[drabble] Departures
Title: Departures
Author: Luna (dreamweavernyx )
Pairing: Yabuhika
Genre: Angst/fluff
Notes: Request for Saki (shiroikazex ).
~
The train pulled into the station, stopping with a steaming hiss at the platform.
“Goodbye,” he said emotionlessly, and without a second glance back, walked towards the opening doors of the bullet train.
“Wait!” I cried, and stretched out my hand in desperation, for a chance to grab onto him once more, to tell him what I needed to before he left…
But my hand closed on empty air.
He looked at me through cold narrowed eyes, eyes that no longer seemed to belong on his normally kind face.
“What happened to you?” I whispered, voice filled with despair, “Why are you acting like you don’t care?”
He tsk-ed in disgust, and turned to leave before the train doors closed.
“Because,” he said softly, coldly, “I never cared.”
The train door slipped shut behind him, and the train sped away, taking him to a faraway place.
Nobody noticed, or perhaps nobody cared, as I crumpled on the floor with tears sliding down my cheeks.
With a startled cry and a jolt, Hikaru sat up violently, hands still tangled in the messy bedsheets.
It was only a dream, he thought to himself, and relief flooded his heart.
A quick glance at the clock on the bedside table told him that it was 1 a.m, four hours before he was supposed to wake up to go for work. Sighing, he collapsed back into bed, and drifted into a sleep undisturbed by dreams.
~
“I’m going to Yokohama for a few days.”
I blinked in surprise.
“Eh? When? Why?”
He shrugged.
“The shinkansen I’m taking leaves tomorrow. It’s for my cousin’s wedding.”
“Oh,” I said, not knowing what else I could say. He smiled.
“I’ll only be gone till Sunday night,” he said cheerily, “so you probably won’t miss me much, yeah?”
I nodded, and he laughed quietly, grabbing his bag and heading out of the dressing room, presumably to go home and pack for his Yokohama trip tomorrow.
He’d only be gone for three days, and I knew I wouldn’t miss him much, even if he was my best friend. He would be back in Tokyo before I knew it.
The next evening, it was an off-day, and I came back from going shopping with Takaki and Inoo, only to see the evening news blaring with the headlines of the day.
And then for that moment, my heart almost stopped beating.
Train Crash, it read. Shinkansen train crashes on its journey bound for Yokohama.
The train that crashed was the 9 a.m. train.
He had been on that train.
My mouth opened in a silent scream, as black waves of horror began to engulf me…
…and for the second night in a row, Hikaru woke up in the middle of the night, shaking and sweating.
“Why am I having these dreams?” he murmured aloud, to nobody in particular.
As expected, nobody answered his desperate question, and the only sound in the tranquil silence of the night was the chirping of crickets outside the window.
He fell back onto the rumpled sheets, and tried to close his eyes and fall back into the world of dreams, but to no avail.
He didn’t know how long he lay there, but eventually his eyelids fluttered closed, only to open what seemed like a moment later to squint against the morning sunlight, the alarm clock ringing in his ears.
~
And once again, I was on a train platform. The same scenario, all over again.
“Hey, my train’s almost here,” he told me, “so can you stop sitting on my luggage so I can take it?”
There was humor in his voice, but I wasn’t going to be fooled this time.
“You’re not leaving,” I told him, feet planted firmly on the platform floor, refusing to get off his bag. “Bad things happen when you leave.”
“Oh really?” he asked, laughing, “I doubt so.”
I shook my head, shutting my eyes.
“No way,” I repeated.
He laughed again, but this time it was different, a different kind of laugh. It wasn’t kind as usual, rather it sounded cold, evil, unfeeling.
“I don’t think I have to board the train before anything happens,” he hissed in a strange nasal voice, and my eyes snapped open to see an uncharacteristic leer on his face, his head slowly tilting at an unnatural angle.
“Wait-stop-”
“Too late,” he sing-songed, and the head turned a full ninety degrees to the side, mouth still twisted in the maniacal grin.
Suddenly, the platform melted away, and everything went black except for him and me. Eerily glowing purple tendrils snaked out of nowhere, and wrapped themselves around him.
“You should have let me go up the train,” he giggled in that strange voice, before the tendrils constricted, crushing his body with it.
This time, Hikaru woke up screaming.
What was wrong? Why was he having nightmare after nightmare of him and train platforms and leaving?
Was it a premonition of something to come?
~
A couple of days later, they were packing up their dressing room after the last concert of the tour. They had a week or so free before jimusho activities resumed, and everyone was eager for a chance to rest and relax.
“I’m going to go shopping in Shibuya!” enthused Inoo happily, “with Takaki!”
“I’m going to play DS all day,” Ryutaro said, grinning, “I just got Pokemon Black, and I can’t wait to start playing!”
“I’m going to Pockyland!”
“I’m going to tour all the cake shops in Tokyo!”
One by one, the rest of JUMP announced their plans for the week off, and charged out of the dressing room to get some sleep before their week of fun began the next day.
“Well,” said Yabu, “I guess I’m the one who’s going the furthest this time.”
Hikaru tilted his head.
“Where are you going?”
“Okinawa,” said Yabu, smiling, “I’m taking the train to Haneda tomorrow morning.”
The words rang in Hikaru’s head hollowly.
I’m taking the train to Haneda tomorrow morning.
I’m taking the train to Haneda…
…taking the train…
…the train…
“No!”
Yabu blinked, startled.
“…What?”
“Don’t take the train,” whispered Hikaru.
Yabu gave him a blank stare.
“Don’t take it,” he whispered, quickly, urgently, as though this way he could stop the horror of the nightmares, “don’t leave Tokyo.”
Don’t leave me.
“Why?”
Hikaru buried his face in his hands.
“I…I have nightmares. Awful ones,” he mumbled, “about you leaving on trains, and never coming back.”
“Hikaru,” he could hear Yabu murmur, “it’s only a dream.”
“But it seems so real!” he wailed, “and the pain I feel, it all feels real too!”
Hikaru heard a soft sigh, and then he felt Yabu’s bony fingers wrapping around his wrists and pulling his hands away from his face.
“Look at me,” Yabu said softly, reaching out to brush away the lingering tears clinging to Hikaru’s eyelashes.
“Even if I leave on that train, I’ll come back, okay?”
“But…what if-”
“I’ll never leave forever,” Yabu cut in comfortingly, “so stop worrying, okay? I promise I’ll definitely return.”
“Because I’ll never leave you.”