Dreams & Drumsticks
Title: Dreams and Drumsticks
Rating: PG (for now)
Genre : AU, Friendship, Angst,
Fandom: Hey!Say!Jump (main)
Disclaimer: I Own the plot, title and the characterization. The Idols belong to themselves...and their careers to Johnny. This is pure fiction!!
Summary : In a tiny studio at the heart of Tokyo, five aspiring musicians struggle to achieve their dreams against all odds.
A/N: Inspired by the song Dash! by Nakajima Yuto
Note: Jump are not an idol group in this story and for now (the band) they only have five members. The fic is mostly Yuto-centric but it involves all of Jump.
Chapter 23 - You Are My Sunshine
Keisuke flinched and spluttered as the cold water thrown upon him felt like a rude slap to the face.
“Sorry for the sudden wake up call,”
Kenichi glared at the smirk on Takahara’s face as he wrapped his fingers around his Idol’s shivering ones. He was sure the ropes around their legs and wrists would leave behind nasty marks once removed but at the moment, all he cared about was to get his hands around Takahara’s neck.
“There has been…a sudden change of plans,”
Keisuke’s eyes widened and Kenichi’s furrowed into a frown as they watched two men haul a huge barrel inside the warehouse before settling it not far from where they sat, still back to back. Tied to the barrel…were dynamites.
“Old fashioned I know, but my boss doesn’t like to waste money on these things,” Takahara informed them calmly, clearly enjoying the surge of fear reflected on the faces of his captives.
“Your company Kenichi-kun was shocked to hear of your past job and it’s…minor problems, however…they still seem to consider you and your adorable son an asset,”
“So…,” he continued plainly, getting no response from the two.
“They are delaying on the delivery of the money, seem to be very keen on negotiating further…you know what I think?”
Takahara walked closer, the sound of his shoes echoing in the silence.
“They’re trying to trace you, trying to pull a daring rescue right under my nose,”
Kenichi rolled his eyes. ‘As if that was even possible…’
“So, we’ve given them a new offer, a time limit of 4 hours to deliver the entire sum of 3 billion into a fake account I’ve established for this very purpose, from then, my men would get the money out and once it is in the hands of my client, there is nothing even the police can do about it,”
“And, in case you are wondering what we told them would happen to you after the time limit is up…,”
“That you’d kill us?” Kenichi spat. Takahara made a strange face, something close to feigned disappointment.
“There you go, ruining my surprise,”
Kenichi looked away uninterested. Keisuke was silent, eyes on the floor before him.
“But see, there is one thing that you probably haven’t guessed,”
The gate of the warehouse was opening, letting in a ray of light and the salty smell of the sea. They could see a large black car parked outside.
“The time limit, is actually 30 minutes from now…but, we’re not going to tell anyone…are we?”
Keisuke felt his breath catch in his chest as Takahara went on setting the timer attached to the bunch of dynamites.
“Don’t worry, when this baby blows, it would be a sight to see before you die,”
With a swift bow, Takahara and his men rushed towards the black vehicle, closing the gate behind them.
Kenichi began moving his hands, struggling against the binds. He wouldn’t have cared if it was only him, but the matter was completely different since Keisuke was involved.
In the suffocating silence and the redness of the glowing timer, there was a small thud and a crack that made him freeze.
“Keisuke, what did you do?” Kenichi asked, horrified at the sound.
“I had a…bad feeling,” Keisuke replied softly, staring at his broken spectacles and a crushed black tracker.
~*~
Ryutaro heaved a sigh and stared out of the window of the bus. Next to him, Chinen sat rather stiffly, staring at the GPS on his phone with admirable concentration. Keito seemed in a disturbed asleep on Yuto’s shoulder who was gazing out of the window, deep in thought. Hikaru and Inoo were playing Jan-Ken-Pon to distract themselves from the tension while Daiki and Yabu were glaring at Takaki who had his eyes fixed onto the road.
An elderly gentleman jogged passed Ryutaro’s window, giving him a little smile which Ryutaro returned. Not long after the man had jogged away, a young cyclist whizzed past, giving the bus a strange look.
“Takaki-kun, do you mind going just a tad bit faster?” Yabu asked rather impatiently.
“I’m already driving 45km/hour Yabu-kun!” Takaki replied outraged at the very thought.
An exclamation of great shock which rose to cries of utter despair pulled everyone’s attention towards the distressed Chinen.
“What’s wrong?” Ryutaro asked anxiously. Yuto and Keito had both been startled greatly by Chinen’s outburst.
“The tracker isn’t responding...I lost the signal!”
Keito came to stand next to him, frowning as Chinen held up his phone.
“You remember the coordinates don’t you? I’ll just use Google Earth™,” Daiki offered pulling out his own phone.
“It’s not just that,” Chinen gasped. He bit his lip.
“If Keisuke knows about the tracker, and somehow, if he was the one who deactivated it, then…something could be very very wrong,”
“He might just have broken his glasses,” Keito suggested. Chinen shook his head and clutched his chest.
“I have this very bad feeling Keito-san,”
The air in the bus was thick with a poignant silence before Yabu got to his feet and made his way towards Takaki.
“Let me drive,”
“WHAT?” Takaki and Hikaru exclaimed simultaneously.
“There is no way I’m handing over Josephine to anyone else,” Takaki retorted possessively. Daiki rolled his eyes.
“You can’t drive a bus Kota!” Inoo and Hikaru cried out this time before looking at each other in surprise.
Yabu sighed and held onto Takaki’s hand with force.
“Get up now, I won’t put a scratch on her, promise,”
Takaki frowned.
“Never overlook intuition Takaki-kun,” Daiki said seriously.
Takaki heaved a sigh before stepping on the brake.
“Be careful please,” he muttered getting off the driver’s seat. Yabu gave him a reassuring smile.
The minute Yabu made himself comfortable on the driver’s chair, those who were standing clambered back immediately to their seats,
feeling slightly anxious for reasons they couldn’t really point out.
Maybe it was the way Yabu had ran his eyes over the gear and the steering sternly before holding onto the wheel firmly.
Maybe it was Chinen’s despair or Keito’s anxiety.
They couldn’t really tell.
But their fears were soon confirmed though, as the bus was soon cruising down the road at a relatively frightening speed with a traffic police officer on their tail, sirens on.
~*~
“I’m…sorry, for all of this,”
Kenichi sighed as he felt the boy lean against him but frowned as he felt the heat from his body.
“Are you alright?” he asked, his voice cracking as he realized that the younger boy was definitely not.
“There is one person…one person from Ryosuke-my past here in this country and…I know him,”
Kenichi frowned. His voice was weak, and he was literally gasping for air.
“Who?” he asked, his voice a soft whisper.
Keisuke’s eyes lingered on the timer, 15 minutes glowing on the display. He just wished it would be over quickly, the anxiety of their
impending doom was murder enough. He sighed, palms closing upon the tiny shard of glass from the lenses of his spectacles.
“Nakajima…Yuto,”
“Keito’s best friend?”
“Yes…he’s looking for me…,”
“Didn’t he…didn’t he recognize you?”
“I don’t exactly look almost like I did before I became Keisuke, and I’m supposed to be dead right?”
“You said he was looking for you?”
“He hopes…but I think deep inside, he has his doubts and that might be the biggest thing that is causing him to not connect me with his
childhood friend, regardless of the likeness of our physical features,”
Kenichi frowned as he felt the younger take in deep, shuddering breaths. He could feel slight tugging on his binds but he paid no heed.
“Kei…Ryosuke, we’ll get out of this somehow, don’t worry…,”
Kenichi stared at his hands as he managed to pull them apart, the rope slipping to the floor. He quickly undid his legs and turned around to catch Keisuke as the boy collapsed.
In his hands, he clutched a small shard of glass.
The timer showed that they had 7 minutes.
“Keisuke, Keisuke wake up,”
The boy groaned and stirred but didn’t open his eyes. His skin was burning.
Kenichi scanned the only entrance; the closed gate.
“How the hell do I open that?”
Keisuke tried to blink but his eyelids were too heavy. He heard sounds, loud sounds of metal upon metal and a loud engine. He forced his
eyes to open a little and watched in disbelief as the gate slid upwards with a clank, blinding him temporarily.
5 minutes…
He remembered voices, police sirens, arms around him, supporting him and leading him into the light.
He remembered being placed on a rather uncomfortable seat and a sudden blast of wind.
There was a really loud sound and more noises. People were shouting and screaming and the seat that he was on seemed to be
moving…it made him dizzy.
“Keisuke-kun?”
The voice was strong and clear and very near. With the little bit of strength that he had remaining he opened his eyes. The face that looked
down upon him seemed to have a glow, illuminated by the sunlight coming from behind him. He saw fear on his features, which immediately softened as their gazes locked and then his dry thin lips curved into a relieved smile.
“It’s okay Keisuke-kun, you’re safe now,” he said kindly.
Keisuke stared at him, bleary eyed and weary.
His heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest. His mind was screaming;
‘Tell him, tell him now…he’s the only link to your past…’
“Keisuke-kun?” the other boy asked, bewildered at Keisuke’s pained expressions. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw a tear slip from
the corner of his eye.
“I’m okay now,” Keisuke croaked, sighing deeply.
“Thanks…Yuto.”
~*~
Next Chapter Preview: Keisuke is on a mission...to rediscover his real identity and to rekindle an old friendship. Daiki makes an interesting offer to the band and Inoo's got some skeletons in his closet that might just interfere with the band's ambitions.
A/N: we're almost halfway through! For my beloved readers, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for following this story despite my weird schedule and delays and for your amazing patience.
Thank you so much ^^
Rating: PG (for now)
Genre : AU, Friendship, Angst,
Fandom: Hey!Say!Jump (main)
Disclaimer: I Own the plot, title and the characterization. The Idols belong to themselves...and their careers to Johnny. This is pure fiction!!
Summary : In a tiny studio at the heart of Tokyo, five aspiring musicians struggle to achieve their dreams against all odds.
A/N: Inspired by the song Dash! by Nakajima Yuto
Note: Jump are not an idol group in this story and for now (the band) they only have five members. The fic is mostly Yuto-centric but it involves all of Jump.
Chapter 23 - You Are My Sunshine
Keisuke flinched and spluttered as the cold water thrown upon him felt like a rude slap to the face.
“Sorry for the sudden wake up call,”
Kenichi glared at the smirk on Takahara’s face as he wrapped his fingers around his Idol’s shivering ones. He was sure the ropes around their legs and wrists would leave behind nasty marks once removed but at the moment, all he cared about was to get his hands around Takahara’s neck.
“There has been…a sudden change of plans,”
Keisuke’s eyes widened and Kenichi’s furrowed into a frown as they watched two men haul a huge barrel inside the warehouse before settling it not far from where they sat, still back to back. Tied to the barrel…were dynamites.
“Old fashioned I know, but my boss doesn’t like to waste money on these things,” Takahara informed them calmly, clearly enjoying the surge of fear reflected on the faces of his captives.
“Your company Kenichi-kun was shocked to hear of your past job and it’s…minor problems, however…they still seem to consider you and your adorable son an asset,”
“So…,” he continued plainly, getting no response from the two.
“They are delaying on the delivery of the money, seem to be very keen on negotiating further…you know what I think?”
Takahara walked closer, the sound of his shoes echoing in the silence.
“They’re trying to trace you, trying to pull a daring rescue right under my nose,”
Kenichi rolled his eyes. ‘As if that was even possible…’
“So, we’ve given them a new offer, a time limit of 4 hours to deliver the entire sum of 3 billion into a fake account I’ve established for this very purpose, from then, my men would get the money out and once it is in the hands of my client, there is nothing even the police can do about it,”
“And, in case you are wondering what we told them would happen to you after the time limit is up…,”
“That you’d kill us?” Kenichi spat. Takahara made a strange face, something close to feigned disappointment.
“There you go, ruining my surprise,”
Kenichi looked away uninterested. Keisuke was silent, eyes on the floor before him.
“But see, there is one thing that you probably haven’t guessed,”
The gate of the warehouse was opening, letting in a ray of light and the salty smell of the sea. They could see a large black car parked outside.
“The time limit, is actually 30 minutes from now…but, we’re not going to tell anyone…are we?”
Keisuke felt his breath catch in his chest as Takahara went on setting the timer attached to the bunch of dynamites.
“Don’t worry, when this baby blows, it would be a sight to see before you die,”
With a swift bow, Takahara and his men rushed towards the black vehicle, closing the gate behind them.
Kenichi began moving his hands, struggling against the binds. He wouldn’t have cared if it was only him, but the matter was completely different since Keisuke was involved.
In the suffocating silence and the redness of the glowing timer, there was a small thud and a crack that made him freeze.
“Keisuke, what did you do?” Kenichi asked, horrified at the sound.
“I had a…bad feeling,” Keisuke replied softly, staring at his broken spectacles and a crushed black tracker.
~*~
Ryutaro heaved a sigh and stared out of the window of the bus. Next to him, Chinen sat rather stiffly, staring at the GPS on his phone with admirable concentration. Keito seemed in a disturbed asleep on Yuto’s shoulder who was gazing out of the window, deep in thought. Hikaru and Inoo were playing Jan-Ken-Pon to distract themselves from the tension while Daiki and Yabu were glaring at Takaki who had his eyes fixed onto the road.
An elderly gentleman jogged passed Ryutaro’s window, giving him a little smile which Ryutaro returned. Not long after the man had jogged away, a young cyclist whizzed past, giving the bus a strange look.
“Takaki-kun, do you mind going just a tad bit faster?” Yabu asked rather impatiently.
“I’m already driving 45km/hour Yabu-kun!” Takaki replied outraged at the very thought.
An exclamation of great shock which rose to cries of utter despair pulled everyone’s attention towards the distressed Chinen.
“What’s wrong?” Ryutaro asked anxiously. Yuto and Keito had both been startled greatly by Chinen’s outburst.
“The tracker isn’t responding...I lost the signal!”
Keito came to stand next to him, frowning as Chinen held up his phone.
“You remember the coordinates don’t you? I’ll just use Google Earth™,” Daiki offered pulling out his own phone.
“It’s not just that,” Chinen gasped. He bit his lip.
“If Keisuke knows about the tracker, and somehow, if he was the one who deactivated it, then…something could be very very wrong,”
“He might just have broken his glasses,” Keito suggested. Chinen shook his head and clutched his chest.
“I have this very bad feeling Keito-san,”
The air in the bus was thick with a poignant silence before Yabu got to his feet and made his way towards Takaki.
“Let me drive,”
“WHAT?” Takaki and Hikaru exclaimed simultaneously.
“There is no way I’m handing over Josephine to anyone else,” Takaki retorted possessively. Daiki rolled his eyes.
“You can’t drive a bus Kota!” Inoo and Hikaru cried out this time before looking at each other in surprise.
Yabu sighed and held onto Takaki’s hand with force.
“Get up now, I won’t put a scratch on her, promise,”
Takaki frowned.
“Never overlook intuition Takaki-kun,” Daiki said seriously.
Takaki heaved a sigh before stepping on the brake.
“Be careful please,” he muttered getting off the driver’s seat. Yabu gave him a reassuring smile.
The minute Yabu made himself comfortable on the driver’s chair, those who were standing clambered back immediately to their seats,
feeling slightly anxious for reasons they couldn’t really point out.
Maybe it was the way Yabu had ran his eyes over the gear and the steering sternly before holding onto the wheel firmly.
Maybe it was Chinen’s despair or Keito’s anxiety.
They couldn’t really tell.
But their fears were soon confirmed though, as the bus was soon cruising down the road at a relatively frightening speed with a traffic police officer on their tail, sirens on.
~*~
“I’m…sorry, for all of this,”
Kenichi sighed as he felt the boy lean against him but frowned as he felt the heat from his body.
“Are you alright?” he asked, his voice cracking as he realized that the younger boy was definitely not.
“There is one person…one person from Ryosuke-my past here in this country and…I know him,”
Kenichi frowned. His voice was weak, and he was literally gasping for air.
“Who?” he asked, his voice a soft whisper.
Keisuke’s eyes lingered on the timer, 15 minutes glowing on the display. He just wished it would be over quickly, the anxiety of their
impending doom was murder enough. He sighed, palms closing upon the tiny shard of glass from the lenses of his spectacles.
“Nakajima…Yuto,”
“Keito’s best friend?”
“Yes…he’s looking for me…,”
“Didn’t he…didn’t he recognize you?”
“I don’t exactly look almost like I did before I became Keisuke, and I’m supposed to be dead right?”
“You said he was looking for you?”
“He hopes…but I think deep inside, he has his doubts and that might be the biggest thing that is causing him to not connect me with his
childhood friend, regardless of the likeness of our physical features,”
Kenichi frowned as he felt the younger take in deep, shuddering breaths. He could feel slight tugging on his binds but he paid no heed.
“Kei…Ryosuke, we’ll get out of this somehow, don’t worry…,”
Kenichi stared at his hands as he managed to pull them apart, the rope slipping to the floor. He quickly undid his legs and turned around to catch Keisuke as the boy collapsed.
In his hands, he clutched a small shard of glass.
The timer showed that they had 7 minutes.
“Keisuke, Keisuke wake up,”
The boy groaned and stirred but didn’t open his eyes. His skin was burning.
Kenichi scanned the only entrance; the closed gate.
“How the hell do I open that?”
Keisuke tried to blink but his eyelids were too heavy. He heard sounds, loud sounds of metal upon metal and a loud engine. He forced his
eyes to open a little and watched in disbelief as the gate slid upwards with a clank, blinding him temporarily.
5 minutes…
He remembered voices, police sirens, arms around him, supporting him and leading him into the light.
He remembered being placed on a rather uncomfortable seat and a sudden blast of wind.
There was a really loud sound and more noises. People were shouting and screaming and the seat that he was on seemed to be
moving…it made him dizzy.
“Keisuke-kun?”
The voice was strong and clear and very near. With the little bit of strength that he had remaining he opened his eyes. The face that looked
down upon him seemed to have a glow, illuminated by the sunlight coming from behind him. He saw fear on his features, which immediately softened as their gazes locked and then his dry thin lips curved into a relieved smile.
“It’s okay Keisuke-kun, you’re safe now,” he said kindly.
Keisuke stared at him, bleary eyed and weary.
His heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest. His mind was screaming;
‘Tell him, tell him now…he’s the only link to your past…’
“Keisuke-kun?” the other boy asked, bewildered at Keisuke’s pained expressions. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw a tear slip from
the corner of his eye.
“I’m okay now,” Keisuke croaked, sighing deeply.
“Thanks…Yuto.”
~*~
Next Chapter Preview: Keisuke is on a mission...to rediscover his real identity and to rekindle an old friendship. Daiki makes an interesting offer to the band and Inoo's got some skeletons in his closet that might just interfere with the band's ambitions.
A/N: we're almost halfway through! For my beloved readers, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for following this story despite my weird schedule and delays and for your amazing patience.
Thank you so much ^^