Poston

Chapter three : Camp Jobs and Reunions

By the third week in camp, everyone had settled into a solid routine. Everyone had their own jobs to do, even though Nino didn't really want to work all that much. He got himself a job in the mess hall kitchen with Masaki after the two chefs got too many complaints that their food was 'so disgusting the dogs wouldn't eat it' or something along those lines.

And since cooking was one of the few things Nino knew how to do with moderate skill besides guitar, he figured he might as well take the job. Masaki quickly piped up and said he wanted to help as well, which was good because Masaki was definitely better at cooking than Nino was.

"Try this," Masaki said one day when they were cooking for dinner that night. He pulled a spoon out of a big pot and offered it to Nino.

Nino took the spoon and took a bite. "Mm!" he exclaimed. "That's good! Tastes just like chili!"

"That's the idea!" Masaki smiled. "Mama showed me how to make it after the rationing began. She's really creative!"

"Yeah, she is," Nino said as he stirred some rice. "I bet Yusuke misses your mom's cooking a lot."

Masaki's smile turned from an excited one to a sad one. "Yeah, I bet," he said.

Nino looked back at his cousin. "I'm sure he's fine."

Masaki nodded. "Yeah, for sure. I mean, he survived Pearl Harbor, right? I'm sure he can survive wherever he's at right now."

Nino only nodded again. He knew that Yusuke, Masaki's younger brother, was a bit of a delicate subject for him. His brother was only twenty years old, but he had entered the army almost exactly one year before Japan attacked Hawaii. He had just happened to be stationed in Pearl Harbor the day of the attack, but now his parents knew nothing about where he was at except that he was stateside and under investigation.

"Hey," Masaki spoke up, grabbing Nino out of his thoughts. "How is it going with the Ohno guy yet? Have you asked him out yet?"

"What? I-wha-NO!" Nino answered. "What makes you think I would ask him out?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Masaki shrugged. "I've watched how you've been looking at him lately. He's a quiet one, but whenever I see you two talking together, you both are so focused on each other. I bet he likes you too."

"Even if I was interested, I can't just ask him out!" Nino explained. "Liking men is completely different than liking gals. Liking gals is natural. Liking men is disgusting to a lot of people. I don't know what Mama would do if she found out. I'm surprised you haven't turned me away since you found out."

"I've known you liked guys since high school," his cousin admitted. "No girls have ever caught your interest, not even in grade school. You've never tried to grab their attention like everyone else did. And when you didn't even go to senior prom, I knew it had to be either that or you were just really afraid of people."

"Am I really that transparent?"

"Depends on who's paying attention."

"Speaking of girls, how is it going with that girl Mai?"

"OH!" Masaki beamed, his excited smile back. "I really like her! She's so sweet and kind and caring! The way she looks after her niece is amazing! It's like she's the mom since Sho's wife died."

Nino looked back at him, surprised. "She died?"

Masaki nodded. "He won't say how, though. I bet it's too painful for him still. He did say that she was a picture bride, so they're both issei's. And he was a lawyer. Mai has been living with him since their parents went back to Japan."

"Picture bride?" Nino asked. "So, he's rich?"

"Not really. Mai said that he lied on his letter to his wife, saying he was rich with a lot of money when he was really just scrapping by to graduate. When she came, he had to sincerely apologize a million times to her. But I bet he really, really loved her." Masaki stopped stirring and smiled, gazing out at nothing. "The way he acts whenever the subject is brought up, he gets a faraway look in his eyes, like he's remembering a grand memory. I hope that I can find a woman who will give me that kind of feeling."

Nino grinned, enjoying the romantic cousin of his. He always knew that Masaki always dreamed of meeting that perfect woman to make his world complete, but it made Nino sad because he knew he'd never meet a person like that. If anyone was hopeless, Nino knew that for sure it was himself.

He felt a slight nudge in his arm. "Hey," Masaki smiled. "I'll ask Miss Mai out if you ask Mister Ohno."

Nino only pushed him back to his pot of chili. "Don't let it burn, you idiot!"

--

He was standing alone, out in the middle of the desert. No barracks. No guards. No people around him. Just tumbleweeds, cactuses, and blue skies and yellow dirt.

For once, it was peaceful. It was calming and relaxing. No stress, no pain, no anger.

Then, he felt a pair of soft, strong arms circle around his waist. He felt a warm body up against his back, their head on his shoulder, and instead of feeling startled, Nino felt even more calm and relaxed than he was before.

But now he felt safe. It was as if this person was trying to protect him in the most lovingly way he could.

Love. That was the word Nino was looking for. Love.

"Kazu," he heard a beautiful voice in his ear. "I love you, Kazunari."

Nino purred and rolled his head back to rub his nose against the man's cheek. "I love you too, Satoshi."

Wait. Satoshi?!

Nino woke up with a jolt, panting and sweating like he had just run a marathon. He sat up and ran his hand over his face, covered in sweat, in disbelief. "What the hell?!" Nino asked himself quietly as he rubbed his eyes.

"Nino?"

Nino's face snapped up, looking up to see a concerned Satoshi sitting up on his mattress looking back at him. He looked surprised and worried. "Are you okay?" he asked. "You look like you've just seen a ghost?"

Furiously, Nino shook his head. "No, I'm okay," he lied. "Go back to sleep."

Hesitantly, Satoshi continued to look at him. "A-Are you sure?"

"I'm fine, Ohno-san. Go to sleep." Not accepting another answer, Nino lay back down on his mat and closed his eyes, trying to pretend like he was going to sleep as well.

After another silent minute between them, Satoshi finally lay back down on his mattress, allowing Nino to lay in his thoughts.

This was not good.

--

The next morning, Nino felt like everyone was staring at him. He knew it probably wasn't true, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that everyone knew what he had dreamed the night before.

Although, he didn't say anything, he still felt that way. And it didn't help that Satoshi kept glancing over at him, an obviously concerned look on his face.

What the hell was going on?! Nino asked himself. Dreaming about Satoshi Ohno?! And on top of that, of him hugging and kissing him?! Maybe all of that talk with Masaki was getting to him. Maybe it was making his brain confused and biased. Maybe all he was saying was wedging itself into Nino's brain, making him believe that he really liked this guy. But the truth was that he didn't like this guy!

At least... he thought he didn't.

"How about it, Kazu?"

Nino looked up from staring down at his porridge and met his sister's asking gaze. "Huh?"

Natsumi sighed, annoyed. "Really? Are you that spaced out this morning? What's wrong with you?"

Nino put his spoon down. "Nothing's wrong!" he snapped. "Why do you always assume—"

"Anyway, do you wanna help?"

"Help with what?"

"Nino-ji!" Samantha piped up smiling. "They're going to build a school! Wanna help build it with Papa and Masaki-ji and Sho-ji?"

Yuki tugged on her father's arm. "Papa, may I go to school this year with Samantha and Charlie?"

Sho nodded. "Of course, Yuki!"

"So go help them!" Natsumi exclaimed to her younger brother. "It'll get you out and working, and you get to spend time with the guys."

"Exactly what I needed," Nino mumbled to himself as he went back to sulking into his breakfast.

--

Of course, Nino did help build the school. The school building was going to have children from blocks three and four attending, so instead of separating the rooms up the barrack they built became one large room schoolhouse. Using leftover wood from the army, the five men got to work right away on building. Masaki, who had helped his father put up barns and such on their farm plenty of times, knew how to build the frame and place it so that it stood firm.

After the basic frame was up, the wood for the walls were the next thing to go up. Masaki, Sho, and Jun worked on the walls, while Ohno and Nino began working on the roof. Because of the frame Masaki had made, it wasn't as difficult as Nino thought it would be. In fact, doing this sort of work was calming. In a way, it was good to keep his hands busy. And, as usual, Satoshi left him to his thoughts in silence.

One day, however, as they were working, Satoshi spoke up. "Nino," he said. "What did you used to do before Poston?"

"Eh?" Nino asked looking up. "Like... as in a job?"

"Yeah," Satoshi said. "I worked in the butcher shop, Ayumi was a seamstress with Natsumi, but what did you do?"

Nino chuckled nervously, wondering if he should say it. "Well," he began as he hammered another nail into the wood. "I didn't really do anything. I went to college for a while, wanting to be an actor and prove to everyone that a Jap could act as well as a White man. I quit though soon afterwards. Dad was losing business at his pawn shop, so I went out and tried to find myself a job. All I could get was factory work, so I did that for a while before Pearl Harbor."

"Then your father died, right?"

Nino nodded. "I lost my father and my job both in a matter of a few hours," he replied. "Just as businessmen were being rounded up and taken, Japanese workers like me were laid off. We sold the store in order to live, and we've been living off of that and savings until now."

"That's really terrible," Satoshi said. "I'm sorry for your loses."

Nino only shrugged. "Hey, we get free living here, so I shouldn't really complain."

"You have every right to complain. The only reason I don't is because I don't want to bother my mother. She gets very sensitive to things she can't control, like living here for example. If I were to complain about the living conditions or the heat, then it would just make her upset."

"Yeah I guess—"

Suddenly, when Nino looked up, he noticed a strange sight. It looked like a car coming towards the camp. No... it was a bus. Nino carefully stood up on the roof to get a better look, and he watched as the bus parked at the main entrance at Block one, and men in tan and brown uniforms started getting off. After a few seconds, he saw as one woman screamed and ran towards one of the men, throwing her arms around him. His brown hat fell off onto the sand, revealing a black head of hair.

"MASAKI!" Nino screamed as he nearly ran down the ladder. He quickly ran to his cousin. "Masaki! Run to block one! There are army men there! Go see if Yusuke is among them!"

Masaki didn't have to be told twice. He immediately took off running towards the bus as Nino ran to get his aunt and uncle. Once he told them what was going on, they hurried after their son to get to the bus in any hope that their other son had shown up.

Sure enough, a few feet away from the bus stood Masaki holding a familiar face, beaming like he had never done so before. "Yusuke!" Mrs. Aiba cried as she pulled him away from Masaki. "Oh, my baby!"

"I'm here, Mom," Yusuke smiled back as he held her.

"When did you get back from Hawaii?" Mrs. Aiba asked. "Where on earth were you?!"

"I was on an army base in Nevada for a while," Yusuke explained. "Mom, I'd rather not talk about this now."

"Of course!" his mother exclaimed. "Of course not! Well, come on, Yusuke, and we'll get you settled into the barrack."

As they began walking, Masaki walked behind with Nino. "He's about to get a rude awakening," Nino said to his cousin. "He just got here from probably one hell to another."

Masaki only shrugged and smiled. "He's here, isn't he?" he said. "Besides, it can't be helped."

--

"I'm so excited Yusuke is back home with his family!" Mama smiled after dinner that night. "He looks so grown up and tall! He's almost as tall as Masaki now."

"Too bad it was only army men," Ayumi mentioned as she got her blanket on her futon situated before she went to sleep. "I miss Papa."

Satoshi, who had been reading a book on his futon, mumbled something incoherently. Nino couldn't hear what he said, but whatever it was it earned him a smack from Ayumi.

"He'll be here soon," Mrs. Ohno assured her children. "Right now, I just want to get some sleep."

Nino got up to close the shutters on the window that had just recently been put into place. When he made sure they were tightly closed, he turned around and jumped when he saw Satoshi standing behind him, preparing to turn the stove off to turn the light out. "Sorry," Nino mumbled.

Satoshi shook his head. "No, you're okay," he said. Then, very quietly so only Nino could hear, "Are you sleeping okay?"

Nino looked up, feeling all the blood drain from his face. "Eh? Wh-why are you asking?"

The older man shrugged. "You've been saying weird stuff in your dreams."

"Like?" Honestly, Nino was terrified of what the other's answer might be.

Instead, Satoshi shrugged again. "Just... stuff. Names."

Oh shit, Nino thought. "Look... I have—I mean, what I mean is—"

Satoshi laughed. "Relax!" he said putting a hand on Nino's shoulder. "It kinda sounds like you're saying a guy's name, maybe your father's? I know you miss him a lot."

Nino stared into the man's eyes to see if he was telling the truth. Damn him for being so unreadable, Nino winced internally before he nodded. "Yeah... I do."

Releasing him, Satoshi nodded. "Ja...good night, Nino."

"Good night."

And with that, the barrack was submitted into darkness and the two men made their way to their futons. Nino knew he wouldn't be able to sleep that night. Not with that man's burning touch still lingering on his shoulder.