The Murders that Bind Us [S. Sakamaki]

A Treasure Map

"Shu!" Beatrix Sakamaki called, her nonchalant eyes scanning the courtyard gardens for any sign of her blonde son. "You have a visitor!"

"She's here?" He'd jumped up from his hiding spot within the bushes, mud staining his skin and twigs knotted in his curly hair. His mother was not impressed.

"What have you done? Have you no shame?" She chastised, tutting as she shook her head, "Go and change. Meet me in the parlour as soon as possible."

"Can I not go like this?" He was wearing his favourite jacket afterall. One look from his mother answered his question.

Amabelle Ritchen was thin and pale and her brown eyes were large and round with long, dark eyelashes. Her chestnut-coloured hair had been tied back, revealing her pointy ears. Her lips were thin and a gentle pink and stretched into a simple smile. Shu was starstruck.

"U-Uhm hello," he greeted her when he walked into the parlour, pausing before her.

"I assume you are the man I am to marry?" Her eyebrow raised as she stood from where she was seated. Shu's mother was nowhere to be seen.

"Shu Sakamaki." He bowed low, holding it before he straightened his spine, offering a sheepish smile.

"You have dirt on your nose." Shu was quick to scrub at his nose with his hands, causing the girl to grimace. "Do you play in the mud often?"

"Only when I'm not in lessons." His grin was wide, faltering slightly as she merely stared at him. "Uhm… What's your name?"

"Amabelle Ritchen."

"That's a beautiful name." 

"Save your flattery, Prince. I have no interest in you." Shu had every interest in her.

"You're into mean girls?" Jessamine let out a curt laugh as Shu finished his little story. The man frowned. "I refuse to believe that you were an adventurous child."

"Oh, I adored my adventures," Shu smirked, "if only you were there, I would have taken you on one."

"I hadn't even been born by then."

"Neither had your ancestors."

"You are very old."

Shu's chuckle was warm.

-_-_-_-

"I thought you said you had retrieved a diary." Huffed Jessamine as she stood in her father's study, eyes narrowed at the opened book Shu had recovered in Sheila's room.

"I did," he said, turning from where he stood before the window, watching the rain dribble down the glass, "What's in it?"

"A map of sorts." It had been a map of the darker side of London: Soho. "A treasure map, I presume."

"What excitement," Shu walked towards her, leaning over her shoulder. Jessamine stiffened as his hair tickled her cheek. His head turned slightly. "It seems I can take you on an adventure."

"I am hardly in any state to go on an adventure," she rolled her eyes as she gestured to her leg, "I still lack a cane."

"Dress as a woman and hold my arm," replied Shu, "I know that I, for one, would like that attention."

"Oh shush," Jessamine sighed as she sat herself in one of the warm armchairs before the cackling fire, "I have a lot to do - you can do this alone."

"Like what, exactly?"

"I have to talk with my father about… that." Jessamine closed her eyes as she stretched her leg out with a hiss.

"What are you doing!?" Her voice was shrill as Shu knelt before her, rolling up the night-trousers she wore.

"Where does it hurt?"

"Let go of me-"

His hands were so cold that it soothed her pain for a mere moment, causing a groan to leave her lips. "What a feminine noise," chortled Shu as he began to massage her thigh with his thumbs.

"I would be quite shocked if it were a masculine noise," she replied.

"Whatever does that mean?"

"For a man so old, you lack wisdom." Her eyes peeled open, meeting his with hers. "Do your research, Sakamaki. I am not going to spoon feed you."

"Clever as always, Clarke. Using my own words against me." She only offered a smug smile.

"You should stop touching me," she then said, "you are being highly improper."

"Yet you do not seem to mind," he travelled to her knee, massaging gently, causing her to wince. "Whatever happened to your leg?"

-_-_-_-

"C'mon now," Magdelaine Clarke hissed as she grasped Jessamine's frail wrist, dragging her down the dark street.

"Mama, I do not want to!" Pleaded Jessamine with tears in her round eyes. She didn't want to end up like her brother. She tried to tear herself from her mother's hold… but the woman's grip was like iron.

"Sit here like a good girl and ye won't get hurt."

"Mama, I'm scared." Her tears were hot as the woman glanced around anxiously. "Mama-"

"Hush!" The hand that smacked against Jessamine's mouth was dirty, causing the child to squirm.

It had been midnight when Magdalene had stolen Jessamine from her bed, hauling her to her death. Afterall, she wanted to crush the doctor for his adultery. What better way than to destroy the two things he loved most? Luckily for Jessamine, the police had cornered in quickly, arresting Magdaleine for her participation with the Suffragettes…

Jessamine wasn't lucky enough to be saved from the explosion.

It had gone off a few feet away from her… but it had blown up the wall behind her and it had fallen, crushing her leg.

-_-_-_-

"Traumatic," hummed Shu as he lifted Jessamine's leg, testing her mobility. The woman winced as he did so. "Have you tried physiotherapy?" She merely looked at him. "We shall work on that."

"Why?" Jessamine's voice had caught in her throat. "My leg will never be the way it once was - I will forever live my life repulsing any man to show an interest in me."

"Man?" Shu's eyebrows raised, "I had a slight suspicion that you were a homosexual."

"You truly do lack wisdom, Sakamaki."