My Name is Jesse, not Johan

Chapter Five

By KellyQ

Syrus walked into the hospital and smiled when he saw Alexis walking toward him. "Hi. How's Jaden?"

The young woman smiled. "He's doing a little better than he has in a while. I think Jesse might be the one who can snap him out of his depression."

"I hope so. Jay's been in much pain since Johan died, and I have a good feeling about Jesse. I hope Haou doesn't try to hurt anyone like he did with Jim."

"I don't think he will, Sy. There's a lot of Johan in Jesse, and I feel that Jesse is the key to erasing the pain in Jaden's heart ..."

Jaden stood in his backyard and stared at the fence before him, suddenly urging himself to see what was on the other side. His ears pricked up at bells hitting together in perfect rhythm. Jaden tried to figure out what it could be, but his imagination couldn't grasp what could make a sound like that and turn it into music.

So he decided to climb the fence and look.

Jaden peered over and saw a young girl with bushy dark green hair. The girl turned her head, and Jaden noticed her eyes were closed. She wore a blue satin kimono and bells around her wrist that jingled every time she moved her hands over her head.

By now, Jaden was under the spell cast by the girl's beauty ...

"I climbed the fence every chance I could to see you dance," Jaden explained. He and Jesse were sitting on the bed, looking at some photos. One of the photos was a younger picture of Johan wearing a kimono, and a lily flower was in her hair. "It wasn't long before you caught me watching ..."

Jaden balanced himself on the fence. His eyes widened when he saw emerald green eyes staring right into his. He was so drawn into her eyes, which held a lot of warmth, that he lost his balance and landed on his side. The young girl giggled and walked up to help him. Jaden jumped to his feet and blushed in embarrassment.

"Sorry ... I ... didn't mean ...!" Jaden stammered.

The young girl smiled. "It's okay. I'm glad you like my dancing. It's called The Crystal Beast Dance."

Jaden nodded his head, still entranced by her beauty and the sound of her strong feminine voice.

"You have a name, right?" the girl asked, snapping Jaden out of his daydream.

"Hmm? Oh. It's Jaden Yuki. Yours?"

"Johan Anderson," she answered.

"Johan ..." Jaden repeated, letting the name roll off his tongue.

"I can't tell you how embarrassed I was when that happened," Jaden explained. "After watching you, I encouraged you to try out for the school dance team ..."

Johan looked nervous as she stood in front of the teacher's door. Where's Jaden?He said that he would be here. Just as she thought she heard familiar footsteps, she turned to see Jaden running up.

Once he got close, the brown-haired boy stood there to catch his breath. "Sorry, I'm late, Johan. I almost forgot to grab something for you ..."

Johan blinked, and Jaden pulled what looked like a barrette shaped like a lily. It was made of copper and brass. Her eyes widened. It was a lovely barrette, not a cheap plastic one. "You brought this? For me?"

Jaden had pulled the barrette out of his nightstand drawer. He handed it to Johan, hoping to get some reaction out of her. Jesse stared at the thing. He looked back at Jaden to see that the brown-haired teen looked as though he wanted Jesse to wear it.

After a moment, Jesse put it on. Jaden eyed the green-eyed teen for a moment. He shook his head. It didn't look right in Johan's hair. Maybe ... Jaden put his hands in Jesse's hair to undo the barrette. All train of thought of removing the barrette changed to Jaden wanting to run his hand through Johan's hair. They stared at each other momentarily until Jaden suddenly wanted to kiss Johan. Jesse stiffened when Jaden leaned in and pressed his lips against Jesse's. Jaden pulled away when Johan didn't respond.

"Johan ... I ..."please don't run out on me again!Jaden pleaded in his mind.

"D-don't worry about it," Jesse breathed, trying to calm his wildly beating heart; his chest was heaving. "You just surprised me ... that's all."What's going on with me? Why do I feel like I'm being drawn to you?

The depressed teen watched Jesse for a moment. "Making you feel uncomfortable is more like it," Jaden finally said, snapping the teen out of these thoughts. "I don't want you to ever feel uncomfortable around me, Johan. I'd never do anything to hurt you. You know that, right?"This will be more complex than I thought ... It's like meeting you all over again ...

Why not find out the truth?

I didn't want to hurt Johan,so I had an idea: "Johan, if I do something you don't like, tell me, okay?"

Jesse only nodded, feeling a little bit more comfortable.

Kenzan looked at his boyfriend with a scowl. "You're not going back there, are you? You seem to want to hang out with your sister more than me!" he accused.

Jim couldn't help but chuckle, with amusement in his good eye. "It looks like I'll have to tame you," the Australian teen purred. In one swift motion, Kenzan was pinned casually on the couch. Jim leaned over him to see his boyfriend glaring at him. Kenzan's eyes had changed from brown to a yellowish animal color. Jim knew how he was going to take care of this little problem. He bent down and bit Kenzan's hickey again. The teen yelped in pleasure and shock.

The Australian teen pulled back to see that Kenzan's eyes were normal. "There. Now I've got your attention, mate. Are you going to listen?" Kenzan nodded. There's a new volunteer named Jesse at the hospital. He looks a lot like Johan," the Australian teen explained. And I want to ensure that Hoau doesn't try to hurt him."

"Oh. Okay," Kenzan agreed, sounding mollified. "I want to come with you, Jim. I don't want anything to happen to you in case Hoau decides to come out and try to hurt you again."

Alexis walked into Jaden's room and saw him resting his head on Jesse's lap. She looked closer to see that Jesse was studying the photo album, and the barrette Johan used to wear was still in Jesse's hand.

Alexis tried to hold back a chuckle. "So. He had you wear that thing, huh?"

Jesse looked up. "I don't mind. He smiled when I put it on, but I'm considering having it be a pin instead."

"Have you asked Jaden? That barrette is one of the few things left of Johan," Alexis informed him.

"He said I could do anything I wanted," Jesse answered truthfully. He placed the book on the table and gently laid Jaden's head on the pillow. Jesse stared down at Jaden's peaceful face and strongly desired to kiss him, but Jesse pulled back and followed Alexis out.

To Be Continued ...