From Sunset to Sunrise
Edited: 2017.03.05
Title: From Sunset to Sunrise
Pairings: Jun/Nino, Jun/Ohno, Sho/Nino, AibaxShoxOhno friendship
Rating: R just for this chapter - G
Warning: abuse, violence (only in this chapter)
Summary: Struggling to reach the light from darkness.
** Prologue **
Young, eight year-old Sho noticed the smile on his father’s face; he seemed happy and Sho hadn't seen him like that since his mother passed away. He glanced at the boy across from him who was shyly hiding behind the other woman, apparently the boy's mother and his own future mother. A warm smile curved Sho’s lips as well.
“Kazu, come on. I know I taught you better than this,” the woman, Kazuko, said as she prodded her son to come out from behind her.
“Hello, Kazunari, how are you?” Shu asked the shy boy, kneeling down to extend a hand.
“I’m fine,” Kazunari mumbled. He took the offered hand before pulling away abruptly.
Sho was gestured forward by his father. He smiled at Kazuko and bowed. “Hello, Ninomiya,” he said politely and was rewarded with a smile from the lady.
“How polite Sho is, Shu,” Kazuko happily observed. “Come on, Kazu,” she said soothingly to her own son, greetings between adult and children now over, and prodded Kazunari to meet Sho. The younger boy hesitated before he took one timid step forward and stopped.
“Please take care of him,” Kazuko finished in exasperation, knowing full well that it was all she would get from Kazunari.
Small Sho continued to observe his new younger brother thoughtfully. And then he smiled again and nodded, not fully understanding the extent of his words as he promised, "I will." He directed himself at Kazunari and repeated, "I will take care of you from now on."
At the time, he did not know the weight of that promise.
Shu and Kazuko married. Kazunari and Sho became stepbrothers. Their new life started off fine, almost perfect even. They were one small, happy family; two boys, a mother, and a father. Complete. Or so Sho had thought as a child.
Two years later, Sho finally saw the shadow in their world of artificial light. In the middle of the night, he had woken up thirsty and wanted some water. Sho had come downstairs for a drink. Then he heard the quiet sobs from the kitchen and stopped at the bottom on the stairs.
“Why do you do this? All you do is compare me to her. She did this. She did that! I'm not her!” Kazuko snapped.
The one opposite her, Sho's father, slammed his hand against the counter to shut her up. “Of course not! You’ll never be better than her.”
Hidden from their view, Sho heard his stepmother gasp before a sob ripped through her. His heart beat erratically as he took a hesitant step back, wanting to run up to the safety of his room.
“It’s been two years already! Why did you marry me when you didn’t love me?!” Kazuko cried.
Shu glared at her. “You were convenient!”
Kazuko clenched her teeth. She slapped him across the face. She had not expected the blow to be returned. She felt the full force of a man hit her. The nasty sound of a smack rang through the silent room. Blood trickled down her lip as she bowled over. Her groans filled the small kitchen.
Sho ran back up the stairs, his heart pounding. He wanted to cry, was actually tearing up as fear and shock surged up to the surface. What did he just witness? His whole body shook and he might've burst into tears right there, but then he crashed into another person in the hallway and had to adjust himself.
Kazunari fell over and landed quietly on the carpeted floor, still too sleepy to cry out. He blinked groggily up at his older brother. “What are you doing?” he asked innocently.
Sho calmed a little when confronted with the reminder that he was the elder of the two. He wiped at his eyes and sucked in a breath before helping his younger brother stand. He squeaked out, "Nothing."
Kazunari knew something was up though and he stared up at Sho curiously. His brown eyes shone with interest and wakefulness.
“Why are you up?” Sho asked, trying to divert his attention.
The distraction worked. Kazunari tilted his head before he shrugged sluggishly. “Going to the bathroom. Why are you up?”
Sho darted his eyes about before he noticed that the whole house was quiet. He could even hear his own heartbeat. What was happening downstairs? “Nothing,” he repeated and Kazunari eyed him warily before heading towards the bathroom.
Ten year-old Sho stood where he was, frozen to the spot and miserable. He had lied. Heaviness settled in his chest, because he knew he could never tell his younger brother what he had witnessed. How could he break that world of happiness?
Sho soon came to regret his decision that night. It was not like Kazunari would never notice. Their mother, Kazunari's mother, changed. The light in her eyes died. She used to be cheerful, happy. Now, she wandered the house like a ghost. She appeared to be lost even within her own home. She clutched herself each and every time a loud noise broke through the now akward silence in their home. Her mentality suffered.
“Mama can I--” Kazunari started one day, and just that phrase caused her to break into tears.
"I'm not your Mama!" Kazuko shouted at her son. "Your mother is dead! DEAD! Go away!"
Kazunari ran from her, running passed Sho who had heard from the hallway.
It had only been a matter of time before she left. They came home from school. Both boys had gotten used to a cold and empty kitchen, of having to prepare their own meals, but Sho and Kazunari had not expected to find the house empty. She had never left the house once since her depression. Her belongings were gone. They searched the house and then the neighborhood. Shu joined them.
Kazuko was nowhere to be found.
At a later evening, Sho found a frustrated Kazunari crying alone in his room.
“Why!? Why!? WHY!?" he kept on even when Sho wrapped an arm around him. "WHY!?" Kazunari sobbed into his small hands, furious and heartbroken. "WHY DID SHE LEAVE ME!?" His young heart couldn't take the truth. His mother had been the only world for him while he grew up.
Sho found himself weeping too. He didn't know why. He just knew that Kazuko had abandoned Kazunari and now there were only the two of them and their father left.
From thereon, their world fell even further apart. Furious that his wife had left him and the family, Shu allowed himself to sink into lower depths. He came home drunk most of the time. He threw objects around the house. He smashed his hand into walls, into pictures, into the doors and cabinets. A fearful Sho and Kazunari tried their best to keep out of his way - soon, that was not enough to save them.
Sho came home from his after school activities and heard unfamiliar noises coming from Kazunari's room - sounds of gasping, of groans, and weeping. He dropped everything and ran up the stairs. He found Kazunari in his room curled in the corner in a tight ball, his hair a mess. Sho walked in closer and his nose was assaulted with the stench of sweat and blood. He saw the blood that stained his younger brother's mouth and forehead. Dark bruises marked his arms and legs where they were bare. Kazunari gasped for breath, struggling through his pain. Too afraid to move, he could only shake uncontrollably from the aftermath of an attack. Sho immediately guessed the identity of the offender. He had seen his father with his stepmother. He knew his father was capable of it. He knew it had been coming. He should've known and so he blamed himself.
Sho did not talk to Kazunari. He did not ask questions. He did not even ask Kazunari to move. Sho cried as he cleaned his younger brother and he did not even dare turn Kazunari over while he sobbed and wiped the blood off his younger brother's face.
Yet, the beatings only continued and worsened.
“I am not your father, you bastard! Your stupid mother left you!" Shu cursed as he aimed one last kick at the small boy. Then he spat and stumbled away.
Kazunari convulsed. Sho crawled forward to hold his younger brother, his every breath filled with apologies. Again.
One day, he finally found the courage to cover Kazunari. The now familar fear coursed through his small body and terror seized him, but he wrapped his arms around Kazunari and embraced him tightly while he cried through the physical pain. His father beat at him before realizing who he had been hitting instead of his usual target.
Then the question Sho had been holding all that time burst forth. "Father, why are you doing this!? WHY!?"
“Get the hell out of the way!” Shu grabbed a fistful of his son's hair and tried to drag the screaming boy from his victim.
"NO! NO!" Frightened, Sho clung on to Kazunari who held on tightly. Their combined weight held them down.
Furious to be outmanned by two small boys, Shu dropped them. He took the nearest item, a photo frame, and threw it at the two. The wooden structure smashed against Sho's skull. Sho laid limply on the floor as blood seeped into his hair.
"Don't get in my way again!" his father shrieked and stomped away.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Kazunari moved closer to Sho. "A-aniki..." he sobbed. "Aniki..." He saw the blood travel down Sho's face and he was afraid he would lose his only brother, the only one who cared.
Sho did not answer. He pressed his face against the floorboards and wept breathlessly.
They both stayed curled together on the wooden floor, too hurt and tired to move. Sho usually cleaned Kazunari up. Now that both were in pain, there was no one else to turn to for help. Their world had crashed completely. Happiness had been stripped from the life Kazuko left behind.
Eventually, the both of them stopped crying. Sticky with his own blood and sweat, Sho murmured tiredly, "Kazu... let’s run away.”
The younger boy sniffed. "Mm." And then he shifted closer once more.
Sho took in that warmth and he closed his eyes, feeling himself near to losing consciousness. “I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," he thought he said. Even if he did, it was barely a mumble.
And he thought he heard his brother answer, "You did. Aniki, you're my hero."
Kazunari might have never said it and Sho didn't care. He blacked out on the wooden floor.
The day after, they gathered all they could and ran. Together, they promised that they would survive. Together, they would be happy. Together, they would create a new life, a better life. Sho vowed to keep his promise to Kazuko from thereon. He would take care of Kazunari, his younger brother.
---
A small Satoshi watched from inside the classroom as the kids played during recess. He had slept through the entire morning lesson and had been given indoor detention as punishment. Watching them laugh and jump around outside, Satoshi sighed with envy. He returned to working at his desk. His teacher didn't actually care that he did the work he was assigned. She just wanted him inside. So he pulled out a piece of paper and pencil and began a sketch to pass the time.
Ten minutes later, a noise distracted him and he turned to see a sniffling boy cross the open classroom door. Another person! He was not alone! Satoshi rushed to the doorway and looked out. Maybe the boy had heard his movement. In the hall, the boy stopped and turned around. He sighted Satoshi staring at him from the open doorway and Satoshi saw the tear lines down his face.
When the younger boy turned away, Satoshi ran back inside and grabbed his unfinished drawing. He didn't know why he did, but he suddenly felt an obligation to give the boy something. He raced out to catch the stranger that had passed.
"Wait! Wait!" he cried after the back of the other.
The boy did turn around again, surprised. His thick eyebrows arched up as Satoshi reached him and took his hand. Satoshi placed the drawing in his palm and clenched the boy's fingers over it.
"For you," Satoshi said, not knowing well the weight of what he had done.
Jun looked at him, surprised. Feeling a little uneasy, Satoshi tentatively smiled at the smaller child. The full extent of his gesture eluded him.
Days later, the boy sought Satoshi out and he returned the favor with an ebony pencil. They became friends, Satoshi and that small boy whose name was Matsumoto Jun. Their friendship felt natural to Satoshi. He took it for granted as he did with his other friends. The fact that Jun never joined their group of boys at school whenever they played didn't bother him.
All the students in attendance at the school came from wealthy families, Satoshi included, and all had their own responsibilities and priorities. They went to an established school for the wealthy where even grade school students were already learning subjects normal middle schoolers were just beginning. Satoshi took it casually that some parents did not want their sons or daughters playing in the dirt, would rather have that child play on the piano or read a book. Jun's family, like some other families, was just different from his. But he didn't know by how much.
For an evening out, he went to Jun's mansion for the first time. Jun sat opposite Satoshi in his guest room and while they waited for the maid to serve them drinks, Satoshi slouched in his chair. Jun watched Satoshi's relaxed form and a small smile turned the corners of his lip.
"Is that way of sitting comfortable?" he asked.
Satoshi blinked and realized that across from him, his friend sat properly with his hands on his knees, his back straight and stiff. He laughed. "Why are you sitting like that?" He shifted in his seat. "Yep, it's really comfortable. Why don't you try?"
Jun shook his head. "My mother would punish me."
Shocked, ten year-old Satoshi did not fully understand what Jun meant then, but he knew enough to be afraid.
In just two hours there, he became suffocated. The place felt eerily cold. Dark. Menacing. Satoshi hated the feeling it gave him. He hated the atmosphere and tension. The servants stared at them with intensity, coldly, waiting for them to make a wrong move. No one talked except for the two boys and then even they had to talk quietly. Satoshi saw how careful Jun was with the way he spoke, as if he was afraid to say the wrong thing. The servants were still listening so intently.
He watched Jun all that time and he grew to hate the look of emptiness on his friend's face. It was of hopelessness and submission, of having adapted to the lack of warmth. When Satoshi left, he felt a sudden desire to show Jun a different way of life.
The next time, he invited Jun to his house.
It was because Satoshi's mother had personally greeted them, had hugged the both of them, fed them cookies and talked to them. It was because Satoshi showed Jun his father's work room full of paints, brushes, tools, and covered canvasses. He showed his father's finished artwork off proudly and walked around their manor freely. He called on his mother easily and told wondrous stories of his father's feats, not just about his career, but also as a family man.
When they reached Satoshi's spacious bedroom, Jun went to the bathroom and stayed there for far too long. Worried, Satoshi went to check and found Jun curled up next to the toilet seat, stifling his sobs with his hands. Satoshi was confused so he just stood there in utter shock. He did not know what to do. He had never seen this side of Jun before. The small Jun rocked back and forth, crying so miserably and still trying so hard to hold it back, that Satoshi finally started crying too.
"I'm sorry," Satoshi gasped, going on his knees and crawling over, even if he could only guess at what he was apologizing for. "I'm sorry, Jun. I'm sorry..."
Jun wouldn't answer, just curled up tighter so that Satoshi had to wrap his arms around the smaller boy. They sat there, weeping for some time because Satoshi realized his mistake then. He realized how different their families were. He had just shown his friend what the younger boy could never have. What Jun could never have.
Still a child himself, Satoshi did not have the power to change anything, so he kept on being Jun's friend and he kept on laughing. Jun became Satoshi's best friend, his closest friend, and after school they often hung out together.
On Jun's tenth birthday, Satoshi asked if Jun would like to have his mother bake a cake. He received a surprising answer in return.
Jun smiled and said, "My parents are coming back from their business trip. We're going to have dinner, just the three of us."
The night of Jun's birthday, Satoshi went to sleep wishing him well.
One hour later, he woke because of a phone call and was surprised to find his friend on the other line. "So?" Satoshi asked, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.
"Fine," Jun answered. "My father liked the food and my mother didn't complain. We had cake afterwards."
"Oh," Satoshi replied.
"They gave me my presents. I unwrapped them in my room."
"What did you get?"
"Some things."
Because Satoshi’s sleepiness had seeped away, he realized it was quiet on the other end. He decided to ask a very stupid question. A very, very stupid one. "Jun, are you crying?"
Silence answered him. Then a sob escaped, filling Satoshi's ear on his end.
"Th-that's disgusting," Jun said and Satoshi knew it was a lie, that his friend was crying.
"I re-received... a-an air p-plane toy..." Jun went on. "M-my father re-remembered th-that I wanted... one."
Satoshi listened while his friend rattled on about an imagined birthday. He eventually broke into tears too as Jun elaborated about an imagined birthday.
On the following day, Satoshi told Jun to run away from his driver who drove Jun to and back from school everyday. "We're going to play hide and seek," he explained. Jun conceded, unsure of what they were doing but happy to comply.
That afternoon, they met up at the park. Even as the sky darkened, Satoshi and Jun just sat behind the bushes in hiding.
"The sun's setting," Satoshi stated the obvious.
"Yes, it is," Jun replied.
Satoshi smiled. "It's as pretty as the sunset that my dad paints."
Jun nodded.
"Hey Jun," he started again.
"Hm?"
"When we count ten stars we can go home," he said.
"Okay," Jun answered.
They pointlessly sat there waiting for night to arrive. The sun disappeared on the horizon behind colored clouds. The orange tinge of the sky became a dark purple. When Jun finally sighted ten stars in the sky, he woke Satoshi.
Satoshi, having fallen asleep during the wait, quickly regained his senses and counted the stars. They stood out brightly in the darkness, scattered and sparkling individually. "It's really there!" he stated, as if he hadn't expected there to be stars that night.
"Should we go home now?" his friend asked.
Satoshi beamed and stood up, tugging him forward instead. They stumbled across the deserted lot and stood, just two of their small figures in the abandoned park. Satoshi pointed to the sky. "All right! There are your candles, Jun! Make your birthday wish!"
Time appeared to have frozen for a moment. Satoshi was ready to feel dejected at having been refused when Jun sniffed and ran a small hand across his face.
"I... I wish," Jun began. "I wish... the sun would rise tomorrow." The most unselfish wish Satoshi had ever heard.
Just as the two of them stood there, the smaller Jun still crying at his side, Satoshi saw two other boys across the street. He stared at them momentarily, slightly surprised to see two kids other than themselves wandering at night. The taller of the two boys sighted Satoshi and stopped.
"J-jun," Satoshi began, tugging on his friend's sleeve to look.
Jun did and as one, the four of them met eyes.
Then Sho pulled on Kazunari and they ran, hoping to get as far away as possible. Satoshi watched their receding backs and he wondered why those two boys were fleeing as if a demon were on their trails. Were they just like Jun and Satoshi? Was there something they were hoping to escape?
"Let's go home," Jun finally said and Satoshi agreed.
None of them knew the weight of that moment.
**
Chapter One