[Multi-chapter] Oretachi no chikara (6/??)
Title: Oretachi no chikara (Our power)
Author: syunikiss1990 and tsuchi8562
Beta & Plot Bunny: yuuki_saya <-- Thank you as akways!
Pairing: Aiba, Sho
Genre: Fantasy, AU, Romance
Rating: NC-17 (This chapter PG-13)
Disclaimer: We don't own anything but the plot, borrowed from our beta-reader.
Summary: One of them wants to go back, the other thinks something quite opposite.
*MASTERPOST*
When Sakurai slowly woke up he wondered why his bed felt so hard. He refused to open his eyes already, but in his still half asleep state he came to the conclusion he must be laying on the ground in his bedroom. Probably he fell asleep on his desk and somehow rolled on the ground while sleeping. But that didn’t explain why he felt a body pressed at his back. Sure, sometimes he and Ninomiya would wake up on the ground after drinking too much, but he didn’t remember anything like that. On the other hand, if he had been drinking it would explain why he wouldn’t remember it. And I would explain the weird dream he had. By the movements the other behind him made, he made up that he was awake.
“Nino, I just had the weirdest dream. Some weird guy from the poor district came into our house and kidnapped me, can you believe that?” Rubbing his eyes he turned around. Slowly he opened them, getting used to the bright light. To his surprise it was not Ninomiya who stared at him, but he looked straight into those brown eyes the man in his dream had. With a loud scream he sat up and pushed the other away.
“Good morning to you too” Aiba said, rubbing his arm where Sho had hit him. Sho didn’t say anything back. He just stared at the man in front of him, trying to calm down a little as he realized his dream hadn’t been a dream at all. His heart was bouncing fast in his chest and somewhere deep inside he knew it wasn’t only from the shock. He felt his blood rush to his cheeks so he quickly turned around to hide it from the taller man.
“Great. Just great” Sakurai mumbled softly in himself. Behind him he could hear Aiba was getting up, so as quick as he could he stood up too. When he turned around to look at his ‘kidnapper’ they stared at each other for a while. The way the taller man was looking at him made Sho feel a bit uncomfortable but he refused to look down. Finally Aiba broke the silence.
“I’ll try to find some food, you can stay here if you want”
“I’m not staying. You are going to bring me back remember”
“I don’t remember saying that. You said it, but I never agreed.” Sho stared at him with his mouth wide open. True, the other man had never said he would take him back, but he wasn’t used to people not doing what he wanted. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t take the fight.
“Bring me back, right now!”
“Going back now is suicide”
“For you maybe, but they will never kill me” when Sho saw the look in the other’s eyes he realized he went too far.
“If you are willing to find that out for yourself, be my guest. But I wouldn’t be that sure if I were you. I’m not going. If you don’t mind, I would like to live a lot longer.” An awkward silence lay down between the two of them. Sho thought about what the other man had said. Was he really sure nobody would hurt him for what he did? Similar things had happened in the past and he had never heard of a happy ending for those involved before, rich or poor. Even if he would explain the situation, the whole thing sounded too unreal. He himself almost didn’t believe it, so how would anyone else believe he spoke the truth?
“Then what do you suggest?”
“I can’t decide for you, but I will stay here for a while. As long as is needed for everything to go back to normal, otherwise I’ll just live in the forest for the rest of my life. For now I’ll go to find some food and water, you can stay here and think about it.” Without looking back Aiba climbed out of their hiding place and Sho could hear his footsteps going further until he was unable to hear them. He sighed and looked around. It surly was uncomfortable in this place, but at least it was well hidden and impossible to reach for wild animals. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew the other man was right. It was not safe to return to the city right now. Maybe the idea to stay for a little while wasn’t that bad. And that Aiba guy wasn’t a bad company, even though he came from the poor district and he had dragged him to this forest against his will. There was something about that man that fascinated Sho, but he couldn’t really put his finger on it.
After a while he became worried. He had totally lost his sense of time and had no idea how long Aiba was already gone. He realized the other could just have let him here by himself, saying he was going to find some food, but not coming back. Suddenly he felt very lonely and at the same time afraid. Even though Aiba had kidnapped him (or at least in Sho’s eyes he had), Sakurai knew he wasn’t a bad guy. But that lingering feeling that he would be left here alone scared him. He just couldn’t sit still any more, his worries growing with each passing second. Finally he decided to climb out of the small place, feeling locked up inside it. But when he peeked his head outside he saw the place was a lot higher above the ground than he thought. Squealing scared he quickly pulled his head back, going as far away form the edge as he could. Silently he prayed Aiba wouldn’t leave him and come back quickly.
***
Masaki was a bit afraid of leaving Sakurai alone, but he had no choice. Food was extremely important, along with the water, to survive. God only knows how long they will have to stay in that forest, and it’s getting colder with every day. Probably he will need to find another shelter soon, but first things first! Now he has to focus on finding something to eat, what was hard, considering the fact that it was almost winter. You could only dream about forest fruits or vegetables and eating raw wild meat was far too dangerous (lighting up a fire in that niche was impossible). However he didn’t have a choice; they will eat and look for another place to spend the night. After catching (not without an effort) a couple of squirrels he headed back to the hideaway, gathering some water from the near river on the way.
“Sakurai-san!!! SA-KU-RA-I-SAN!!!” He yelled, waiting for reply. When he noticed small from his perspective head that leaned from the recess he waved with the hand that hold the dead animals. “Come down, we are going to eat and look for some better place to sleep!”
Sho just shook his head almost unnoticeably and got back into the niche; Aiba couldn’t believe his own eyes. He wanted to use his old trick and yell that he will leave him, but this time it could be far too dangerous, without any food or water, he can fall and kill himself. After a little sighing marathon, he put the supplies on the ground, covered it with leaves and quickly climbed up again to find a scared man, sitting in the furthest part of the cavity. The taller man wanted to say something, when some obvious thought hit him: his accidental co-fugitive was afraid of heights! That certainly wasn’t funny, but Masaki couldn’t help himself from laughing.
“Come on, I’ll help you come down.”
“I’m not going anywhere, except my home!”
“Stubborn! But this time I won’t let you stay here, it’s far too dangerous here! So stop whining and grab my hand.” Aiba without waiting for any reply pulled Sho with him and helped him to get down. If he thought that climbing was hard, he was wrong; now he was fighting not only with the hill, but also with the fright. After never-ending while they finally managed to get down, tired and sweaty, and Masaki fell on the ground trying to catch a breath. If it's that way they won’t be able to survive; Aiba had a great hideaway in mind, but it was also set high above the ground. This will be definitely tough, but he will think of something, for sure. The most important thing now was to set a fire and cook come meal, brain won’t work that good if the stomach is empty.
“We’ll eat here. Go and collect some wood; I’ll stay here in case if you’re lost. Just call my name, I’ll hear you.”
“Why me? You do it! I don’t know this forest; I might meet some dangerous wild animals! No, I won’t go anywhere!”
“Fine by me. Then prepare our dinner!” Masaki took the squirrels and waved them in front of scared Sho’s eyes. That wasn’t fair, but Aiba can’t take care of everything by himself. Mad and a bit frighten Sakurai mumbled unintelligible “understood” and disappeared behind the nearest clump of trees. Meanwhile the taller man started to get the meal ready; that wasn’t easy job though. He hated killing animals, but he was also perfectly aware that without that he won’t be able to survive and that was necessary, especially when he had somebody to take care of now. While flaying the rodents he monitored if his partner in crime isn’t calling him, but he didn’t hear a thing, only quiet crackle of dry twigs and some mumbling.
As soon as Sho returned, Masaki begun to light up the fire; it wasn’t that hard, he did it hundred times already, and when finally the meat slowly sizzled over the flames, he decided to talk a bit, just to know the other man better.
“So… You live in the palace, right?”
“Yes, if you didn’t notice it. I am the son of the President of the City Council, but you probably know that too. My father won’t rest before he finds me. That’s why I am calm and I will do everything to survive these Spartan conditions…”
“Watch it! These ‘Spartan conditions’, as you called them are many people’s daily life!” Aiba started to regret that he even tried to converse with that spoiled rich boy, but he couldn’t give up, not yet. He coughed and started again. “You have never been outside the wall, right?”
“No… I didn’t have any reason to do that.”
Does he always answers in those short sentences? Man, if he will continue it that way, this whole conversation has no use. Maybe he is just afraid to say anything more? Maybe change of the subject will help? Masaki thought; he was feeling really awkward, because he was usually very talkative, yet now it was quite impossible. Forcing Sho to hear him was a bad idea, so he just sighed and asked:
“Do you like your meat well-done or medium?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never eat a squirrel before. Just do it like for you.”
Aiba looked at Sakurai’s face and frowned; the shorter man was bored, but he wasn’t scared anymore. Maybe those few sentences calmed him down? That was a good sign though; he maybe doesn’t trust Masaki fully, but it’s a start.