displaced_bytes | Tropical Arctic (Akanishi/Nakamaru)

Tropical Arctic
Nakamaru Yuuchi/Akanishi Jin

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Tropical Arctic
(Johnny's Entertainment; Nakamaru Yuuchi/Akanishi Jin)

Ocean Fever | From Kamenashi's Point of View

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It's not like he enjoys being held at gun-point, it's more like it's part of his job. Nakamaru's not quite the professional sniper they wanted, so instead they made him the bait. Repeatedly. Which lead to him being nicknamed "The Bait" in their six member team and yeah, it's nothing to be proud of, maybe he should even be slightly ashamed, but it's the most dangerous job of them all and everyone knows it.

Nakamaru knows that he's disposable.

That why he's used as bait, after all. The pay's amazing and they get to retire at thirty with enough to travel around the world thirty times and still not have to worry about money for the rest of their lives (as long as they keep quiet about their previous job), but Nakamaru's pretty sure he won't live to thirty.

He's okay with it, though. Not that he doesn't want to live out his life, but he's long since gave up on arguing. They need someone to do the stupider jobs, and it's better that Nakamaru's there to do it. If he doesn't, someone else would have to, and Nakamaru's not the type to wish this on someone else.

KAT-TUN's good at their job, and their agency fully grasps this fact. Added with them having to retire at thirty, the agency's using them to their limits, and Nakamaru knows his end is coming soon.

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They're not allowed to have private lives outside of their jobs, which is why they generally seek comfort in one another.

They're not really friends though - nearly none of their seniors kept in contact with each other once they're set free, firstly to avoid suspicion and secondly to push away the painful memories they made together with their previous teammates.

Only Nakamaru's really at the age, but the rules works in groups so it's like he's doing a favor to the others by being the oldest. Whatever the results, KAT-TUN is set to retire in three months.

Nakamaru can't help but slightly worry. Kamenashi always pushes himself over the top; what would happen once he had no job, once there's no goal for him to attain? Taguchi keeps a distance with everyone by his smile; would he be completely alone for the rest of his life? Tanaka enjoys putting up a show too much; what if he draws too much attention to himself? Ueda's sometimes too rash and unpredictable; would he accidentally let slip one day?

And Akanishi. Nakamaru can't really think of anything to say about Akanishi because the guy's perfect at his job. At first glance, the guy seemed slightly idiotic and almost retarded, but once paired with a gun there's no way Akanishi would ever fail. He does it with grace and accepts all the consequences of being pushed into this career, and it's like Akanishi would sail on smoothly.

But that's not right either, because Akanishi's looking more frantic than all of them added together as their retirement date comes closer. And it doesn't make sense, not when Akanishi's usually the one behind the guns and the most likely of them to live past their recent increasement of jobs.

The guy's looking at him through the corner of his eyes, and it would have been pretty damn creepy if Nakamaru's not used to it. It's just part of Akanishi, Nakamaru muses, and stops his train of thoughts when Ueda comes over to invite him for a walk to the shooting range.

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"Don't do our next job," Akanishi says to him one day, and Nakamaru stares at the guy in bewilderment.

They can't decline jobs. Once the assignments are out, all they have to worry is how they're going to finish it, not whether or not they want to accept it. There are always jobs more dangerous than others, and there's no way anything'd ever get done if they can pick which ones they want.

So yeah, their next assignment is vaguely lethal. As in, Nakamaru's pretty sure he's going to either be fatally wounded or dead at the end of this job.

Akanishi must know this, as well as the rest of their teammates. Ueda's been weirdly nice to him for the past few days, and Nakamaru appreciates the thoughtfulness. Tanaka's been prone to give him random hugs, something Nakamaru returns fully. Really, if he were dead after this, his teammates are the ones that would be left behind.

When Akanishi pushes him towards the wall, Nakamaru makes no move to stop the guy. When Akanishi starts roaming his hand under Nakamaru's clothing, Nakamaru returns the favor. When Akanishi begins to loosen his belt, Nakamaru bites himself through Akanishi's shirt.

He understands how this works. This isn't attraction, or sympathy, or even loneliness - it's Akanishi's way of saying farewell, and Nakamaru takes it in stride.

It's like a reward for giving himself to his work. There's no doubt at all that Akanishi's scarily attractive, and since normally someone like him would never associate himself with Nakamaru, it's only understandable that Nakamaru gives it his whole. It's not like there will be any regrets left by next week.

Nakamaru's not one for sex partners. Even if he's approaching thirty, never fallen in love before and he's by no means a virgin, the whole concept of love conquering everything still stirs occasionally in his mind. Even if he'd never have the chance to test it out, he still wishes his teammates the best of luck.

Still, Akanishi's giving him this, and they've been living on the edge so long that Nakamaru knows when to take chances.

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They needed someone to place the distracting bombs, and naturally that job went to Nakamaru. Once the timing is set, well, it doesn't matter if Nakamaru manages to come back safely. The agency made this clear - if he's uninjured by that time, he could very well return by himself; if either the bombs or aiming guns get him, then it's game over for Nakamaru.

It's alright, really. His teammates are sending worried glances his way every three seconds, but Nakamaru assures them that he'd get the job done. Even if he's not good behind a rifle, Nakamaru's pretty positive of his bombing skills.

Akanishi's also made it a habit to get into his personal space whenever he can. He wonders if the others know about this, but then none of it matters.

He really does wish that the others would find what they want in the future. Kamenashi's setting off for Guam, something to do with surfing the waves that Nakamaru doesn't understand. Taguchi's going for the Kansai region, which really confuses Nakamaru since Taguchi's jokes would seem, if possible, even more lame there. Tanaka's traveling, good for him, and Ueda's undecided on the subject. Akanishi's going to L.A., and Nakamaru admires the guy for having the courage to go that far.

Nakamaru has no plans at all. None of the others made a move to urge him on planning either, and he knows it's their subtle way of hinting that it's goodbye for him.

"Good luck," he whispers into the smoke, unconsciousness taking over soon after.

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When he woke up again, he's hurting all over and, wait a second, shouldn't he be dead?

"We're not recieving any pay for that last job," Kamenashi tells him once he's aware enough to comprehend speech, eyes sparkling in the sickly white medical ward. "It appears that you had an information disk on you, and the agency had to send out an entire team to have it retrieved."

Coughing, Nakamaru realizes that his throat's not hurt, and huffs out, "I went through the whole checking process! There's no way I could have-"

The rest of KAT-TUN's staring at him, but instead of anger in their eyes, he sees a sense of relief. And Nakamaru knows, of course he knows that they don't want him dead, but the fact that his failure stole their final paycheck disturbs him. They'd still have no problem living out their lives without work, yet it seems unfair that he could have made such a novice mistake.

But it's just not possible. Unless someone slipped it onto him, "The only person I came in contact with was Akanishi..."

Everyone's eyes flew to Akanishi, and all of a sudden it's obvious what happened. The guy somehow slipped something through the checking point, and the bastard basically saved his life with whatever it is he did. Oh god, he owes Akanishi his life and suddenly it's all too much for Nakamaru to handle.

Before plunging back into unconsciousness, Nakamaru saw Tanaka clapping Akanishi on the back and Ueda smile one of his rare open smiles.

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Nakamaru never expected to have a future, and he has no idea what he should do with it. They were released one by one after a throughout inspection to make sure they don't have anything they shouldn't carry with them, and Nakamaru's the last one out because of his status as KAT-TUN's last member.

By the time he's out, the others have already disappeared. They left no way of contacting one another, lest they be too weak and fall back into old patterns.

Not that they can't really find each other if they want to. Just because they don't have to work anymore doesn't mean they've left their old skills behind. Nakamaru's not the best when it comes to information gathering, it's the reason he's always on the front lines, but it's enough to find someone if he wants to.

This is something new though, a brand new future waiting for them, and Nakamaru's not going to disturb this new peace they've finally reached after so many years.

Did Kamenashi find the ocean he's been searching for? Did Taguchi keep his badly thought out gags or did he stop saying them? Did Tanaka learn to tone himself down? Did Ueda find someplace for himself? How's Akanishi's doing in a foreign country?

Some questions are best left unanswered. Nakamaru repeats this to himself, and boarded the first train to Hokkaido.

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It's just another day in the frozen world around him. It's February, and with the snow melting and taking away the heat, the temperature had dropped to a new low point.

It's not like he can just ignore his job just because it's cold outside, though. Sure, working is not required of him these days, but just imagining what the ranch would be like the next day frightens him. And the poor horses definitely needs grooming, even if no one's probably be interested in them anytime soon.

He has no idea why opening his own ranch seemed like a good idea. It's just that Nakamaru had nothing to do, and while the residents of Rikubetsu warmly welcomed him upon arrival, they've begun to grow suspicious.

In the end, he decided on opening a ranch for the old and elderly horses. Some of them are going to be butchers up as horse meat (which is rather bloody, but Nakamaru killed for a living and this is tiny compared to what he did), but the hardworking ones that the owners don't want to kill but cannot keep any longer can be sent to Nakamaru's ranch. Everyone needs a place to retire, and it's a good excuse to stay longer.

It works out smoothly, and though the work's tiring it's actually quite nice doing simple labor for a change.

He steps out into the chilling wind, but couldn't take another step because there's someone in front of him. He wonders if the news' gotten out, and prepares for inevitable death while he curls his fingers around the gun hooked around his belt, until he recognizes the person in front of him.

Apparently, because he owes the guy his life, he's having illusions about him. Or maybe something happened to the guy in L.A. and he's come back as a ghost to hunt him. Either way, "Hello, Akanishi."

"It's Jin."

It's fair that the guys gets called by whatever fits his mood. Akanishi saved his life, he can ask whatever of him and Nakamaru has to do it. With the exception of killing - Nakamaru's done enough of that to last a lifetime. He'd sooner drop dead himself than take another life.

Later, after Nakamaru's finished asking about the six months Akanishi spent in America, he pulls back to take a full look at Akanishi and mutters, "I'm not your comfort blanket, Jin." Maybe it's because this is Nakamaru's territory, maybe he's still dazed by the fact that Akanishi's in front of him right now, whichever it is, he's feeling slightly more broad than usual.

Akanishi curls his hand behind Nakamaru's neck, and whispers into his ear, "Of course."

That sort of seals the deal.