Brothers of the Sky
Title: Brothers of the Sky
Feature/Pairing: Arashi, Gen
Summary: Of a thousand children, Kazunari understands loneliness the best.
a/n: This story was inspired by Arashi's appearance on Shabekuri during 24hr tv when Arashi was asked to vote for who they thought was most afraid of loneliness among Arashi and Nino was voted the most. I also believe, in my own way, that Nino is the member most afraid of being alone.
Originally posted here (locked) @ kiroii_niji almost a year ago. I actually forgot I had written this story.
* * *
Once upon a time, the Gods of the Heavens, God of the Sun and Goddess of the Moon, had a thousand children. Among these children, there were five children the Gods treasured the most. They were the lesser Gods of the Wind, Clouds, Thunder, Rain, and Hail; named Satoshi, Sho, Masaki, Kazunari, and Jun respectively. The two great Gods of the Heavens doted heavily on these special five. The God of the Son loved the bright nature of his sons Jun, Sho, and Masaki. The Goddess of the Moon loved the cool and aloof nature of her eldest son, Satoshi. And both of them loved everything about their second youngest, Kazunari.
But after several eons, the God of the Sun and Goddess of the Moon retired to the stars, and their thousand children inadvertently drifted apart. The five gifted Gods strayed onto different paths. Satoshi, God of the Wind, moved to the solitary mountains where he whistled through the cracks and crevices in the rocks and threw off restless wanderers. Sho, God of the Clouds, left for paradise where he streaked the endless blue skies with fields of white wisps. Jun and Masaki, God of Hail and Thunder, pursued sailing ships across the seas and berated fishermen. Only Kazunari stayed behind at the Temple of the Sky and waited for the day his brothers would return.
But they did not.
After one millennium, the forests of the mountains shriveled and died, the sunny paradises became bare deserts, and sailors and fishermen grew frustrated with the receding rivers and seas. The four absent brothers finally realized that Kazunari had refused to gift the Earth with rain. Never once since the God of the Sun and Goddess of the Moon had left for the stars had their brother allowed rain to fall. At last, they raced to him.
At the base of his mountain, Satoshi met a hundred of his brothers, the Guardians of all creatures of the Forest.
"Do you know where Kazunari is?" Satoshi asked them.
"We saw him two hundred years ago at the Temple of the Sky," they said, refusing to meet his innocent gaze. "He was alone."
Meanwhile, as he traveled through the hot deserts of his previous paradise, Sho came across a hundred of his sisters, the Sprites of Mirages, dancing through the sand dunes.
"Have you seen Kazunari?" Sho asked them.
They jumped high into the air and laughed mockingly back at him, "Why do you ask for him now? We saw him four hundred years ago at the Temple of the Sky. He was alone."
And while Jun and Masaki stopped at the coasts of the receded waters, they met two hundred of their siblings, Guardians of all life at Sea.
"Where is Kazunari?" Masaki asked his gathered siblings.
They glanced at one another, then one spoke. "We saw him seven hundred years ago at the Temple of the Sky. He was waiting alone."
"Waiting for what?" Jun asked.
The oldest of the siblings glared back at Jun. "Waiting for who."
"For who?" Masaki questioned.
"For you," the Guardian bellowed.
Alarmed, Masaki and Jun sought for and found their older sisters, the Goddesses of Flight. Keepers of all creatures of the Sky, their aid would enable Masaki and Jun to reach the Gates quickly and save them from having to walk the lengthy Road of Dusk, the only other possible path to the Gates in the sky. To both of their horror, their sisters refused to assist them.
"We saw Kazunari a thousand years ago," the Goddesses of Flight said. "For you who have never returned home, we will not grant your wish."
Jun reached the height of his frustration. His teeth clenched and his expression cold, he threatened, "If you do not carry us to the Gates, I will rain hail on your birds until they can no longer fly and are forced to hide, until the day they no longer remember the freedom of flight, and not even their children would know how to spread their wings."
Their older sister snubbed her nose at him. "My spoiled younger brothers, you have always taken everything for granted. Only Kazunari knew to fear for what he could lose."
Even so, she and her sisters carried Jun and Masaki to the Gates and set them on the clouds before returning to Earth without hearing their thanks. When Masaki and Jun finally passed through the Gates, the two met their older brothers, Satoshi and Sho who had arrived much earlier on Satoshi's wind.
"I regret the last million years," Jun confessed to them as they walked on. "I believed we had eons and so I allowed the years to pass."
Masaki broke in, ashamed, "For us who live in endless time, each moment we can remember is precious. I forgot that I laughed the most when you were all with me."
The sky darkened. The air around them grew cold. The four of them noticed that a sound like a thousand pin drops invaded the silence. Satoshi went on his knees and peered through the clouds underneath their feet.
"It rains," he murmured.
Heavy raindrops pelted the Earth below them, darkening all skies throughout the world. Overwhelmed by his emotions, Masaki swiped an arm across his wet eyes. Sho touched his shoulder.
"Let us go on," Sho said.
Together, the brothers walked down the Road of Dawn to the Temple. They went on for one month, then two, and then three. In all that time, the sky below them continued to pour every day, until the Earth was drenched and the rivers flooded. Concerned, they wondered if Kazunari punished them, at first with droughts and then continuous rain.
Finally, the four brothers reached the thousand stone steps leading to the Temple. There, they met another hundred of their brothers.
"You cannot pass," they said.
"Who gave you reign over our home?" Sho retorted. "Why are we not allowed to pass?"
"Kazunari forbids you. He ordered us to stop you if we see you."
"Then what if you cannot see us?" Sho asked.
"But we see you," they replied.
"Then you must let us pass if you cannot see us," Sho said. He wrapped a blanket of cloud around his younger brothers. While they stumbled on the steps, Sho urged Satoshi and the rest on before he followed.
They climbed for two days, unfettered, until to their dread they reached another group of their siblings.
"You cannot pass," the group said.
"Kazunari forbids us," Jun repeated, exhausted.
"He ordered us to stop you if we heard you coming," they said.
This time, Masaki jumped in. "Then if you cannot hear us, you must let us pass." While they stared at him uncomprehending, he issued continuous roars of thunder. His siblings closed their eyes and covered their ears as the four of them passed through and climbed on.
At last, they reached the top and came upon the last group of their younger sisters outside the Temple, wailing at the top of their lungs. Crying in a heart wrenching way, the sisters threw themselves at their shocked brothers.
"We waited for you," they sobbed. "We thought you had forgotten us. Even when Kazunari said you would no longer return, we hoped you would. We wanted to see you. All of us missed you."
While Satoshi averted his gaze and Sho and Jun squeezed their arms reassuringly, Masaki hid his face in their hair and cried, "I'm sorry. Sorry. But I'm back. I'm back for good."
"Kazunari forbids you to enter, but we'll let you go in," they said.
Yet, before the four of them stepped foot into the temple, Jun turned back and said to his sisters in a soft whisper, "If Kazunari really thought we would never return, he would not have the need to forbid us."
Inside their long forgotten home, the Temple of the Sky, the emptiness left a cold chill that uneased them. An eerie silence pervaded the stone Temple, except for the constant drip of water against the marble floor that echoed throughout the entire enclosure. The four of them followed the noise to the Throne room that had belonged to their father and mother.
At the entrance, they paused.
"Why are you here?" a familiar voice asked them, echoing. "It rains and continues to rain. That's what you wanted. You should have returned to Earth at the Gates."
A lone, small figure slumped on the gilded Throne at the dais.
Tentatively, the four of them went forward and stepped into a pool of water that had flooded the whole room.
"That's not why we came back home," Sho said.
Kazunari forced a laugh that rattled their bones.
"At least, not anymore," Sho murmured.
"Kazunari," Satoshi mumbled.
"Kazunari," Masaki repeated.
"We came back to stay," Jun ended.
"I hate you all," Kazunari muttered, his voice strangled.
Satoshi, Sho, Masaki, and Jun finally reached the Throne and realized that the pool at their feet was a pool of tears. Another tear streamed down the side of Kazunari's face and dripped down to join the flood.
"You fools." Kazunari staggered upright and stood on top of the Throne, towering over all of them. "I wanted all of you to suffer."
Masaki sniffed. Satoshi bowed his head.
"Until you forgive us," Jun said, "we will suffer."
"We promise," Sho started, "that we will try harder to understand."
More than a million years passed before the forests of the mountains returned to its former, but jaded, glory. The sunny paradises, once destroyed, never recovered and continued to be deep oceans of sand. Yet, the sailors and fishermen rejoiced at the return of the bountiful rivers and seas.
Every century, a handful of the thousand children of the God of the Sun and Goddess of the Moon were called back to the Temple of the Sky where the five lesser Gods reigned, and when they returned to Earth another handful of their siblings were summoned. And when the Gods of Wind, Clouds, Thunder, Hail, and Rain occasionally left the Temple, a few of their older siblings reigned from the Temple. The Temple of the Sky was never again empty.
The God of the Sun and the Goddess of the Moon watched over their children from the stars and rejoiced.
Feature/Pairing: Arashi, Gen
Summary: Of a thousand children, Kazunari understands loneliness the best.
a/n: This story was inspired by Arashi's appearance on Shabekuri during 24hr tv when Arashi was asked to vote for who they thought was most afraid of loneliness among Arashi and Nino was voted the most. I also believe, in my own way, that Nino is the member most afraid of being alone.
Originally posted here (locked) @ kiroii_niji almost a year ago. I actually forgot I had written this story.
* * *
Once upon a time, the Gods of the Heavens, God of the Sun and Goddess of the Moon, had a thousand children. Among these children, there were five children the Gods treasured the most. They were the lesser Gods of the Wind, Clouds, Thunder, Rain, and Hail; named Satoshi, Sho, Masaki, Kazunari, and Jun respectively. The two great Gods of the Heavens doted heavily on these special five. The God of the Son loved the bright nature of his sons Jun, Sho, and Masaki. The Goddess of the Moon loved the cool and aloof nature of her eldest son, Satoshi. And both of them loved everything about their second youngest, Kazunari.
But after several eons, the God of the Sun and Goddess of the Moon retired to the stars, and their thousand children inadvertently drifted apart. The five gifted Gods strayed onto different paths. Satoshi, God of the Wind, moved to the solitary mountains where he whistled through the cracks and crevices in the rocks and threw off restless wanderers. Sho, God of the Clouds, left for paradise where he streaked the endless blue skies with fields of white wisps. Jun and Masaki, God of Hail and Thunder, pursued sailing ships across the seas and berated fishermen. Only Kazunari stayed behind at the Temple of the Sky and waited for the day his brothers would return.
But they did not.
After one millennium, the forests of the mountains shriveled and died, the sunny paradises became bare deserts, and sailors and fishermen grew frustrated with the receding rivers and seas. The four absent brothers finally realized that Kazunari had refused to gift the Earth with rain. Never once since the God of the Sun and Goddess of the Moon had left for the stars had their brother allowed rain to fall. At last, they raced to him.
At the base of his mountain, Satoshi met a hundred of his brothers, the Guardians of all creatures of the Forest.
"Do you know where Kazunari is?" Satoshi asked them.
"We saw him two hundred years ago at the Temple of the Sky," they said, refusing to meet his innocent gaze. "He was alone."
Meanwhile, as he traveled through the hot deserts of his previous paradise, Sho came across a hundred of his sisters, the Sprites of Mirages, dancing through the sand dunes.
"Have you seen Kazunari?" Sho asked them.
They jumped high into the air and laughed mockingly back at him, "Why do you ask for him now? We saw him four hundred years ago at the Temple of the Sky. He was alone."
And while Jun and Masaki stopped at the coasts of the receded waters, they met two hundred of their siblings, Guardians of all life at Sea.
"Where is Kazunari?" Masaki asked his gathered siblings.
They glanced at one another, then one spoke. "We saw him seven hundred years ago at the Temple of the Sky. He was waiting alone."
"Waiting for what?" Jun asked.
The oldest of the siblings glared back at Jun. "Waiting for who."
"For who?" Masaki questioned.
"For you," the Guardian bellowed.
Alarmed, Masaki and Jun sought for and found their older sisters, the Goddesses of Flight. Keepers of all creatures of the Sky, their aid would enable Masaki and Jun to reach the Gates quickly and save them from having to walk the lengthy Road of Dusk, the only other possible path to the Gates in the sky. To both of their horror, their sisters refused to assist them.
"We saw Kazunari a thousand years ago," the Goddesses of Flight said. "For you who have never returned home, we will not grant your wish."
Jun reached the height of his frustration. His teeth clenched and his expression cold, he threatened, "If you do not carry us to the Gates, I will rain hail on your birds until they can no longer fly and are forced to hide, until the day they no longer remember the freedom of flight, and not even their children would know how to spread their wings."
Their older sister snubbed her nose at him. "My spoiled younger brothers, you have always taken everything for granted. Only Kazunari knew to fear for what he could lose."
Even so, she and her sisters carried Jun and Masaki to the Gates and set them on the clouds before returning to Earth without hearing their thanks. When Masaki and Jun finally passed through the Gates, the two met their older brothers, Satoshi and Sho who had arrived much earlier on Satoshi's wind.
"I regret the last million years," Jun confessed to them as they walked on. "I believed we had eons and so I allowed the years to pass."
Masaki broke in, ashamed, "For us who live in endless time, each moment we can remember is precious. I forgot that I laughed the most when you were all with me."
The sky darkened. The air around them grew cold. The four of them noticed that a sound like a thousand pin drops invaded the silence. Satoshi went on his knees and peered through the clouds underneath their feet.
"It rains," he murmured.
Heavy raindrops pelted the Earth below them, darkening all skies throughout the world. Overwhelmed by his emotions, Masaki swiped an arm across his wet eyes. Sho touched his shoulder.
"Let us go on," Sho said.
Together, the brothers walked down the Road of Dawn to the Temple. They went on for one month, then two, and then three. In all that time, the sky below them continued to pour every day, until the Earth was drenched and the rivers flooded. Concerned, they wondered if Kazunari punished them, at first with droughts and then continuous rain.
Finally, the four brothers reached the thousand stone steps leading to the Temple. There, they met another hundred of their brothers.
"You cannot pass," they said.
"Who gave you reign over our home?" Sho retorted. "Why are we not allowed to pass?"
"Kazunari forbids you. He ordered us to stop you if we see you."
"Then what if you cannot see us?" Sho asked.
"But we see you," they replied.
"Then you must let us pass if you cannot see us," Sho said. He wrapped a blanket of cloud around his younger brothers. While they stumbled on the steps, Sho urged Satoshi and the rest on before he followed.
They climbed for two days, unfettered, until to their dread they reached another group of their siblings.
"You cannot pass," the group said.
"Kazunari forbids us," Jun repeated, exhausted.
"He ordered us to stop you if we heard you coming," they said.
This time, Masaki jumped in. "Then if you cannot hear us, you must let us pass." While they stared at him uncomprehending, he issued continuous roars of thunder. His siblings closed their eyes and covered their ears as the four of them passed through and climbed on.
At last, they reached the top and came upon the last group of their younger sisters outside the Temple, wailing at the top of their lungs. Crying in a heart wrenching way, the sisters threw themselves at their shocked brothers.
"We waited for you," they sobbed. "We thought you had forgotten us. Even when Kazunari said you would no longer return, we hoped you would. We wanted to see you. All of us missed you."
While Satoshi averted his gaze and Sho and Jun squeezed their arms reassuringly, Masaki hid his face in their hair and cried, "I'm sorry. Sorry. But I'm back. I'm back for good."
"Kazunari forbids you to enter, but we'll let you go in," they said.
Yet, before the four of them stepped foot into the temple, Jun turned back and said to his sisters in a soft whisper, "If Kazunari really thought we would never return, he would not have the need to forbid us."
Inside their long forgotten home, the Temple of the Sky, the emptiness left a cold chill that uneased them. An eerie silence pervaded the stone Temple, except for the constant drip of water against the marble floor that echoed throughout the entire enclosure. The four of them followed the noise to the Throne room that had belonged to their father and mother.
At the entrance, they paused.
"Why are you here?" a familiar voice asked them, echoing. "It rains and continues to rain. That's what you wanted. You should have returned to Earth at the Gates."
A lone, small figure slumped on the gilded Throne at the dais.
Tentatively, the four of them went forward and stepped into a pool of water that had flooded the whole room.
"That's not why we came back home," Sho said.
Kazunari forced a laugh that rattled their bones.
"At least, not anymore," Sho murmured.
"Kazunari," Satoshi mumbled.
"Kazunari," Masaki repeated.
"We came back to stay," Jun ended.
"I hate you all," Kazunari muttered, his voice strangled.
Satoshi, Sho, Masaki, and Jun finally reached the Throne and realized that the pool at their feet was a pool of tears. Another tear streamed down the side of Kazunari's face and dripped down to join the flood.
"You fools." Kazunari staggered upright and stood on top of the Throne, towering over all of them. "I wanted all of you to suffer."
Masaki sniffed. Satoshi bowed his head.
"Until you forgive us," Jun said, "we will suffer."
"We promise," Sho started, "that we will try harder to understand."
More than a million years passed before the forests of the mountains returned to its former, but jaded, glory. The sunny paradises, once destroyed, never recovered and continued to be deep oceans of sand. Yet, the sailors and fishermen rejoiced at the return of the bountiful rivers and seas.
Every century, a handful of the thousand children of the God of the Sun and Goddess of the Moon were called back to the Temple of the Sky where the five lesser Gods reigned, and when they returned to Earth another handful of their siblings were summoned. And when the Gods of Wind, Clouds, Thunder, Hail, and Rain occasionally left the Temple, a few of their older siblings reigned from the Temple. The Temple of the Sky was never again empty.
The God of the Sun and the Goddess of the Moon watched over their children from the stars and rejoiced.