Series: Possession (1)
Title: Possession
Chapter: 1
Rating: PG
Pairing: (1) Aiba Masaki and Sakuraiba Sho
(2) Aiba Masaki and Matsumoto Jun
(3) Ninomiya Kazunari and Ohno Satoshi
Genre: Romance, AU
Beta: laurachan2, kos_mos26
x-posted: arashirabu, jent_fanfics
Notes: The genre might change as more chapters are written. This is to fulfill camaronzin's request of a yakuza Arashi. Depending on how the story goes, this might also fulfill mm_nani's request of being conflicted about being gay.
“Mom, dad, I don’t want to go to the culinary school. I don’t want to study restaurant management,” he uttered those words over the celebration dinner on the night he graduated from high school.
After a few moments of silence, his father put his chopsticks down and questioned him, “If you don’t want to study cooking, or management, what do you plan on doing?”
Licking his suddenly dry lips, he replied, “I want to study teaching!”
“Masaki!” his mother gasped in shock, “The restaurant has been in the family for generations. It is the responsibility of the first born son to carry on the traditions.”
Blinking his wide eyes, Masaki bowed to his parents, “I’d like to pass on the tradition to Yuusuke. He has more interest in the restaurant business than me. He already knows how to run it and he isn’t even in high school yet. I believe Yuusuke has the right mindset for taking over the business and traditions.” When silence continued to stretch across the table, Aiba continued, “I feel that my destiny lies in teaching. In guiding the young students to the right path, to teach them to make appropriate and informed decisions that will affect not only their future, but the future of our country.”
Masaki and his father stared at each other silently. The tension that started at the dinner table had continued for weeks. Neither son nor father gave up and saw eye to eye. They had barely spoken a word to each other, refusing to be the first to back down. His mother caved in after a week of stubborn silences and tension and tried to make amends for her son’s rejection of traditions. She had tried to rebuild the broken bridges between her husband and her son.
They had finally reconciled their differences when Masaki graduated from the university with honors.
He had started teaching middle school initially and three years ago, he felt qualified to handle older kids. So he applied for a teaching position at a high school. He hadn’t expected to be one among the few who got called for the final round of interviews and was pleasantly surprised to get an offer to teach at the famous St. Sakura girl’s high school.
Masaki was surprised when he started teaching at the school. He had always assumed girls would be more demure and gentle compared to boys. But to his surprise he found out that girls could be just as rowdy as boys, especially when gathered in a group. He discovered soon after joining that there were some classes teachers avoided, and some hallways more dangerous than others. Masaki had been so busy with work he barely had any time left for himself, let alone visit his family. His mother called every week, asking him to visit them.
Finally giving in to his mother’s pleading voice, he spoke into the phone, “Fine mom. I’ll visit for New Year’s, ok?”
“Good. I’ll let your father know you’re coming,” her voice sounded happy to him.
Sighing softly, Masaki massaged his forehead, “I only have a week off and I still need to grade some papers. So, I may not be able to stay with you guys for long. I’ll spend the New Year’s Eve and the New Year’s Day with you. After that, I’ll have to return.”
“That’s only two days,” his mother complained, but agreed slowly, “Fine, we’ll just cramp all the family activities in those two days then. Don’t be late. I miss you. Take care.”
Masaki took an early morning train on the day he promised his mother he would visit. He had a bag over his shoulders with a few changes of clothes. He paid for the taxi that drove him from the train station to his parent’s house and was surprised to find that his parents had not just invited him to spend the time with them, but the entire clan. The house was overflowing with his various uncles, aunts, cousins and distance relatives.
Once inside, Masaki was surprised to see flowers decorating every corner of the house. Frowning at such extravagant preparations, he passed a group of people talking to a priest on his way to his room. Setting his bag on his old bed, Masaki went to find his mother in the kitchen, where he found her busily instructing the caterer. Still frowning, he hugged her and pulled her aside, “Mom, what’s going on? I didn’t realize we were going to hold a party in such a grand scale for New Year’s.”
She simply laughed and shook her head, “It’s not just a New Year’s party. We’ve a very delightful surprise for you.”
Her laughter subsided into a pleasant smile when his father joined them. Clearing his throat, he glared at Masaki and spoke without any trace of humor in his voice, “We’ve found that the New Year’s Day this year is very auspicious for getting married. Those who declare their love in front of the elders are supposed to have a long and happy life together. So, we talked with Kyoko’s parents and everything has been arranged.”
Masaki nodded his head, “So … Yuusuke is marrying?”
His mother burst into giggles and shook her head, “No silly. How can you expect your brother you get married before you? We think Kyoko would suit you much better than Yuusuke. This is your wedding preparations.”
“Marriage?” Masaki stared at his mother for a full five minutes before finding his voice.
“Of course. We’ve all known Kyoko-chan since she was little. She is at the appropriate age for marriage and so are you. Since Kyoko doesn’t have any objections to this, we spoke with her parents. We couldn’t have found a bride from a more influential family. Since Kyoko knows how to run a restaurant, we can all relax and know that the traditions are in capable hands. Even if you don’t want to take over, she can help us until she knows every aspect of the business and eventually train your son to take over the responsibilities,” his mother gushed into an explanation with a smile on her face.
A fine tremble passed over Masaki and he clicked his tongue, “Umm, but mom, I don’t like Kyoko that way. I feel like she is my younger sister. I can’t see being married to her let alone have a family with her.”
“I won’t hear any excuses from you!” his father’s voice boomed over the noise, bringing several conversations to a halt.
Unaware of the silence, Masaki shook his head, “But I can’t and won’t marry her!”
Kyoko peered from behind a pillar. Her happiness at Masaki’s arrival for the event had evaporated as soon as she saw the serious faces of Masaki and his father. Her huge eyes filled with tears at Masaki’s refusal, not knowing that the wedding plans were made without his consent and the event itself was sprung on him as a surprise.
When his father continued staring at him with an intimidating expression, Masaki averted his eyes to a corner trying to come up with a reason - one his father couldn’t refuse. Shaking his head, he met his father’s eyes again, “I’ve already decided to spend my life with someone else!”
His father’s face turned red with anger and embarrassment. Kyoko’s father had also joined the group and shook his head slowly, feeling disappointed that the Aiba family was unable to keep their promise. Seeing the condemnation in his soon-to-be in-law’s eyes, Masaki’s father shook his head, “I refuse to believe it. Unless you can produce this person in front of me, we’ll proceed with the events as planned!”
Knowing his father would very well carry out his threat, Masaki started thinking rapidly and wasn’t aware of what was coming out of his mouth, “Uh … the train station!”
“What about the train station?” his father questioned.
“Uh … that’s where we planned on meeting - the person I want to spend my life with. Let me go … bring her here …” Masaki smiled running up the stairs. He looked at his still packed bag and then at the open door. Mumbling to himself he ran his fingers through his hair, “If I take the bag with me, they’ll question me immediately. It only has a few changes of clothes anyway. I’ll just need my wallet…”
Nodding his head, he grabbed his wallet and making sure his cards and cash were in order, he ran downstairs again, leaving his packed bag behind. Smiling at the guests, he ran out of the house and was about to call a taxi when his father pulled in front of him in the family car.
“Dad?” Masaki’s voice trembled.
A grim smile played along his father’s lips, as if he knew Masaki was trying to run away, “Yes son, why don’t we all go meet your lover? We should welcome her into the family with open arms and a warm greeting.”
“Uh … why don’t I go alone? She might be frightened at seeing so many people coming to pick her up in a strange city,” Masaki squeaked.
Kyoko’s father slapped Masaki on the shoulder and opened the car door, “No son, It’s only polite that we go as a family to meet her.”
Cursing himself for not thinking of taking the back door, Masaki reluctantly stepped into the car and found himself wedged between Kyoko and Kyoko’s father. His mind tried to go over all the possibilities on the way to the train station. Once at the train station, he looked at the ticket counter longingly as they entered the terminal. He was still trying to come up with an excuse to get out of the situation without having to commit to a marriage he wasn’t interested in when he heard an announcement about a train being delayed. Smiling slowly, he pounced on it like a hungry lion on a piece of meat, “Uh, looks like she’ll be late. Why don’t you guys go home ahead of us? I’ll bring her and introduce her properly when the train arrives.”
Masaki’s father shook his head, another grim challenging smile on his lips, “Oh no son. We have no problem waiting for as long as it takes. We don’t have anything else planned for today anyway.”
Groaning softly, he sat down on a bench uncomfortably for an hour before the train arrived. Masaki had hoped that he could slip away in the crowd that had started to gather around the platform, but his father’s hand held onto his wrist firmly. When the train pulled to a stop, the crowd surged in volume as some people tried to get off the train and some on. When someone bumped into him with enough force to knock his father’s grip off his wrist, Masaki took a frantic step towards the train, but his father was faster than he had anticipated.
With his hand firmly held by his father like he was still a five year old, Masaki looked around frantically. His mind started over-thinking when he spotted a heavily built lady walking towards them. She looked like she could handle herself in front of his surly father. He only hoped that she wouldn’t scream and call him a pervert in front of his father, thereby making his escape pretty much impossible. Bracing himself for the worst of the worst, Masaki smiled, “Ah… she got off the train. I see her walking towards us.”
When his father simply raised his eyebrow, Masaki closed his eyes, took a deep breath and pulled on what he assumed was a muscled arm of the lady. Without looking at the lady, to acknowledge her presence or to try to soothe her that he wasn’t a pervert, Masaki squeaked, “I love this person!”
Kyoko’s shriek echoed off the walls and the high ceiling of the platform. Kyoko’s father caught his daughter who fainted at the sight of Aiba’s supposed lover. None of them had straight thoughts in their heads and were trying to form proper responses to Masaki’s declaration. Masaki’s father glowered at his son, “We are not going to accept this! Absolutely not! You’ll end this relationship, quit the school and come home and be a good filial son!”
Confused but not wanting to give up, Masaki shook his head, “Absolutely not! If you can’t accept me for who I am, I shall have to move on without you. I’ll simply have to avoid coming home!”
“Very well then, you’re no longer welcome home until you stop your despicable way of living. Until that day arrives, I’ll consider Yuusuke to be my only son!” his father bellowed in anger before turning around to leave. Kyoko’s father carried her in his arms and walked away slowly.
Wondering how to explain why he had pulled the lady so suddenly and to apologize for his father’s rude comments about her weight, Masaki turned to look at his right. The first thing that greeted him was a thin white scar across the eye. Masaki frowned trying to remember if the lady he had looked at earlier had a scar on her face, he couldn’t remember seeing one. Wondering when the lady got a scar, Masaki scanned the stranger’s facial features and blinked at the decidedly male face staring at him in amusement.
He let go of the arm he was clinging to immediately and took a step back, “Ah sorry. Please ignore what just happened. It was a misunderstanding you see…” When there was no reply, Masaki bowed again, “I’m sorry again. I’ll be taking my leave now.”
With that, Masaki ran to the ticket counter to buy a ticket out of the town on the next available train. It wasn’t until after he was on the train that his father’s words hit him and he startled his fellow passengers by screaming, “AH!!!! I’m not gay!!”
“You heard the man … he is my lover. You can go back and report to the boss … that I have a lover… and that I won’t be marrying into the rival clan to take over their holdings. However, I can’t guarantee the safety of the person who reports back saying I’m gay,” the man’s deep voice was filled with amusement.
“S-Sakurai-sama,” one of the men behind him stammered, “What are we supposed to report to the boss?”
“Tell her that I’ve a lover … but if I hear rumors that say I’m gay, your head will be decorating my living room,” Sakurai informed him politely before walking away.
His mind was briefly filled with thoughts about the stranger who had declared himself to be his lover publicly before other business matters took priority.
[To Be Continued]
[End of Chapter 1]
Critiques? Comments? Suggestions? Love it? Hate it? Let me know.
Chapter: 1
Rating: PG
Pairing: (1) Aiba Masaki and Sakuraiba Sho
(2) Aiba Masaki and Matsumoto Jun
(3) Ninomiya Kazunari and Ohno Satoshi
Genre: Romance, AU
Beta: laurachan2, kos_mos26
x-posted: arashirabu, jent_fanfics
Notes: The genre might change as more chapters are written. This is to fulfill camaronzin's request of a yakuza Arashi. Depending on how the story goes, this might also fulfill mm_nani's request of being conflicted about being gay.
“Mom, dad, I don’t want to go to the culinary school. I don’t want to study restaurant management,” he uttered those words over the celebration dinner on the night he graduated from high school.
After a few moments of silence, his father put his chopsticks down and questioned him, “If you don’t want to study cooking, or management, what do you plan on doing?”
Licking his suddenly dry lips, he replied, “I want to study teaching!”
“Masaki!” his mother gasped in shock, “The restaurant has been in the family for generations. It is the responsibility of the first born son to carry on the traditions.”
Blinking his wide eyes, Masaki bowed to his parents, “I’d like to pass on the tradition to Yuusuke. He has more interest in the restaurant business than me. He already knows how to run it and he isn’t even in high school yet. I believe Yuusuke has the right mindset for taking over the business and traditions.” When silence continued to stretch across the table, Aiba continued, “I feel that my destiny lies in teaching. In guiding the young students to the right path, to teach them to make appropriate and informed decisions that will affect not only their future, but the future of our country.”
Masaki and his father stared at each other silently. The tension that started at the dinner table had continued for weeks. Neither son nor father gave up and saw eye to eye. They had barely spoken a word to each other, refusing to be the first to back down. His mother caved in after a week of stubborn silences and tension and tried to make amends for her son’s rejection of traditions. She had tried to rebuild the broken bridges between her husband and her son.
They had finally reconciled their differences when Masaki graduated from the university with honors.
He had started teaching middle school initially and three years ago, he felt qualified to handle older kids. So he applied for a teaching position at a high school. He hadn’t expected to be one among the few who got called for the final round of interviews and was pleasantly surprised to get an offer to teach at the famous St. Sakura girl’s high school.
Masaki was surprised when he started teaching at the school. He had always assumed girls would be more demure and gentle compared to boys. But to his surprise he found out that girls could be just as rowdy as boys, especially when gathered in a group. He discovered soon after joining that there were some classes teachers avoided, and some hallways more dangerous than others. Masaki had been so busy with work he barely had any time left for himself, let alone visit his family. His mother called every week, asking him to visit them.
Finally giving in to his mother’s pleading voice, he spoke into the phone, “Fine mom. I’ll visit for New Year’s, ok?”
“Good. I’ll let your father know you’re coming,” her voice sounded happy to him.
Sighing softly, Masaki massaged his forehead, “I only have a week off and I still need to grade some papers. So, I may not be able to stay with you guys for long. I’ll spend the New Year’s Eve and the New Year’s Day with you. After that, I’ll have to return.”
“That’s only two days,” his mother complained, but agreed slowly, “Fine, we’ll just cramp all the family activities in those two days then. Don’t be late. I miss you. Take care.”
Masaki took an early morning train on the day he promised his mother he would visit. He had a bag over his shoulders with a few changes of clothes. He paid for the taxi that drove him from the train station to his parent’s house and was surprised to find that his parents had not just invited him to spend the time with them, but the entire clan. The house was overflowing with his various uncles, aunts, cousins and distance relatives.
Once inside, Masaki was surprised to see flowers decorating every corner of the house. Frowning at such extravagant preparations, he passed a group of people talking to a priest on his way to his room. Setting his bag on his old bed, Masaki went to find his mother in the kitchen, where he found her busily instructing the caterer. Still frowning, he hugged her and pulled her aside, “Mom, what’s going on? I didn’t realize we were going to hold a party in such a grand scale for New Year’s.”
She simply laughed and shook her head, “It’s not just a New Year’s party. We’ve a very delightful surprise for you.”
Her laughter subsided into a pleasant smile when his father joined them. Clearing his throat, he glared at Masaki and spoke without any trace of humor in his voice, “We’ve found that the New Year’s Day this year is very auspicious for getting married. Those who declare their love in front of the elders are supposed to have a long and happy life together. So, we talked with Kyoko’s parents and everything has been arranged.”
Masaki nodded his head, “So … Yuusuke is marrying?”
His mother burst into giggles and shook her head, “No silly. How can you expect your brother you get married before you? We think Kyoko would suit you much better than Yuusuke. This is your wedding preparations.”
“Marriage?” Masaki stared at his mother for a full five minutes before finding his voice.
“Of course. We’ve all known Kyoko-chan since she was little. She is at the appropriate age for marriage and so are you. Since Kyoko doesn’t have any objections to this, we spoke with her parents. We couldn’t have found a bride from a more influential family. Since Kyoko knows how to run a restaurant, we can all relax and know that the traditions are in capable hands. Even if you don’t want to take over, she can help us until she knows every aspect of the business and eventually train your son to take over the responsibilities,” his mother gushed into an explanation with a smile on her face.
A fine tremble passed over Masaki and he clicked his tongue, “Umm, but mom, I don’t like Kyoko that way. I feel like she is my younger sister. I can’t see being married to her let alone have a family with her.”
“I won’t hear any excuses from you!” his father’s voice boomed over the noise, bringing several conversations to a halt.
Unaware of the silence, Masaki shook his head, “But I can’t and won’t marry her!”
Kyoko peered from behind a pillar. Her happiness at Masaki’s arrival for the event had evaporated as soon as she saw the serious faces of Masaki and his father. Her huge eyes filled with tears at Masaki’s refusal, not knowing that the wedding plans were made without his consent and the event itself was sprung on him as a surprise.
When his father continued staring at him with an intimidating expression, Masaki averted his eyes to a corner trying to come up with a reason - one his father couldn’t refuse. Shaking his head, he met his father’s eyes again, “I’ve already decided to spend my life with someone else!”
His father’s face turned red with anger and embarrassment. Kyoko’s father had also joined the group and shook his head slowly, feeling disappointed that the Aiba family was unable to keep their promise. Seeing the condemnation in his soon-to-be in-law’s eyes, Masaki’s father shook his head, “I refuse to believe it. Unless you can produce this person in front of me, we’ll proceed with the events as planned!”
Knowing his father would very well carry out his threat, Masaki started thinking rapidly and wasn’t aware of what was coming out of his mouth, “Uh … the train station!”
“What about the train station?” his father questioned.
“Uh … that’s where we planned on meeting - the person I want to spend my life with. Let me go … bring her here …” Masaki smiled running up the stairs. He looked at his still packed bag and then at the open door. Mumbling to himself he ran his fingers through his hair, “If I take the bag with me, they’ll question me immediately. It only has a few changes of clothes anyway. I’ll just need my wallet…”
Nodding his head, he grabbed his wallet and making sure his cards and cash were in order, he ran downstairs again, leaving his packed bag behind. Smiling at the guests, he ran out of the house and was about to call a taxi when his father pulled in front of him in the family car.
“Dad?” Masaki’s voice trembled.
A grim smile played along his father’s lips, as if he knew Masaki was trying to run away, “Yes son, why don’t we all go meet your lover? We should welcome her into the family with open arms and a warm greeting.”
“Uh … why don’t I go alone? She might be frightened at seeing so many people coming to pick her up in a strange city,” Masaki squeaked.
Kyoko’s father slapped Masaki on the shoulder and opened the car door, “No son, It’s only polite that we go as a family to meet her.”
Cursing himself for not thinking of taking the back door, Masaki reluctantly stepped into the car and found himself wedged between Kyoko and Kyoko’s father. His mind tried to go over all the possibilities on the way to the train station. Once at the train station, he looked at the ticket counter longingly as they entered the terminal. He was still trying to come up with an excuse to get out of the situation without having to commit to a marriage he wasn’t interested in when he heard an announcement about a train being delayed. Smiling slowly, he pounced on it like a hungry lion on a piece of meat, “Uh, looks like she’ll be late. Why don’t you guys go home ahead of us? I’ll bring her and introduce her properly when the train arrives.”
Masaki’s father shook his head, another grim challenging smile on his lips, “Oh no son. We have no problem waiting for as long as it takes. We don’t have anything else planned for today anyway.”
Groaning softly, he sat down on a bench uncomfortably for an hour before the train arrived. Masaki had hoped that he could slip away in the crowd that had started to gather around the platform, but his father’s hand held onto his wrist firmly. When the train pulled to a stop, the crowd surged in volume as some people tried to get off the train and some on. When someone bumped into him with enough force to knock his father’s grip off his wrist, Masaki took a frantic step towards the train, but his father was faster than he had anticipated.
With his hand firmly held by his father like he was still a five year old, Masaki looked around frantically. His mind started over-thinking when he spotted a heavily built lady walking towards them. She looked like she could handle herself in front of his surly father. He only hoped that she wouldn’t scream and call him a pervert in front of his father, thereby making his escape pretty much impossible. Bracing himself for the worst of the worst, Masaki smiled, “Ah… she got off the train. I see her walking towards us.”
When his father simply raised his eyebrow, Masaki closed his eyes, took a deep breath and pulled on what he assumed was a muscled arm of the lady. Without looking at the lady, to acknowledge her presence or to try to soothe her that he wasn’t a pervert, Masaki squeaked, “I love this person!”
Kyoko’s shriek echoed off the walls and the high ceiling of the platform. Kyoko’s father caught his daughter who fainted at the sight of Aiba’s supposed lover. None of them had straight thoughts in their heads and were trying to form proper responses to Masaki’s declaration. Masaki’s father glowered at his son, “We are not going to accept this! Absolutely not! You’ll end this relationship, quit the school and come home and be a good filial son!”
Confused but not wanting to give up, Masaki shook his head, “Absolutely not! If you can’t accept me for who I am, I shall have to move on without you. I’ll simply have to avoid coming home!”
“Very well then, you’re no longer welcome home until you stop your despicable way of living. Until that day arrives, I’ll consider Yuusuke to be my only son!” his father bellowed in anger before turning around to leave. Kyoko’s father carried her in his arms and walked away slowly.
Wondering how to explain why he had pulled the lady so suddenly and to apologize for his father’s rude comments about her weight, Masaki turned to look at his right. The first thing that greeted him was a thin white scar across the eye. Masaki frowned trying to remember if the lady he had looked at earlier had a scar on her face, he couldn’t remember seeing one. Wondering when the lady got a scar, Masaki scanned the stranger’s facial features and blinked at the decidedly male face staring at him in amusement.
He let go of the arm he was clinging to immediately and took a step back, “Ah sorry. Please ignore what just happened. It was a misunderstanding you see…” When there was no reply, Masaki bowed again, “I’m sorry again. I’ll be taking my leave now.”
With that, Masaki ran to the ticket counter to buy a ticket out of the town on the next available train. It wasn’t until after he was on the train that his father’s words hit him and he startled his fellow passengers by screaming, “AH!!!! I’m not gay!!”
“You heard the man … he is my lover. You can go back and report to the boss … that I have a lover… and that I won’t be marrying into the rival clan to take over their holdings. However, I can’t guarantee the safety of the person who reports back saying I’m gay,” the man’s deep voice was filled with amusement.
“S-Sakurai-sama,” one of the men behind him stammered, “What are we supposed to report to the boss?”
“Tell her that I’ve a lover … but if I hear rumors that say I’m gay, your head will be decorating my living room,” Sakurai informed him politely before walking away.
His mind was briefly filled with thoughts about the stranger who had declared himself to be his lover publicly before other business matters took priority.
[To Be Continued]
[End of Chapter 1]
Critiques? Comments? Suggestions? Love it? Hate it? Let me know.