Chapter Fifty-Three: Treasure

Miyuki was a curious girl by nature. Always had been. As kids, Eiji would yell at her for snooping through his things while he was at school or playing outside with his friends. He had a treasure box filled with things he collected, ranging from cool rocks and shells he'd found by the ocean to his favorite action figures he specifically wanted to hide from Miyuki.

Despite the name, it looked nothing like something a pirate would bury treasure in. Rather, Eiji's treasure box was about half the size of a shoebox. It was made of sturdy cardboard that had been covered in shiny gold paper. It was technically a gift box, designed to be pretty enough to not need wrapping paper.

He found it one day when he and Miyuki were at the store with Aki following a routine dentist appointment, something they both hated. Aki told them they could both pick out a prize from the store since they were so brave at their appointment. Miyuki selected a cookie from the store's bakery, which made Aki laugh ironically, and Eiji selected the box. Some parents may have questioned their child's selection of an empty box as a prize, insisting they pick something more exciting, but Aki saw its value. She was a kid once, and she remembered how fun it could be to have a secret place to store your treasures.

Miyuki also saw its value, only she didn't have one of her own, so she had an ever-present itching desire to see what Eiji kept in that golden box of his.

Eiji moved the treasure box periodically, in an attempt to keep it hidden. It didn't really house any secrets, but Eiji wanted it to be secret all the same. Miyuki always seemed to find it, though. She knew it existed and finding it was something of a game to her. Her intentions were never malicious, strictly curious. She never broke or stole anything from his box, in fact, she treated it with as much care as a young child could. She was simply curious as to what her brother considered 'treasure.' Still, as a child, she had a tendency to mess things up. When she looked through Eiji's things, she never quite put them back the way they should be.

Now, as she sat alone in the too-quiet home with Buddy asleep by the door and his owners away on vacation, she couldn't help but wonder if that box was still with Eiji. And if it was, what might he keep in it now?

She tried to distract her curious mind with something else. She looked through their fridge and pantry, trying to decide what she'd make later for dinner. She took her time, admiring their spice collection in an attempt to scratch that snooping itch of hers. It hardly helped.

She resisted the urge, however. She distracted herself with the copy of The Yellow Wallpaper that sat upon one of the living room bookshelves, which she also snooped through. It was the story Ash read for her and wrote a paper on so she could have the time to help him shop for his kimono. She read his paper before turning it in and had found it so compelling that she now wanted to read the actual story to further understand and appreciate his viewpoints. So she read the short story and when she finished she made dinner, fed Buddy, and watched TV.

Once the noise of the TV switched off into silence, the thought of that box consumed her again. If he still had it, she was certain it would be in his bedroom. But she remembered what she found last time she rummaged around in Ash and Eiji's room, although that couldn't really be considered snooping. Still, she had no intention of repeating that mistake.

So she ventured into the upstairs guest room that would be her own for the next two weeks and grabbed her toiletry bag and a pair of pajamas. She peeked into Eiji and Ash's bathroom, feeling a bit rebellious even stepping foot into their room. Their bathroom was gorgeous, and the bathtub and shower were much larger and nicer than the shower downstairs. She wished she could use it, but something in her told her that was crossing a line, so she simply stood in the doorway and gandered at the beautiful, spotless room. Then, with a shake of her head, she convinced her feet to carry her downstairs and use the more socially acceptable bathroom.

The downstairs bathroom was clean and nice as well, just not to the same degree the other was. Buddy whined when she closed the door behind her. He pawed at the wood and nudged it with his head, trying desperately to get inside. "Eiji was right about you," she said to herself more than the dog. "Ash raised a needy puppy with," a whine interrupted her words, "separation anxiety," she finished with a chuckle. A piercing bark echoed through the house. "Oh alright." Miyuki wrapped herself in a towel, despite being the only one there, and let Buddy into the bathroom with her. He laid peacefully on the tile floor as she showered.

Miyuki, now dressed in pajamas with two wet braids on her shoulders, went back to the upstairs guest room when she finished in the bathroom. Her brain burned as she nestled under the comforter, for just a few steps away was Ash and Eiji's room, full of secrets and possibly a childhood box of treasures.

"No, Mi!" She scolded herself aloud. She slapped her cheeks with both hands, causing Buddy's head to tilt in curiosity as he lay at the foot of her bed. "You can't invade their privacy like that!" She rolled over aggressively. "You'll just have to freaking deal with it!" She flipped off the bedside lamp and closed her eyes.

That night, she dreamt that she snuck into their bedroom to find the forbidden box, only for Buddy to follow closely behind her. Buddy stood on his hind legs like a human, in the dream. He yelled at Miyuki, Eiji's voice emerging from him. He told her not to meddle with other people's things and suddenly she was a child again, crying guiltily. When she woke, Buddy was fast asleep at her feet. Without much luck, she rolled over and tried to sleep.

She tossed and turned for a solid hour. First, the room was too hot, then after turning on a fan, it was too cold. On her side of the bed, she felt constricted with Buddy at her feet, but the opposite side of the queen mattress was too cold. She stubbornly closed her eyes and told herself she wouldn't open them again, but of course, she did. When she'd had enough, she kicked her feet off the bed and stood, bare feet pressing into the cold wood floor.

The floor creaked loudly as she walked from the room and to the doorway of the master bedroom. She stood for a long time in the doorway and stared into the dark expanse. Curiosity getting the better of her, she flipped on the overhead light.

"Only the box," she told herself. "Only the box," she repeated softly.

She thought back to the places Eiji used to hide it as a child. Under the bed, top of the closet, back of the closet, the bottom of his dresser drawer...those were the obvious places. And she'd bet he had no reason to hide it anywhere but an obvious place now that he was in his own home. That is, of course, considering he still had the box. Their room held two dressers. Unsure which belonged to Eiji, she checked the one nearest to her. She opened the top drawer. To her surprise, sitting right on top was a gun and box of bullets. Folded beside it was a note addressed to her which read:

Miyuki: If you see this, then my suspicions are correct...you're the snooping type. Tsk Tsk. I doubt you'll need it but I thought you should have a way to defend yourself in case anyone tries to break in. On second thought...maybe don't...I'm not too savvy on Japan's gun laws. But if it's life or death...screw the law and defend yourself. Whatever, I'm paranoid, you probably won't need it. But it's here if you need do. You probably won't find anything too interesting in here. Though if you're reading this, I can't help but wonder what exactly you might be hoping to find. There's a box of condoms in the nightstand drawer in case you decided to rebel against my advice to NOT pursue Sing. Got you. I guarantee your face is bright red. But that's the truth. They're there. Defend yourself...protect yourself...Gosh, I sound like a true older brother. Anyway...snoop if you must, but trust me, I'll know. Byyyye, Mi! Happy hunting! -Ash P.S. Sing's a decent dude, but he's also an American gang boss, so I must strongly advise against a relationship. I know, I know...a bit hypocritical of me, but I'm just looking out for ya. Besides, in the end, I know you'll do what you want. Alright, that's it. See ya!

Miyuki stared at the letter with wide eyes and blushing skin. "Damn, Ash," she muttered to herself. She folded the letter and placed it back in the drawer.

She slowly slid the drawer closed, fully believing Ash would somehow know she'd opened it. That didn't stop her from wanting to find that box, if anything it made her want to find it more. She opened the closet and there it was. On the top shelf that hung above their clothes, not even hidden. A shiny gold box half the size of a shoebox just begging her to open it. She outstretched her arms and grabbed it carefully. She set it down on the hardwood floor, kneeling beside it. She gingerly lifted the lid and set it to the side.

Her breath caught in her chest, realizing Eiji had added a few treasures since the last time she'd looked, which, thinking back, had been years ago at this point. On top was a small stack o pictures.

The first was the silly Christmas card of Eiji, Ash, and Buddy, bundled in their winter coats. She moved the picture to the back of the stack. The second photo featured Ash, asleep in one of their armchairs with a book in his lap. She flipped to the next one. In the third photo, Ash held Buddy as he stood over the stove with a soup ladle in hand. In the fourth photo, he stood in an oversized t-shirt that fell to his mid-thighs and slippers, yawning with a cup of coffee in one hand, while he used the other to scratch the back of his sleep-ruffled hair. The fifth picture was of Ash on a bicycle, riding through the park, grinning at the camera, feet outstretched in front of him. The sixth picture was a candid one of Ash and Aki. The seventh one was another candid, this time of him and Miyuki. Miyuki continued to flip through the photos.

Each one was of Ash. Each one was wholesome. Miyuki found herself tearing up. She suddenly didn't care at all what the rest of the box held. She set the photos back as she had found them and placed the box back on the top shelf. Ash was Eiji's new treasure, that much was blatantly obvious.

Ash had a text from Miyuki when he awoke in the resort suite.

Mi-chan

A gun, Ash, really? You want me to end up in jail?

And condoms?

Who do you think I am? I'm not that impulsive.

Ash

But I was right. You're a snoop.

Mi-chan

Bravo, Sherlock.

Ash

Careful, keep that up and I might

Have to tell Eiji.

Mi-chan

Is that a threat?

Ash

You know it.

Mi-chan

Whatever.

Where is he?

Eiji, I mean?

Ash

Getting breakfast

Mi-chan

Hmm, that's sweet.

Tell him I say hi.

Anyway, I gotta go, it's the middle of the night here.

Ash

I take it you found what you were looking for then?

Mi-chan

Yes

Ash

Care to share?

Mi-chan

NOPE! :)

Good night!

Ash

It's 8 AM

Mi-chan

Not here, Mr. I-have-a-genius-IQ

*tongue out emoji*

Good night!

Ash smiled at the phone before turning it off. Leave it to Miyuki to sneak into their room in the middle of the night and then straight up admit to it, completely unprompted. He closed his eyes, wishing he could fall back asleep, because Miyuki was right, there was a time difference and his body was very angry about it. But Eiji insisted they set an early alarm to fight the jet lag. He didn't want to waste a single hour of their vacation. Neither did Ash, but he hardly considered sleeping a waste of time, especially with Eiji snuggled up beside him.

His eyes weren't closed more than thirty seconds before Eiji returned with food.

"Hey! Wake up, Ash! You can't fall back asleep."

"I'm not asleep," he said testily with closed eyes.

He could hear Eiji slipping off his shoes and padding across the room in his socks. He heard him setting whatever food he'd brought up on their table. His eyeballs twitched in pain as Eiji pulled the curtains to the patio door open, letting in the morning light. Then, without warning, Eiji pounced onto the mattress beside him, so close, Ash was surprised Eiji didn't land right on top of him. Out of instinct, his eyes opened and he pulled his arms close to protect himself from being squished.

"Fuck, Eiji! You scared the shit out of me!"

Eiji smiled, "But your eyes are open so I'd say I was pretty successful."

Ash rolled his eyes and bit back a smile. "Alright, alright, I'm up."

"Okay, gramps," Eiji teased, "I marry you and just a few days later you're sounding like an old man, sheesh."

Ash's back finally left the mattress, and in seconds, he was hovering inches from Eiji's face, blond hair tickling his skin. "I'd like to see an old man try to do what I did to you last night."

Eiji shivered as he remembered what they did the night before when they arrived at the resort.

Ash chuckled and then bounded from the bed. "That's what I thought." He pulled a pair of sweatpants over his boxers and surveyed the food Eiji brought to their room. He looked back at Eiji who was still laying on the bed, red as the bowl of diced watermelon in Ash's hand. "Come on then."

Ash opened the massive sliding door and carried his breakfast and coffee outside. Once Eiji's face cooled, he joined him.

"Wow, it's even more gorgeous now that I can see the whole place," Eiji remarked as they sat outside staring at the ocean view.

Ash had kept the destination of their trip a secret up until they arrived at the airport terminal. Eiji squealed with joy when he realized they were flying to Hawaii. Besides his trip to New York when he met Ash, Eiji never traveled outside of Japan. When he was a child, his family visited the ocean frequently, but since Izumo had a beach, they never needed to travel any further. They'd made the occasional trip to Tokyo or traveled for Eiji's pole vaulting meets a few times, but other than that, they didn't have much extra money to take family vacations.

Needless to say, the Kahuwai Suite Ash had booked at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hualalai was more extravagant than anything he could have dreamt up on his own. Their suite seemed almost comically large. In the bedroom, there was a gorgeous, white, king-sized bed with a dresser, TV, and a decent-sized table one could eat at.

There was an adjoining bathroom with a spacious, modern-looking white bathtub. Connected to the bathroom via a sliding glass door, was an enclosed outdoor shower, complete with plants and open-air overhead. There was a second full bathroom as well, in case one wasn't as eager to shower amongst the elements.

The suite also featured a living room area, complete with a spacious white sofa, several armchairs, and a large TV suspended on the wall. Perhaps the most captivating aspect of the room was the outdoor area. Both the bedroom and living room had doors that accessed the outdoor area. In fact, in the living room, the whole fourth wall was a giant sliding door that could be opened to give the space an open-air feel.

Outside, there was patio seating, lounge chairs, and a firepit for atmospheric nights under the stars. Just beyond the patio was the true gem of the suite; an infinity pool with a built-in jacuzzi that looked out into the ocean. It was breathtaking and, while the resort had several gorgeous suites, that private pool was the reason Ash decided to rent this one.

They ate their breakfast peacefully outside, soaking up the beautiful Hawaiian weather.

"So how much did this place cost?" Eiji asked between bites of food.

Ash bit into a strawberry. "Eh, don't worry about it," he shrugged.

Eiji's mouth tensed into a straight line. "Come on, tell me."

"Ash, tell me," he repeated when no answer came.

Ash smirked. "Promise not to freak out?"

"No, but tell me anyway."

"About…" he stalled for dramatic effect, "eight grand...a night."

If Eiji had been eating, he would have choked, he was sure of it. His mouth fell open. "What?"

"Eight grand a night," Ash repeated, saying each word slowly.

A startled laugh tumbled from Eiji's mouth. "Shit, Ash. And how many nights are we staying?"

"Ten days," Ash said nonchalantly.

"Te-Ten days!? But that's-"

"A lot of money, I know."

"Too much money," Eiji added. He suddenly felt very warm, so warm he considered jumping in the pool fully clothed.

"It's not like we don't have it."

"Yeah but…" his sentence hung in the air, uncompleted.

"Does it make you feel guilty?" Ash inferred. He took a sip of coffee.

"A- a bit...yeah...as kids, we never stayed anywhere that cost more than...I don't know, probably no more than five hundred USD. For sure under a thousand. Like not per night, like all together. We stayed in places that were like a hundred, maybe two hundred per night. And this place is $8,000 a night? That's just...I know we've got the money but...I don't deserve a place this nice."

Ash set his coffee down on the outdoor table with a gentle clink of ceramic against metal. "Yes, you most certainly do. So does the rest of the family and it's a shame they couldn't all come along."

"And what about you? Do you think you deserve it?" He knew Ash rented such a grand place for him. He would have never rented himself something this luxurious.

Ash shrugged. "I know you want me to say yes, but you know I'm thinking no. But you can hardly be upset with my answer when you don't think you deserve it either." Ash downed the rest of his coffee and stood with a stretch, the sun hitting his bare torso. He bent at the waist, then, and pulled up the bottoms of his leg so that they now hit right below his knees. "But that's the funny thing about humans...good ones anyway…" Eiji's eyes followed him as he walked away from the table and sat on the edge of the infinity pool, legs dangling into the water. "Iku-san says it's very hard for us to see our own value, especially with a traumatic, degrading past. So we have to trust the people who love us. I think you deserve everything good that money can buy and then some. And maybe besides your own parents, I'm the one who loves you most in this world, so you'll just have to trust me. And I'll trust you."

Eiji stood and joined Ash at the edge of the pool, dangling his legs in as well. He put an arm around Ash and leaned his head upon his shoulder. "Okay," he said softly.

They sat like that for nearly a half-hour, silently listening to the birds chirp and the ocean waves tumble upon the sand. As the minutes ticked by, the sun continued to rise higher in the sky, and voices of other guests began to carry softly in the wind.

"Ten whole days, huh?"

Ash nodded with a smile. "And I didn't count last night. We check out on the eleventh morning."

"Hmmm," a smile crept onto Eiji's face. "Then I suppose it would be alright to take the first full day easy."

Ash slowly removed his legs from the pool and began to stand.

"Where are you going?" Eiji asked curiously.

"I brought a raft," he replied and then disappeared to go inflate it.

To be precise, Ash brought two rafts. He inflated them both and tossed them into the pool. They dressed in their swim trunks and spent the day floating in the sun, reading, and napping on the air mattresses. Eiji made Ash reapply sunscreen religiously every two hours, insisting that getting burnt the first day would ruin the rest of the trip.

"What'cha wanna do for lunch?" Ash asked sleepily around noon.

"Mmm, don't care. I'm not even hungry," Eiji replied with a yawn, never opening his eyes to the bright sun.

"There are a few different restaurants on site."

"I don't wanna leave this pool," Eiji said with another yawn.

There was a small splash that indicated Ash had slipped off his raft and into the water, likely to climb out. Eiji opened one eye and saw Ash hoisting himself out.

"I'll order something to be sent up. Got a preference?"

"Surprise me."

A half-hour later room service delivered an array of sushi to their room and they got out of the pool just long enough to eat it. They swam in the afternoon and eventually ventured onto the beach to walk the shore before dinner. They ate dinner at a beachside restaurant and then returned to their suite to watch the sunset, feet dangling into the pool once again.

"I think I've changed my mind about hating jet lag," Eiji remarked as the sun was seconds from disappearing behind the horizon.

"Yeah?"

"Mmm, it's quite nice to have an excuse to be lazy."

"Ain't that the truth." A moment of silence passed as they sat staring at the fading sun. "You know," Ash began, breaking the silence, "I wanted to do half the trip in New York, but Blanca convinced me not to."

Eiji chuckled, "I knew it. You can ask Ibe, I guessed that a while ago."

"Woulda been fun too…I'd like to see the library again, eat at Chang Dai again…"

"Take a piss on Dino's grave?" Eiji supplied.

"Ha, yeah, maybe. Iku-san thinks it's a good idea, saying something at his grave, getting out words I never got to say."

Eiji nodded but remained silent.

"Oh well...we'll get back there eventually, maybe when Jessica has baby Glenreed." He sighed. "I dunno where we'd stay, though. Cheap New York hotels don't exactly bring back good memories but neither do nice ones. Staying with the guys would be too dangerous and Max might not have the room for us-"

Eiji nudged him with his shoulder. "Max loves you like his own son. He'd make room for you."

"I don't know about that."

"I do," Eiji replied with absolute conviction.

Ash was silent.

"So that settles it, we'll stay with Max when we meet the baby?"

"Think he'll have room for Miyuki too?"

"You wanna bring her?" Eiji asked.

"It's like you said, you guys didn't exactly travel in the past. I bet she'd like to see New York."

Eiji's warm smile replaced that of the sun as the ocean ate it up. "Yeah. Yeah, I think she would."

Author's Note: The suite they are staying at is an actual suite in Hawaii. You can view it here: hualalai/accommodations/specialty-suites/kahuwai-suite/ or google Kahuwai Suite Ash had booked at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hualalai. It's a gorgeous place and I am jealous of anyone rich enough to stay there lol.