Deus Ex Machina - Chapter 3/?
Title: Deus Ex Machina - The Instruments of Fate
Chapter: 3/?
Pairings: Ohmiya, OhnoxOC, NinoxOC, AibaxOC + other background pairings
Rating: PG-13, but rating will go up
Disclaimer: I do not own Arashi
Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2
Chapter Three - Watch the Sky
I'm lost at sea, the radio is jamming
but they won't find me
I swear it's for the best
And then your frequency is pulling me in closer till I'm home
and I've been up for days,
I finally lost my mind and then I lost my way,
I'm blistered but I'm better and I'm home
“She did it,” Aiba muttered in awe, catching the limp body before it could hit the floor. Aubrey didn’t hear him, in her eyes she was watching Sachi’s body turn rubbery over and over again and the girl flopping bonelessly into Aiba’s chest. She hadn’t been aware that she was moving until she felt Nino restrict her arms behind her back harshly, her muscles straining against his grip.
“Don’t touch her yet,” Nino was shouting, but Aubrey couldn’t hear him. If Sachi was dead, no she couldn’t think about that possibility, if Sachi was hurt Aubrey had to help her. Aiba was talking over the commotion in an excited chatter.
“She totally did it Nino! One second she was inside and pushed me to the back and took control. She actually did it.”
“I can see that,” Nino grunted as he fought hard to keep Aubrey under control, “But it was bad for that to happen here, baka. We are still in the Inbetween, why are you always so reckless?”
“Look who’s talking.” Aiba pouted, swinging the slight girl up into his arms. Aubrey had no idea what these crazy guys were talking about. Everything had temporarily gone insane. She was too tired to keep struggling with Nino and went limp in his arms, sliding to the floor.
“Are you going to be good now?” Nino asked her. “No scratching, no kicking, no biting?” She wasn’t aware that she’d been doing those things but a big angry scratch across the mans cheek said otherwise. She nodded weakly, and he released her; letting her stretch her abused limbs and pull herself up into standing position again.
“Is she dead?” Aubrey moaned.
“I know this is difficult,” Nino huffed, “but I need you to get a grip, like now. We are almost there, and once we explain everything you can get hysterical all you want. But right now we need to get the hell out of here understand?” She shut her mouth and nodded again. She couldn’t help but notice that his glare had not been as severe that time, his tone not as cutting as it had been before despite his harsh words. Aiba seemed to have noticed as well because he tossed a sidelong smirk at the shorter man before turning and continuing up the hallway cradling Sachi gently to his chest without another word. Nino held out a hand to her and she took it reluctantly, letting him pull her along behind him. Despite how cold the man himself was, his hand was warm in hers and Aubrey couldn’t help but thread her fingers with his. It was impossible for her to see that this action caused a slightly confused smile to spread slowly over his face.
They went through a sliding door seemingly at random. There was nothing special about this particular one that differentiated it from the multitudes of others, it wasn’t even the last one in the hallway, but Aiba stopped in front of it and slid it open with his foot, nodding to Nino that this was the right door. The shorter man hastily dropped Aubrey’s hand, rubbing his palm on his jeans as if he’d accidentally put it in something disgusting. She scowled at the back of his head. Aubrey didn’t know what she was expecting to find but couldn’t help feeling surprised as they stepped out into a completely normal genkan. There were several pairs of shoes crowding the entrance way that ranged from comfortable sneakers to pointy dress shoes to sandals. She noticed that all of them were mens. To the right was a wall of cubbies, some of which were empty and some of which contained shoes or slippers, she found Nino’s and Aiba’s right away, labeled neatly with their names. Her eyes slid to the one next to Nino’s labeled Riida with sparkly pink heart and fish stickers decorating the precisely printed name, the only one with these adornments. Inside his cubby was empty, meaning he must be inside further and Aubrey reached out to brush her fingers over the katakana name with a smile. Aiba noticed her action and smiled at her as kicked his shoes off and reached for his slippers with a degree of difficulty as he tried to balance the limp body in his arms.
“Ah! Do you like those? Nino put those stickers on there, he loves -” But Aubrey didn’t get to find out what it was Nino loved since the shorter man silenced Aiba with shouted “Oi” and a smack to the back of his head. She saw a large cubby labeled guests with several pairs of mismatched slippers inside. She found one pair of slippers that would fit on her feet and they just happened to be pink and speckled with bunnies and crescent moons. She would have been amused if she wasn’t so full of apprehension. They went through the next sliding door and came out to a short hallway that seemed to open into the main living area where mens voices could be heard.
“Tadaima!” Aiba shouted surging ahead of them with excitement and was met with a pleasant tenor chorus of Okaerinasai from the main room. Aubrey was right on his heels being urged forward by Nino and walked into a low lit living-room-kitchen combo that was sparely decorated. There was one over stuffed sectional couch pushed against one corner as well as a small wooden desk buried in papers that was surrounded by three floor to ceiling bookshelves that were overrun with huge leather bound tomes, journals and research notes. In front of the couch was a tiny TV that seemed about 50 years old complete with actual rabbit ears that was almost swallowed whole by the surrounding game systems, wires and controllers. The opposite wall was the kitchen area, that right now looked disastrous at best; sink piled high with dishes, counters messy and cluttered with food that should have been in the fridge and dishes that probably used to be clean and should have been in the above cupboards.
But all of that was taken in with only a passing glance as it was impossible for Aubrey to look anywhere but at the three men, though they barely looked old enough to be called that, sitting under the kotatsu eating ramen. One had his nose buried in a book, his reading glasses were perched ineffectively on top of his head, while he tried and failed to slurp his noodles at the same time. Like everyone she’d encountered tonight he was very good-looking, his shaggy dark hair was mused stylishly over his forehead and fell in asymmetrical layers to frame his classically featured face. Unlike Nino, who was waif-like in build, this man was solidly muscled and lean, though his shoulders tended to slope a little. When he looked up at her his eyes were a warm chocolate colour and he smiled invitingly. The person to his left was taller and thinner, his face all pleasing angles, high cheekbones and deep set eyes so dark they looked black. His hair seemed to be in a phase that looked like a perm growing out and fell in black coils between his jaw and his shoulder long and touchable looking. He did not smile at Aubrey. The last man had his back to them and Aubrey could see that that he was short, probably only about as tall as herself, and thin but still seemed to have surprising tone to his body. His hair was long, falling in sweeping black wings around his face to his chin, curling slightly at his nape, and he appeared to have a bit of a sunburn on the back of his neck. At the sight of him, all the tension seemed to go out of Nino, and he threw himself down onto the floor next to the small man, practically beaming; an expression Aubrey was sure he was incapable of.
“Tadaima,” Nino whispered burying his face in the small mans neck and winding his arms around his waist, looking so relieved and so at peace instead of the hostile Nino she’d come to know. The other man brought his arms up to return the hug and he turned to press his forehead against Nino’s. His face was slightly owlish, eyes heavy-lidded surrounded by a mass of long, dark eyelashes but softened by the roundness of his cheeks. His upper lip was slightly more full than the bottom, setting his mouth in a sensual pout. He was beautiful and Aubrey had to bite the inside of her lips to keep herself from gasping.
“Nino that tickles,” His voice sounded sleepy too, as he laughed pushing at the other boy’s shoulders a little. He turned as if he noticed for the first time other people were in the room and the effect of his face full on and his eyes, deep brown and magnetic, was devastating. He puffed out his cheeks a little as his gaze shifted from her to the girl in Aiba’s arms. “Is she going to be okay?”
“Of course,” Aiba said cheerfully bending down to deposit Sachi on the ground. “She just got a little overwhelmed in the Inbetween,”
“And whose fault is that?” Nino’s rhetorical question was sharp as he finally released the small man to turn and glare. “Never send me out with this guy again, I’m serious.”
“He’s right you know,” The one with the book interjected, dog-earring his page and slamming the book shut, “It’s not a jungle gym is a passage way. It’s dangerous to just run amok in there.”
“I wasn’t running amok...”
“I was watching you.” he replied humourless.
“Sho-chan...” Aiba whined, pouting as he sat next to Sachi and brushed her hair back behind her ears. The tender motion earning him a small smile from the one called Sho.
“It’s okay Masaki, I know you couldn’t help yourself.” then turned his attention back to Aubrey. “You must be wondering why you’re here.” He stood, pulling his legs out from the low table and made his way over to grasp her hands, or at least he tried to; his feet got tangled in the futon and he went down, face-planting and knocking the curly haired mans’ half eaten ramen into his lap, who let out a stream of creative profanities.
“Sho-chan!” Nino moaned, covering his face with embarrassment, “How could you? This is important.” It was the first time Aubrey had laughed since meeting Nino at the Ginza club and once she started she found it hard to stop; it seemed to be contagious as everyone in the room, the curly haired man scooping his ramen back into the bowl laughed and jeered at their fallen friend. Aubrey quickly dropped to her knees to help him untangle himself and sit up. It was a strange feeling of peace to all at once feel completely at ease with these strangers, as if she’d always known them. Already she felt more comfortable with them than she ever had when she was with her father and at the though of him tried very hard not to picture his cold eyes and unforgiving frown; he was one person she didn’t want to think about right now.
“Ah, thank you,” Sho said, completely unashamed as he adjusted his clothing and re-perched his glasses on the bridge of his nose where they slid down instantly. “As I was saying, you are probably very confused right now.” Deciding it was better to stay sitting, Sho crossed his legs so they couldn’t do anymore damage. Aubrey had a flood of questions, she was bubbling up and overflowing with them, but for some reason she didn’t know where to start.
“Who are you?” She settled for, seeing as it was the most pressing at the moment.
“Well, my name is Sakurai Sho. You’ve already met Nino and Aiba. This,” He said clamping the hand of the now less angry man who’d ended up wearing his dinner, “is Matsumoto Jun-”
“We call him MatsuJun for short,” Aiba interrupted, “it’s cuter.”
“Right.” Sho confirmed without missing a beat. “And this is Ohno Satoshi.” He indicated the beautiful man with a lapful of Nino.
“It's nice to meet you,” She said bowing in a quick jerk to the room.
“As for who we are in a less literal sense, or maybe a more literal sense, is kind of the difficult part. We are on the run from a very powerful organization that is trying to exploit our abilities and use us to gain power globally. The man that’s after us very evil, and has infinite resources at his disposal-” he trailed off at the sight of Aubrey’s confused frown.
“Abilities?” she asked weakly.
“Psychic abilities.” Sho clarified, glancing at Nino with a pinched nervous look on his face. The air in the room had grown tense and worried. All five of them blinked at her, waiting with baited breath for her reaction, prepared for her disbelief; she did not disappoint them.
“Psychics...” she said slowly, trying not let her incredulity seep into the word. Her sense of peace shattered. Maybe she’d been wrong to let her guard down so easily. Maybe they were all mentally unbalanced. “Okay. This is how it’s going to be. I’m going to take my friend, we are going to leave, and none of you are going to follow us, is that clear?”
“Just show her Oh-chan” Nino grumbled, starting to look bored with the whole situation. Her breath caught when Ohno shifted to look at her earnestly, those dark pools threatening to drown her as his attention fixated, no longer looking drowsy but really seeing her for the first time and she felt an inexplicable sensation. She could almost see the power rise off him, a quick flick of his mind and a lazy tentacle of thought reached out to probe at the edges of her consciousness. It was like gentle cool fingers brushing lightly at her thoughts and with it came an overwhelming sensation of Ohno. A calm presence enveloped her, feeling akin to gentle waves lapping against the shore or the morning sun on her cheeks. That in itself would have been enough to convince her, but then he spoke in her mind.
“I know this is hard,” his lips were not moving but she heard him as clearly as if he were speaking in her ear, “But you have to trust us.” She was aware that her jaw must have dropped, that she was unabashedly gaping at him. He grinned at her shyly and then she felt that power flick slowly in another direction and the three bowls of ramen began to spin, teetering precariously on their axis and rose into the air. MatsuJun eyed them warily as if expecting the noodles to dump in his lap for a second time. He was doing all of this with the sheer power of his mind. Aubrey closed her mouth.
“Then what do you need with us?” Sho looked away from her question, pulling his glasses off and cleaning them with the hem of his shirt.
“I’m afraid you’ve been targeted by that same man, the one we are trying to stop. He means to brainwash you into working for him.” What? That was crazy, it was crazy and yet it wasn’t. That explained her paranoid feeling for the past week, the overwhelming sense of dread, but there was still one problem.
“But - We, I. I can’t do anything like that.” Aubrey insisted.
“We know,” Sho said, “But Sachi can.”
Chapter: 3/?
Pairings: Ohmiya, OhnoxOC, NinoxOC, AibaxOC + other background pairings
Rating: PG-13, but rating will go up
Disclaimer: I do not own Arashi
Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2
Chapter Three - Watch the Sky
I'm lost at sea, the radio is jamming
but they won't find me
I swear it's for the best
And then your frequency is pulling me in closer till I'm home
and I've been up for days,
I finally lost my mind and then I lost my way,
I'm blistered but I'm better and I'm home
“She did it,” Aiba muttered in awe, catching the limp body before it could hit the floor. Aubrey didn’t hear him, in her eyes she was watching Sachi’s body turn rubbery over and over again and the girl flopping bonelessly into Aiba’s chest. She hadn’t been aware that she was moving until she felt Nino restrict her arms behind her back harshly, her muscles straining against his grip.
“Don’t touch her yet,” Nino was shouting, but Aubrey couldn’t hear him. If Sachi was dead, no she couldn’t think about that possibility, if Sachi was hurt Aubrey had to help her. Aiba was talking over the commotion in an excited chatter.
“She totally did it Nino! One second she was inside and pushed me to the back and took control. She actually did it.”
“I can see that,” Nino grunted as he fought hard to keep Aubrey under control, “But it was bad for that to happen here, baka. We are still in the Inbetween, why are you always so reckless?”
“Look who’s talking.” Aiba pouted, swinging the slight girl up into his arms. Aubrey had no idea what these crazy guys were talking about. Everything had temporarily gone insane. She was too tired to keep struggling with Nino and went limp in his arms, sliding to the floor.
“Are you going to be good now?” Nino asked her. “No scratching, no kicking, no biting?” She wasn’t aware that she’d been doing those things but a big angry scratch across the mans cheek said otherwise. She nodded weakly, and he released her; letting her stretch her abused limbs and pull herself up into standing position again.
“Is she dead?” Aubrey moaned.
“I know this is difficult,” Nino huffed, “but I need you to get a grip, like now. We are almost there, and once we explain everything you can get hysterical all you want. But right now we need to get the hell out of here understand?” She shut her mouth and nodded again. She couldn’t help but notice that his glare had not been as severe that time, his tone not as cutting as it had been before despite his harsh words. Aiba seemed to have noticed as well because he tossed a sidelong smirk at the shorter man before turning and continuing up the hallway cradling Sachi gently to his chest without another word. Nino held out a hand to her and she took it reluctantly, letting him pull her along behind him. Despite how cold the man himself was, his hand was warm in hers and Aubrey couldn’t help but thread her fingers with his. It was impossible for her to see that this action caused a slightly confused smile to spread slowly over his face.
They went through a sliding door seemingly at random. There was nothing special about this particular one that differentiated it from the multitudes of others, it wasn’t even the last one in the hallway, but Aiba stopped in front of it and slid it open with his foot, nodding to Nino that this was the right door. The shorter man hastily dropped Aubrey’s hand, rubbing his palm on his jeans as if he’d accidentally put it in something disgusting. She scowled at the back of his head. Aubrey didn’t know what she was expecting to find but couldn’t help feeling surprised as they stepped out into a completely normal genkan. There were several pairs of shoes crowding the entrance way that ranged from comfortable sneakers to pointy dress shoes to sandals. She noticed that all of them were mens. To the right was a wall of cubbies, some of which were empty and some of which contained shoes or slippers, she found Nino’s and Aiba’s right away, labeled neatly with their names. Her eyes slid to the one next to Nino’s labeled Riida with sparkly pink heart and fish stickers decorating the precisely printed name, the only one with these adornments. Inside his cubby was empty, meaning he must be inside further and Aubrey reached out to brush her fingers over the katakana name with a smile. Aiba noticed her action and smiled at her as kicked his shoes off and reached for his slippers with a degree of difficulty as he tried to balance the limp body in his arms.
“Ah! Do you like those? Nino put those stickers on there, he loves -” But Aubrey didn’t get to find out what it was Nino loved since the shorter man silenced Aiba with shouted “Oi” and a smack to the back of his head. She saw a large cubby labeled guests with several pairs of mismatched slippers inside. She found one pair of slippers that would fit on her feet and they just happened to be pink and speckled with bunnies and crescent moons. She would have been amused if she wasn’t so full of apprehension. They went through the next sliding door and came out to a short hallway that seemed to open into the main living area where mens voices could be heard.
“Tadaima!” Aiba shouted surging ahead of them with excitement and was met with a pleasant tenor chorus of Okaerinasai from the main room. Aubrey was right on his heels being urged forward by Nino and walked into a low lit living-room-kitchen combo that was sparely decorated. There was one over stuffed sectional couch pushed against one corner as well as a small wooden desk buried in papers that was surrounded by three floor to ceiling bookshelves that were overrun with huge leather bound tomes, journals and research notes. In front of the couch was a tiny TV that seemed about 50 years old complete with actual rabbit ears that was almost swallowed whole by the surrounding game systems, wires and controllers. The opposite wall was the kitchen area, that right now looked disastrous at best; sink piled high with dishes, counters messy and cluttered with food that should have been in the fridge and dishes that probably used to be clean and should have been in the above cupboards.
But all of that was taken in with only a passing glance as it was impossible for Aubrey to look anywhere but at the three men, though they barely looked old enough to be called that, sitting under the kotatsu eating ramen. One had his nose buried in a book, his reading glasses were perched ineffectively on top of his head, while he tried and failed to slurp his noodles at the same time. Like everyone she’d encountered tonight he was very good-looking, his shaggy dark hair was mused stylishly over his forehead and fell in asymmetrical layers to frame his classically featured face. Unlike Nino, who was waif-like in build, this man was solidly muscled and lean, though his shoulders tended to slope a little. When he looked up at her his eyes were a warm chocolate colour and he smiled invitingly. The person to his left was taller and thinner, his face all pleasing angles, high cheekbones and deep set eyes so dark they looked black. His hair seemed to be in a phase that looked like a perm growing out and fell in black coils between his jaw and his shoulder long and touchable looking. He did not smile at Aubrey. The last man had his back to them and Aubrey could see that that he was short, probably only about as tall as herself, and thin but still seemed to have surprising tone to his body. His hair was long, falling in sweeping black wings around his face to his chin, curling slightly at his nape, and he appeared to have a bit of a sunburn on the back of his neck. At the sight of him, all the tension seemed to go out of Nino, and he threw himself down onto the floor next to the small man, practically beaming; an expression Aubrey was sure he was incapable of.
“Tadaima,” Nino whispered burying his face in the small mans neck and winding his arms around his waist, looking so relieved and so at peace instead of the hostile Nino she’d come to know. The other man brought his arms up to return the hug and he turned to press his forehead against Nino’s. His face was slightly owlish, eyes heavy-lidded surrounded by a mass of long, dark eyelashes but softened by the roundness of his cheeks. His upper lip was slightly more full than the bottom, setting his mouth in a sensual pout. He was beautiful and Aubrey had to bite the inside of her lips to keep herself from gasping.
“Nino that tickles,” His voice sounded sleepy too, as he laughed pushing at the other boy’s shoulders a little. He turned as if he noticed for the first time other people were in the room and the effect of his face full on and his eyes, deep brown and magnetic, was devastating. He puffed out his cheeks a little as his gaze shifted from her to the girl in Aiba’s arms. “Is she going to be okay?”
“Of course,” Aiba said cheerfully bending down to deposit Sachi on the ground. “She just got a little overwhelmed in the Inbetween,”
“And whose fault is that?” Nino’s rhetorical question was sharp as he finally released the small man to turn and glare. “Never send me out with this guy again, I’m serious.”
“He’s right you know,” The one with the book interjected, dog-earring his page and slamming the book shut, “It’s not a jungle gym is a passage way. It’s dangerous to just run amok in there.”
“I wasn’t running amok...”
“I was watching you.” he replied humourless.
“Sho-chan...” Aiba whined, pouting as he sat next to Sachi and brushed her hair back behind her ears. The tender motion earning him a small smile from the one called Sho.
“It’s okay Masaki, I know you couldn’t help yourself.” then turned his attention back to Aubrey. “You must be wondering why you’re here.” He stood, pulling his legs out from the low table and made his way over to grasp her hands, or at least he tried to; his feet got tangled in the futon and he went down, face-planting and knocking the curly haired mans’ half eaten ramen into his lap, who let out a stream of creative profanities.
“Sho-chan!” Nino moaned, covering his face with embarrassment, “How could you? This is important.” It was the first time Aubrey had laughed since meeting Nino at the Ginza club and once she started she found it hard to stop; it seemed to be contagious as everyone in the room, the curly haired man scooping his ramen back into the bowl laughed and jeered at their fallen friend. Aubrey quickly dropped to her knees to help him untangle himself and sit up. It was a strange feeling of peace to all at once feel completely at ease with these strangers, as if she’d always known them. Already she felt more comfortable with them than she ever had when she was with her father and at the though of him tried very hard not to picture his cold eyes and unforgiving frown; he was one person she didn’t want to think about right now.
“Ah, thank you,” Sho said, completely unashamed as he adjusted his clothing and re-perched his glasses on the bridge of his nose where they slid down instantly. “As I was saying, you are probably very confused right now.” Deciding it was better to stay sitting, Sho crossed his legs so they couldn’t do anymore damage. Aubrey had a flood of questions, she was bubbling up and overflowing with them, but for some reason she didn’t know where to start.
“Who are you?” She settled for, seeing as it was the most pressing at the moment.
“Well, my name is Sakurai Sho. You’ve already met Nino and Aiba. This,” He said clamping the hand of the now less angry man who’d ended up wearing his dinner, “is Matsumoto Jun-”
“We call him MatsuJun for short,” Aiba interrupted, “it’s cuter.”
“Right.” Sho confirmed without missing a beat. “And this is Ohno Satoshi.” He indicated the beautiful man with a lapful of Nino.
“It's nice to meet you,” She said bowing in a quick jerk to the room.
“As for who we are in a less literal sense, or maybe a more literal sense, is kind of the difficult part. We are on the run from a very powerful organization that is trying to exploit our abilities and use us to gain power globally. The man that’s after us very evil, and has infinite resources at his disposal-” he trailed off at the sight of Aubrey’s confused frown.
“Abilities?” she asked weakly.
“Psychic abilities.” Sho clarified, glancing at Nino with a pinched nervous look on his face. The air in the room had grown tense and worried. All five of them blinked at her, waiting with baited breath for her reaction, prepared for her disbelief; she did not disappoint them.
“Psychics...” she said slowly, trying not let her incredulity seep into the word. Her sense of peace shattered. Maybe she’d been wrong to let her guard down so easily. Maybe they were all mentally unbalanced. “Okay. This is how it’s going to be. I’m going to take my friend, we are going to leave, and none of you are going to follow us, is that clear?”
“Just show her Oh-chan” Nino grumbled, starting to look bored with the whole situation. Her breath caught when Ohno shifted to look at her earnestly, those dark pools threatening to drown her as his attention fixated, no longer looking drowsy but really seeing her for the first time and she felt an inexplicable sensation. She could almost see the power rise off him, a quick flick of his mind and a lazy tentacle of thought reached out to probe at the edges of her consciousness. It was like gentle cool fingers brushing lightly at her thoughts and with it came an overwhelming sensation of Ohno. A calm presence enveloped her, feeling akin to gentle waves lapping against the shore or the morning sun on her cheeks. That in itself would have been enough to convince her, but then he spoke in her mind.
“I know this is hard,” his lips were not moving but she heard him as clearly as if he were speaking in her ear, “But you have to trust us.” She was aware that her jaw must have dropped, that she was unabashedly gaping at him. He grinned at her shyly and then she felt that power flick slowly in another direction and the three bowls of ramen began to spin, teetering precariously on their axis and rose into the air. MatsuJun eyed them warily as if expecting the noodles to dump in his lap for a second time. He was doing all of this with the sheer power of his mind. Aubrey closed her mouth.
“Then what do you need with us?” Sho looked away from her question, pulling his glasses off and cleaning them with the hem of his shirt.
“I’m afraid you’ve been targeted by that same man, the one we are trying to stop. He means to brainwash you into working for him.” What? That was crazy, it was crazy and yet it wasn’t. That explained her paranoid feeling for the past week, the overwhelming sense of dread, but there was still one problem.
“But - We, I. I can’t do anything like that.” Aubrey insisted.
“We know,” Sho said, “But Sachi can.”