talk at random, about anything and everything. She mentions bringing some clothes to put in the dresser and maybe some decorations for the room. We share a bathroom and common rooms with other people in the building but we probably wouldn't need them much. There are other places we need to be most of the time, but this little room would be for us. Our sanctuary.
"And then he told me not to fight, Akihiko of all people, can you believe that?"
They story started with them going out for a bowl of ramen after school. The way she'd described him, made it obvious. He was definitely in love with her. "Yeah, I can. He's interested in you. He's probably pissed off that he's weaker than the girl he wants to be with." I try, but it's overwhelmingly hard to keep the cruelness out of my voice. Of all the things to bring up, why did it need to be him?
Minako chuckles softly, pulling the blanket further up to cover most of her head. "That's okay. I don't like a guy because he can protect me."
"Oh yeah? Then what do you like about a guy?"
There is a playful tone in her voice when she answers me. "Are you jealous? Why? You don't like me fighting either."
"That's because you're my..." Girlfriend. I was about to say girlfriend. But she isn't. We've never spoken about that. Labels or names. She didn't ask for either of those things. Plus, that wasn't the reason behind my needing her to quit. I didn't want her to fight because she was impeding Takaya's plan. She was making life harder for me. "If you didn't fight for SEEs we wouldn't need to be hiding here. We could just walk out in broad daylight, but you work for them."
"So if I stopped fighting in SEEs, you wouldn't mind me killing Shadows?"
I would. Takaya still wouldn't like it, and she'd be in even more danger alone. He would definitely take the chance to kill her. "I'd still need to stop you. Takaya's goal is to wipe out everyone else who knows about the Dark Hour."
She chuckles again, her voice even more playful than before. "Whatever. Nothing you or Akihiko can say will make a difference. I'm still going to fight Shadows."
I grit my teeth. "Akihiko shouldn't be a part of your decision. And since when were you on a first name basis? He's older than you. You should be using his last name and adding a senpai or san at the end of that. He's just some guy in your school."
She laughs harder this time, moving off my back and taking her warmth with her. I almost reach out to grab her when she moves back into position again and the warmth returns to me. "Stop being jealous. You're right. He's just my senpai."
"Just your senpai who touched you in a love hotel." I couldn't keep the anger from seeping out. Knowing they were together was more than disgusting. The hatred burned like a flame in the pit of my stomach. I should have killed him that night at the shrine.
The air stilled, growing frosty. She moves away, this time scooting to the opposite end of the bed, by the wardrobe. "You were watching."
I've already come this far. It was too late to go back. "Yeah. But you probably already knew that didn't you... You're always laughing about how much I follow your every move."
"How much did you see?" Her voice is blank. Normally her questions were curious or playful, but now they are neither. Completely emotionless and impossible to read. I hate these moments with her the most.
"Why? What are you so afraid of?"
"I'm not afraid of anything." She throws the blanket at me and walks to the door. She has her hand wrapped around the doorknob before I realize she's about to leave. I grab her other hand and pull her into me, wrapping my arms around her to pin the petite girl to my body.
The room is small. I don't even need to get up to reach her. There is no resistance, but her whole body is still, rejecting my touch. My short nails dig into her skin as I whisper, "Where are you going?"
"Back to Akihiko." A sting of jealousy digs into my bones. It hurts. There is a volcano of anger in me waiting to boil over, but her voice holds nothing. As bare as the walls. She is still facing the door, her head turned away from me. I can't tell if she is joking, trying to make me angry, or if she's completely serious. There are no signs, but it doesn't matter. She's not going back to him if I can help it. He can never have her.
"You wouldn't."
"You seem to think I would." Her head leans back so she is resting against my shoulder. I realize then, that she is sitting between my legs. A provocative position, considering she is wearing a skirt. It would've made me blush if my face wasn't already red from anger.
"You were being controlled by shadows. Who knows what you would do?"
"I do. I know what I would do." She sighs, suddenly tired. "How much did you see?"
Minako isn't angry. She isn't even sad. There is no emotion in her voice because she is once again thrown back to that memory with Akihiko . Every time she thought about that night every feeling in her body seemed to escape her. It was the same way she felt about brushing her teeth or taking a shower. It was something that happened. That's all.
The way Jin is acting had been cute at first. Jealousy was such an ugly emotion, but she liked seeing it in others. Jealousy, lust, desperation, anger. They were all emotions that could change people in a split second. Make them do something they normally wouldn't. It destroyed as well as created. In this case, it was doing both. What had he seen? Why wouldn't he answer her?
She turns around so her knees are placed between his legs and she can look down on him. He seems so lost and confused that she almost wants to forgive him, like a puppy without its owner. She revels in it. "Do you want to know what we did?"
He swallows, clearly nervous, but nods. She moves to get behind him the way Akihiko had done to her, wrapping her arms under his, reaching her fingers for the zipper on his jacket. He doesn't move to stop her, nor to make it easier for her. He is reacting in almost the exact same way she had, the perfect dummy. She eases the jacket off his shoulders.
"You're all I have..."
Her lips are pressed to his ear as she whispers the words, her seduction pouring over his body. He flinches but doesn't react. This was clearly unnerving him, but she had to give him credit for his endurance. He didn't show any reaction to her touches. She pulls his t-shirt over his head, leaving his upper body bare. Jin's skin is ice old. There are scars lining his muscles along his back, his side and all over his arms. Near his waist, tattooed like a brand is a set of numbers.
01A057
"Let me take care of you..."
This line is more loving than seductive. She really does want to take care of him. She wants to love him enough to make all the other pain in his life go away. Jin shivers against her touch but there is no other reaction. Her hand reaches for the button on his pants, swiftly undoing it with one hand. Thankfully the man didn't wear a belt, making her work that much easier. Her fingers are tracing the edge of his underwear when she feels his pulse quicken.
"Let me make love to you..."
A soft moan escapes his lips. He is leaning into her, and Minako can imagine that his pretty eyes are closed. Completely relaxed. Her right hand rubs the inside of his thigh as she places light kisses on his shoulder and neck. A nibble on the ear. His skin is cold and scarred but smooth; the complete opposite of how Akihiko had felt that night. The man beneath her felt like chipped marble.
His patience had clearly disappeared. She could feel him moving underneath her hands. In a split second decision, she dodged out of the way to reach into her bag and grab a bottle of water. Without a moment's hesitation, Minako unscrewed the top and poured what was left of the bottle, over the top of Jin's head.
The man splutters, clearly surprised by the turn of events. "What the hell was that?!
"That was what happened." Minako shrugs, moving off the bed to shake off the blanket. The poor thing was sacrificed to prove her point, a pity. The blanket was so warm and fluffy, like Koromaru.
"So...All those things you just said..." Jin looks a strange mix between angry, surprised, and mildly embarrassed. His cheeks are flushed. He doesn't look the least bit cold despite being half-naked.
"Akihiko said them to me, while under the spell." There are tissues in her bag and she uses them to dot the blanket. The water hadn't soaked in too much, thankfully.
"And the touching..."
"More Akihiko. He rubbed my chest too." Minako puts her own hands over her breasts to demonstrate and the blush grows sharper on his cheeks. He tries to hide it with his hands, but she's flinging her chest at his face. I could do this everyday with him if he'd let me. Minako laughs at the thought, her happiness bouncing through the room.
She had absolutely no shame. Was she even a girl? What kind of person acted like this? It took everything I had not to scream. What escaped was an angry growl. "Stop that."
"Stop what?" When she looks up at me, her face is a mask of innocence. If I didn't know her better, it might be enough to fool me. "This?" She rubs her chest again a little faster. She's jumping up and down in her best effort to shove them in my face. "But you wanted to know what happened. This is what happened."
She crawls back onto the bed, advancing on me with that fake innocent expression. The words coming out of her mouth are anything but pure. "There's so much to say. We were both naked. He rubbed me down, like this. Oh, we came so close to -"
I slap my hand over her mouth to shut her up. "Stop. Okay. I get it. Just stop. I don't want to hear anymore."
She bites my hand. The pain is sharp, intense, and immediate. I let go, expecting to see a smile, but there is none. Her face is blank once more. The mirth and playfulness from a moment before is gone. Spending time with her was like a roller coaster. I never knew what to expect. Could never prepare for whatever it was that she would next throw at me.
"Jin, do you want to have sex with me?" Her legs are pulled up to her chest. Her cheek rests on her knees but her eyes are trained on me. They look brown, as they always do when she's unhappy. I noticed that about her.
It feels like a trick question. The forums spoke of them often. Girls like to ask those question even though there is no right answer. Regardless of what you say, she will get angry, so I choose to say nothing. I pull the now, almost-dry blanket back onto the bed to cover us. I'm still half-naked, but getting dressed seems like a bad idea at this point.
Instead, I pull her to my chest, and she doesn't resist. Her warmth envelopes me, whether she wants it to or not. A soft scent of oranges sticks to my nose. "I'm sorry, Mina."
After a moment, she maneuvers herself into a sitting position on my lap, her arms wrapping around my waist. I can feel her sighing and it sounds like she's whispering my name into my chest. "Jin..."
"You destroy me." She's tilting her head up to look at me, lovingly. There is sadness fraying the edges but then she closes her eyes and whispers, "But I love you."
"I love you too."
In persona terms: "You spend a long time with Jin." NC: Rank 8