Arashi: Red Shift (07)
FANDOM: Arashi
PAIRING: Sakuraiba
RATING: PG
WORD COUNT: 2,291
DATE: January 24, 2010
NOTES: I don't own Arashi, nor do I know much about them - this fic is entirely AU and fictional. This is for arashic0804!
Chapter Six | Chapter Eight
CHAPTER SEVEN
Aiba Yusuke was reading a manga and listening to his mp3 player when he heard the door to the room next to his slam. He clicked off his player, curious, as nobody had gone into his brother’s room since he moved out. He laid the manga he was reading down and set aside his player to get up and knock on his brother’s door.
“What.” The voice was muffled, but it was definitely his brother.
“Nii-chan, what are you doing back?” He opened the door and saw Aiba lying on his back on the bed, with a pillow on his face.
“It’s Ninomiya-san’s birthday,” Aiba answered, pulling the pillow away from his face.
“You’re not going back to your place tonight?”
“No, I think I’m staying here for a day or two. I've already told mom.”
“But aren’t you, like, working on your debut single or something?”
Aiba made a face, and covered his face with the pillow again. “Yeah. Don’t ask.”
Yuu sat down at the edge of Aiba’s bed, and shook his brother’s leg. “Hey...,” he said in a mock-whining voice he knew Aiba hated, “Tell me!”
Aiba ignored his brother, but Yuu pulled the pillow covering Aiba’s face away. Aiba turned to his side, so that his back faced Yuu. For a while Yuu thought that his brother wasn’t going to say anything, but when he was about to get up and leave Aiba alone, Aiba spoke.
“It’s Sho-chan.”
“What?” Yuu was glad that he was sitting down. “Don’t tell me you’re still hung up on him.”
“He’s collaborating on our first album,” Aiba explained. “So I’ve been seeing him at work all the time.”
“Do you miss him?” Yuu asked quietly.
Aiba took a long time to answer. His voice sounded strange, like he was crying, but Yuu couldn’t see his face. He remembered how Aiba was when he broke up with Sho, and swallowed. He hoped that his brother wouldn’t go through this a second time. “I didn’t think I would,” Aiba finally said. “But the moment he walked in the door, it was like all these years had meant nothing, and I’m still that person crying over him, not understanding a thing.”
“I’m sorry,” Yuu said, in the same quiet tone. “I’m very sorry, Nii-chan.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. I’m the stupid one.”
“No, you’re not,” Yuu insisted. “That thing, almost seven years ago...”
“When Sho dumped me without saying why, and refused to talk to anyone for over a week?” Aiba’s tone was dry and self-deprecating, as if he himself realised how melodramatic his relationship with Sho had been. At least, he thought, it was like that to him. Sho hadn’t seem all that affected at all.
“Yeah.” Yuu took a deep breath, and said quickly, “it was my fault.”
Aiba stiffened, but didn’t say anything. After a minute or so, he turned back to face his brother, and sat up. “What do you mean by that?” he asked.
“I asked him to break up with you.”
“You... what?” Aiba was confused. “Why?”
“Because he was hurting you!” Yuu exclaimed, raising his voice. “I hated the way he was treating you. And - I thought you deserved a better relationship.” His voice grew smaller as he admitted, “I thought you deserved a more normal relationship.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why? I told you why.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before, when it was killing me not to know why he left? Why did you think you had the right to interfere in my life? Why was it so... abnormal to be in love with someone?” Aiba brushed away his tears angrily, and continued, “I know he messed up a lot, but so did I. I should’ve been more supportive of his decision to go to college. I shouldn’t have made it such a big deal when he decided to debut as a solo artist. I should've fought harder to keep him, instead of letting him leave me so easily. I was just as much to blame as he was, and it all didn’t matter anyway, because I loved him. I still love him.”
Ashamed, and overwhelmed by guilt, Yuu mumbled another apology. “I’m sorry, Nii-chan. I really am. I promise that I’ll support you, if you still love him.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Aiba said dully, the fire that was in his eyes suddenly extinguished. “He’s moved on. He’s engaged.”
“Nii-chan.” Yuu moved forward to give Aiba a comforting hug, but Aiba shrugged his hands away.
“I want to be alone, now,” Aiba said, looking away.
Yuu retreated, and studied his brother’s thin frame for a moment. “I’m sorry,” he said again, as he finally left the room, closing the door behind him.
})i({
When Nino walked into the studio, heads turned. Yamanaka-san just raised an eyebrow at the sight of him in Sho’s sunglasses, and Ohno kind of gaped in surprise, while Jun gave a low whistle.
“My, my, what do we have here?” Jun asked in a teasing voice. “A diva, or a loser sporting a shiner?” He leaned over and tried to lift the sunglasses off Nino, but Nino slapped his hands away and scowled. Jun just smirked as Nino took of the glasses and threw them in Sho’s direction.
“These don’t work at all,” he complained.
Sho caught the glasses mid-air and smiled. “I said that the staff won’t bother you; I didn’t say anything about the band.”
Nino couldn’t answer him, because Jun had placed his hands on either side of Nino’s head to keep him still, and was taking a closer look at his black eye. “Lemme go,” he muttered.
Jun, strangely compliant, let go and said to Yamanaka-san, “Let’s get started.”
})i({
Since they were recording their instruments individually and Aiba wasn’t around, they finished the day’s work faster than usual. Nino seemed to have quit antagonising Sho - he still made snarky remarks now and then, but it didn’t carry the same venom his words usually did - which also helped, a lot. By noon that day, Yamanaka-san said that they could have the rest of the day off.
“Ni~no,” Jun called out when he saw Nino hurrying to leave.
“What is it?”
“You’re having lunch with us.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.” Jun turned to Ohno in support. “He is, right?”
Ohno just shrugged, but when Jun gave him a pointed look he turned to Nino and said firmly, “Nino, you’re having lunch with us.”
Nino sighed in exasperation, and said, “Fine. But you guys are paying. I’ll wait outside.”
When Nino left, Ohno asked Jun, “What was that all about?”
“I think it’s about time Nino spill the beans on Aiba.”
“He’ll tell us when he wants to tell us.”
“He’ll never tell us if we just wait for him to do so!”
“Jun, you shouldn’t interfere in Aiba’s personal matters.”
“But - it’s Aiba. I can’t just leave it alone, you know that.”
“Jun, don’t you think that...” Ohno trailed off when he saw that Sho had returned to the studio.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Sho said. “Yamanaka-san said that we’re done with the single for now, except for Aiba’s parts of course. We’re all given a couple of days off before we come back to work on the album. And there’s the next single to think of,” he mused. “Anyway, tell the rest, okay? I’m taking a week’s break anyway, so tell Aiba that he could come in to record his parts while I’m gone.” As soon as he gave the message to Jun and Ohno, he left.
})i({
Aiba had planned to sleep in that day, but he couldn’t fall asleep. Instead, he picked up one of the acoustic guitars he had left behind when he moved out, and tuned it. It was old, but it didn’t show any sign of wear. He hadn’t used it much, even in high school. He took up playing bass when their then-bassist, Suzuki, left the band, and he hadn’t looked back. He started strumming the guitar for awhile, humming along, in brief starts and stops.
When his phone rang, he set aside the guitar to pick it up. “Aiba here.”
“Finally! I was going to tell you right after work, but Ohno and Jun won’t leave me alone.”
“Nino! I’m writing a new song, want to hear it?”
“Later, maybe. I have something important to tell you.”
“More important than my song?”
“Aiba, will you just listen to me? As I said, I was going to tell you last night before I left, really, but when I went over Yuu-chan said you were already asleep, so I thought I’d call you in the morning but I woke up late and had to rush to the studio, and then after work I was ambushed by Jun and Ohno who grilled me about you and Sho, and-”
“Did you tell them?”
“Yeah. Sorry. But listen -”
“What did they say?”
“Well, Jun said that if the world was fair, Sho would be the one to come in the studio with a black eye and not me, but anyway -”
“Why’d you have a black eye?”
“Aiba. Shut up and listen to me.”
“What?”
“Sho’s not engaged.”
Nino paused, waiting for a reply, but Aiba was silent on the other side. “Aiba?” he asked. “Did you hear me?”
“What?” Aiba sounded very faint.
“It was all a misunderstanding. You see, Michiyo did get engaged, but to someone else, and when you met them she was only just having a friendly lunch with Sho.”
Still no reply from Aiba.
“Aiba?” When Nino heard the dial tone, he cursed.
Aiba had hung up on him.
})i({
Yuu was studying when Aiba burst into his room. He pulled his earphones out - he always studied to loud music - and looked questioningly at his brother.
“Sho-chan’s not engaged,” Aiba said.
Yuu blinked. All this time he had thought that girls bring too much drama into his life, and now he was discovering that guys were the same. “Are you sure?”
“What do you mean, am I sure?” Aiba asked, testy.
“Well, you seemed sure that he was engaged, yesterday.”
“It was a misunderstanding. Nino called me to tell me I was wrong.”
“All right.” Yuu clicked off his mp3 player, and regarded his brother seriously. What should he do, he wondered. It would be great if Aiba and Sho could get back together, because Yuu had to admit that he was wrong in thinking that Aiba would be happier without Sho. But would it really be that easy? It had almost been seven years to the date of their break-up. People change. He didn’t know how much Sho might have changed, and neither did Aiba. “What do you want to do about that?” he asked Aiba tentatively.
All the restlessness Aiba had been feeling drained away, as he contemplated Yuu’s question. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “He may not be engaged, but he never indicated that he wanted to get back together or anything. He does seem like he’s moved on.” He walked over to Yuu’s bed and sat down.
“I think you and Sho need to talk about this.” Yuu looked at Aiba apologetically and continued, “I asked him to break up with you, but he had his reasons for agreeing with me. Whether or not the two of you get back together, you need to sort it out between yourselves.”
Aiba thought about what Yuu said, and nodded. “You’re probably right.” He stood up to leave, when his phone rang again. He walked out of Yuu’s room and picked it up.
“Nino?”
“Why’d you hang up on me? Idiot!”
“Sorry. I just needed to think for a bit.”
“Jun and Ohno said to tell you that the studio is clear if you want to come in to do your parts, because Sho wouldn’t be in.”
“But I need to - why wouldn’t he be in?”
“He’s taking a week off. Yamanaka-san said that it’s because he’s finally finished his new single and wants to take a break, but I think it’s really because I told him that you couldn’t stand working in the same studio as him.”
“You... told him that?”
“Well, not in those words exactly, but I did mention that we almost pulled the plug on our Voyager deal because of him.”
“Why did you tell him that?” Aiba asked Nino, and then wondered to himself, “Why is it that everyone else keep telling him what I wanted without even asking me first?”
Nino was quiet for awhile. Aiba thought that he had hung up at first, but then he said, “I’m sorry. It’s just that he made me so mad yesterday, and you know how I get.”
Aiba nodded. Then, realising that Nino couldn’t see him, he said out loud, “I know.” He sighed. “It’s okay, really, but I wanted to talk to him. Get everything out in the open for once.”
“I can ask Yamanaka-san for you, if you like.”
“I - hold on for a sec.” Aiba put a hand over the phone and turned to Yuu, who had walked out and tapped him on the shoulder. “What is it?”
“I just realised something,” his brother said.
“So, what is it?”
“Tomorrow will be exactly seven years to the day of your break up. Exactly.”
Aiba looked at Yuu in confusion for awhile, and then realised what his brother meant. As he thought on what had transpired during their break-up, another realisation, one his brother knew nothing about, dawned on him. He mouthed a thank you to his brother, and went back to his phone.
“Nino?”
“Hmm?”
“It’s okay, I think I know where Sho is.”
~ to be continued ~
Chapter Six | Chapter Eight
NOTES:
Hopefully the final chapter will be out by tonight or tomorrow :D
PAIRING: Sakuraiba
RATING: PG
WORD COUNT: 2,291
DATE: January 24, 2010
NOTES: I don't own Arashi, nor do I know much about them - this fic is entirely AU and fictional. This is for arashic0804!
Chapter Six | Chapter Eight
CHAPTER SEVEN
Aiba Yusuke was reading a manga and listening to his mp3 player when he heard the door to the room next to his slam. He clicked off his player, curious, as nobody had gone into his brother’s room since he moved out. He laid the manga he was reading down and set aside his player to get up and knock on his brother’s door.
“What.” The voice was muffled, but it was definitely his brother.
“Nii-chan, what are you doing back?” He opened the door and saw Aiba lying on his back on the bed, with a pillow on his face.
“It’s Ninomiya-san’s birthday,” Aiba answered, pulling the pillow away from his face.
“You’re not going back to your place tonight?”
“No, I think I’m staying here for a day or two. I've already told mom.”
“But aren’t you, like, working on your debut single or something?”
Aiba made a face, and covered his face with the pillow again. “Yeah. Don’t ask.”
Yuu sat down at the edge of Aiba’s bed, and shook his brother’s leg. “Hey...,” he said in a mock-whining voice he knew Aiba hated, “Tell me!”
Aiba ignored his brother, but Yuu pulled the pillow covering Aiba’s face away. Aiba turned to his side, so that his back faced Yuu. For a while Yuu thought that his brother wasn’t going to say anything, but when he was about to get up and leave Aiba alone, Aiba spoke.
“It’s Sho-chan.”
“What?” Yuu was glad that he was sitting down. “Don’t tell me you’re still hung up on him.”
“He’s collaborating on our first album,” Aiba explained. “So I’ve been seeing him at work all the time.”
“Do you miss him?” Yuu asked quietly.
Aiba took a long time to answer. His voice sounded strange, like he was crying, but Yuu couldn’t see his face. He remembered how Aiba was when he broke up with Sho, and swallowed. He hoped that his brother wouldn’t go through this a second time. “I didn’t think I would,” Aiba finally said. “But the moment he walked in the door, it was like all these years had meant nothing, and I’m still that person crying over him, not understanding a thing.”
“I’m sorry,” Yuu said, in the same quiet tone. “I’m very sorry, Nii-chan.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. I’m the stupid one.”
“No, you’re not,” Yuu insisted. “That thing, almost seven years ago...”
“When Sho dumped me without saying why, and refused to talk to anyone for over a week?” Aiba’s tone was dry and self-deprecating, as if he himself realised how melodramatic his relationship with Sho had been. At least, he thought, it was like that to him. Sho hadn’t seem all that affected at all.
“Yeah.” Yuu took a deep breath, and said quickly, “it was my fault.”
Aiba stiffened, but didn’t say anything. After a minute or so, he turned back to face his brother, and sat up. “What do you mean by that?” he asked.
“I asked him to break up with you.”
“You... what?” Aiba was confused. “Why?”
“Because he was hurting you!” Yuu exclaimed, raising his voice. “I hated the way he was treating you. And - I thought you deserved a better relationship.” His voice grew smaller as he admitted, “I thought you deserved a more normal relationship.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why? I told you why.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before, when it was killing me not to know why he left? Why did you think you had the right to interfere in my life? Why was it so... abnormal to be in love with someone?” Aiba brushed away his tears angrily, and continued, “I know he messed up a lot, but so did I. I should’ve been more supportive of his decision to go to college. I shouldn’t have made it such a big deal when he decided to debut as a solo artist. I should've fought harder to keep him, instead of letting him leave me so easily. I was just as much to blame as he was, and it all didn’t matter anyway, because I loved him. I still love him.”
Ashamed, and overwhelmed by guilt, Yuu mumbled another apology. “I’m sorry, Nii-chan. I really am. I promise that I’ll support you, if you still love him.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Aiba said dully, the fire that was in his eyes suddenly extinguished. “He’s moved on. He’s engaged.”
“Nii-chan.” Yuu moved forward to give Aiba a comforting hug, but Aiba shrugged his hands away.
“I want to be alone, now,” Aiba said, looking away.
Yuu retreated, and studied his brother’s thin frame for a moment. “I’m sorry,” he said again, as he finally left the room, closing the door behind him.
})i({
When Nino walked into the studio, heads turned. Yamanaka-san just raised an eyebrow at the sight of him in Sho’s sunglasses, and Ohno kind of gaped in surprise, while Jun gave a low whistle.
“My, my, what do we have here?” Jun asked in a teasing voice. “A diva, or a loser sporting a shiner?” He leaned over and tried to lift the sunglasses off Nino, but Nino slapped his hands away and scowled. Jun just smirked as Nino took of the glasses and threw them in Sho’s direction.
“These don’t work at all,” he complained.
Sho caught the glasses mid-air and smiled. “I said that the staff won’t bother you; I didn’t say anything about the band.”
Nino couldn’t answer him, because Jun had placed his hands on either side of Nino’s head to keep him still, and was taking a closer look at his black eye. “Lemme go,” he muttered.
Jun, strangely compliant, let go and said to Yamanaka-san, “Let’s get started.”
})i({
Since they were recording their instruments individually and Aiba wasn’t around, they finished the day’s work faster than usual. Nino seemed to have quit antagonising Sho - he still made snarky remarks now and then, but it didn’t carry the same venom his words usually did - which also helped, a lot. By noon that day, Yamanaka-san said that they could have the rest of the day off.
“Ni~no,” Jun called out when he saw Nino hurrying to leave.
“What is it?”
“You’re having lunch with us.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.” Jun turned to Ohno in support. “He is, right?”
Ohno just shrugged, but when Jun gave him a pointed look he turned to Nino and said firmly, “Nino, you’re having lunch with us.”
Nino sighed in exasperation, and said, “Fine. But you guys are paying. I’ll wait outside.”
When Nino left, Ohno asked Jun, “What was that all about?”
“I think it’s about time Nino spill the beans on Aiba.”
“He’ll tell us when he wants to tell us.”
“He’ll never tell us if we just wait for him to do so!”
“Jun, you shouldn’t interfere in Aiba’s personal matters.”
“But - it’s Aiba. I can’t just leave it alone, you know that.”
“Jun, don’t you think that...” Ohno trailed off when he saw that Sho had returned to the studio.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Sho said. “Yamanaka-san said that we’re done with the single for now, except for Aiba’s parts of course. We’re all given a couple of days off before we come back to work on the album. And there’s the next single to think of,” he mused. “Anyway, tell the rest, okay? I’m taking a week’s break anyway, so tell Aiba that he could come in to record his parts while I’m gone.” As soon as he gave the message to Jun and Ohno, he left.
})i({
Aiba had planned to sleep in that day, but he couldn’t fall asleep. Instead, he picked up one of the acoustic guitars he had left behind when he moved out, and tuned it. It was old, but it didn’t show any sign of wear. He hadn’t used it much, even in high school. He took up playing bass when their then-bassist, Suzuki, left the band, and he hadn’t looked back. He started strumming the guitar for awhile, humming along, in brief starts and stops.
When his phone rang, he set aside the guitar to pick it up. “Aiba here.”
“Finally! I was going to tell you right after work, but Ohno and Jun won’t leave me alone.”
“Nino! I’m writing a new song, want to hear it?”
“Later, maybe. I have something important to tell you.”
“More important than my song?”
“Aiba, will you just listen to me? As I said, I was going to tell you last night before I left, really, but when I went over Yuu-chan said you were already asleep, so I thought I’d call you in the morning but I woke up late and had to rush to the studio, and then after work I was ambushed by Jun and Ohno who grilled me about you and Sho, and-”
“Did you tell them?”
“Yeah. Sorry. But listen -”
“What did they say?”
“Well, Jun said that if the world was fair, Sho would be the one to come in the studio with a black eye and not me, but anyway -”
“Why’d you have a black eye?”
“Aiba. Shut up and listen to me.”
“What?”
“Sho’s not engaged.”
Nino paused, waiting for a reply, but Aiba was silent on the other side. “Aiba?” he asked. “Did you hear me?”
“What?” Aiba sounded very faint.
“It was all a misunderstanding. You see, Michiyo did get engaged, but to someone else, and when you met them she was only just having a friendly lunch with Sho.”
Still no reply from Aiba.
“Aiba?” When Nino heard the dial tone, he cursed.
Aiba had hung up on him.
})i({
Yuu was studying when Aiba burst into his room. He pulled his earphones out - he always studied to loud music - and looked questioningly at his brother.
“Sho-chan’s not engaged,” Aiba said.
Yuu blinked. All this time he had thought that girls bring too much drama into his life, and now he was discovering that guys were the same. “Are you sure?”
“What do you mean, am I sure?” Aiba asked, testy.
“Well, you seemed sure that he was engaged, yesterday.”
“It was a misunderstanding. Nino called me to tell me I was wrong.”
“All right.” Yuu clicked off his mp3 player, and regarded his brother seriously. What should he do, he wondered. It would be great if Aiba and Sho could get back together, because Yuu had to admit that he was wrong in thinking that Aiba would be happier without Sho. But would it really be that easy? It had almost been seven years to the date of their break-up. People change. He didn’t know how much Sho might have changed, and neither did Aiba. “What do you want to do about that?” he asked Aiba tentatively.
All the restlessness Aiba had been feeling drained away, as he contemplated Yuu’s question. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “He may not be engaged, but he never indicated that he wanted to get back together or anything. He does seem like he’s moved on.” He walked over to Yuu’s bed and sat down.
“I think you and Sho need to talk about this.” Yuu looked at Aiba apologetically and continued, “I asked him to break up with you, but he had his reasons for agreeing with me. Whether or not the two of you get back together, you need to sort it out between yourselves.”
Aiba thought about what Yuu said, and nodded. “You’re probably right.” He stood up to leave, when his phone rang again. He walked out of Yuu’s room and picked it up.
“Nino?”
“Why’d you hang up on me? Idiot!”
“Sorry. I just needed to think for a bit.”
“Jun and Ohno said to tell you that the studio is clear if you want to come in to do your parts, because Sho wouldn’t be in.”
“But I need to - why wouldn’t he be in?”
“He’s taking a week off. Yamanaka-san said that it’s because he’s finally finished his new single and wants to take a break, but I think it’s really because I told him that you couldn’t stand working in the same studio as him.”
“You... told him that?”
“Well, not in those words exactly, but I did mention that we almost pulled the plug on our Voyager deal because of him.”
“Why did you tell him that?” Aiba asked Nino, and then wondered to himself, “Why is it that everyone else keep telling him what I wanted without even asking me first?”
Nino was quiet for awhile. Aiba thought that he had hung up at first, but then he said, “I’m sorry. It’s just that he made me so mad yesterday, and you know how I get.”
Aiba nodded. Then, realising that Nino couldn’t see him, he said out loud, “I know.” He sighed. “It’s okay, really, but I wanted to talk to him. Get everything out in the open for once.”
“I can ask Yamanaka-san for you, if you like.”
“I - hold on for a sec.” Aiba put a hand over the phone and turned to Yuu, who had walked out and tapped him on the shoulder. “What is it?”
“I just realised something,” his brother said.
“So, what is it?”
“Tomorrow will be exactly seven years to the day of your break up. Exactly.”
Aiba looked at Yuu in confusion for awhile, and then realised what his brother meant. As he thought on what had transpired during their break-up, another realisation, one his brother knew nothing about, dawned on him. He mouthed a thank you to his brother, and went back to his phone.
“Nino?”
“Hmm?”
“It’s okay, I think I know where Sho is.”
~ to be continued ~
Chapter Six | Chapter Eight
NOTES:
Hopefully the final chapter will be out by tonight or tomorrow :D