Orenji no Taiyou

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro laughed out loud, and let go of the edge of the bed, crawling over behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him, his heart beating so fast as he felt her back touch his chest that he knew she would be able to hear it. He looked at her, and smiled.

"Well, if I just hang on to you, then we won't have to worry about you flying off then, will we?" he muttered as he felt the ship begin to shake violently and the engines explode to life, causing the ship to lurch forward. He felt the ship roar to life and begin out, shaking and trembling, bouncing he and Orange on the bed. Jiro was holding his head against hers so they wouldn't crack together. He saw the stars streaking past the window for a moment before he finally felt the ship soar out into space, the shaking and trembling finally easing off and eventually stopping.

After a moment of silence, Jiro let go of Orange and slid around her and off the bed. He smiled and nodded to the door.

"My shoes probably took a trip down the hall. I better go hunt them down," he said. Then he waved at her. "Sayounara, Orenji-chan. If you need me or my brother, we'll be in either the cockpit, our rooms or the kitchen. We're bottomless pits, so I'd always try the kitchen first."

Jiro waved again, smiling and winking, before he opened the door, glanced up and down the hall and shut the door behind him, trying to get his heart and his breath back to normal.

[Orange Diren]

Orange had never had such a rush in her life! One second she felt like she were on cloud 9 then she felt as if her world had literally collapsed. He had run off so quickly she couldn't help but think of a child who never stayed put for very long. She let out a sigh and fell back onto the bed where he had once been just a moment ago.

Orange thought she had the moves and the ability to make men swoon at her feet but Jiro had some good tricks up his sleeve, teasing was obviously his best traits of hooking people. She stood up and laughed out loud and looked around the room. She felt dirty and she knew that Jiro must smell up to high heaven since he touched her. Feeling self conscious, as she always did when around attractive men while in her work uniform, she grabbed the tail of her stained tank top and pulled it over her head reaviling her clean skin underneath, the outline of the tank top showing by her dirtied arms. She walked into the bathroom and flipped on the lights and looked around, when she saw no sign of a towel she turned around and jogged out of the bedroom and towards Jiro who was walking quickly towards the lift with his shoes in tow.

"Jiro!" She called out as she slowed down to a slow pace not realizing she wasn't wearing a shirt, just her black bra. It was a bad habit she accuired while working at the ship ports, she lived, ate, and showered amongst men stripping to her skivvies wasn't anything new to her, hopefully Jiro wouldn't say anything.

"I don't see a towel in sight, mind finding one for me?" She smiled at him and bit on her lower lip, she knew what she was doing, she purposely wanted Jiro to see her wearing no shirt despite the fact of how comfortable she was. Before she could honestly grasp a hold of the situation she suddenly realized her back, well her subconscious did forcing her to realize what was showing. She put her right hand on the small of her back, feeling where the tattoo began and the pain she endured while receiving it, luckily if Jiro noticed she had a good fake story to tell him.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro looked back over his shoulder at Orange who had stoped in the middle of the hall in her bra and pants. For a moment it took him off guard, but he adapted to other people's needs quickly and by the time he had walked over to her, it no longer phased him. He smiled down at her as he walked back into her bedroom and to the bathroom.

He leaned down and opened a drawer bringing out a towel and wash cloth and turned back to her holding them out and bowing, smiling wider when he stood straight again.

"Here you are. Sorry, I guess I should have given you a grand tour," he said. Orange smiled at him and she turned to put the towel and wash cloth down on the small table near the door, Jiro got a clear view of her smooth back. His eyes traveled down the length of it, and he almost looked away, feeling as if he were violating her somehow. But his eyes reached the small of her back and he saw a pale scar there. It was large and round and in the center, there was an intricate scar in the shape of a...

Jiro's stomach turned over as a sharp, unbearable pain shot through the small of his own back and his hand went to it, massaging the large scar on his own back. The blood had rushed from his face as he swallowed hard, gulping down air.

"Where...did you...get that?" he barely whispered, his hand reaching over and touching the scar, his entire body trembling uncontrollably. He was breathing fast and hard, gasping for air. He looked back up at her. "Where did you get it?!"

[Orange Diren]

Orange frowned when she heard his voice then felt his fingers touch the scar on her back. Any other time she’d probably enjoy such a sensation of feeling his fingers trace over her back, but his voice...the way he spoke...the way he demanded to know. Orange stood up and looked at him his face drained of all its color and suddenly she felt as if it had offended him in some odd way. She frowned and put her left hands knuckles over the distinct design that she had felt many times before. Although it was literally burned into her skin, it had also been burned into her mind for she had stared at it many times and traced it with her hands.

In any normal circumstance she would feel absolutely fine to lie, tell him the story she had told many before about how she got drunk and had a friend burn it in for her, but those who had asked were to stupid to understand no tattoo parlor could brand someone the way her back was, of course there was the very hip and modern parlors where one could get a tattoo burned into the skin, but this was different, it had texture.

She felt her knuckles rub over the light colored scar tissue that was in the shape of a scorpion, a small oval circle surrounding it, typical of many branding emblem. Anyone who owned wild animals to heard or breed was required by law to brand them on their sides with a distinct emblem that was for recognition. Branding was still widely done by the old fashioned way of getting a custom made branding poker, all one was to do was sit it in a fire for merely five minutes and it would be ready to burn something for the rest of their days....or in her case, the rest of her days.

Orange felt hot and as if the whole room were one giant steam room she couldn’t breathe for the look on Jiro’s face...he looked so shocked, if not horrified. She frowned and shook her head.

“N-n-nothing.” She let out a nervous laugh and turned and bent over into the shower and turned on the water hearing it pour into the porcelain tub quickly. She untied the coverall’s sleeves that were around her waist where she always rolled the upper half of her uniform down. She felt the lower half loosen and she grabbed the belt loop and slowly pulled them down, her mind literally someplace else as she undressed in front of him. She shook her coveralls and folded them, sitting them on the floor next to the shower where she would be able to find them and take them to get cleaned, wherever that was located. She pulled off her socks and sat them on top of the neatly folded outfit and stood up, seeing Jiro was touching the small of his back as if he could feel her pain.

“Jiro?” She swallowed the fear she felt inside, his reaction wasn’t the typical ‘Oh cool’ or ‘that had to hurt’ expressions she was used to hearing. She walked over to him and touched his arm. “Jiro are you...” She glanced to her right the small mirror above the sink caused her to see Jiro’s movements being reflected in the mirror and for a second she could have sworn she saw something on his own back, but she knew it was nothing. Right?

Orange didn’t care to ask she simply grabbed the tail of his wife beater and tried to see his back, but he recoiled moving away so she couldn’t see, he moving towards the skin and almost ending up on the vanity. Suddenly the room temperature had rose by many degrees, the air had made its way out of the small cubical room, sweat was beading on the back of her neck, and she no longer could breathe. She looked over his left shoulder and in the mirror seeing he was still touching his back, his face lost in thought. She saw under his shirt and immediately when she saw the thin, deep, distinctive curves she swore she was going to pass out, but she somehow got composure and stepped away from him trying her best to fight the tears wanting to come. Luckily they remained hidden deep within.

“When I was 13 I got drunk...a friend of mine branded the small of my back on a dare.” It was a little bit of truth mixed with a lot of lies. The only truth being her age. She wanted to see what he had to say if anything at all. For the first time in over 6 years she was ready and willing to tell someone the truth about how she received such a distinct mark even more so when she swore she had seen it on Jiro.

She felt sick. Images of that horrific night flooded into her mind after many years of repetitively stating that her lie was how she truly received the scar. She had said it to herself so many times that she was finally believing her own lie, but at one single moment her walls were coming down on her and the truth was being relayed in her mind in the graphic scenes it had honestly been. She backed away from Jiro and felt the cold wall against her back and there she leaned on it, glancing at Jiro knowing it’d be best to just come right out and tell him.

“Iie.” She whispered lowly seeing his eyes were becoming unclouded from his deep thinking, his attention regained at her words. She swallowed the fear down and she drew in a deep nervous breath before letting it out silently through her nose. She closed her eyes for a moment the reopened them finding Jiro staring at her biting on his lower lip.

“I met a guy in a bar. I’m not going to lie, Jiro...” She hated having to tell him this for she knew he’d never look at her the same again, he’d probably tell his older brother to turn around and take her trashy self back to the Tattooine port, but she had to tell him anyhow. “I experimented a lot when I was younger and one night, I went bar hopping trying to get lucky.

“I went into this crazy place in Tattooine and got smashed. I was dancing and going crazy until finally I almost passed out. This older gentleman came over and helped me to a seat where he sat and chatted with me for almost two hours. I was slightly sober by the time I suggested that he take me back to his place and he agreed. You must understand I was young and gullible...I had no idea that a fairly older gentleman taking a child home with him was truly disgusting.” Orange had to at least say something in her defense for fear this story was going to ostricize her, after all this was the first time she was ever going to tell someone the truth, not even Kyzer or Shin knew the truth.

“We went back to his place, like I said he took me to his home. There we were continuing our nice conversation. As the time progressed I began to realize that I didn’t want to sleep with him, if you can believe this I didn’t like his personality.” She lightly laughed trying to make herself more comfortable, but it only made her feel worse. Slowly she swallowed and leaned off the wall and looked at the ground as she collected her thoughts. When she was ready to speak she lifted her eyes up to Jiro and frowned.

“I told him to take me home, but he refused. Again and again I pleaded for him to take me back to the bar or my apartment, anywhere but there! But time and time again he refused! I suddenly realized this had been a bad idea. I bolted for the front door, but he was too quick for a drunk 13 year old, too powerful. He proceeded to...to uhm...” Orange couldn’t say the word, couldn’t say that she had been violated in the worst way humanly possible. “I tried to get away, but he was too strong for me. I had been beaten and tied up. When he figured he was ‘done’ he told me I was his prize.”

Orange felt the memories hit her so hard that she literally thought she’d fall backwards her mind had never remembered that night as well as she was right then. But still she found the courage to swallow the pain inside and let Jiro understand what had happened.

“I can still hear the way the metal screeched across the floor as he brought the bright object towards me. I screamed for help, but by that time I could barely speak. The bright red color was being burned into my memory as he slowly dragged the steaming poker. He held it next to my face and told me again that I was his prize, I screamed for him not to di it, but he just put his boot on my back and held me still as she lowered the scolding hot object onto my back. I could hear my flesh burning, sizzling like a piece of meat on a hot skillet. The pain was horrendous.”

“After that he untied me and took me back to the bar and pushed me out of the cruiser. After that I cleaned up my act and moved to Tattooine’s nearest moon. I haven’t seen that man since, but every time I see my back in the mirror I can hear him, see him. I’m forever scarred because of him.” Orange felt she had just said a years supply of words, her heart was pounding in her chest, she was burning alive and she had the small beads of sweat on her neck and arms to prove it.

“That’s where I got it.”

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro backed against the wall hard as he listened to her story. The images flashing in his mind taking his breath away, making his hear beat harder and harder. He clutched his throat, trying to get his breath to go down. He reached for the door and stumbled sideways out of it, almost falling completely down, but managing to lurch towards the bed.

Orange had no idea the pain being inflicted on his body and his mind. She probably thought he was crazy, seeing as how she had been so calm and collected about it. But it was only two years ago, and there was not one day that went by that Jiro didn’t think about it at least once.

Jiro reached the bed, and sat down, gasping for breath, all his scars aching, and every movement that had caused them flashing through Jiro’s mind. All he could feel was the hand around his throat, the heavy body crushing him against the wall, the heat, the grunts, the cursing…the pain. Through all the sensations, Jiro felt the pain. The tears falling down his face as he felt the cold wall press against his cheek.

The freezing heat of the iron sending his body into convulsions. The laugh, the touch of the man as if he were afraid to break Jiro. And yet he had just spent five hours breaking him. Jiro could see the man’s eyes burning into him, his smile…that smile that made Jiro feel as if he would always belong to that man. He would always see a little of him in every person he saw. Jiro could hear the metallic crash as the man threw the iron on the wall and escaped out the window, leaving Jiro naked and bleeding.

Jiro felt the lump in his throat ease as his mind suddenly drew a blank. His body slowly stoped shaking as the fear eased off his chest and the pain pulsed away, leaving him breathing heavily, and limp, as if he were a rag doll.

He looked around him as if he were waiting for the man to walk into the room. He laid back on the bed, crossing his arms over his eyes as he felt the tears of that night spring up in his eyes again, and he swallowed against them, breathing deeply, waiting for Orange to come in and tell him that he was being childish. He took a deep breath. He hadn’t had a panic attack like that since…

[Orange Diren]

Orange wasn't expecting such a reaction, she was frightened by how he nearly fell out of the room where she heard his breathing was shallow and heavy. She felt so frightened she was frozen in place for so long she swore an hour had gone by when she finally truned out of the room and walked in to see Jiro laying on the bed with his face covered. She watched his chest rising and falling quickly, she suddenly realized he had the same burn...he knew exactly what it felt like, what it sounded like, what torture and pain she had been put through.

Slowly, almost cautiously, she walked towards the bed crossing her arms over herself, suddenly feeling shy for being so open to just throw her clothes off. Her heart was pounding so fast and she was practically panting, she had never seen someone act that way before. She knew his experience must've been in recent years for her ability to remain numb from the images was learned from time.

"Jiro?" She whispered as she bent down and touched his left knee with her hand as she turned and sat beside of him. "Jiro, are you all right?" She kept her hand in place as she looked down at him praying that he would say something.

[Jiro Lawson]

"I wanted it, Orenji...that's what hurts so badly...I asked him to go back to the back room with me...I deserved it...that's what kills me," he whispered into his arms. He turned his back on Orange, being sure that he hid the fact that he was wiping away tears befor he sat up again, taking a deep breath and putting a large smile on his face, looking back over at Orange.

"But that was two years ago, nothing to bother with now," he stood, stretching and heading towards the door again. "Well, if you need anything, you know where to find me. I am going to go find my brother, I need him. Have a good shower, and sorry I freaked out." He smiled again, then slid the door open and looked up the hall, then down it. He spotted his brother going into the kitchen. He wave.

"Kyoudai!" he called. Then he looked back at Orange and winked. "See you later, huh?"

[Orange Diren]

Orange didn't like how one moment he was acting like he had heard the worst story in the world, then pretended he was fine. She wasn't one who liked people who put on a show for their well being, but then again she had done it for many years. She stood up and saw him staring back at her as he winked. She wanted to smile and pretend that the whole scene and painful reminder didn't bug her as much as it did, but that would be lying for her own comfort and she was tired of it.

"Don't act like that, Jiro." She said lowly a bit angered that he couldn't at least show his feelings, then again this was a man she was dealing with. "Keep telling yourself you were at fault and pretty soon you'll start believing it." She clenched her jaw not really understanding why she was so angry at him for pretending as if he wasnt' hurt by the sudden shock of seeing her scar, Orange wasn't one who kept feelings hidden and she supposed she should allow him to treat his past any way he wanted to.

"See you, Jiro."

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro felt much better after he sat down and had a talk with his brother and let Taro gripe to him about something that had happened. He aways felt better after just being in his brother's presence.

Jiro took a deep breath and sighed, lying down on the table and looking up at his brother who was reading a novel. It felt as if they had been in space a long time, though really it had only been several hours. He had been wandering throughout the ship since he and Orange had talked. He watched Taro for a few moments before standing and walking around to stand behind his brother and read the Japanese in the book. He sighed loudly in his brother's ear before wrapping his arms around Taro's neck and hugging him.

"I am going to the cockpit to scout out Jesimae. I haven't seen her the whole trip. Why isn't she fooling around with you?" Jiro asked, looking at his brother, who kissed him on the cheek and stood as well.

"I dunno. But I'll come with you. Where's Orange?" his brother asked as they linked arms and began down the hall towards the cockpit.

"I sw her a few hours ago in her room. I haven't seen her since though. She is probably sleeping," he laughed/. "I would be."

[Orange Diren]

Orange stared up at the ceiling, the lights as low as they could go without being pitch black or too bright. She wished now she wouldn't have been so silly when Jiro left the room, but she couldn't help it that was the only way she could respond to the situation after all it had been many many years ago since she had talked about it, with herself.

She wondered what he was doing for it had been several hourse since she'd seen him, hell she didn't even know his brother's name or the woman on the ship as well. She slowly sat up and tossed her legs over the bed and headed towards the door, tying the sleeves of her clean coveralls around her waist so they wouldn't fall off. She felt slightly self conscious about the thin scar on her eye and even more self conscious now that she was clean and smelled normal. Hopefully, Jiro wouldn't be bitter about her odd behavior a little while ago.

She opened the door and walked to the lift trying to remember where the kitchen was.

[Jesimae Lawson]

It had been nearly three hours since she had any contact with anyone, she must've forgotten the time when she took her a hot bubble bath where she then crashed on Taro's bed. She had forgotten how comfortable it was and obviously drifted into a deep sleep for the next thing she knew she was waking up and stumbling around the room trying to find her way out so she could at least say hello to everyone.

She yawned as she walked towards the kitchen scratching her head after pulling it out of her pony tail. She hoped to god she didn't scare anyone whenever she saw them, for she knew her makeup was probably gone and she looked like death herself.

Jesimae squinted when she walked towards the bright light leaking out into the hall from the kitchen. She heard rummaging around and she hoped it was somone, hopefully not that girl. She didn't even know her name so she was afraid to even talk to her. She turned the corner and saw nobody in the kitchen. She frowned and yawned again realizing the sounds were coming from the cockpit.

"Hey, where the hell is everyone?" She called out not really feeling like going on a hunt.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro smiled when he heard Jesimae's voice echoing through the hall. He got up from the floor where he and Jiro were playing Japanese hand and card games. He went to the door and waved at her as she stood in the hall.

"Hey, Kanojyo!" he called, and then jogged towards her. When he reached her, he put his hands on her shouldes and kissed her cheek, leaning back and smiling at her. "Sorry if we abandoned you. I thought you probably needed to sleep. And me and Jiro got to have some brother time. We're in the cockpit playing around. You want to join us? Or I can make you some food if you're hungry."

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae smiled at him. For some reason it felt like she hadn't seen him in such a long time. It was nice to hear his voice and see his face the first thing when she woke up. She yawned and shook her head, waving a hand at him as she put her arm around his waist and walked towards the cockpit.

"Surprisingly I am not hungry." She looked around and then leaned in towards Taro's ear and whispered softly. "What is that one chicks name? I have no idea who she is let alone have any clue as to what she looks like." She felt bad for saying that but it was the truth.

[Taro Lawson]

Taro chuckled, taking her hand and walking back towards the cockpit where Jiro was sitting crossed legged on the floor. He smiled over his shoulder at Jesimae and then flopped down on the floor opposite his brother.

"Her name is Orange Diren. She's our mechanic. Ready?" Taro asked his brother as the scooted closer to each other and held thier hands up in anticipation of performing another hand game. When Jiro nodded, they began, Jiro singing the tune in Japanese, while Taro looked over his shoulder at Jesimae, and shrugged.

"Don't worry about not knowing her name she doesn't seem like the type who will want to hang around us much."

[Jesimae Lawson]

Jesimae smiled and watched the two of them and sat down a few feet away from them to watch their game a little better. Taro's words rolling around in her mind. She hadn't seen her at all except once and she didn't even talk to her or even give her a notion that she realized she breathed.

"Orange Diren..what a name!" Jesimae sighed out remembering how she looked. She was a firey character and she was actually surprised Taro had agreed to let her come on the ship and be their mechanic, but she didn't really care for it was obvious the little fire cracker was hot on Jiro.

[Orange Diren]

Orange heard soem noises coming from down the hall where she stepped out of the lift, happy to notice this was where the kitchen and cockpit were. She was excited to have remembered for she felt that it was slipping her sometimes.

She bit her lower lip in anticipation as she walked by the kitchen to see it empty and bright. She then heard noises coming from the cockpit, loud and clear to be exact and the voice she heard was that one woman's mentioning her name.

"What about it?" She said as she entered the room to see the three of them on the floor, Jiro and his brother playing pattie cake, or at least that was what she thought first in her mind. She watched the woman give her an embarassed look and she simply smiled, knowing how bad she hated to have people talk about her behind her back, even if it was harmless.

"I thought I'd come and see what you all are up to, it was getting lonely in that room." She put one hand on her hip and glanced down at them with a grin, mainly looking at Jiro for she wanted him to see her for the first time clean.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro was concentrating hard on the complicated hand gestures he and his brother were performing. It was a new game that his brother had just recently taught him and it was taking him a long time to actually get it.

However, when Orange came into the room his eyes went to her almost immediately and, naturally, he was thrown off. His brother laughed triumphantly and rocked backwards, laughing at him. Jiro's eyes went from Orange to his brother and he scowled.

"Baka!" Jiro cried, attacking his older brother and grabbing him around the waist, pushing him onto the floor and sitting on his knees, straddling Taro's chest. He pointed down in his brother's face. "Watashi wo no baka choushou shi te ha ike nai! Watashi ga konran sa se ta koto wo shitte iru!"

"Okay, okay!" his brother laughed, pushing him off and sitting up, then standing. Jiro stood as well and his eyes looked back over at Orange. She was very clean and he culd smell the soap and shampoo. He took a deep breath through his nose and smiled. She looked even prettier without all the grease.

[Orange Diren]

Orange watched the two for a moment and she got a strange feeling in her stomach yet again. As Jiro straddled his brother, although playful as it was, she felt odd for the intimacy was too...she knew it was silly and it was just brotherly love, after all Jesimae was laughing as if this were nothing too touchy.

She smiled and laughed gently trying to rid herself of the feeling and allow them to be brothers. When Jiro stood up she smiled at him, perhaps a bit too proud of herself. She glanced away and then over to his brother and as he laughed and looked at Jesimae something caught her off guard, his face took an odd shadow that was somehow very familiar to her. She bit her lower lip and tugged on her lip ring and tried to hide the fact that she was smiling at him.

Orange turned and looked at Jiro and smild at him, for some reason he had grown a lot cuter while she was in the shower.

[Jiro Lawson]

Jiro chuckled, and looked back away from Orange to Jesimae and then back to his brother. He took a deep, deep breath and blew it out, glancing sidelong at his brother and poking him several times to make sure that he had gotten the message. His brother laughed and grabbed his hand, twisting it behind his back, pinning him there.

"Ittai!" Jiro squeaked, then he looked at Orange. "Ignore the big oaf back there. Are you hungry? do you want some food? I know I am starving, but I always am." He smiled back over his shoulder at his brother as Taro let him go and leaned backwards on his heels slightly. Jiro nodded. "So, I am going to go make food. Unless, Brother here is volenteering?" Jiro said looking hopefully at Taro who shook his head and smiled. Waving for them to follow him. Jiro smiled.

"See? I can get him to do anything!" Jiro ooked over his shoulder and winked at Jesimae, then followed his brother. "If you want food, get on the train."

[Orange Diren]

Orange laughed again, although it was false. She suddenly remembered why his brother looked so familiar and again she laughed, this time for the reason of remembering. She nodded as everyone seemed to stand up and migrate towards the door and to the kitchen.

"Why not!" She said with a smile as she walked out behind everyone, swaying her hips a bit more than she should have since Jiro walked behind her and she was sure he'd probably think she was spazzing out or something of the like since she wasn't one to make love to the wind with her hips.

Her mind raced with thoughts of things to do that would get Jiro to notice her this suddenly becoming her number one goal, but in the back of her mind she couldn't help but think of Jiro's brother, too. She couldn't believe it! Of all the people in the world to work for she was working for Tatsuki! Although she wasn't sure of the brother's name, she was almost certain that it was Tatsuki...who could forget a face, or body, like that?