Arashi: An Ever Expanding Sky (15)
FANDOM: Arashi
RATING: G
PAIRING: Sakuraiba, Juntoshi (side)
ARCHIVE: just here
DATE: July 5th, 2010
NOTES: I don't own Arashi.
Chapter Fourteen | Chapter Sixteen
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Ohno first noticed that his relationship with Jun wasn’t completely normal when he was about fifteen, two years after he was brought into the Matsumoto household. It took him that long to notice that the members of the Guard or the other ruling houses weren’t as casual with their servants as Jun. Jun was friendly to everyone, and he was especially kind to Ohno. He tried to include Ohno in everything he did, and when he went away with his parents for brief periods of time he would always bring back a present for the older boy. Thick, expensive volumes of books of whatever subject that Jun was interested in at the time, rich traveling kits, mechanical wonders that reproduces the most beautiful songs from different countries... Ohno didn’t know what to do with most of Jun’s presents, but he was happy that his charge had thought of him at all.
When Jun was around, he always made sure that Ohno was nearby. Even during the lessons where Ohno wasn’t allowed to join in, he would have Ohno wait outside. Bored, with nothing to do during the few hours Jun was with his tutor, Ohno started to bring along notebooks from his own lessons, which were held much earlier in the morning, before Jun woke - that way his schedule wouldn’t interfere with Jun’s. He intended to go over his notes while waiting, but his mind tended to wander, as did his hands, moving across the pages distractedly. That was when he realised that he loved to draw. He saved up for a new book, which he filled up with images of anything that caught his attention. The wood carvings decorating the beams of the library. The strange statues in one of the indoor gardens. Things that most of the House’s inhabitants forget even existed. And portraits. Jun started to watch the household strange visitors from afar, keeping distinct features in his mind, to draw during Jun’s lessons.
Jun first noticed Ohno’s drawings when he was finished with his lesson to find Ohno in the middle of a new portrait. “Who’s that?” he asked jealously, pointing at the picture of a sullen, handsome teen.
Ohno snapped his book shut, and stood up. “Sorry,” he muttered. “I was just drawing to kill time.”
“Your time belongs to me,” Jun said, annoyed. It was one of the rare times that Jun asserted his authority over Ohno.
“Yes, Matsumoto-sama,” Ohno murmured.
“Will you give me the notebook?”
Ohno wanted to say no, and technically he could have, but he also knew that he was in the wrong. Indulging himself wasn’t something he should be doing while on Jun’s time. So even though he did it with a heavy heart, he gave Jun his notebook.
The young prince immediately flipped it open, going from one picture to the next. “These are great,” he said, awe in his voice. Ohno shifted slightly, embarrassed. “Where’d you learn to draw like this?”
“It’s nothing.” Ohno’s reply was awkward, but there was a curious sensation of gladness swirling about in him. Jun liked his drawings.
After that day, nothing much had changed between them, except for Jun’s presents. Jun had started to bring back more materials for Ohno to work with, or paintings and illustrated books that he thought that Ohno would like.
“It’s different,” he remarked once, when Ohno was thanking him.
“What is?”
“Your smile. When I give you something you really like, your smile is different.”
})i({
Jun hated Ohno’s smile. He was only just free from one prison and was now heading towards another one, and what business did Ohno have, looking at him with that sweetly happy expression?
“Are you that eager to go back to Milna?” he asked glumly.
Ohno blinked at him. “We’re heading to Song, aren’t we?”
“For now. Yes.”
“Then I’m happy. I remember the presents you used to bring back from Song. They were always the best.”
Jun felt the smile emerging from himself, in response to Ohno’s words. “Oh?” he asked. “Is that so? So you wouldn’t be adverse to the thought of staying in Song?” He pulled Ohno closer, but the steward gently pushed him back.
“Jun." Ohno tried to look stern, but ended up sighing before he continued. "You know you have responsibilities. Do you really not care if the Guard takes over your household, the way they did with Ninomiya’s?” Seeing the hope in Jun’s eyes dimming away to despair, he softened, and took the prince’s hand, but he didn’t relent. “They don’t care about art or music or any of the things your parents loved. They wouldn’t allow the casteless in anymore. In fact, I think the Guard would be happy if the casteless were banned from Milna altogether - the landlessness and freedom and the fact that they don’t really abide to the caste system very well irks the Guard, I think. Without a Matsumoto in the Matsumoto House, it’s like -”
“I get it,” Jun snapped. “I get it, okay?” He sounded resigned now. “I know what I have to do. But I don’t have to like it.” His words made him pause for a moment. “Satoshi,” he said, “what about you?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You can’t be born thinking, ‘I want to serve the prince’, or anything like that, right? Haven’t you ever wished that you were one of the lower castes, or even a casteless, so that you could earn your living with your art? Haven’t you ever wished to be free of what you are?”
“What’s the point of wishing?” Ohno asked in reply. “I am what I am. It’s not something that’s going to change, even if I wished it could.”
“So you do wish it.”
Ohno suppressed a smile when he heard the petulant way Jun spoke. Jun wanted Ohno to admit that he wanted a different life, but Jun was also put out that Ohno wasn’t content with serving him. “It’s not that my life is that bad,” Ohno said. “After all, if I was born as someone else, then I wouldn’t have met you, would I?”
})i({
“Rin,” Aiba called out, knocking on her door. “Are you allright?”
“I’m fine.” Her voice was muffled, and Aiba could tell that she wasn’t going to let him in.
“Do you need me to bring you something?”
“No. Go away.”
Two conflicting orders. Aiba gave a small shudder at the unpleasant sensation welling up in him. “Nino asked me to check on you,” he said, a little desperately.
“Go away.”
“I can’t. Rin, please open the door.” He was leaning against the door, feeling a little weak. He was surprised, but didn’t resist, when an arm went around his waist to support him. “What are you doing?”
Sho ignored him, and knocked on the door, louder than Aiba had done. “Ninomiya Isuzu,” Sho called out, “open the door and let Aiba in, or I’ll break it down to let him in.”
“You can’t break the door,” Aiba told Sho quietly. “It’s too strong.”
“I know,” Sho said. “But maybe she doesn’t.”
When Isuzu opened the door and greeted the two of them with a glare, Sho just turned to Aiba as if saying ‘see? it worked.’
“Kazu-chan told you about us,” she said bleakly.
“Yes,” Sho replied, but he wasn’t really paying attention to her. “Isuzu-san, I’m sorry to impose on you, but could you just let Aiba do his job?”
She frowned. “It’s not his job to look after me.” But she left the door open as she walked back in the room.
“Nino asked me to see if you’re okay,” Aiba explained. The feeling inside him was slowly leaving, but it was replaced by a heaviness that he sometimes hated more than the compulsion, because it came from himself. He hated the fact that he had no choice over what happened to him, and the fact that Sho had seen him like that made him feel even worse.
“Well, I’m fine, as you can see. I just want to be alone. So if you don’t mind, will you please leave now?”
“Sorry,” Aiba mumbled. “I’m leaving.” But Sho’s arm was still holding him.
“Do you mind waiting for me outside?” Sho asked. “I want to talk to you, after talking to Isuzu-san.” He waited for Aiba to nod in agreement before letting go, and watched as Aiba left, as if to determine that Aiba was alright. When he turned back to Isuzu, she was looking at him with a bored expression.
“Nino’s not letting go of him,” she said, but her voice harbored no malice. Sho knew that she was only speaking the truth, and arguing about it with her wasn’t going to change anything. Aiba was never going to be his.
“That’s not what I want to talk to you about,” he said, “although it does concern Aiba. It’s the way the two of you treat him. You have to remember who - and what - he is.”
“Aiba’s a person,” she said, narrowing her eyes at Sho. “Don’t talk about him like he’s a thing; he’s like a brother to me.”
“Oh? And you would let your brother be hurt just because you’re indulging yourself in a sulk?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Sho nodded. “You don’t know much about windups, despite having lived with one for years. You’re from Milna, and you haven’t gone through the same education Jun and I have, so it’s not too surprising that you don’t know. But all the same, it doesn’t really excuse your behaviour. You’re hurting him, and you don’t even know it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I heard that you’re an Oracle. Ask your gods; read your cards.”
})i({
“She didn’t mean anything by it,” Aiba told Sho, when the prince had emerged from Isuzu’s room with a dark expression on his face. “She’s just upset about something right now.”
“She shouldn’t take it out on you.” Sho was still having trouble reining in his temper, but when he saw Aiba’s worried look he gave in to the windup. “Sorry. It wasn’t my business, anyway.”
“No, it isn’t.” Aiba was remembering the way Sho was holding him up earlier, and felt a flutter within him. It was strange; it reminded him a little of his compulsions, but unlike the compulsions it felt good. Wanting to distract himself from the feeling, he asked, “what books did you buy just now?”
“Oh.” Sho had forgotten about the books. No wonder his bag had been heavier than he thought it should be. He rummaged in it for a while, and retrieved the wrapped package. “They’re for you, actually.”
“What? Why?”
“You wouldn’t let me pay Yamashita-sensei for you, so I had to do something for you. You did save my cousin, after all.”
“It was my job,” Aiba muttered, but he felt heat rising up to his cheeks. No one had ever given him a present before. Not anything so frivolous, anyway. Who would think of giving a windup a book? Only those in the highest castes had time and money to spare for such things. He almost didn’t want to take it, thinking that he didn’t deserve it, but he was curious. He whispered his thanks as Sho handed him the package, and unwrapped it slowly at Sho’s urging.
The first book was a book about windups. Aiba almost didn’t want to look through it, to see what might be inside. It was the sort of book that Yamashita-sensei might own, he supposed. “You need to know more about yourself,” Sho said. While the words may seem harsh, Aiba realised that Sho’s tone was gentle, so he knew that the prince was being sincere.
“Thank you,” he said again.
“Look at the other one,” Sho said, smiling as if he was the one receiving the present, instead of Aiba. “It’s even better.”
He really didn’t need a second book on windups, Aiba thought, but was struck dumb when he saw the other book. “This must’ve been really expensive,” he said. “I can’t accept this.”
“Why not?” Sho was looking at the book, too - it was the same volume of illustrated stories that he had shown to Aiba in the market. “I knew from the moment you held it that it was meant to be yours.”
“But I really shouldn’t.” Aiba was distressed. It didn’t feel right to accept so expensive a gift, but at the same time he wanted the book so much.
“Aiba,” Sho said, getting exasperated. “Do you want me to order you to take it?”
“No.” Aiba was still looking at the book longingly. “Will you at least let me pay for it?”
“Then it wouldn’t be a gift, would it?”
“Well, for half of it, then. Or let me do something for you. It just doesn’t feel right to accept something so extravagant.”
“How about a kiss, then?” The words flew out of Sho’s mouth before he could stop himself, and he quickly continued, “I mean, you don’t have to, of course. You really don’t have to do anything.”
Aiba didn’t seem to hear him, as he was looking into the distance. Sho was starting to think that he should repeat himself, when Aiba said, “okay.”
“What?”
“I said, okay.”
Sho was still looking at Aiba blankly when Aiba tugged him towards a corner, where no one else would see them.
~ to be continued ~
Chapter Fourteen | Chapter Sixteen
Marineko's Notes:
I'm pretty sure that my productivity will slow down again soon, but aren't you glad I've been posting four updates in four days? XD
RATING: G
PAIRING: Sakuraiba, Juntoshi (side)
ARCHIVE: just here
DATE: July 5th, 2010
NOTES: I don't own Arashi.
Chapter Fourteen | Chapter Sixteen
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Ohno first noticed that his relationship with Jun wasn’t completely normal when he was about fifteen, two years after he was brought into the Matsumoto household. It took him that long to notice that the members of the Guard or the other ruling houses weren’t as casual with their servants as Jun. Jun was friendly to everyone, and he was especially kind to Ohno. He tried to include Ohno in everything he did, and when he went away with his parents for brief periods of time he would always bring back a present for the older boy. Thick, expensive volumes of books of whatever subject that Jun was interested in at the time, rich traveling kits, mechanical wonders that reproduces the most beautiful songs from different countries... Ohno didn’t know what to do with most of Jun’s presents, but he was happy that his charge had thought of him at all.
When Jun was around, he always made sure that Ohno was nearby. Even during the lessons where Ohno wasn’t allowed to join in, he would have Ohno wait outside. Bored, with nothing to do during the few hours Jun was with his tutor, Ohno started to bring along notebooks from his own lessons, which were held much earlier in the morning, before Jun woke - that way his schedule wouldn’t interfere with Jun’s. He intended to go over his notes while waiting, but his mind tended to wander, as did his hands, moving across the pages distractedly. That was when he realised that he loved to draw. He saved up for a new book, which he filled up with images of anything that caught his attention. The wood carvings decorating the beams of the library. The strange statues in one of the indoor gardens. Things that most of the House’s inhabitants forget even existed. And portraits. Jun started to watch the household strange visitors from afar, keeping distinct features in his mind, to draw during Jun’s lessons.
Jun first noticed Ohno’s drawings when he was finished with his lesson to find Ohno in the middle of a new portrait. “Who’s that?” he asked jealously, pointing at the picture of a sullen, handsome teen.
Ohno snapped his book shut, and stood up. “Sorry,” he muttered. “I was just drawing to kill time.”
“Your time belongs to me,” Jun said, annoyed. It was one of the rare times that Jun asserted his authority over Ohno.
“Yes, Matsumoto-sama,” Ohno murmured.
“Will you give me the notebook?”
Ohno wanted to say no, and technically he could have, but he also knew that he was in the wrong. Indulging himself wasn’t something he should be doing while on Jun’s time. So even though he did it with a heavy heart, he gave Jun his notebook.
The young prince immediately flipped it open, going from one picture to the next. “These are great,” he said, awe in his voice. Ohno shifted slightly, embarrassed. “Where’d you learn to draw like this?”
“It’s nothing.” Ohno’s reply was awkward, but there was a curious sensation of gladness swirling about in him. Jun liked his drawings.
After that day, nothing much had changed between them, except for Jun’s presents. Jun had started to bring back more materials for Ohno to work with, or paintings and illustrated books that he thought that Ohno would like.
“It’s different,” he remarked once, when Ohno was thanking him.
“What is?”
“Your smile. When I give you something you really like, your smile is different.”
})i({
Jun hated Ohno’s smile. He was only just free from one prison and was now heading towards another one, and what business did Ohno have, looking at him with that sweetly happy expression?
“Are you that eager to go back to Milna?” he asked glumly.
Ohno blinked at him. “We’re heading to Song, aren’t we?”
“For now. Yes.”
“Then I’m happy. I remember the presents you used to bring back from Song. They were always the best.”
Jun felt the smile emerging from himself, in response to Ohno’s words. “Oh?” he asked. “Is that so? So you wouldn’t be adverse to the thought of staying in Song?” He pulled Ohno closer, but the steward gently pushed him back.
“Jun." Ohno tried to look stern, but ended up sighing before he continued. "You know you have responsibilities. Do you really not care if the Guard takes over your household, the way they did with Ninomiya’s?” Seeing the hope in Jun’s eyes dimming away to despair, he softened, and took the prince’s hand, but he didn’t relent. “They don’t care about art or music or any of the things your parents loved. They wouldn’t allow the casteless in anymore. In fact, I think the Guard would be happy if the casteless were banned from Milna altogether - the landlessness and freedom and the fact that they don’t really abide to the caste system very well irks the Guard, I think. Without a Matsumoto in the Matsumoto House, it’s like -”
“I get it,” Jun snapped. “I get it, okay?” He sounded resigned now. “I know what I have to do. But I don’t have to like it.” His words made him pause for a moment. “Satoshi,” he said, “what about you?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You can’t be born thinking, ‘I want to serve the prince’, or anything like that, right? Haven’t you ever wished that you were one of the lower castes, or even a casteless, so that you could earn your living with your art? Haven’t you ever wished to be free of what you are?”
“What’s the point of wishing?” Ohno asked in reply. “I am what I am. It’s not something that’s going to change, even if I wished it could.”
“So you do wish it.”
Ohno suppressed a smile when he heard the petulant way Jun spoke. Jun wanted Ohno to admit that he wanted a different life, but Jun was also put out that Ohno wasn’t content with serving him. “It’s not that my life is that bad,” Ohno said. “After all, if I was born as someone else, then I wouldn’t have met you, would I?”
})i({
“Rin,” Aiba called out, knocking on her door. “Are you allright?”
“I’m fine.” Her voice was muffled, and Aiba could tell that she wasn’t going to let him in.
“Do you need me to bring you something?”
“No. Go away.”
Two conflicting orders. Aiba gave a small shudder at the unpleasant sensation welling up in him. “Nino asked me to check on you,” he said, a little desperately.
“Go away.”
“I can’t. Rin, please open the door.” He was leaning against the door, feeling a little weak. He was surprised, but didn’t resist, when an arm went around his waist to support him. “What are you doing?”
Sho ignored him, and knocked on the door, louder than Aiba had done. “Ninomiya Isuzu,” Sho called out, “open the door and let Aiba in, or I’ll break it down to let him in.”
“You can’t break the door,” Aiba told Sho quietly. “It’s too strong.”
“I know,” Sho said. “But maybe she doesn’t.”
When Isuzu opened the door and greeted the two of them with a glare, Sho just turned to Aiba as if saying ‘see? it worked.’
“Kazu-chan told you about us,” she said bleakly.
“Yes,” Sho replied, but he wasn’t really paying attention to her. “Isuzu-san, I’m sorry to impose on you, but could you just let Aiba do his job?”
She frowned. “It’s not his job to look after me.” But she left the door open as she walked back in the room.
“Nino asked me to see if you’re okay,” Aiba explained. The feeling inside him was slowly leaving, but it was replaced by a heaviness that he sometimes hated more than the compulsion, because it came from himself. He hated the fact that he had no choice over what happened to him, and the fact that Sho had seen him like that made him feel even worse.
“Well, I’m fine, as you can see. I just want to be alone. So if you don’t mind, will you please leave now?”
“Sorry,” Aiba mumbled. “I’m leaving.” But Sho’s arm was still holding him.
“Do you mind waiting for me outside?” Sho asked. “I want to talk to you, after talking to Isuzu-san.” He waited for Aiba to nod in agreement before letting go, and watched as Aiba left, as if to determine that Aiba was alright. When he turned back to Isuzu, she was looking at him with a bored expression.
“Nino’s not letting go of him,” she said, but her voice harbored no malice. Sho knew that she was only speaking the truth, and arguing about it with her wasn’t going to change anything. Aiba was never going to be his.
“That’s not what I want to talk to you about,” he said, “although it does concern Aiba. It’s the way the two of you treat him. You have to remember who - and what - he is.”
“Aiba’s a person,” she said, narrowing her eyes at Sho. “Don’t talk about him like he’s a thing; he’s like a brother to me.”
“Oh? And you would let your brother be hurt just because you’re indulging yourself in a sulk?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Sho nodded. “You don’t know much about windups, despite having lived with one for years. You’re from Milna, and you haven’t gone through the same education Jun and I have, so it’s not too surprising that you don’t know. But all the same, it doesn’t really excuse your behaviour. You’re hurting him, and you don’t even know it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I heard that you’re an Oracle. Ask your gods; read your cards.”
})i({
“She didn’t mean anything by it,” Aiba told Sho, when the prince had emerged from Isuzu’s room with a dark expression on his face. “She’s just upset about something right now.”
“She shouldn’t take it out on you.” Sho was still having trouble reining in his temper, but when he saw Aiba’s worried look he gave in to the windup. “Sorry. It wasn’t my business, anyway.”
“No, it isn’t.” Aiba was remembering the way Sho was holding him up earlier, and felt a flutter within him. It was strange; it reminded him a little of his compulsions, but unlike the compulsions it felt good. Wanting to distract himself from the feeling, he asked, “what books did you buy just now?”
“Oh.” Sho had forgotten about the books. No wonder his bag had been heavier than he thought it should be. He rummaged in it for a while, and retrieved the wrapped package. “They’re for you, actually.”
“What? Why?”
“You wouldn’t let me pay Yamashita-sensei for you, so I had to do something for you. You did save my cousin, after all.”
“It was my job,” Aiba muttered, but he felt heat rising up to his cheeks. No one had ever given him a present before. Not anything so frivolous, anyway. Who would think of giving a windup a book? Only those in the highest castes had time and money to spare for such things. He almost didn’t want to take it, thinking that he didn’t deserve it, but he was curious. He whispered his thanks as Sho handed him the package, and unwrapped it slowly at Sho’s urging.
The first book was a book about windups. Aiba almost didn’t want to look through it, to see what might be inside. It was the sort of book that Yamashita-sensei might own, he supposed. “You need to know more about yourself,” Sho said. While the words may seem harsh, Aiba realised that Sho’s tone was gentle, so he knew that the prince was being sincere.
“Thank you,” he said again.
“Look at the other one,” Sho said, smiling as if he was the one receiving the present, instead of Aiba. “It’s even better.”
He really didn’t need a second book on windups, Aiba thought, but was struck dumb when he saw the other book. “This must’ve been really expensive,” he said. “I can’t accept this.”
“Why not?” Sho was looking at the book, too - it was the same volume of illustrated stories that he had shown to Aiba in the market. “I knew from the moment you held it that it was meant to be yours.”
“But I really shouldn’t.” Aiba was distressed. It didn’t feel right to accept so expensive a gift, but at the same time he wanted the book so much.
“Aiba,” Sho said, getting exasperated. “Do you want me to order you to take it?”
“No.” Aiba was still looking at the book longingly. “Will you at least let me pay for it?”
“Then it wouldn’t be a gift, would it?”
“Well, for half of it, then. Or let me do something for you. It just doesn’t feel right to accept something so extravagant.”
“How about a kiss, then?” The words flew out of Sho’s mouth before he could stop himself, and he quickly continued, “I mean, you don’t have to, of course. You really don’t have to do anything.”
Aiba didn’t seem to hear him, as he was looking into the distance. Sho was starting to think that he should repeat himself, when Aiba said, “okay.”
“What?”
“I said, okay.”
Sho was still looking at Aiba blankly when Aiba tugged him towards a corner, where no one else would see them.
~ to be continued ~
Chapter Fourteen | Chapter Sixteen
Marineko's Notes:
I'm pretty sure that my productivity will slow down again soon, but aren't you glad I've been posting four updates in four days? XD