[Fic] Fast Forward. Rewind
Title : Fast Forward. Rewind (Part 2)
Pairing : Ohno/Nino
Rating : PG
Summary : He’d been trying to uncover the truth about the events prior to their departure from Yamato for years, but all he could dig out from it was the same thing that had been reported repeatedly on national television, regarding the congregation’s involvement in the attack in Tokyo, and nothing more.
Warning : mentions of mass murder, religious cults
Note : Crossposted HERE and on AO3
Yamato, Summer 1994
Kazunari spent his fourteenth birthday eating boiled sweet potatoes and praying every four hours, asking the heavens for guidance. He was even instructed to conduct his prayers outside, the second prayer time he had to carry out under the blistering heat of the sun. Kazunari didn’t understand why it felt like he was being punished, when normally, they’d pamper him on his special day.
He guessed that that, too, had changed.
After he’d performed his third and last prayer, it was well after six in the evening already. Instead of running back to the house like his mother had told him before he was shoved out of the door to pray, he found himself walking the path leading to the open grass field behind their apartment building, that open space area where the congregation normally held its bi-weekly community service. He was initially concerned that it might already be quite dark for him to see where he was going, but thankfully, it wasn’t; at least not yet.
Standing there made him realize so many things, most of it involved the life he and his family have left behind, in exchange for all of this. In his young mind, none of it made sense. He kept hearing them saying about the importance of living a simple life, of discarding everything they once hold dear for their spiritual fulfillment, but Kazunari didn’t understand any of it.
None of it made sense to Kazunari, and he wondered if it would someday, though he highly doubted it.
“This sucks,” he muttered grimly to himself, feeling heat gathering at the corner of his eyes, unable to help it any longer. He’d managed to stave off the urge all day, distracting himself from the disappointment and the hurt that settled itself at the pit of his stomach since morning, but right now, that didn’t matter anymore. The deafening silence only made the sick feeling worse, and before he realized it, he was falling on the ground, shaking, hot tears running down his cheeks.
“Don’t cry, please don’t cry,” he chanted, though he doubted if it would help ease his growing resentment towards his parents, this place, and the people that had influenced his father to be what he was now. All he wanted was for things to go back to how they were before all this, to go back to Tokyo, to their old house, to see his friends, his grandparents and Haru.
“Please,”
“Crying isn’t going to make things better,” someone spoke from behind him, and Kazunari scrambled to his feet, wiping his tears and turning around searching for the owner of the voice. He found a boy standing a few feet behind him, give and take a few years older than Kazunari; he was lanky, and when he smiled, Kazunari felt compelled to return the gesture in kind.
“Trust me,” the boy added, “I’ve had my fair share of crying fits myself, but it didn’t help either. It’s only going to make you look ugly afterward.”
Looking closely at the boy, Kazunari realized he looked kind of familiar.
“I guess that means you’re new here, huh?” the boy followed; he was obviously not waiting for answers, judging with the way he was answering his own questions and treating Kazunari’s silence as a quiet permission to keep their one-sided conversation going.
“Did your parents drag you here? No?” the boy asked again. “Mine literally kidnapped me. Well, my dad did. He and my mother got divorced. I was supposed to just spend the weekend with him, but, here I am.” the boy finished with a grin.
“I’m Aiba Masaki, by the way.”
Kazunari cleared his throat, and nodded. “Ninomiya Kazunari.”
“Oh, you’re the birthday boy, aren’t you? And we’re neighbors, I think. Um, I could have asked my dad to cook something special for you as a gift, but all we have here is sweet potato. And bananas. I mean, I’m not even sure if it’s possible to make anything special out of it, but, who knows, yeah? Oh, well.”
Kazunari blinked at the boy, awed at the way his thoughts seemed to jump from one topic to another, before going back to the previous one as if he wasn’t aware he was doing it. Kazunari honestly had troubles following the conversation.
“It’s okay, Aiba-san,” Kazunari mumbled, once he was able to. He tried not to sound too disappointed, but he guessed it couldn’t be helped. He’d wanted to be left alone, to think, maybe to wallow on self-pity for a while before he walked that path back to the house he shared with his family, and the other boy’s presence was what’s keeping him from it, but he guessed that couldn’t be helped either.
“If you say so,” the other boy agreed, “What about frogs?” the boy asked afterward.
Kazunari wondered if he’d somehow missed half of the conversation, and frowned. “What about them?”
Aiba Masaki grinned. “Do you like them?”
Kazunari shivered involuntarily. “Not really, why?”
“Because my friend and I usually come here in the afternoon to catch them. You’re welcome to join if you want.”
“Your friend?”
The other boy smiled and pointed behind him, Kazunari pivoting to follow the direction Aiba Masaki was pointing at. He didn’t realize it had gotten darker then until he had to literally squint at the path Kazunari had trekked earlier, a figure emerging from the shadows and making Kazunari scramble backward in fear.
Aiba Masaki giggled at his reaction, smiling as he addressed the approaching figure. “Oh-chan, you scared the birthday boy. Please apologize.”
The other boy was close enough now for Kazunari to see him clearly. This one, Kazunari thought, he hadn’t seen before.
He wasn’t on the tall side, unlike Aiba, but he still stood a few centimeters taller than Kazunari. The round face and the girly facial feature threw Kazunari off, but what stuck was the sight of the other boy’s relatively long hair, and a complete contrast to his and Aiba Masaki’s cropped head.
The smile he offered Kazunari then was soft, unhurried, beautiful. Looking at him made Kazunari breathless, for some crazy reason.
“Ninomiya-kun, meet Ohno Satoshi. The friend I was telling you about earlier, you remember?”
The other boy tilted his head towards Kazunari. “I’m sorry I startled you. And by the way, I heard it’s your birthday today, so, happy birthday. Do you like frogs?”
*-*
Akasaka Tower Residence, Top of the Hill
Akasaka, Tokyo, Present Day
Nino’s next stop was at Sakurai Sho’s apartment, once he’d confirmed that Sho was, in fact, at home, and was not anywhere near Yamato to cover the mass grave story. Although Sho confirmed he’d gone to the site two days prior, he’d already submitted his finalized report on it and was allowed a couple of days off before he had to travel to Hong Kong next and cover the ongoing extradition issue there.
When Nino got in the apartment, Sho acknowledged his presence with a quick nod of his head before he’d gestured Nino inside without another word. When Sho closed the door behind Nino, however, Sho startled him when Sho unceremoniously pulled him into a tight hug.
“Well, I do miss you too, Sho-chan,” he muttered, albeit jokingly, when they parted. “And sorry I’ve been such a lousy friend lately, but you do know it’s not my intention, right? Work at the hospital is taking over my life, I swear to you.”
Sho laughed, as he threw an arm around Nino’s shoulders, as Sho guided them both inside.
“That makes the two of us, so, don’t worry about it, okay? Come inside and I’ll make us coffee. Then you can tell me what made you ditch your hospital duties in favor of coming here to visit me.”
---
Sho didn’t look so surprised when Nino told him the reason why he’d been visiting his friends’ places of work and residences, instead of spending his day in the hospital the way he normally would.
Nino asked Sho why, and his friend simply shrugged. “Well, I kind of expected to hear from you right after the news of that grave’s discovery came out,” Sho said, the words slow, careful. “Well, that and the fact that I have received a call from our dear Miyama-Sensei, telling me to expect you one of these days. I guess you would want to see the site for yourself?”
Nino shook his head, but God, he’d already been considering it. “I wouldn’t go that far,” he lied through his teeth instead, eyes narrowed; Sho, pursed his lips and waited patiently for him to continue.
“You don’t have to remind me of the dangers, because I know. I’m aware of the possibility that there might still be a few remaining devout members lurking around the area. We can’t simply rule out the theory that some of them might still be around, that they might have been keeping watch over that grave for over two decades until its accidental discovery recently. I’m guessing they would try to cover it up the best way they could. And I admit, I have my own personal reasons why I’m hell bent on confirming the identities of the bodies buried there, but that doesn’t mean I’m planning on poking my nose in it only to be caught in the middle during the investigation process.”
Sho hummed in understanding and took a quick sip of his coffee. “I’m guessing this is because of that missing friend of yours?” Sho asked. Nino shrugged and said nothing.
Sho knew enough of the story to figure that one out, simply because Nino had told him, but of course, not the whole of it. Aiba and Jun were there with him in Yamato, and they were three of the last six children, including his sister, that Sho’s mother was able to smuggle out of the residence that night, so of course, they knew. They also knew he’d wanted to come back for Ohno that night when he realized he was the only one missing, but Sho’s mother decided it was too dangerous for everyone involved.
“Alright, so what exactly do you need from me?” Sho prodded after a moment, “If it’s not to help you scour the grave for clues, then what?”
He stared pointedly at Sho. “I need to speak to your mother, Sho-chan. I have something to ask her about the congregation, about who had contacted her prior to the Tokyo attack and how she knew when exactly to come to get the children out of the congregation’s residence that very same night.”
Sho looked confused. “I thought you knew,” he said, “I thought you already asked her about that when the four of you came back to see us a few years after your adoption was finalized.”
Nino frowned; he couldn’t remember any of that, if it even happened. “Maybe we did, and I just forgot about it. Either way, I still want to talk to her. Can you make it happen?” he asked, hopeful.
Sho laughed. “Consider it done, Tokai - ah, sorry, I mean, Nino.”
*-*
Yamato, Summer 1994
The week following Kazunari’s birthday was slow and rather uneventful, but Ohno told him it would be better not to get used to it. The lack of ‘normal’ activity, he said, was partly due to their leader’s (and his close followers) efforts to secure a seat in the national government. For the past few months, that was the only thing Ohno’s father had been praying for, (it made Kazunari wonder if his parents were praying for the same thing too) although it was obvious to anyone with a working brain that it was simply impossible.
Hoping people would elect an eccentric religious leader into office was one thing, and it actually happening for real was another. Kazunari didn't want to get into trouble by opening his mouth and actually mentioning that to anyone, not even to his sister or his friends.
Kazunari knew better than to prod, but his curiosity won over, the same way it always did when something interesting piqued his curiosity. This time, however, Kazunari wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not.
“How long have you been here anyway?” he asked, loud enough to startle the dozing boy out of his temporary slumber.
“A little over a year,” Ohno said around a huge yawn. “We came here around January last year. We were in Osaka before that.”
The answer made Kazunari pause, and wince. He hadn’t been here that long and yet it already felt like he’d been here for years.
“Are your parents both here, with you?”
Ohno shook his head. “No, just my dad.”
“Same with Aiba-kun, then?”
“Yeah.”
“What about your mother?” he followed.
“She’s in Tokyo, with my sister,” Ohno said. “She left when she found out my father joined this religion, taking me and my sister with her. Then my dad came to visit me at school one day and asked me to go with him, told me stuff he knew would convince me to come. That was two years ago.”
“Why did he take you and not your sister?”
The look on Ohno’s face told Kazunari he missed his sister, more than he would probably admit. “My sister was already eighteen at the time, so the rules don’t apply to her anymore, and my dad couldn’t force her to come with him either.” Ohno explained.
Nino had no idea what rules Ohno was talking about, so he filed it away for now and reminded himself to ask his mother later. “Did you know it was going to be like…like this when you agreed to come with him?” Kazunari asked.
Ohno was quiet for a moment before he shook his head. “No. He lied to me.” Ohno said, leaving it at that.
Then, Ohno added, “That’s why I am just waiting for the day that l I turn eighteen so I could leave. He knows about that, too. I already talked to him about going back to Tokyo to be with my mom and sister when the time comes.”
“He just agreed?” Kazunari asked.
Ohno shrugged. “I guess he knows he can’t stop me anyway. I mean, I agreed to stay with him for a few years now. I could have left before, but I chose to stay. This time though, he knows I’ve had enough. I’m leaving this place, soon.”
“And when would that be?” he asked.
Ohno grinned. “November, next year. Just one more year, and I’ll be free. I can’t wait.”
Kazunari wondered how it could be possible to be happy and yet sad at the same time, hearing that.
Pairing : Ohno/Nino
Rating : PG
Summary : He’d been trying to uncover the truth about the events prior to their departure from Yamato for years, but all he could dig out from it was the same thing that had been reported repeatedly on national television, regarding the congregation’s involvement in the attack in Tokyo, and nothing more.
Warning : mentions of mass murder, religious cults
Note : Crossposted HERE and on AO3
Yamato, Summer 1994
Kazunari spent his fourteenth birthday eating boiled sweet potatoes and praying every four hours, asking the heavens for guidance. He was even instructed to conduct his prayers outside, the second prayer time he had to carry out under the blistering heat of the sun. Kazunari didn’t understand why it felt like he was being punished, when normally, they’d pamper him on his special day.
He guessed that that, too, had changed.
After he’d performed his third and last prayer, it was well after six in the evening already. Instead of running back to the house like his mother had told him before he was shoved out of the door to pray, he found himself walking the path leading to the open grass field behind their apartment building, that open space area where the congregation normally held its bi-weekly community service. He was initially concerned that it might already be quite dark for him to see where he was going, but thankfully, it wasn’t; at least not yet.
Standing there made him realize so many things, most of it involved the life he and his family have left behind, in exchange for all of this. In his young mind, none of it made sense. He kept hearing them saying about the importance of living a simple life, of discarding everything they once hold dear for their spiritual fulfillment, but Kazunari didn’t understand any of it.
None of it made sense to Kazunari, and he wondered if it would someday, though he highly doubted it.
“This sucks,” he muttered grimly to himself, feeling heat gathering at the corner of his eyes, unable to help it any longer. He’d managed to stave off the urge all day, distracting himself from the disappointment and the hurt that settled itself at the pit of his stomach since morning, but right now, that didn’t matter anymore. The deafening silence only made the sick feeling worse, and before he realized it, he was falling on the ground, shaking, hot tears running down his cheeks.
“Don’t cry, please don’t cry,” he chanted, though he doubted if it would help ease his growing resentment towards his parents, this place, and the people that had influenced his father to be what he was now. All he wanted was for things to go back to how they were before all this, to go back to Tokyo, to their old house, to see his friends, his grandparents and Haru.
“Please,”
“Crying isn’t going to make things better,” someone spoke from behind him, and Kazunari scrambled to his feet, wiping his tears and turning around searching for the owner of the voice. He found a boy standing a few feet behind him, give and take a few years older than Kazunari; he was lanky, and when he smiled, Kazunari felt compelled to return the gesture in kind.
“Trust me,” the boy added, “I’ve had my fair share of crying fits myself, but it didn’t help either. It’s only going to make you look ugly afterward.”
Looking closely at the boy, Kazunari realized he looked kind of familiar.
“I guess that means you’re new here, huh?” the boy followed; he was obviously not waiting for answers, judging with the way he was answering his own questions and treating Kazunari’s silence as a quiet permission to keep their one-sided conversation going.
“Did your parents drag you here? No?” the boy asked again. “Mine literally kidnapped me. Well, my dad did. He and my mother got divorced. I was supposed to just spend the weekend with him, but, here I am.” the boy finished with a grin.
“I’m Aiba Masaki, by the way.”
Kazunari cleared his throat, and nodded. “Ninomiya Kazunari.”
“Oh, you’re the birthday boy, aren’t you? And we’re neighbors, I think. Um, I could have asked my dad to cook something special for you as a gift, but all we have here is sweet potato. And bananas. I mean, I’m not even sure if it’s possible to make anything special out of it, but, who knows, yeah? Oh, well.”
Kazunari blinked at the boy, awed at the way his thoughts seemed to jump from one topic to another, before going back to the previous one as if he wasn’t aware he was doing it. Kazunari honestly had troubles following the conversation.
“It’s okay, Aiba-san,” Kazunari mumbled, once he was able to. He tried not to sound too disappointed, but he guessed it couldn’t be helped. He’d wanted to be left alone, to think, maybe to wallow on self-pity for a while before he walked that path back to the house he shared with his family, and the other boy’s presence was what’s keeping him from it, but he guessed that couldn’t be helped either.
“If you say so,” the other boy agreed, “What about frogs?” the boy asked afterward.
Kazunari wondered if he’d somehow missed half of the conversation, and frowned. “What about them?”
Aiba Masaki grinned. “Do you like them?”
Kazunari shivered involuntarily. “Not really, why?”
“Because my friend and I usually come here in the afternoon to catch them. You’re welcome to join if you want.”
“Your friend?”
The other boy smiled and pointed behind him, Kazunari pivoting to follow the direction Aiba Masaki was pointing at. He didn’t realize it had gotten darker then until he had to literally squint at the path Kazunari had trekked earlier, a figure emerging from the shadows and making Kazunari scramble backward in fear.
Aiba Masaki giggled at his reaction, smiling as he addressed the approaching figure. “Oh-chan, you scared the birthday boy. Please apologize.”
The other boy was close enough now for Kazunari to see him clearly. This one, Kazunari thought, he hadn’t seen before.
He wasn’t on the tall side, unlike Aiba, but he still stood a few centimeters taller than Kazunari. The round face and the girly facial feature threw Kazunari off, but what stuck was the sight of the other boy’s relatively long hair, and a complete contrast to his and Aiba Masaki’s cropped head.
The smile he offered Kazunari then was soft, unhurried, beautiful. Looking at him made Kazunari breathless, for some crazy reason.
“Ninomiya-kun, meet Ohno Satoshi. The friend I was telling you about earlier, you remember?”
The other boy tilted his head towards Kazunari. “I’m sorry I startled you. And by the way, I heard it’s your birthday today, so, happy birthday. Do you like frogs?”
*-*
Akasaka Tower Residence, Top of the Hill
Akasaka, Tokyo, Present Day
Nino’s next stop was at Sakurai Sho’s apartment, once he’d confirmed that Sho was, in fact, at home, and was not anywhere near Yamato to cover the mass grave story. Although Sho confirmed he’d gone to the site two days prior, he’d already submitted his finalized report on it and was allowed a couple of days off before he had to travel to Hong Kong next and cover the ongoing extradition issue there.
When Nino got in the apartment, Sho acknowledged his presence with a quick nod of his head before he’d gestured Nino inside without another word. When Sho closed the door behind Nino, however, Sho startled him when Sho unceremoniously pulled him into a tight hug.
“Well, I do miss you too, Sho-chan,” he muttered, albeit jokingly, when they parted. “And sorry I’ve been such a lousy friend lately, but you do know it’s not my intention, right? Work at the hospital is taking over my life, I swear to you.”
Sho laughed, as he threw an arm around Nino’s shoulders, as Sho guided them both inside.
“That makes the two of us, so, don’t worry about it, okay? Come inside and I’ll make us coffee. Then you can tell me what made you ditch your hospital duties in favor of coming here to visit me.”
---
Sho didn’t look so surprised when Nino told him the reason why he’d been visiting his friends’ places of work and residences, instead of spending his day in the hospital the way he normally would.
Nino asked Sho why, and his friend simply shrugged. “Well, I kind of expected to hear from you right after the news of that grave’s discovery came out,” Sho said, the words slow, careful. “Well, that and the fact that I have received a call from our dear Miyama-Sensei, telling me to expect you one of these days. I guess you would want to see the site for yourself?”
Nino shook his head, but God, he’d already been considering it. “I wouldn’t go that far,” he lied through his teeth instead, eyes narrowed; Sho, pursed his lips and waited patiently for him to continue.
“You don’t have to remind me of the dangers, because I know. I’m aware of the possibility that there might still be a few remaining devout members lurking around the area. We can’t simply rule out the theory that some of them might still be around, that they might have been keeping watch over that grave for over two decades until its accidental discovery recently. I’m guessing they would try to cover it up the best way they could. And I admit, I have my own personal reasons why I’m hell bent on confirming the identities of the bodies buried there, but that doesn’t mean I’m planning on poking my nose in it only to be caught in the middle during the investigation process.”
Sho hummed in understanding and took a quick sip of his coffee. “I’m guessing this is because of that missing friend of yours?” Sho asked. Nino shrugged and said nothing.
Sho knew enough of the story to figure that one out, simply because Nino had told him, but of course, not the whole of it. Aiba and Jun were there with him in Yamato, and they were three of the last six children, including his sister, that Sho’s mother was able to smuggle out of the residence that night, so of course, they knew. They also knew he’d wanted to come back for Ohno that night when he realized he was the only one missing, but Sho’s mother decided it was too dangerous for everyone involved.
“Alright, so what exactly do you need from me?” Sho prodded after a moment, “If it’s not to help you scour the grave for clues, then what?”
He stared pointedly at Sho. “I need to speak to your mother, Sho-chan. I have something to ask her about the congregation, about who had contacted her prior to the Tokyo attack and how she knew when exactly to come to get the children out of the congregation’s residence that very same night.”
Sho looked confused. “I thought you knew,” he said, “I thought you already asked her about that when the four of you came back to see us a few years after your adoption was finalized.”
Nino frowned; he couldn’t remember any of that, if it even happened. “Maybe we did, and I just forgot about it. Either way, I still want to talk to her. Can you make it happen?” he asked, hopeful.
Sho laughed. “Consider it done, Tokai - ah, sorry, I mean, Nino.”
*-*
Yamato, Summer 1994
The week following Kazunari’s birthday was slow and rather uneventful, but Ohno told him it would be better not to get used to it. The lack of ‘normal’ activity, he said, was partly due to their leader’s (and his close followers) efforts to secure a seat in the national government. For the past few months, that was the only thing Ohno’s father had been praying for, (it made Kazunari wonder if his parents were praying for the same thing too) although it was obvious to anyone with a working brain that it was simply impossible.
Hoping people would elect an eccentric religious leader into office was one thing, and it actually happening for real was another. Kazunari didn't want to get into trouble by opening his mouth and actually mentioning that to anyone, not even to his sister or his friends.
Kazunari knew better than to prod, but his curiosity won over, the same way it always did when something interesting piqued his curiosity. This time, however, Kazunari wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not.
“How long have you been here anyway?” he asked, loud enough to startle the dozing boy out of his temporary slumber.
“A little over a year,” Ohno said around a huge yawn. “We came here around January last year. We were in Osaka before that.”
The answer made Kazunari pause, and wince. He hadn’t been here that long and yet it already felt like he’d been here for years.
“Are your parents both here, with you?”
Ohno shook his head. “No, just my dad.”
“Same with Aiba-kun, then?”
“Yeah.”
“What about your mother?” he followed.
“She’s in Tokyo, with my sister,” Ohno said. “She left when she found out my father joined this religion, taking me and my sister with her. Then my dad came to visit me at school one day and asked me to go with him, told me stuff he knew would convince me to come. That was two years ago.”
“Why did he take you and not your sister?”
The look on Ohno’s face told Kazunari he missed his sister, more than he would probably admit. “My sister was already eighteen at the time, so the rules don’t apply to her anymore, and my dad couldn’t force her to come with him either.” Ohno explained.
Nino had no idea what rules Ohno was talking about, so he filed it away for now and reminded himself to ask his mother later. “Did you know it was going to be like…like this when you agreed to come with him?” Kazunari asked.
Ohno was quiet for a moment before he shook his head. “No. He lied to me.” Ohno said, leaving it at that.
Then, Ohno added, “That’s why I am just waiting for the day that l I turn eighteen so I could leave. He knows about that, too. I already talked to him about going back to Tokyo to be with my mom and sister when the time comes.”
“He just agreed?” Kazunari asked.
Ohno shrugged. “I guess he knows he can’t stop me anyway. I mean, I agreed to stay with him for a few years now. I could have left before, but I chose to stay. This time though, he knows I’ve had enough. I’m leaving this place, soon.”
“And when would that be?” he asked.
Ohno grinned. “November, next year. Just one more year, and I’ll be free. I can’t wait.”
Kazunari wondered how it could be possible to be happy and yet sad at the same time, hearing that.