Sound of Silence: Chapter 1
Title: Sound of Silence 1/?
Pairing: Sakumoto, guests appearances by the rest of Arashi (maybe with a surprise side-pairing ;-)), and some others
Rating: up to R
Genre: AU, romance, maybe a bit suspense
Plot: It's in the middle of the night when Sho, a wealthy young business man, stumbles over an unconscious young man, beaten up and curled up in a dark alley. Tired from the way his life goes Sho decides to do something good and takes the man home. Once he wakes up however Sho realizes that the young man has forgotten all about his past, everything he is, and has lost his voice too. Everything that remained from his existence is his name: Matsumoto Jun. But who is he? What happened to him? Why was he lying on the street, beaten-up? And what kind of trauma did he encounter to loose his voice?
Note: This is the story that won the poll on my journal ^^ So, I had started writing it before the poll, kind of lost motivation in the middle of it and then with everyone's encouragement I picked it up again, and voilà :D I hope this is going to be really interesting for you! There is some suspense in it, and we'll gradually uncover Jun's past.
Sho still knows every detail about how and when it happened. He remembers the street being weirdly deserted, only some leaves covering the ground, every of his footsteps being heard. A dark night, only lit by some street lights, but one of them isn’t working well, just flickering slightly. He still sees it right in front of him, like he is only a spectator, a watcher, and not the person playing the main protagonist of this story. He is watching himself, how he walks that lane, walking home from a long day at work. He wants to breathe some fresh air and get his head free from all the stress accumulating there. It’s cold but the fresh air has filled him with some motivation again.
Life sucks sometimes, he thinks. Nothing unusual. If he drops dead right at this moment now, would someone even miss him? He knows, of course, and knew back then, that it’s a silly thought because he has good friends and people he loves, but the own mind and the own thoughts are sometimes unpredictable.
Actually, when he isn’t grumpy, gloomy, irritated or had a bad they, he loves this path because it leads him next to the riverside, it’s beautiful, calm and almost mysterious. As a child he always sat here and dreamed about how a pirate captain would sail down from the sky one day and pick him up to go on adventurous journeys with him. Or how a wonderful fairy-princess would meet him here, close to the river, and tell him her heart-breaking story and how only he, Prince Sho, could help her out of her misery. None of these things happened of course, still the mystery of the place remained for Sho. It was his place.
This path screams destiny, and life.
This time he almost walks by his destiny though, the real one, not the stories he made up as a child. He almost misses this fragile blink of fate that will change his life completely. It’s only because there is a black cat that suddenly starts mewing when he walks by that he sees a guy rolled up at the corner of a dark alley.
He hates cats. They are creepy, annoying and hairy - basically like your father, his mother used to joke when he would rant about his fear of cats. To imagine it would be a cat out of all that awakes his attention on what would turn his life upside down. Here Sho-san, look, this is it… the turning point of your life. Cats are creepy.
His first intention is to run. A guy on the street, with a cat. Thank you. No one can even remotely survive that as he and Aiba had just recently found out during their horror movie night. He is seriously about to turn around and run when the creepy cat mews again, a loud reproachful mew that sounds like she is reprimanding him for being a heartless jerk. His eyes fall on the guy lying there. He thought it’s a drunk homeless first but to his shock it’s a young man, probably even younger than he is. He doesn’t look dirty nor does he look poor. His clothes aren’t cheap, at least that’s what Sho’s non-existent fashion sense tells him. He just isn’t wearing shoes, and socks. And no jacket. What kind of idiot leaves the house without shoes and jacket, but with a cat?
Later Sho will wonder if he would have also stopped if it had been a bright and shiny night, or if it had only been the mystery of this night, the darkness, that reminded him of his long-passed wishes he had dreamed of as a child.
Is he a good person? He doesn’t know that. But right at this moment, something invisible - like a string - pulls him towards this person on the ground.
He does what every honest, responsible and reliable person of society does. He calls one of his best friends. Between Aiba, who is a helpful soul and the owner of his favourite bar, and Ohno, who has basically never anything to do, he goes for the latter. At 1AM in the morning on a Friday night it’s only Ohno who would sit at home and do nothing. He is a self-proclaimed artist, and sometimes sells a painting with a deep philosophic meaning Sho doesn’t understand. That’s what he lives from.
Ohno picks in his nose thoughtfully. The cat rubs against his legs, and Sho questions it again, why he actually befriended Ohno. Creepy cat likes creepy guy? Ohno grins. “You are thinking aloud.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Nope, but your eyes did.” Ohno chuckles. “So, how did you manage to stumble over such an attractive guy?”
“He is attractive?” Sho asks sarcastically. “And how exactly do you manage to see that?”
“His jaw shows obvious distinctive features, he has a small waist, long legs. And he is dressed in Versace jeans.” Ohno says with the confidence of an artist. “So, let’s take him to your apartment.”
“Excuse me!” Sho squeaks. “I’m not taking a stranger to my apartment!”
Ohno shrugs. “Fine, then let’s go.”
“I’m not letting him lie there either,” Sho huffs, accompanied by a loud mew of the cat.
Ohno rolls his eyes, like he is the one being perfectly reasonable here. “Fine,” he says. “Let’s call Nino.”
Finally, a word of wisdom from his old friend. Nino is a regular at Aiba’s bar, and Ohno’s childhood friend, a true couch-potato. He is also a doctor. However that happened. No one would dare to call Nino away from his couch and videogame to do something also an ambulance could have done. But Ohno does, and Nino doesn’t question his actions much.
Nino arrives together with Aiba. Apparently they had a drink together before. “How did he get here,” Aiba wants to know, eyeing the young man in interest.
“How should I know?” Sho sighs. “I just found him.”
“Then he obviously belongs to you. You need to keep what you find, and make a wish,” Nino jokes. He bends forward a bit, turning the guy on his back and taking a proper look at him. For a few minutes none of them says a word. “His pulse seems to be fine. His pupils are too. No smell of alcohol, definitely no pills. It seems like he is asleep but he probably fainted in fatigue,” Nino analyses. “Let’s take him to Sho’s place.”
“You sure? He could be a mass murderer,” Ohno points out lazily.
“I’m sure he is not,” Aiba grins. “Maybe he was spit on the street by the moon.”
“Yes, because that makes so much more sense,” Sho huffs in annoyance, while Aiba cracks a laugh and clings to Nino while he does so.
“Let’s take him to Sho’s place because it’s freezing like hell and I’m not doing any further check-up before warming up my ass,” Nino interrupts them. “Load him in my car.”
When he opens the door, Ohno, Sho and Aiba grab the guy’s limbs, trying to lay him down at the back seats. Before any of them has the chance to close the door again the cat-devil jumps into the car too, taking its place on the guy’s stomach and throwing a glare at Sho.
Sho shivers. “I’m definitely not sitting next to that.”
Aiba grins. “Yes it might turn into a ten-headed medusa soon, and steal your soul. Be careful.”
“In Europe they say black cats are a sign for bad luck. You should feed it though to keep the devil out of your house.” Ohno chews on a drop he found at the front seat of Nino’s care. “From when’s that?” he asks.
“Few months old,” Nino mumbles and starts the car.
“Still edible,” Ohno nods while Aiba grimaces slightly.
“Well, Sho-chan, you take his legs or head?” Aiba wants to know. “Otherwise there is only the luggage space.”
“Thanks for being considerate.” Sho sighs but gives in nevertheless. He decides to take said-guy’s head on his lap, far away from the cat. “Stop it from staring at me,” he whispers towards Aiba while Nino sets off to take them to Sho’s apartment.
Aiba chuckles, and pokes the cat, soon engulfing it in a game.
~~~
Sho owns a penthouse. The last floor of a building right in Shibuya. He has started low before, only equipped with a good idea and his unbreakable motivation and determination. Now he is the editor in chief of his own publishing company that publishes some of the best-selling novelists. He is also a brilliant tax accountant.
The guy is sleeping on his perfect maroon coloured sofa now, wrapped in a blanket as Nino has concluded that nothing is wrong with him and he might just need to have a good sleep. The cat has curled up in front of Sho’s perfect cinema- and sound system right on his favourite Iranian carpet.
“We probably should call someone,” Aiba finally reasons. Sho nods, he had the same thought.
“Good luck with that.” Ohno yawns slightly while he roams through Sho’s fridge, taking some eggs out of it. “Ham and eggs?” he asks.
“Fine with me. But pour us a glass of wine too,” Nino agrees. “And tell us why we don’t need to call for someone.”
“I didn’t say you don’t need to,” Ohno points out. “I said there is no use to it. I bet you won’t find anything of use in his pockets. If we are lucky we might find something like a library card with his name on. Definitely no ID or anything else that would be useful. I would be surprised if he had a wallet.”
“Why the hell do you think that?” Sho wants to know.
“He looks like he got thrown on the street.” Ohno analyses and puts a pan on the stove.
It’s like he hit the truth on its head, Sho thinks. Like he just guessed and analysed the obvious. A guy with nothing on his body except for pants and a shirt… and a cat… would he carry a wallet? Sho approaches the sleeping man carefully. He looks young, he thinks, on first glance at least, but there are frowns on his forehead and he winces in his sleep. He looks pretty, and reminds of something Sho once had but lost. He can’t quite put his finger on it yet.
He slips his and under the blanket, carefully not to wake the guy up. He doesn’t even know why he is so careful, so attentive, but the expression on the guy’s sleeping face basically does something to his heart that he hasn’t encountered in a while.
The pants of the guy have pockets, the shirt doesn’t. There is nothing inside, except for a little silver pendant that looks like a charm and a… Sho turns to face Ohno. “A card for a video rental shop,” he says. “Close enough, Satoshi-kun.”
“His name?” Nino wants to know.
Sho turns the card, inspecting it closely. “Matsumoto Jun,” he recites.
“Anything else? Age? Birthday, birthplace?”
“No.”
Aiba puts a plate with ham in front of the devil-cat and pets it softly. Then he looks up. “Isn’t this weird?” he finally asks. “A guy, hardly dressed, with nothing on his body, no wallet, no keys, no ID. But with designer clothes.”
And with a cat.
It is, Sho thinks. It is extremely weird. He is about to say something but then the person under the blanket stirs, and the guy - Jun? - shifts his body, turning around and opening his eyes. And Sho looks into two of the most beautiful dark orbs he has ever seen.
He is lost, he knows it.
A/N: First chapter! YAY! I hope you'll like this. As I said, this was the story that won on the poll on my private journal. I was kind of surprised that so many were interested in this here. But I also encouraged me to work on it, and I think I've managed to make something interesting out of it. Jun won't remember anything about his past, and he won't be able to talk, which was a challenge, because communication is important, isn't it? Especially when feelings are supposed to develop :-)
Jun just woke up now, but how will he react? Oh, and as you imagine, of course the other Arashi guys will be in this story too, and I'm thinking of including a surprise side-pair ^^
Pairing: Sakumoto, guests appearances by the rest of Arashi (maybe with a surprise side-pairing ;-)), and some others
Rating: up to R
Genre: AU, romance, maybe a bit suspense
Plot: It's in the middle of the night when Sho, a wealthy young business man, stumbles over an unconscious young man, beaten up and curled up in a dark alley. Tired from the way his life goes Sho decides to do something good and takes the man home. Once he wakes up however Sho realizes that the young man has forgotten all about his past, everything he is, and has lost his voice too. Everything that remained from his existence is his name: Matsumoto Jun. But who is he? What happened to him? Why was he lying on the street, beaten-up? And what kind of trauma did he encounter to loose his voice?
Note: This is the story that won the poll on my journal ^^ So, I had started writing it before the poll, kind of lost motivation in the middle of it and then with everyone's encouragement I picked it up again, and voilà :D I hope this is going to be really interesting for you! There is some suspense in it, and we'll gradually uncover Jun's past.
Sho still knows every detail about how and when it happened. He remembers the street being weirdly deserted, only some leaves covering the ground, every of his footsteps being heard. A dark night, only lit by some street lights, but one of them isn’t working well, just flickering slightly. He still sees it right in front of him, like he is only a spectator, a watcher, and not the person playing the main protagonist of this story. He is watching himself, how he walks that lane, walking home from a long day at work. He wants to breathe some fresh air and get his head free from all the stress accumulating there. It’s cold but the fresh air has filled him with some motivation again.
Life sucks sometimes, he thinks. Nothing unusual. If he drops dead right at this moment now, would someone even miss him? He knows, of course, and knew back then, that it’s a silly thought because he has good friends and people he loves, but the own mind and the own thoughts are sometimes unpredictable.
Actually, when he isn’t grumpy, gloomy, irritated or had a bad they, he loves this path because it leads him next to the riverside, it’s beautiful, calm and almost mysterious. As a child he always sat here and dreamed about how a pirate captain would sail down from the sky one day and pick him up to go on adventurous journeys with him. Or how a wonderful fairy-princess would meet him here, close to the river, and tell him her heart-breaking story and how only he, Prince Sho, could help her out of her misery. None of these things happened of course, still the mystery of the place remained for Sho. It was his place.
This path screams destiny, and life.
This time he almost walks by his destiny though, the real one, not the stories he made up as a child. He almost misses this fragile blink of fate that will change his life completely. It’s only because there is a black cat that suddenly starts mewing when he walks by that he sees a guy rolled up at the corner of a dark alley.
He hates cats. They are creepy, annoying and hairy - basically like your father, his mother used to joke when he would rant about his fear of cats. To imagine it would be a cat out of all that awakes his attention on what would turn his life upside down. Here Sho-san, look, this is it… the turning point of your life. Cats are creepy.
His first intention is to run. A guy on the street, with a cat. Thank you. No one can even remotely survive that as he and Aiba had just recently found out during their horror movie night. He is seriously about to turn around and run when the creepy cat mews again, a loud reproachful mew that sounds like she is reprimanding him for being a heartless jerk. His eyes fall on the guy lying there. He thought it’s a drunk homeless first but to his shock it’s a young man, probably even younger than he is. He doesn’t look dirty nor does he look poor. His clothes aren’t cheap, at least that’s what Sho’s non-existent fashion sense tells him. He just isn’t wearing shoes, and socks. And no jacket. What kind of idiot leaves the house without shoes and jacket, but with a cat?
Later Sho will wonder if he would have also stopped if it had been a bright and shiny night, or if it had only been the mystery of this night, the darkness, that reminded him of his long-passed wishes he had dreamed of as a child.
Is he a good person? He doesn’t know that. But right at this moment, something invisible - like a string - pulls him towards this person on the ground.
He does what every honest, responsible and reliable person of society does. He calls one of his best friends. Between Aiba, who is a helpful soul and the owner of his favourite bar, and Ohno, who has basically never anything to do, he goes for the latter. At 1AM in the morning on a Friday night it’s only Ohno who would sit at home and do nothing. He is a self-proclaimed artist, and sometimes sells a painting with a deep philosophic meaning Sho doesn’t understand. That’s what he lives from.
Ohno picks in his nose thoughtfully. The cat rubs against his legs, and Sho questions it again, why he actually befriended Ohno. Creepy cat likes creepy guy? Ohno grins. “You are thinking aloud.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Nope, but your eyes did.” Ohno chuckles. “So, how did you manage to stumble over such an attractive guy?”
“He is attractive?” Sho asks sarcastically. “And how exactly do you manage to see that?”
“His jaw shows obvious distinctive features, he has a small waist, long legs. And he is dressed in Versace jeans.” Ohno says with the confidence of an artist. “So, let’s take him to your apartment.”
“Excuse me!” Sho squeaks. “I’m not taking a stranger to my apartment!”
Ohno shrugs. “Fine, then let’s go.”
“I’m not letting him lie there either,” Sho huffs, accompanied by a loud mew of the cat.
Ohno rolls his eyes, like he is the one being perfectly reasonable here. “Fine,” he says. “Let’s call Nino.”
Finally, a word of wisdom from his old friend. Nino is a regular at Aiba’s bar, and Ohno’s childhood friend, a true couch-potato. He is also a doctor. However that happened. No one would dare to call Nino away from his couch and videogame to do something also an ambulance could have done. But Ohno does, and Nino doesn’t question his actions much.
Nino arrives together with Aiba. Apparently they had a drink together before. “How did he get here,” Aiba wants to know, eyeing the young man in interest.
“How should I know?” Sho sighs. “I just found him.”
“Then he obviously belongs to you. You need to keep what you find, and make a wish,” Nino jokes. He bends forward a bit, turning the guy on his back and taking a proper look at him. For a few minutes none of them says a word. “His pulse seems to be fine. His pupils are too. No smell of alcohol, definitely no pills. It seems like he is asleep but he probably fainted in fatigue,” Nino analyses. “Let’s take him to Sho’s place.”
“You sure? He could be a mass murderer,” Ohno points out lazily.
“I’m sure he is not,” Aiba grins. “Maybe he was spit on the street by the moon.”
“Yes, because that makes so much more sense,” Sho huffs in annoyance, while Aiba cracks a laugh and clings to Nino while he does so.
“Let’s take him to Sho’s place because it’s freezing like hell and I’m not doing any further check-up before warming up my ass,” Nino interrupts them. “Load him in my car.”
When he opens the door, Ohno, Sho and Aiba grab the guy’s limbs, trying to lay him down at the back seats. Before any of them has the chance to close the door again the cat-devil jumps into the car too, taking its place on the guy’s stomach and throwing a glare at Sho.
Sho shivers. “I’m definitely not sitting next to that.”
Aiba grins. “Yes it might turn into a ten-headed medusa soon, and steal your soul. Be careful.”
“In Europe they say black cats are a sign for bad luck. You should feed it though to keep the devil out of your house.” Ohno chews on a drop he found at the front seat of Nino’s care. “From when’s that?” he asks.
“Few months old,” Nino mumbles and starts the car.
“Still edible,” Ohno nods while Aiba grimaces slightly.
“Well, Sho-chan, you take his legs or head?” Aiba wants to know. “Otherwise there is only the luggage space.”
“Thanks for being considerate.” Sho sighs but gives in nevertheless. He decides to take said-guy’s head on his lap, far away from the cat. “Stop it from staring at me,” he whispers towards Aiba while Nino sets off to take them to Sho’s apartment.
Aiba chuckles, and pokes the cat, soon engulfing it in a game.
~~~
Sho owns a penthouse. The last floor of a building right in Shibuya. He has started low before, only equipped with a good idea and his unbreakable motivation and determination. Now he is the editor in chief of his own publishing company that publishes some of the best-selling novelists. He is also a brilliant tax accountant.
The guy is sleeping on his perfect maroon coloured sofa now, wrapped in a blanket as Nino has concluded that nothing is wrong with him and he might just need to have a good sleep. The cat has curled up in front of Sho’s perfect cinema- and sound system right on his favourite Iranian carpet.
“We probably should call someone,” Aiba finally reasons. Sho nods, he had the same thought.
“Good luck with that.” Ohno yawns slightly while he roams through Sho’s fridge, taking some eggs out of it. “Ham and eggs?” he asks.
“Fine with me. But pour us a glass of wine too,” Nino agrees. “And tell us why we don’t need to call for someone.”
“I didn’t say you don’t need to,” Ohno points out. “I said there is no use to it. I bet you won’t find anything of use in his pockets. If we are lucky we might find something like a library card with his name on. Definitely no ID or anything else that would be useful. I would be surprised if he had a wallet.”
“Why the hell do you think that?” Sho wants to know.
“He looks like he got thrown on the street.” Ohno analyses and puts a pan on the stove.
It’s like he hit the truth on its head, Sho thinks. Like he just guessed and analysed the obvious. A guy with nothing on his body except for pants and a shirt… and a cat… would he carry a wallet? Sho approaches the sleeping man carefully. He looks young, he thinks, on first glance at least, but there are frowns on his forehead and he winces in his sleep. He looks pretty, and reminds of something Sho once had but lost. He can’t quite put his finger on it yet.
He slips his and under the blanket, carefully not to wake the guy up. He doesn’t even know why he is so careful, so attentive, but the expression on the guy’s sleeping face basically does something to his heart that he hasn’t encountered in a while.
The pants of the guy have pockets, the shirt doesn’t. There is nothing inside, except for a little silver pendant that looks like a charm and a… Sho turns to face Ohno. “A card for a video rental shop,” he says. “Close enough, Satoshi-kun.”
“His name?” Nino wants to know.
Sho turns the card, inspecting it closely. “Matsumoto Jun,” he recites.
“Anything else? Age? Birthday, birthplace?”
“No.”
Aiba puts a plate with ham in front of the devil-cat and pets it softly. Then he looks up. “Isn’t this weird?” he finally asks. “A guy, hardly dressed, with nothing on his body, no wallet, no keys, no ID. But with designer clothes.”
And with a cat.
It is, Sho thinks. It is extremely weird. He is about to say something but then the person under the blanket stirs, and the guy - Jun? - shifts his body, turning around and opening his eyes. And Sho looks into two of the most beautiful dark orbs he has ever seen.
He is lost, he knows it.
A/N: First chapter! YAY! I hope you'll like this. As I said, this was the story that won on the poll on my private journal. I was kind of surprised that so many were interested in this here. But I also encouraged me to work on it, and I think I've managed to make something interesting out of it. Jun won't remember anything about his past, and he won't be able to talk, which was a challenge, because communication is important, isn't it? Especially when feelings are supposed to develop :-)
Jun just woke up now, but how will he react? Oh, and as you imagine, of course the other Arashi guys will be in this story too, and I'm thinking of including a surprise side-pair ^^