The Two Flames: Through the Rain

—Jin’s apartment, somewhere in Tokyo—

Intermittent sunlight pierced through the blinds, casting its glow into the room just as Jin sat up from his bed, cracking his eyes open with a deliberate slowness. Brushing a hand through his dishevelled bangs, a look at his beside clock soon told Kushina that it was close to midday. The sound of running water, meanwhile, informed him that the shower was currently occupied.

Pulling on a pair of tracksuit bottoms, Jin rose from his bed and out of his room. Moving through the wide, empty space that was his living room, Jin walked over to his couch, where he casually sat down. On the table in front of him was a half-filled bottle of whisky stood next to an empty glass, a simple reminder of yesterday’s events. Contemplating pouring himself another glass, Jin quickly decides against it, choosing to turn on the TV instead.

—*—

Chapter I — Reacquainted

A morning, like any other, wouldn’t have had quite so much to contemplate and reflect upon. As Jin further lied back against the couch, his mind recalled various images of the events that were yesterday afternoon: the energy signature, the feather, and then her.

Natalie. Alive.

He had seen her die, back on that island, right in front of his eyes. He hadn’t been the only one to witness her demise, either, but now he was easily one of the few to actually be a witness to her return. More prevalent than all that was what had happened afterwards, what had happened after the revelation of her feelings towards him.

~*~*~*~*~

“Natalie, I...” Jin spoke in nearly a whisper, closing his eyes briefly as he sought for the correct words to say. He wasn’t given the chance, however, for Natalie cut him off with one hand, placing her index finger in front of his lips. Golden-coloured eyes stared back at Natalie incredulously, to which she gave a small smile, transferring her hand towards — and lightly curling it around — the back of his neck. The near-wonder within Jin’s eyes, plus his reluctance from backing away or escaping her show of affection easily quieted her doubts as her smile slowly grew wider, reaching the sapphire-like orbs that were her eyes.

And then, with her eyes slowly shutting, Natalie tenderly lowered Jin’s chin towards her, whilst, at around the same time, Jin brought Natalie’s face towards his own...

~*~*~*~*~

The memory sent an odd combination of emotions through him, the mere thought of it causing his heart to beat faster. It was as if he could still feel Natalie’s hand curled around the back of his neck, her lips pressed against his, and her perfumed scent, all projected as a continuous loop within his consciousness. He couldn’t recall how long the kiss had lasted, but once that moment had ended it might’ve well have been an eternity long.

The sound of running water stopped, bringing Jin out of his thoughts. She was done, he surmised. He looked over towards the door, just as it opened, and his latest guest stepped out.

She was wearing a plain black T-shirt, sweeping down as far as her thighs. It was actually one of Jin’s T-shirts, in fact. Not that he cared or anything. In her hand she was holding a white towel, currently using it to dry as much as her dark brown hair as possible. It was only when she went to wrap the towel around as much of her uncombed, incredibly long hair that she soon noticed Jin, who met her gaze with a small nod.

“Hey,” Natalie said with a small smile, a hint of shyness showing in her tone of voice. Her slightly damp hair was dripping, leaving a small puddle of water on the apartment floor.

“You sleep well?” Jin asked. Yesterday, he’d offered her a futon to sleep on for the night. Now it lay folded up against the wall, in a nearby corner of the room. In Jin’s case, sleep wasn’t something he got a lot of these days, let alone a pleasant one. As with much of anything in his life, he’d slowly grown accustomed to it. Last night had been different. Not by much, yet the change had been welcomed nonetheless.

“I did, yeah,” Natalie answered. “You?”

“Same here.”

She smiled and nodded. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was cut off by the audible groan of her empty stomach. She blinked with obvious surprise, letting out a small, embarrassed grin.

"Um... so what are we doing for breakfast?" she asked, already aware from the previous day that his kitchen was empty of anything edible. She was still rubbing the towel over the ends of her hair, causing Jin to wonder briefly how long she'd been back for it to grow several inches longer than before.

"There's a place down the street we can go to," he replied as he rose from the couch. Natalie, in turn, gave a smile of approval at the suggestion, just before quickly staring down at herself in slight dismay, realising she was only wearing a T-shirt.

“You... wouldn't happen to have a pair of pants I could wear, would you?" she asked shyly. She'd made the mistake of checking her luggage on the train and it’d gotten lost between one stop and another.

"Sure," he answered and returned to his room with a gesture for her to follow. A few minutes later he had found a pair of black slacks that fit him a little too snug. “You might need this as well,” he added, soon offering Natalie one of his belts. Going back to his dresser and closet, he retrieved some more clothes, this time for himself. “You can dress in here if you want. I'll get a shower, and then we can go."

With that, he left the room, politely closing the door behind him.

====

Natalie took a moment to sit on his bed and reflect on things she had been contemplating all morning. Or midday, to be more precise. She and Jin had spent some time during previous evening in small talk and silences that plainly showed their continued awkwardness toward each other. Especially immediately following the kiss. She chuckled softly and continued drying her hair, combing her fingers through the few tangles she found. Her cheeks colored at the memory, and not for the first time did she find herself wondering how exactly all this had happened between them. Still, the attraction couldn't be denied, and at least on her part, Natalie knew it was a lot more than that. She heard the shower being started, the soft, constant sound making a suitable background noise for her thoughts.

With her hair as dry as it was going to get before they had to go, Natalie stood again and put on the pants he'd lent her, zipping and buttoning them. Unsurprisingly, she really did need the belt as well, for immediately the pants fell to ride halfway down her butt. She added the belt, which was also a bit big but thankfully not too much, and looked at her reflection in the dresser mirror. She grinned... the clothes looked somehow right and rather close to what she used to wear anyway, just a little larger than normal. The pants were once black but faded to a dark gray, and contrasted with the jet-black shirt that still engulfed most of her body. With her fingers she combed her hair back and plaited it into a long braid that trailed nearly to the backs of her thighs. It was then she took time to further reflect on things, looking around the plain decor of Jin's room. It was done in black and white and shades of gray, sparsely decorated and still a little messy with his clothes from the previous day on the floor and the bed dishevelled. So very Jin-like, she thought.

The kiss that had been drifting between the back and forefront of her thoughts played through her mind again. Her gamble, thus far, had proven her right. Jin had, in his own way, welcomed her back into his life, whatever it was now. She'd been afraid that he would want no further contact with her, friendly or otherwise, and would want to simply put the past behind him. She was thankful that seemed not to be the case. After all, it wasn't like she could change her mind about returning now. Life hadn't been something she was all that attached to before her death, but meeting Jin and being reunited with her brother — even in less than ideal circumstances — had given her something worth living for. Without them now, she might be just as lost as she had been in her youth, albeit notably wiser.

The previous evening she had learned that Jin's favorite drink was sake, that he wasn't fond of seafood — she’d seen him picking out a couple of shrimp that had inadvertently made their way into his noodles — and that alcohol had little effect on him. He seemed calmer now than when they'd last seen each other, and for that she was glad. He was a courier now, and had even spent some time in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia due to his chosen profession. To him she still revealed little, mostly because he hadn't asked much beyond their initial meeting. She knew he was still a bit baffled by the idea that she could return from beyond the grave, but to his credit he didn't seem put-off, just surprised. She was fairly certain most people would have been more than a little weirded out.

The sound of the shower stopped. Fiddling with her still-damp braid, she hoped she'd gotten all the shampoo out. The water had just been turning cold and she'd had to get out a bit sooner than—

Then she remembered. The water had been getting cold. She winced and inwardly cursed not being able to remember soon enough to warn him. Well, she'd try to make it up later. Maybe make dinner, as she'd wound up doing many times at her brother's house. She was actually a very, very good cook, owing a good deal of that skill to her grandmother and her southern upbringing. David had gotten quite spoiled by the time she'd left to journey here. She giggled softly at the memory of their parting and his comments on how he was just beginning to gain weight with her there.

Natalie draped the towel over a corner post of the bed to dry, and exited the bedroom just as the bathroom door opened. She could only smiled sheepishly and apologize, "Sorry... I forgot to warn you that I think I used most of the hot water. I hope it wasn't too cold." She really did feel bad about it. She hated cold showers.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Jin responds. In truth, he had resigned earlier to the likelihood of there being little if any hot water left by the time Natalie was finished. Fortunately, he’d also been set on taking a cold shower today. “It’s no big deal,” the Kushina found himself adding with a surprisingly reassuring tone as he brushed past Natalie and into his room, whilst Natalie continued on through the living room before stopping in realisation of something she hadn’t noted immediately as he walked past her.

“Did he actually… smile?”

====

—Café Megumi, somewhere in Tokyo—

“So this was the place you was talking about?”

It was pretty much a rhetorical question, yet Jin chose to regard Natalie with a small nod anyway as they walked through the entrance doors. A smooth blast of cool air from inside rushed out to greet the pair, matched in kind by the sultry aroma of food. It wafted over Natalie’s senses, causing her to unconsciously bring one hand towards her stomach as if expecting it to rumble again like it had earlier. Kushina, meanwhile, looked around the spacious contemporary café with nothing more than apparent indifference.

“Jin-san!” came a chirpy voice. The person it belonged to was clearly in her late teens, walking over towards Jin and Natalie with a smile as warm as her soft hazel-brown eyes. Natalie looked the waitress up and down with a curious interest, wondering silently how Jin and her even met, let alone knew each other.

Jin held back a small sigh, although his brow furrowed slightly. “Hey Yuriko,” he said as he brushed aside some of his bangs.

Yuriko seemed to smile even more, but then she soon noticed Natalie and her eyes widened with a slight but obvious surprise. “Oh, I didn’t notice that you were with someone Jin-sama,” she said.

’Yeah, I bet you didn’t…’ Natalie thought amusedly, flashing a friendly smile and a half-wave at the waitress.

“This is Natalie,” Kushina replied. “She’s… the sister of a good friend of mine.” At that Natalie threw Jin a distant sidelong look, but said nothing more.

“Okay,” Yuriko said. “Nice meeting you.” After giving a quick polite nod to Natalie, who returned the gesture, Yuriko turned and disappeared back into the crowd.

“Nice girl,” Natalie commented. “Looks like she has a crush on you too,”

Jin blinked. “A what?”

“It’s obvious,” Natalie was grinning now. “From the way she was looking at you, believe, I can tell.”

“Right…” Kushina’s brow furrowed slightly a second time, then quickly changed the subject. “I’m gonna go up and make the orders. What was it you asked for again?”

Natalie told him, and with that, Jin was quickly gone through the crowd. Minutes later he returned, spying Natalie already seated at a nearby table. Time passed languidly for a further more minutes, as Jin and Natalie dove into their orders. It was the latter who finally broke the silence.

"So," Natalie began, pushing around a few crumbs from her pastry — all which was left of her food. "Um, I kinda need to shop for some things to get by until my luggage is recovered..." She winced at the idea, since she knew very, very little Japanese. "I'm sure you've got things to do, too. Could you point me in the right direction though?"

Jin sipped his drink and nodded, "Yeah, I do have a few things to take care of. This city is easy to get lost in… are you sure you'll be alright?"

She smiled, "I'm a big girl, I'll be fine. I can get around pretty good on basic directions." She produced a Japanese/English dictionary and basic phrase manual. "And I can get by on these. Everyone so far has been pretty nice to me. I think I look like just another dumb tourist girl," she said with a chuckle.

Jin gave a sort of wry smile, which he noted made her smile a bit more. Natalie decided immediately that she enjoyed this more casual side of him. "Okay. There's a mall down the street. Not huge, but it should have everything you need. Five blocks south, take a left and then another two blocks. It's got a big pink and green sign. You can't miss it.” He took a gulp of his beverage, downing the remaining contents. “Think you'll be able to get back to the apartment?"

She nodded, finishing the last of her tea before standing. "I'll be fine. I'll see you later, ok?" She grinned almost impishly, and then leaned down to kiss his cheek, an act that noticeably caught Kushina off-guard. "Thanks!" With that, she walked out the door, language guide in hand.

====

—Later that day…—

Not for the first time, Natalie wished that maybe she'd have dragged Jin along with her on her quest for necessities. She walked through the large mall, feeling more than a little overwhelmed and constantly having to open one of her language guides to try to decipher if the item she was looking at was the right thing. She was sorely tempted to just grab whatever looked right and head for the check out so she could feel more like an idiot trying to understand what amount to pay, but it just wouldn't do to accidentally buy something like denture cream in place of toothpaste.

It took almost three hours for her to accumulate everything she had to have: toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, deodorant that didn't smell like a guy, a couple of pairs of socks, two shirts, two pairs of pants, and underwear. The most annoying thing was that she had to guess her size in the clothes, because even when she could read the tags, the sizes were in the more widely used system of measurement and therefore alien to her American brain.

At least through it all, she was showing some progress in communication. Yet she was still overjoyed to find anyone who spoke more than a few words of english. Her purchases under one arm, Natalie left the mall and navigated her slow way back toward Jin's apartment. Her stomach rumbled. "I need something to eat... breakfast was hours ago..."

She whined softly to herself and rubbed her stomach. There hadn't been anything worth eating at Jin's place... so she would have to find a restaurant. The idea intimidated her... until she happened to see a familiar pair of yellow arches.

"Leave it to the fast food places to be everywhere... I bet that'll be the first thing built on the moon!" Natalie mused to herself and she made her way quickly to the building, situated conveniently on the same side of the street she walked on, on the corner where she would have to turn.

Once she'd received her order of three burgers, a large order of fries, an apple pie and a drink - a meal which seemed to shock the boy who took it for her - she sat down and could have nearly purred with contentment at she ate. Her stomach settled down, but she started thinking about what they would eat later that evening. It wasn't likely that Jin did much cooking, and therefore his grocery list was probably rather short, if he planned to buy anything at all. She wondered how someone could live off of eating out when even she got tired of it sometimes, then smiled to herself. Her earlier idea came back, and she resolved to do it even if it did mean she'd spend at least a couple more hours shopping. He had been nice enough to let her stay the night last night and treat her to breakfast, the least she could do would be to make sure he ate well tonight.

And besides, these burgers would only sate her so long...
 

—Elsewhere, several hours later—

As if having all the time in the world — which, in a sense, he actually did — Jin trudged down one of the many busy streets of Tokyo he was familiar with, heading towards a destination he’d been meaning to visit for a while now. Every now and then the afternoon breeze would blow, carrying and sending tendrils of Jin’s hair into his face, which he’d then bat away absentmindedly. Eventually the sign of the establishment fell into his view and Kushina made his way inside.

Inside, the receptionist — a rather plain looking woman in her mid-thirties — greeted him cordially. "Hello sir! What can I help you with?"

"Do you take walk-ins?"

"Certainly, just sign in," she gestured to the sign-in sheet and he did as told. "There will be a minimum of a thirty minute wait, Mr. Kushina," she informed him after reading his name. Jin nodded, then sat down in one of many chairs in the waiting area. A newspaper lay in the otherwise empty chair next to him, and seeing no one else who might be interested in it, he picked it up and began to scan the pages.

A few minutes later, giggling a few chairs to his left caught his attention. He ignored it at first, but when it persisted, he decided to look up and find its source. Two highschool-aged girls were watching him, one with braided black hair and the other with short brown hair. The shorthaired one waved at him. He blinked, otherwise expressionless and raised a questioning brow.

They giggled girlishly again and the pigtailed girl spoke up, "We were just talking about how pretty your hair is!"

Kushina felt a bit of irritation at that, but offered the tiniest of polite smiles and went immediately back to his paper. He was left alone for a minute, and then the giggling started again. He held back a sigh and looked up, just as the shorthaired girl asked, "Has it always been that long?"

Obviously, they were either trying to annoy him or they were testing their flirtatious abilities. Just in time, the receptionist called his name. "Excuse me," he said, standing quickly and walking to where the older woman gestured.

And not a moment too soon.

====

—Back at Jin’s apartment—

"Hmm… still missing something," Natalie mused to herself as she tasted a tiny spoonful of the Alfredo sauce bubbling gently in the saucepan on the stove. She'd arrived back at Jin's apartment — he'd been kind enough to give her the spare key — and had started cooking dinner as her thanks for him allowing her to crash at his place for the time being. She wasn't sure how long to stay, or where to go if she didn't. A lot of things were like that, undecided.

Jin still hadn't returned home from whatever it was he'd had to do. She hoped he wouldn't be too late, since food never tasted as good when warmed over for a long period of time. Especially pasta. Tonight, she was going to make something she had rekindled a love for at her brother's apartment: Chicken Alfredo, with fresh garlic bread and herbal olive oil, naturally. She laid the spoon down in the sink and peeked into the grocery bag still sitting on the counter. She'd put everything away except for what she would need for this meal... ah, there it was. Sun-dried tomatoes. She removed them from their airtight bag and laid them on the cutting board, chopping them methodically into small, precise pieces. These she added to the sauce to allow to simmer, while she checked both the chicken and the bread in the oven, both of which weren't far from being ready. The pasta that was sitting on the counter in a bowl — home made and cut into thin ribbons — she would cook last, when all else was done.

She heard the door opening a moment later, and smiled her customary greeting to Jin as he walked in, only to gape — open-mouthed — at the new length of his hair. Or rather, the lack of that aforementioned length.

"Oh my God, you cut your hair!" Natalie exclaimed with clear surprise. She felt a bit of surprise and loss... she had sorta wanted to play with those long tresses before he lopped them off like that. Still... she couldn't deny the attractiveness of the look on him.

"Yeah," came Jin's response, closing the door behind him. A part of him felt slightly overwhelmed by Natalie’s outburst, but he mentally shrugged it off. "I've been meaning to have it cut for several months, now," he added. As if surprised by it himself, Jin clutched a few locks of his hair with his fingers while he stared at it briefly. It's at that point when Jin suddenly realised what Natalie was doing, and as if it was delayed somehow the whole time, the aroma of chicken and garlic bread started to tickle his senses.

"You can cook?" Jin utters, unable to hide the obvious surprise in his tone of voice. While he didn’t know a lot about Natalie, at no point in time had the thought of her being the cooking type ever cross his mind.

Natalie smirked at his choice of words, but only gestured to the stove where the pot of creamy sauce sat, still simmering. "You'd be surprised at the things I can do," she said with a mischievous wink, knowing yet deciding not to care that her words might imply anything. She was still lamenting over his hair. She could easily get used to the new look though, it did suit him well, falling to the base of his neck. She stirred the sauce and tasted it again before commenting, "I hope you like Italian food. Your hair looks good, by the way, just not how I'm used to seeing you I guess. David cut his too, though..."

She was rambling a bit, but supposed it didn't matter. She removed the bread and chicken from the oven, dumped the pasta into a pot of boiling water on a back-burner, then set about adding last-minute touches and putting things together.

Jin watched Natalie as she worked an in almost robotic, but natural fashion with some interest for a short moment, only to then walk over to her with the intent of getting a closer look at the feast. "So what is it you're making exactly?"

She grinned at him, "Chicken Alfredo, everything made from scratch. My grandmother taught me the recipe. It takes a bit of time, but I figured that while I'm staying here I might as well make dinner and stuff. If you like my cooking, that is..." Moments later, the pasta was cooked and strained, then tossed into the pot with the sauce and sliced chicken. She gave this a toss with a pair of tongs to mix it, then sliced the garlic bread and put hefty portions of both onto two plates, which she set onto the small kitchen table, perfect for just two people. She grabbed a Coke from the fridge and set down to her meal. "Hope ya like it... some people like the sauce a little more... how should I put it? Bland, I think..."

Jin gave a wordless gesture in response, and after reaching into one of the draws to retrieve a pair of chopsticks, sat down at the table with Natalie. 'Well, it certainly looks and smells good,' he noted, just as he picked up a generous slice of chicken and pasta and put it in his mouth.

With an obvious look of curiosity on her face, Natalie quietly observed the neutral expression Jin wore as he took slow, deliberate chews, recalling how her brother had done the exact same thing in Kyoto. 'I bet they have no idea just how alike they are, right down to their basic mannerisms' she mused, holding back a smile at the thought. Noticing that Jin was done with his food, she then asked for his verdict.
"So what do you think?"

"This is... really good," Kushina replied, casually picking up another piece of chicken and sending it into his mouth. He gave that almost-wry smile she was now growing to like, before he continued, "I've never really had any home cooking before, but I think I can get used to this…"
 

—*—
 

With his stomach completely filled up from Natalie's meal, it was only reasonable for Jin to then settle down on the couch and relax afterwards. Silence permeated throughout the room, broken only by the sounds of dishes being washed and packed up nearby. It was that, as minor as it was, which served to reaffirm to the Kushina that he wasn't the only person in this apartment, unlike any other day since he'd purchased this place to live in. 'But not today...' he thought. 'Or rather, not since yesterday...' his mind corrected. In an attempt to distract himself from being dragged back into dwelling on yesterday's events once more Jin turned on the TV and lied back further on the couch. Natalie came to join him afterwards, sipping on cool jasmine tea — something she'd become rather fond of — and tried to mentally adjust to Jin's hair-cut as she began an tentative attempt at conversation.

"I like your hair like that..." she said. In truth, she did like it, but refrained from saying she'd wished she could have gotten to play with his much longer tresses a bit before they were trimmed off, yet couldn't help thinking it as she reached over and briefly flicked her fingers through a stray lock. Having not realised what she was trying to do, Jin flinched slightly but upon seeing that her intentions were harmless allowed her to continue.

“Uh, thanks…” Jin mouthed almost silently, feeling quite bolstered by her compliment yet trying not to look so flustered by it all.

She smiled shyly, withdrew her hand and poked around in her head for something else to say. Natalie guessed that it might be easier to talk to someone she didn't like so much, but as it was, she was still a little nervous. Jin was a little hard to read, though not impossible, but unless he spoke his thoughts they were often hidden in seeming neutrality. Which brought her to a subject of minute concern. "Do... do you mind me staying another night? I'm not being a bother... am I?" Well, he had liked dinner a lot, so her staying couldn't be all bad. It didn't aid the self-consciousness she was prone to, though.

((To Kushina, Natalie's question caught him unexpectedly. Not so much in the sense that she had asked him it, but the idea that she perceived him viewing her presence here as “a bother".)) With all the thoughts and feelings Natalie had wrought in him over the past 24 hours, "a bother" had not even crossed his mind. He had already allowed her to spend the night here, and she'd gone as far as even make dinner for him, when she didn't have to. She was also the sister of his good friend, and Jin had no problem doing something that would ultimately help out a friend.

How long she could stay here, however, was a different issue.

"You're welcome to spend another night here, if you want," he answered. At most, she could stay as long as two weeks, since that's how long his scheduled time off work would last. "If you need any help finding a place to settle, I’ll see what I can do as well,"

"Thanks, Jin. It's really easy to get kinda lost in a city like this,” Natalie admitted. The same shy smile returned to her a little brighter than before and she relaxed a little, curling her legs beneath her as she leaned on the back of the couch, her shoulder now touching his. “It took me more than an hour just to find my way to your address..." She trailed off, leaving off exactly how she'd known what that address was as she sipped her tea a bit more. She set the empty cup on the coffee table and looked at the images on the television without really paying them any mind. Would she stay here in Tokyo? She would be close to Jin, and that's what she wanted, but it took money to have one's own place, and not only did she not have any official paperwork yet with which to get a job, but she could barely speak the language. The paperwork wouldn't be too hard, after all she'd forged plenty of documents in her previous job and also knew what the officials would look for in a fake, so she knew what to avoid.

“The city can be somewhat… overwhelming,” Kushina acknowledged. From his experiences, the capital was constantly a hubbub of activity, whether it was during the day or evening, and could very easily overcome those unfamiliar with its layout and lifestyle. Before him, the current television programme did little to change his limited interest towards it, yet Kushina made no attempt to change the channel regardless.

"Honestly?" Natalie mused, breaking Jin’s thoughts for the moment. "I don't know what I plan to do.” She didn't want to burden Jin... no matter how much she enjoyed his company, even silent as it usually was. “David invited me to stay with him... but he and I are a little different. We still have so much to adjust to around each other." Natural instinct cause her to lean into his shoulder more, curled close to his side. The awkwardness colored her cheeks a bit, but she couldn't help smiling. It felt right, somehow. "His apartment is small, too. But I'm not really sure I know what else to do. I need a job, either way.”

"How is Astaroth?" Jin inquired upon the mention of Natalie’s brother. He couldn't remember where and when he'd given Astaroth his address, but he quickly dismissed it as an irrelevant, forgotten point in time. After all, it could only be from Astaroth that Natalie would get his whereabouts in the first place, he figured. Having failed to fully register Natalie leaning against him the first time, Jin soon realised the situation as she made herself slightly more comfortable against his shoulder. With the way she now positioned herself, Jin's right arm was now essentially pressed under her weight, limiting its freedom of movement. Still, he let her remain this way against him, not wanting to appear to make a fuss by moving her off him, and yet, a part of Jin noted, he felt at ease somehow by it as well.

"Oh, he's fine,” Natalie answered. Jin was the only person Natalie knew of who still called her brother by the name he'd been given in another world. She didn't mind it all that much, it was sort of expected. Jin was the last tie that David had to a dark past, the only good thing to come from those years, so it seemed. It seemed to be vice-versa, as well. “Working and getting used to a more mundane life, or so he says. His pay as a professor is okay, not great or anything but he still likes it."

Glad that he didn't seem to mind her leaning on him, she adjusted once more before realising his arm was pinned. She pulled back enough to extract it, laced her slender arms around his larger one and leaned back in as she continued. A tingling sensation rose up and down Jin's arm the moment Natalie's arms snaked themselves around it, something that he assumed was due to the return of circulation back into it. Course, it didn't account for this same feeling once it coursed throughout his whole body.

“I see,” Kushina responded. He raised a single brow at the mention of Astaroth now being a professor, suddenly recalling how he'd mentioned in passing the last time they spoke how he considered getting a teaching job. "I think the last time we spoke was almost a year ago, actually," he added.

She blinked several times in a look of disbelief. "You guys haven't seen each other, or even talked in the past year?" Astonishment lifted her tone by half an octave. "I thought you guys were best friends! I mean, I know he said he hadn't seen you in a while... but a year?? Geez, you two are bad enough at communication as it is! The last thing you both need is to cut off the only person to actually know you enough to be considered a good friend!” She wasn’t sure why she was in such a tizzy over it, but it just bugged her that both of them were such loners that they wouldn't even talk for a year. Then with guilt, a thought struck her. 'Was it because of me? Because I died, and they were both there? Did they remind each other of that, just in presence alone?’ She gave way to a short pause and subsequently a more rational explanation. ‘Or maybe I'm just paranoid... and they're just being typical lone-wolves.[/i]

"It is what it is..." is all he offered as an explanation along with a shrug, which didn’t do much to change Natalie’s expression. That same outburst had, in fact, caused her to move her head from his shoulder, although her arms still remained loosely wrapped around his one. Thinking about it now, Kushina himself didn't know how the both of them had gone so long without any attempts to reach out to each other. Granted, the last time they crossed paths, it hadn't been under the best of circumstances, what with Natalie's passing still fresh in their minds and unwilling to put the both of them at ease. Yet on the contrary, thoughts of Natalie would invariably lead to thoughts of her brother, and Astaroth was far from being someone Jin could see himself losing sight of, despite their recent lack of communication.

’It is what it is?’ Natalie frowned at Jin’s nonchalant nature towards her outburst, but sighed in resignation. “Well, maybe I could take you to see him, since you have some time off,” she offered. “If you wanted to, of course,” she then quickly added, not wanting to impose herself on him and possibly cause offence.

“Where does Astaroth live?” Kushina inquired in response. “Kyoto, was it?”

“Yeah,” Natalie nodded.

"Okay,” Jin replied. He paused briefly, and then continued, “I did have plans to spend a few days in Kyoto during my time off.”

“Cool,” Natalie said. A couple of days? Well, it was better than nothing. "Well, as long as you guys catch up a bit. Besides," she smirked, "I want him to see how short your hair is now. Plus I think we should all do something fun together, ya know? Like going somewhere cool... an arcade or a beach!" A small giggle followed this, along with her placing her head back against his shoulder with another sigh. Long legs uncurled to stretch before her, bare toes wiggling in the carpet. "So... we can go to Kyoto. It's settled then." After that, she wasn't sure what he had planned. But if she could help it, then their time with her brother would be longer than a couple of days. After all, they had a year to catch up on. It would also be her first opportunity to be in the company of both without the gloom and doom that accompanied them before.

Jin only gave a nod this time to Natalie's mention of Kyoto and her brother, whether or not she caught it. With Natalie’s head on Jin's shoulder, and her bangs tickling his neck, she didn't. She then looked up with a timid smile. "I think we'll have f-" she broke off immediately, eyes fixed on his hair again, almost crossed due to her close proximity. She leaned in; both brows rose in surprise and suddenly exclaimed, "You have a gray hair!" Well, silver was more like it, but it was there and the closer she looked, the more she noticed. No more than a few, just a couple of inches behind his ear, warmed by her soft outward breaths. A second after her discovery, she realized how rude she might be seeming and flushed appropriately, "Heh, um.... as I was saying, it'll be fun!" Her nose crinkled a bit in a grin and she settled back against his side, sighing at the television. "Now I just gotta learn Japanese..." she mumbled.

"Learn Japanese?” Jin spoke. “Well, I suppose I could teach you the basics for now…" he offered. He brushed aside her claim about his hair, putting it down to her simply being mistaken. "There's..." Jin paused for a few seconds as he attempted to think up suitable words for her to learn. "Okay, there's "Ohayou", meaning "Good morning". You have "Konnichiwa", which is "Good afternoon", and then there's "Konbanwa", meaning "Good evening". Those are words you use to greet someone. There's "Nanika atta" too, which means "What's up?". You'll probably hear that one a lot."

“Okay, thanks.” The first two she had learned in passing people on the street, but it didn't hurt to practice, especially if he was a willing teacher. Other than those, she only really knew terms for currency and limited numbers. Oh, and a handful of curses, which she'd made a point to look up in her pocket dictionary. Natalie's brows drew low in concentration as she repeated each phrase, biting her lower lip now and then as she mistook one syllable for another on the last phrase. She corrected herself and said it a couple time more to be sure she got it right. She didn't doubt she'd hear it often, she had heard it a few times but it was always too quick for her to catch. The tones and inflections used in speaking Japanese felt odd when compared to English, but she was thankful that her accent wasn't strong enough to limit her ability to imitate the way he spoke the words. Her arms untangled themselves from him and she turned to face him with her legs folded beneath her while she leaned back on her palms. "So... how do you say, 'I'm hungry'?"

"I'm hungry?" Jin blinked before raising a brow, but answered regardless. "It's... 'Onaka ga suita'", Jin answered, before he threw in a brief warning as he watched her attempt to learn the phrase. "Another thing you need to learn, is that directness is considered impolite in Japan..."

"Impolite?" she questioned, before she blinked and remembered a few strange looks she'd gotten at different times since her return, all while she was trying to convey something. It seemed more than a little restricting, but most Japanese people didn't appear to take to the direct approach. To Natalie, it was only natural to be straightforward, since that equalled honesty as long as one was polite. Yet the American form of "polite" and the Japanese form seemed entirely different. She nodded to him, "I'll be careful, then. So...Onaka ga suita!!" she exclaimed, genuinely meaning the expression as shown by her grin and her giggle. Though they'd just eaten... Natalie already felt like having a snack of some kind. High metabolism kept her in shape... but also made her a bit ravenous at times.

Kushina found himself letting out a small smile at the corners of his lips at this, slowly rising up from the couch. "Ii desu yo," he responded, and then remembering who he speaking to corrected himself in mid-step. "Oh, that means 'Okay'." He too was hungry as well, yet only a little. A light snack and a single glass of sake would satisfy him for the night, he figured. Tomorrow he'd then have to begin packing and making preparations for the trip to Kyoto. Turning his head towards the couch, he asked, "What is it you want?"

She hummed and thought for a moment, "Well, anything is fine. Just a snack and something to drink." She would have gotten up to get it herself, but since he beat her to it, she wasn't going to argue. While he was busy, she picked up the remote and began flicking through the channels, brow furrowed again. "What I wouldn't give for subtitles right now..." she murmured.