From Then Till Now (Chapter 7)
Title: From Then Till Now
Group/pairing: Arashi/ Ohmiya
Word Count: 4021 words
Rating: PG
Summary: Nino had thought he had left his past behind for good until he meets an old ghost he once loved.
Disclaimer: So far I only own two photosets of Sho and a set of Arashi playing cards. I wish I'd own Arashi, but no. I don't. ._.
Author note: Chapter 7 came unexpectedly fast! I had wanted to post 6 & 7 out at the same time but I decided to release 6 a bit earlier while I worked on 7. Look forward to Chapter 8! :D *cough cough* song fic *cough cough*
Chapter 7
Shizuka stretched in the bed of the sick room, her eyes fluttering open as she gazed up at the whirring fan right above her.
She sat up and reached over to her bag to grab her red Nintendo 3DS and started playing. Just then, her phone rang in her bag and she picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Andou-san? This is the school office calling," a chirpy voice spoke, "your flight to the Czech Republic has been confirmed to be on 3rd January next year."
"Ah, next January? Okay. I get it. So what should I do now for the next.. well.. 3 months?"
"You can clear the annual project of the year before leaving. You will also be sent the paperwork required for your transfer overseas like your training programme details and..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sho walked into the sick room just in time to see Shizuka hang up the call, her eyes looking a bit downcast.
"Shizuka-chan?"
Shizuka looked up hurriedly at him, memories flashing back to what had happened yesterday. She tried not to feel her cheeks warming in slight embarrassment as she waved him over.
"Sho-kun! Good morning."
Sho smiled and walked to her bed.
"Are you better now?"
"Yeah. All thanks to you."
Now it was Sho's turn to blush and look away.
"I-it was nothing, really."
"But I'm really sorry I did that," Shizuka said timidly, "you had to do that even though you're scared of heights..."
"No, I'm glad I did," Sho said firmly, "you mean a lot to me after all."
Shizuka blinked in surprise and Sho caught himself at his words.
"O-of course, to Nino-kun and Ohno-kun too! I mean, you're a good friend of theirs after all, so I-"
"Thank you," Shizuka said quietly with a smile and laid back down on the bed.
"I should probably rest if I'm going to be released later for book-shopping," Shizuka said as she removed her spectacles, "do you mind if I sleep a little?"
Sho shook his head.
"You really ought to. I can read while accompanying you."
Shizuka gave him a relieved look and gently closed her eyes to sleep as Sho picked out his book to read, glancing over at Shizuka's sleeping form from time to time.
"An illusion..huh.." Sho pondered as he thought back on the words of the bungee instructor the day before.
/// short flashback ///
"It was really scary just now," Sho said as the taxi driver drove on, "I thought we were falling into the depths of a valley or something."
"No no no," the trainer laughed at the notion, "but standing on that platform made it seem just like it, right?"
Sho nodded.
"That's a trick of the human mind," the instructor said wisely.
Sho looked at him in a mix of surprise and awe.
"Really?"
The instructor nodded sagely.
"Someone once said that 'there is no greater illusion than fear', and that is very much true. Fear makes every situation seem a lot more scarier and more dangerous than it really is. It magnifies and exaggerates to achieve its main motive of scaring you," he said.
"Really.." Sho mumbled to himself as he looked over at Shizuka, who remained unconscious beside him.
"...do you happen to be scared of heights?"
Sho blinked and nodded. The instructor smiled cheekily.
"Well, I guess that height that you fell from won't scare you much anymore," he remarked with a hearty laugh.
"Don't say that! It was really scary! I thought we were going to-"
"But you found something that you feared even more than just jumping from there, right?" the instructor asked, the knowing smile still remaining on his face.
/// short flashback ///
"That thing that I fear more..." Sho murmured as his eyes flitted over to Shizuka's sleeping face, his fingers slowly reaching over to brush her fringe out of her face. As his fingers brushed lightly over her forehead, she flinched lightly as if it tickled and flipped her body to the side to face Sho.
"Ah, you're here?"
Sho hurriedly drew his hand back and turned to see Ohno in the doorway.
"How is she?" Ohno asked as he neared her.
"She's alright. She's just resting a bit until she gets released. After which, I'll go book-shopping with her."
"... about last night..." Ohno said uncertainly, "can you not tell her yet?"
"You mean all the stuff you told me about last night?" Sho asked and frowned as he looked back at Shizuka, whose lips drew into a peaceful smile.
"Alright. I won't," Sho said, "I don't see how it will help your situation at all, but alright. I won't say a thing."
Ohno nodded with a relieved smile and sat down by the bed with Sho.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Nino awoke to a sound knocking on the door. Rubbing his eyes, he shuffled over and opened the door to a very cheerful-looking Aiba.
"Ninoooo-kun~~" Aiba cheered as he wrapped his arms around NIno, "I have the best boyfriend ever!"
"Yes yes yes, I know, now get off me!" Nino yelled grumpily as he rubbed his eyes, "I'm only half awake.."
"Anyhow," Jun said from behind Aiba, "we're going to the sick room. Sho just told us about what happened yesterday and we're picking Shizuka-chan up now."
"Oh? Already?" Nino murmured sleepily.
"What 'already'? It's 12 noon!" Aiba said with a laugh.
Nino blinked. "Ah right.. I have to buy her some beef burger and cheese fries."
Jun wrinkled his nose. "It's junk food for a sick patient."
"I happen to know that this particular patient LOVES junk food like that."
"We can try the fast food outlets downstairs," Aiba suggested and walked ahead.
"... So?"
Nino looked at Jun puzzledly.
"So what?"
"Have you spoken to Ohno-kun?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Whatever had happened seven years ago," Jun said, and Nino looked at him in surprise.
"You KNOW?"
Jun sighed. "But I will leave it to him to tell you. I'm sure he prefers it that way rather than letting his roommate blabber on about it."
"No, wait," Nino stopped Jun in his tracks, "why is it that you know about us and I don't know a thing?"
"Because he told me."
"But he never told me!"
"That's because you always refused to listen," Jun said sternly, "if you had really known what Ohno-kun had been through back in middle school, you will understand why he left."
"But-"
"Nino-kun, Jun-kun!" Aiba called from the lift and Jun sighed.
"Please," Jun said, "at least give him a listen. If you can't take the truth, you can do whatever you wish. But at least let him speak to alleviate the pain from the last 7 years. As his roommate, seeing him struggling with his guilt is.. unbearable."
Nino frowned at Jun's words. They sounded awfully like the very words Shizuka spoke to him the day before. It was almost as if even the people around them had started to see that his attitude towards their situation was wrong. Some part of him knew.. but he just refused to admit it.
As he followed Jun and Aiba around with thoughts swirling around endlessly in his head, he wondered if he had been too cold towards him. Much as he hated to agree, Ohno seemed to be contrite in his intentions to clear up everything. And yet something about him just made him want to bite back at everything he said.
"What am I doing..." Nino wondered as he stepped blankly into a burger shop, as confused about his feelings as he always had been,"I don't even know anymore."
Shizuka was checked by the doctor and was finally cleared to be released for the day's activities.
"Once again, I'm really sorry for troubling everyone.." she said awkwardly as she strolled out with the other guys.
"No trouble at all. Well, shall we go out today?" Jun asked.
"Actually," Sho said quickly, "I was thinking I'd accompany her book shopping."
"Would the two of you be alright on your own?" Aiba asked worriedly and Shizuka nodded her head and looked towards Nino.
"What are your plans for the day?"
Nino looked completely disinterested.
"I'm just going back to my room to sleep and play games."
"Ah right," Shizuka said, "but that will be MY room tonight, right?"
"That's true..." Sho mumbled thoughtfully, "so you should move all your stuff back over to the other room."
"HAH?! What happened to relaxing in my room?!"
"You can relax in your room after moving your stuff over and deciding where to sleep," Jun said simply.
"Ohno-kun took the bed while I took the couch," Sho informed, "so you can pick one or the other."
"Right, time's a-wasting. We ought to head out soon," Aiba said.
"Bye guys! See you all at dinner!" Shizuka called as she eagerly shuffled ahead in the direction of the bookstores with Sho.
Just then, it hit NIno.
"OI! SHO! YOU DIDN'T GIVE ME YOUR KEY!" Nino called but Sho was already out of sight and he found himself very unfortunately left alone with the last person he had wanted to see. Ever.
"... I have the key," Ohno said softly and Nino cast him an annoyed look before sighing.
"Fine. Show me the way."
"Ah! Sho-kun, I think you forgot to give him the key!" Shizuka said in alarm as she paused in her steps and looked behind to see Nino and Ohno leaving for the lifts.
"It's fine," Sho said as he urged her along, "leave Ohno to take care of him, alright?"
Shizuka smirked. "Who knew you'd be so mean to him?"
"Mean to him? Never!" Sho said with a knowing grin and pointed over to a bookshop nearby, "that looks good. Let's go and have a look."
Shizuka happily followed along, the sparks in her eyes brightening her face.
Up in his room, Nino grumbled he stuffed his clothes inside his bag. Part of him just KNEW that Sho had purposefully set things up for Ohno to speak to him.
"That idiot.." Nino mumbled his pajamas went into his bag in a crumpled fistful. He then carried his bag over to the room next door and knocked on it. Seconds later, the door swung open to reveal a slightly nervous Ohno Satoshi.
"Well.. erm. Come in."
Nino said nothing but shuffled in and looked around for a space to put his bag.
"Where are you sleeping tonight?" Nino asked.
"I slept on the bed last night."
"Okay," NIno said and took out his 3DS, making himself at home on the huge couch in the room, "I will stay here then."
"The couch?"
Nino made no reply and simply fiddled with his 3DS.
"Nino?"
"..."
"..K-Kazu?"
Nino glared at the man sitting on the bed.
"If I didn't say anything when you called me Nino, what makes you think I'd say anything when you called me 'Kazu'?!"
".. But you did," Ohno said with a blank look and Nino only huffed stubbornly in response.
"Shut up. Leave me alone."
"... At least we're talking," Ohno thought to himself as he reached for the remote control and switched on the TV. He then dragged the corners of the blanket on the bed and pulled them over himself, making the blanket wrap around him like seaweed on onigiri.
When Ohno said nothing else, Nino looked up at him curiously and followed his eyes to see...
"Tch. You still like watching marine documentaries?" he asked.
Ohno nodded in response. "I like fishes, that's why."
"Then again, you always had," Nino said as he looked back down at his 3DS. Ohno's eyes flit over to Nino, a faint warmth settling in his heart.
At least he hadn't forgotten that.
Nino looked out of the window, seeing the skies drizzle lightly.
/// flashback ///
"Ah, you got hurt here..." Nino murmured with a pout as he brushed his fingers over Ohno's cut lip. Ohno smiled and shook his head.
"I just fell down and got hurt. It's nothing big."
"Geez, be a bit more careful," Nino said as he snuggled closer to Ohno, staring out at the rainy skies above them as they took shelter under a small pavilion.
"Ahh.. this will teach me to not bring an umbrella," Nino complained, "now we'll have to wait it out here before we could head over to my house."
"It's okay," Ohno said as he stood and looked up mysteriously at the rain, "I like the rain. There's something so...comforting about it."
"Really?" Nino asked as he followed Ohno's eyes to look at the sky.
"It's soft, "Ohno answered thoughtfully, "quiet. Cleansing too. It's almost as if it's rinsing bad things out of the town so everything feels brand new."
"That's one way of looking at it, I guess," Nino murmured in agreement as he reached out a hand to catch the rain in his hands. He then looked over at Ohno and linked their arms affectionately together.
"The rain reminds me of you though," Nino said quietly with a blush as he looked away.
"Why?"
"It's soft, quiet and comforting like you," Nino answered, "well, you're a lot warmer though."
Ohno chuckled and drew him closer, their arms wrapping around each other as they warmed each other up amidst the pouring rain.
The pair enjoyed a short time of comfortable silence as they basked in the warmth of their embrace.
"Ne, Kazu," Ohno said softly, "do you think we'll still be together in high school?"
"What's with that question?" Nino asked with a curious look.
"Just wondering," Ohno said as he looked up at the skies with a slightly troubled look, "you know. Some couples last longer than five years, some others less..."
Nino's grip on Ohno's arm tightened as Nino stared into the distance.
"We will be, and even after that when we go to college, we will be," Nino said, "I'm not going anywhere, I promise."
"You do?"
Nino nodded. "You won't too, right?"
Ohno smiled warmly and dropped a light kiss on his forehead and looked back up at the rain.
"Never," he whispered, "I promise."
/// flashback ///
"Do you.. still like the rain?" Nino asked quietly. Ohno looked at him in surprise.
"... Mm. Yeah. I still like it. Do you?" Ohno asked back gently, and Nino flushed at his own question.
"I don't know," he answered after clearing his throat, "but I don't dislike it."
With that, he took his 3DS with him and went out of the room. Ohno bit his lip for a moment before returning to watching television.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sho watched as Shizuka wandered around the horror and thriller shelves.
"You have a very interesting taste in books," Sho commented and Shizuka flashed him a Cheshire grin.
"Oh dear, am I scaring you?" she teased, "I have a whole shelf dedicated to horror stories by the great-"
"I don't need to know that!"
Shizuka laughed mischievously as she turned back to the shelves and looked up some titles.
"Don't you read stuff like romance novels or such?" Sho asked curiously, "it's a rather popular genre."
Shizuka's eyes fell slightly, the curve of her lips now flat.
"Not really," she said, "it's hard for me to get into it."
"Really?"
Shizuka looked sadly at the romance shelves.
"Yeah. Somehow, I don't quite understand them."
Sho looked at her in complete shock and surprise.
"What do you mean?"
Shizuka shrugged and looked straight at Sho.
"I just can't.. well.. emphathise. Not as much as I used to," Shizuka said.
"So you used to.."
Shizuka nodded, her eyes slightly empty and her voice almost a bit cold.
"Nino knows him too. ... my ex, that is."
Sho held himself inhale sharply at her words as they wrapped around his heart like a noose.
"I-I'm sorry I asked. I didn't mean to-"
"Oh, don't worry about it," Shizuka said with a smile, "I'm really am over him. Really. My lack of empathy is not because of him."
"Oh.. that is good," Sho said.
"I'll just put it this way. The magic behind tricks are gone once you've learnt how to perform them," she said cryptically, "I sometimes envy others who have every expectation in the world while I have none."
"That.. is a bit sad, isn't it?" Sho said as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Shizuka looked up at him and shrugged.
"Well, scientific research has shown that people who know too much are less happy," Shizuka stated, pushing up her glasses,"it's just a proven fact. There's hardly anything happy or sad about it."
With that, she grabbed a few titles off the horror shelf and headed for the counter, and Sho wondered why her back seemed a bit lonely.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After a hearty dinner, Shizuka decided to return to her room for the night while Aiba and Jun decided to shop around some more.
That was how Ohno, Sho and Nino found themselves at the bar with their mugs of beer.
"I have stuff to ask you about," Sho said, "do you know about Shizuka's ex?"
Ohno looked up in interest. "Shizuka-chan had an ex?"
"Oh, Yamada Tarou-kun?" Nino said as he recalled, "yeah. Quite the gentleman, he was."
"So you DO know him!" Sho said.
"Well, me and Shizuka went to the same high school after all. Naturally, I'd know her ex. But.. things weren't the same after he parted."
Nino gulped down a mouthful of beer before continuing.
"They were very much in love, but their parents forbade it. Her parents disapproved of her choice because he was not really well-to-do," Nino said with a sad look on his face, "and his traditionalist parents disliked her independent attitude. So as much as they loved each other, they parted on a common understanding for the good of their families."
Ohno listened attentively as he nodded understandingly.
"So.. she did not really want it then?"
"Not at that point in time. But she did move on. Even if it was a bit too quickly," Nino remarked, "she became even more withdrawn and skeptical than before."
Sho took a sip as he felt the story of Shizuka's history sink into his mind.
"Hmm.. Reminds me of someone I know," Sho said and Nino levelled a glare at him, "skeptical, withdrawn.. fits you to a tee at the moment."
"Shut up," Nino said.
"Nino," Ohno said, "I.."
"Look," Nino said exasperatedly, "I know that everyone is asking me to listen, but I really am not ready."
"Did you think he was ready when he told me or Jun?" Sho asked sternly.
"Sho-kun," Ohno said, "please. Let me."
"Nino-kun, forgive me for being indelicate," she said, "but shouldn't you at least give him a listen? "
"That's because you always refused to listen. If you had really known what Ohno-kun had been through back in middle school, you will understand why he left."
"Please. At least give him a listen. If you can't take the truth, you can do whatever you wish. But at least let him speak to alleviate the pain from the last 7 years."
Nino took a deep breath.
"Very well," Nino said shakily as he exhaled to clear his mind and heart, "talk."
"But firstly," Sho said,"what made you avoid Shizuka-chan in the first place?"
Memories of being beaten up in the boys' bathroom and left with a bleeding head, a bruised back and bleeding legs rushed through his mind.
"I was bullied very badly. Every now and then I'd be beaten up by-"
"Well, someone saw that."
Nino looked up in shock. "Who?!"
When no one said anything and Ohno looked down guiltily, Nino was aghast.
"N-no.. you could not have.."
"Nino.. I'm sorry.." Ohno said with damp eyes,"I'm sorry! It was because of me! "
Nino felt his blood run cold and his hands became damp with sweat.
"Wh-what are you talking about?"
Sho patted Ohno encouragingly on the back. The next words that came out of Ohno's mouth undid him on the inside.
"That guy was not targeting you in the first place- it was me he wanted.."
Nino felt his stomach drop as the fact sank into his mind.
"Then.. those times when you were injured was because...
Ohno nodded. "I was bullied first."
"How.. did that happen?"
Sho gave a grave look as he spoke.
"That boy was targeting him from the beginning because he reported him for cheating on a major test and gotten him suspended with a dark mark on his record. He was furious.. and Ohno-kun became his target."
"No..."
"And when he saw the two of you taking shelter in the rain together, he found out Ohno-kun's weakness- you."
Every word that came out of Sho's mouth started to unravel everything that Nino knew like a piece of thread, the truth of the matter surfacing little by little.
"After I found you, I went to look for him," Ohno said ," and he promised me not to touch you ever again on the condition I did something for him. ... I had to accompany him to steal the answer key to the year-end examinations."
The memories became clearer in Nino's mind- Ohno's absent seat in the examinations, the rumours, the sight of him being led away several times into the discipline master's office and even the principal's office.
"And.. you were caught?"
Ohno nodded.
"It was his idea, but he took the opportunity and made me the scapegoat of his deed," Ohno said, "and I was not allowed to take the examinations at all."
"Oh my God.."
"But things could have been worse," Ohno added quickly, "at least the teachers believed I was not capable of such a deed and pleaded for my case, believing I was framed. So I was let off without a mark on my record.. but I was to transfer to another school in another town."
With blurry eyes, Nino then recalled him receiving that one last phonecall on that fateful day.
"I'm leaving."
"I'm moving far away. I'll be transferring to the school there too."
"Goodbye, Ninomiya-kun."
"NO! DON'T YOU DARE!"
Sho and Ohno held their breaths as they watched Nino stare into space, an unreadable expression on his face.
A pin-drop silence fell between the three men, and it was broken by Nino taking a sharp, difficult breath.
"...Leave.."
Nino muttered.
"Nino-"
"LEAVE!"
Ohno flinched with a sad expression on his face, walking out of the bar. Sho sighed exasperatedly and forcefully grabbed Nino by the collar.
"What do you want?!" Sho demanded, "why are you so goddamn stubborn?!"
"You don't get it!" Nino yelled, "do you know how stupid and horrible I feel now?!"
Sho froze as warm tears fell from Nino's eyes.
"I thought he left me because he hated me," he said between deep breaths, "all this time for the past seven years I always thought he was pushing me away.. and then now with all this, everything I did was so... stupid.. I just.."
His grip on Nino's collar loosened as Nino slumped on his seat, feeling his heart twist in anger at Ohno and himself, regret and remorse.
"Why?! Why does it hurt so badly even after all this time?! It was supposed to be something that was seven years ago but now I.."
"...It's because you still love him, isn't it?"
Nino blinked through his tears as the realisation of everything he felt and cut through his heart like a knife.
"That is how intense your feelings for him have been," Sho said, "it's because you really cannot bear the thought that he had even left you, right?"
Nino felt his warm tears seep into the front of his shirt as he felt his emotions stirring in his heart, knowing that this time Ohno was not the one pushing him away, but he was the one shutting Ohno away from him and now he may not even be able to get him back even if he had wished to.
"Go."
That one word felt like a light in their dark situation. Nino looked uncertainly at Sho.
"Go now. After him. Tell him everything you just told me. Do it for him, and for yourself."
With a deep breath, Nino jumped off the chair and sprinted out of the bar into the night.
Sho watched him go with a soft smile on his face.
"I guess the Ice Prince has finally thawed," he said to himself as he looked at the table where Nino's tears had fallen.