krystalkatzficz | The Wall part 3

“Bloody bastards” Nino swore darkly shooting a glare after the men that had pushed him in their attempt to get to his brother. Masaki was looking overwhelmed with all the attention that he was receiving and Nino was about to fight his way back to his side when he realised that there was still an arm pressed against his chest. “Um…thanks…” He mumbled looking at his rescuer surprised to see that it was the one that had looked as though he was asleep. His eyes were open now and Nino was genuinely surprised to see that he was rather attractive. His face was round and his eyes held a sleepy expression. His lips were well formed and turned into a bored smile and his body, which he could feel under the garish green jumper, was firm and tight “Thanks…for saving me…”#

“You’re very welcome…”

“…Um…Thanks…” Nino spluttered again before hearing his brother’s breathless voice calling out sharply. He turned away from his rescuer and saw that Masaki was lost in the crowds of insiders and he could only imagine the fear that his sweet but dense brother would be feeling. “Oi! You could let him have some air…” He growled about to march forward when his rescuer grabbed him and held him back “What the hell…”

“If you go into that crowd you are just going to get hurt…” The man said with a sigh before clearing his throat loudly attracting the attention of the two men who had opened the meat market. “Mayor…If I might have a word?”

“Lord Ohno…I wasn’t expecting to see you here at the selection…” The man who had spoken earlier said coming forward and looking mildly uncomfortable and Nino had to admit that he was thrown by the title lord and the name Ohno. It was a good thing. In fact, he could feel a hot coil of anger building up inside of him. Ohno. Ohno was the one who owned the mine where his parents had worked themselves to death. He stared at the lord almost hoping that it was a different Ohno.

“…Indeed…”

“Shouldn’t you control it a bit better? It’s worse than a fish market…” The man who had been standing beside Ohno snapped loudly motioning to crowd around Masaki with his hand “This is a complete and utter shambles, somebody is going to get hurt…”

“…Yes, indeed…I apologise…” The mayor bowed low and then hurried forward himself shouting loudly “Gentleman! Gentleman please…Step aside…Allow the young man some air to breathe…”

The crowd began to disperse reluctantly and Nino marched forward and grabbed his brother’s hand pulling him away from the crowd to gate and checking him over for signs of injury. He could feel glares directed his way but he ignored them as well as the stare that he could feel from Ohno.

“Masaki…Are you okay?”

“Are you okay? You weren’t hurt, were you?” The man with Ohno asked gently coming over and offering a handkerchief. Nino was surprised but he was sure that he felt a disappointed ripple moving through the others that had been surrounding Masaki and they all turned to talk to the other outsiders that had been otherwise ignored until now.

“Um…I’m fine, thank-you sirs…” Masaki said with a bow of his head looking every inch the perfect choice for a sponsored. He was too beautiful to live and die in a mine and judging from the response that he was getting here it didn’t seem likely that he would. “Um...Ninomiya Masaki…This is my brother Ninomiya Kazunari…”

“Pleased to meet you, I’m Sakurai Sho and this is my friend Ohno Satoshi…I don’t believe that I’ve seen you at the selection before…”

“…It’s our first year, sir…I worked in the Ohno mine until recently…” Masaki said and Nino found his eyes going to Satoshi who appeared to be drifting back to sleep with his back against the wall. Satoshi didn’t look all that surprised or ashamed that Masaki had been slaving away in the mine and Nino could a“…Our parents worked there too…So I suppose we worked for you…”

“…I don’t own a mine…” Satoshi said with a yawn stretching out his back before folding his arms against his chest again peering at them with his sleepy eyes and Nino wondered why he was even here. It was clear that he didn’t seem to be interested in the selection. He was happy though to know that his rescuer wasn’t the one that had worked his parents into an early grave.

“…You don’t? I’m sorry sir, I must be mistaken…” Masaki apologised bowing his head a few times and Satoshi have a lazy looking shrug and a smile saying;

“…Don’t apologise, it’s an easy enough mistake given my name…I suppose that it might be my cousin’s mine…But I can’t say that it ever interested me…”

“Few things interest you, my friend…” Sho chuckled fondly while Nino grew irritated again. People, not just adults but children were living and dying in the mine that his cousin owned but all he could say was that he wasn’t interested. He wanted to hit him hard on the nose “My friend is a man without interests…”

“…Sleep interests me, and my farms…” Satoshi shrugged slowly “besides could you really imagine my cousin’s liking my interest in his mine?”

“…No, I can’t imagine that he would…Not after that last argument that you had with him…”

“…He had children working there, young children…And he was proud of it…” Satoshi growled his face, which had been blank for most of the conversation, suddenly filling with an anger that matched the fire inside Nino. The fire was softened somewhat by the knowledge that Satoshi was as angry about that as he was. Masaki was trying to get his attention with his eyes and Nino ignored him. A few hot words from one of the insiders wasn’t going to make him change his mind about them. Sho let out a laugh clipping Satoshi on the arm as he hummed;

“…Indeed…But I still think publicly challenging him to a duel was the wrong way to handle it…”

“He refused…”

“Because he knew he couldn’t win…Sorry, gentleman, this must be boring for you…When you have come for the selection…” Sho said slowly and Nino shook his head saying;

“No…”

“Not really, as you said there are children in the Ohno mine, I worked with them…It’s nice to know that insiders care about that…” Masaki smiled prettily and Sho inclined his head motioning to Satoshi as he said;

“My friend cares about the state of the mines, he has been campaigning for change for years…”

“He would get on well with you then Nino…”

TBC
A/N: I hope that this is okay ^_^