Chapter 28

Nanami

Kento Nanami had seen many people cry in his 27 years on this miserable shit-hole of a planet. He'd seen women, hardened by life, scarred by the demons that people like him stalked in the night, reduced to mournful wails while they held the broken bodies of their loved ones. He'd seen grown men, too proud to let others see their sorrow, shuffle off to a secluded section and drop to their knees as the agony took them. He'd seen children, teens, and adults all crumble and melt.

And none of them had made him feel even half the emotions he felt watching the woman in his arms.

"Sssshhh," he breathed into her hair, closing his eyes as he breathed in her familiar scent, all fresh bread and decadent icing like her bakery had infused into her very skin. "Breathe."

He felt her tiny chest rise, her face pressing into the crook of his neck a bit harder as her sobs turned to silent tears. His heart clenched, his arms curling tighter around her. Silent tears were the worst. He hated when the sorrow turned into something calm and lasting as if something had been torn from a person and they had realized that that ache in their chest would always be there. Nothing would ever change. Nothing would ever be as it had been before.

Up front, the driver gave him a long look that made Nanami's lips curl down. He should have called Ijichi but he had been too far away and the need to get Minato out of that restaurant had been too pressing. His legs splayed a bit wider, positioning her on his lap until she was curled more securely into his body, her fingers curling absently into his gray button-down. A shiver rushed up his spine as her hands toyed with his tie, the arm smashed between them slipping our his waist, wedging between his body and the seat. He couldn't resist the urge to slip his hand along the smooth skin of her legs, marveling at the curve of her calves that slowly gave way to her delicious thighs before curving out to her hips.

He had heard her. Heard the words that had shut her aunts up.

"My parents are dead," she had whispered, bewilderment sliding across her face like she hadn't entirely thought about that. Like she had been waiting for them to slip through the door any moment, arm in arm, laughing as they saw her. He hadn't fully seen her face after that, his feet carrying him closer as he felt something - something darkening around her, something breaking. But he had seen her shoulders curve up, her spine tensing like an animal realizing that they had fallen into a trap, realizing that they were painfully alone.

Those hands that he was growing fonder and fonder of slipped over his shoulders, making him draw in a ragged breath as he fingers danced over the skin of his throat, before toying with the hair at his nape. He shut his eyes, drawing another breath in of her intoxicating scent, his hand tensing on her thigh.

She didn't say a single word. Not a single sound slipped from her, even as her tears continued to dampen his shoulder.

He should have gotten to her sooner.

He should have been there when she walked through that door.

He should have…

Wishing and wanting and thinking about should-ofs and would-haves was pathetic. A masochistic addiction that he had given up on a long time ago. The past was gone from the present for a reason. It was only right that he let it go with a bit of dignity instead of chasing at its coattails.

"I'm going to answer your phone, love," he whispered into the downy hair at her temple, pausing as he waited for any sign of contradiction and getting only the butterfly-soft feel of her fingers ghosting down his nape. He placed a gentle kiss to her temple.

Yuma the screen read.

"Yes?" he murmured, not wanting to raise his voice too loud and startle Minato.

There was a long pause on the other end before a lilting voice answered. "You don't sound like my cousin."

"Because I'm not." Her fingers had started to make distracting little circles along his nape now. Control yourself. He took a deep breath, composing himself. "I'm taking her to my house to take care of her."

There was another long pause before Yuma continued in a measured tone. "Listen… I know that what you just saw of our family wasn't pretty and I know that she trusts you. I mean you're the first guy that she's willingly brought around us-"

His brows tipped up at that, a smug smile curling his lips. Interesting.

"But I don't know you and…" A deep sigh whooshed through the line. "Can you just maybe give me your address so that I know where she's at? In case you're a serial killer?"

The thought of giving someone he didn't know his personal address made his gut sour. The woman in his lap blinked up at him hazily, those beautiful, dark eyes shimmering with fresh tears. Dammit. He rattled off the address. There was a doorman and security in his building anyway. If she was able to make it up to his room then maybe she had earned the right for a visit for all her efforts.

"And… I assume that threat from the restuarant is still in effect?"

Threat? Nanami frowned. Had he-?

"Until she tells me otherwise, the only way you'll be getting in contact with her is through me."

Right.

Nanami resisted the soul-rattling sigh that threatened to push from his lips. Those watery eyes blinked up at him one more time and he pushed her head into the crook of his neck once more as he swore internally. He hated giving out his personal information. He gave Yuma his phone number.

"Don't give it to the ones that pushed her into screaming at them," he snapped out, irritated.

"Hmm." Even through the line, he could hear her rolling over that number like a diamond that needed to be examined. "Fine. But know that those are the ones that will want it the most."

Not my problem. "Are we done here?" The moment of silence was enough to decide his mind. "We're done."

He ended the call. And then stared at the screen for a moment longer, eyes narrowed. After a moment, he pushed the phone closer to Minato, holding it out for her. "Open it up for me, minnow. We'll go through and block everyone that you want to."

Still silent, she took the phone and unlocked it. That fucking silence. Minato was a lot of things but silent was not one of them. Maybe unwilling to say everything she was thinking and feeling. But Nanami liked that about her. Liked that he needed to coax all those wicked things lurking inside of her to the surface so that she could whisper it to him. Only to him.

For the rest of the car ride into the depths of the city, he read out the names in her contacts and blocked them according to the bobs and shakes of her head. The city passed silently outside of their window, the cab feeling like a world in a fishbowl, secluded and blurred around the edges.

For a while, Kento Nanami fell into comforting her. Forgetting about the increasing paranoia at Jujutsu High. Forgetting about the kids who looked at him with such trust when he knew full well that someday he wouldn't be able to protect them. Forgetting about how precariously he walked the edge of recklessness and bravery.

He fell into her. Thought that it would be easy to drown in her. Thought that maybe that would be a better death than what his sorry life deserved.

For the first time in his entire life, he thought about how lucky it would be to stay in this cab that felt like a fishbowl with this woman that made him feel safe again.