Fic for Rainbowfilling
Sep. 2nd, 2011 12:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ciirceeI meant to post this sooner than this. >.< Failure, thy name is Circe. I love you guys. I'll get back to you tomorrow (or Saturday).
For now:
Title: MomoMasaki and the Journey to the West
Rated: G
Warning: None?
Pairing: Aimiya with hints of Aiba/Jun?
Prompt: Fairy Tale AU
Summary: Putting Aiba in a giant peach can't really lead to any good, can it?
MomoMasaki and the Journey to the West
In the world of humanity there was a young man who desperately wanted a companion. Somebody to be by his side, to be his comfort and his joy, somebody to be the morning sun and evening star. But he was a poor man and awkward and finding such a person when one had almost no money and no food was a dismal prospect.
He was lonely and his name was Matsumoto Jun.
In the realm of Heaven there as a young man who was born from sunshine and smiles, from teardrops and hard work. He was gifted with a peaceful nature and filled to the brim with a sense of fun and adventure.
His name was Aiba Masaki and he was to be sent to Jun.
There were other men in the world, of course, but Aiba was not concerned with them. He thought only of being sent to Jun's side.
"Ahh, it's finally time, Masaki," the emperor of Heaven said to him one day. He patted the side of a luminous peach. It was fuzzy and smelled sweet and was bigger than any peach Aiba had ever known in the whole of his life.
"Waaah! Sho-chan this is amazing!" cried Aiba, circling the peach. "Did you grow this? Did it come from the Celestial Peach Tree?" This was the tree that grew at the center of Heaven, under whose branches the Heavenly Court celebrated its festivals. It had the best and tastiest peaches in all of creation.
Sho scrubbed at the back of his neck. "Ahahaha," he laughed abashedly.
"Did you almost kill it again?" asked Aiba kindly.
"It looked like it needed water!" Sho said looking beseechingly at him. That was something about Sho which Aiba loved very much—his friend was the emperor and yet felt the need to beg forgiveness for his smallest offenses. "At any rate," Sho said, recovering himself, "this was made by Satoshi."
"Ohhh," Aiba nodded. Ohno Satoshi was another friend, an artist once plucked from the human realm to live amongst them, immortal in the High Kingdom. Satoshi was also Aiba's partner-in-crime when it came to raiding the Celestial Peach Tree of its treasures.
Sho opened a door on the peach—which was made of actual peach, somehow, as though Satoshi had grown it with his imagination. And perhaps he had because he appeared at Aiba's side and was thoroughly coated with dirt, small peach sticks, a great many leaves and he smelled sweetly of peaches. "I forgot to add windows," Ohno pointed out as Aiba peered into the depths of the peach.
Aiba crawled into the peach pit, which was crafted from papier-mâché, and smiled at his friends. "It's all right. Jun will find me. We're destined, yeah?"
"Yes," Sho smiled. "You're destined to be sent out to travel to the side of Matsumoto Jun."
Ohno rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I hope this goes all right."
"It will!" Aiba assured him. He reached out to close the peach. "Let's go drop me in the river!"
The river was a rollercoaster ride and Aiba liked it very much. He knew when he'd been found because he felt his peach being pulled up and out and then carried. He was so excited that he could barely wait for Matsumoto Jun to eat the peach.
Several days later, Aiba got sick of waiting for Jun to eat the peach and he bashed his way out of it instead. "I'm here!" he called as he climbed from his pit. "I'm here to be your—you're not Jun."
Indeed, where Jun should have sat was instead a young man with messy dark hair and a mole on his chin. He was very absorbed in a game that sat in front of him and while he was dressed in old clothes that had holes in them, Aiba had the rather very distinct feeling that it was because this young man didn't very much care about his state of dress and not because he had no other clothes. He appeared to take no note of Aiba whatsoever.
"Um," said Aiba. "Where's Jun?"
The young man finally looked up. "Who?" he asked. And then, brow wrinkling, "Wait. Who are you and how did you get in here?"
Aiba blinked. "I'm…I'm looking for Jun. Matsumoto Jun. I was meant to come to him. He was supposed to drag my peach out of the river and eat it and I was supposed to be his."
"Don't know him," said the man. "I did find a huge—DID YOU WRECK MY PEACH?" he demanded, eyes landing on it.
Technically, it was Aiba's peach. Or perhaps it was in the way of belonging to Satoshi, who'd crafted it or to Sho, who'd ordered it made. It certainly did not belong to this man, whoever he was. "I had to get out," Aiba said, sidestepping the issue as he came to the decision not to quibble.
"I was going to sell that to the highest bidder!" the young man complained bitterly. He shoved aside his game (but so gently that the stones did not even rattle against themselves) and stood, planting his hands upon his hips. "All right, peach-wrecker, who the hell are you?"
Aiba was uncertain what to do. He'd been sent for Jun and he'd been ready to take whatever name Jun would give to him. His plan had been to pretend he couldn't remember his life, his name, his home in realm of Heaven so that Jun would not feel badly about keeping him. Jun had seemed the sensitive sort. "Um. I don't recall?" he offered, deciding to stick to his plan.
The man rolled his eyes. "You remember this Matsumoto guy and what was supposed to happen but you don't remember your own name? Try again, Peach-boy."
Aiba gave up with a sigh. "I'm Aiba," he introduced himself, "Aiba Masaki."
"I'm Ninomiya Kazunari," said the man. "You can just call me Nino. And you can drag my shattered dream out the door before it stinks up the place, if you please."
Aiba felt his own frown fold across his face. "What?"
"Get rid of your ride, Peach," said Nino. "Dump it back in the river or something."
"But—" Aiba considered his peach. It was well and truly smushed. "I'll drown. It will surely fill up with water and I'll drown before Matsumoto finds me."
"Then don't get in it," Nino said, shrugging and settling himself back before his game. "For a small fee, you can sleep on my couch until he finds you or until you find him."
It took little time for Aiba to decide to stay with Ninomiya until he could figure out a way to reach Matsumoto—he had no clue as to how far away Matsumoto might be and, without the peach, he had no way with which to convince him that he was his destined companion.
Much longer was the time it took for Ninomiya to agree to let Aiba sleep on his couch without actual money changing hands, as Aiba had none. Finally, in exchange for the couch, Aiba got an apron and a list of chores to be done daily for each day that he stayed on as usurper of Ninomiya's sofa.
"Nino!" Aiba whined. "Are you certain the whole thing?"
Ninomiya did not look up to face directly Aiba's upset. "Yep."
"But—" Aiba stuttered.
Nino remained bent to his tomato patch. "Did you wish to sleep in the lane tonight?" he asked pleasantly.
Aiba dropped his head with a sigh. "I'll do it."
"Don't fall off," Nino cautioned, finally looking at him. "Or through. Roofs cost a lot."
Shouldering the bag of shingles and nails and hoisting the bucket of pitch, Aiba mounted the ladder. "I think it should count for two nights," he said softly.
Nino smiled at him. "One night only."
"Idiot," Nino sighed over him later. "Did I not say to not fall off?"
Aiba sat up groggily, rubbing his head. "At least it was not through?" he offered hopefully.
"Idiot," Nino said again, toeing him rudely before stepping over him and going inside.
"Ahhh—" said Aiba cautiously, edging away from the door.
"Yeah," Nino said proudly, "I haven't cleaned the bathroom since I got the place. Have fun with it."
"But!" Aiba protested.
Nino pointed at the front door and raised his eyebrows with exaggerated question.
Aiba's shoulders slumped. "I'll do it."
Smiling, Nino clapped him on the shoulder. "I expect it to sparkle so very much that I fair to hear it."
Gagging, Aiba fell out of the room. "I don't wanna—" he gasped. "I can't—"
"Sparkle sounds?" Nino asked.
Aiba looked at the door and at Nino. "Not yet."
"I look forward to it," Nino said with a smile.
"No!" Aiba wailed in protest.
Nino held open the front door.
"I'll—"
"Do it, I know."
And Nino smiled.
It was that smile that made it worth it. For as much as Nino demanded of him, for as much as Nino ignored him to play his game, he would smile with such a brightness and a measure of such poorly hidden sweetness that Aiba could not help but do whatever was asked of him in exchange for it.
It was summer and not an unpleasant time to be out of doors. He could have easily walked to the nearby village—as Nino did to do the shopping—and found a place to take him in. He could have gone across the fields to the neighboring homes. But that would mean missing Nino's smile.
So Aiba stayed and as the days passed into a week and the week stretched into a second and a third, he found himself with less work to do (for Nino—as Nino had sold Aiba's cleaning and cooking and shoulder massages to various elderly neighbors on more than one occasion) and more time spent playing games with Nino. Not just the stones, but word games, cooking contests, and strange sporting games that he half-suspected Nino made up on the spot (though Nino often said the same of the games Aiba knew).
One day Aiba came to the startling realization that he'd not tried to find Jun at all in all the time he'd spent with Nino. Too tired at first and lately…perhaps too forgetful. Perhaps simply unwilling.
"Are you lonely, Nino?" he asked one night as Nino set plates of food on the table.
Nino looked at him, a solemn face that Aiba had not seen since their first days together. "No," he said shortly after a moment of silence.
"I—" Aiba said. And then, "Good." But he thought that what Nino might have thought but not said was 'Not now'. "I'm not either."
"Idiot," Nino said and Aiba fancied that he could indeed hear a wealth of affection within the word.
Perhaps the thought of finding Matsumoto Jun and going to his side should have concerned Aiba more than it did. It should, at the very least, have ranked higher among his thoughts than 'what's for dinner tonight' and 'is it my night to cook again already'. The first of the leaves of autumn fell, gold and burnt orange, and Aiba's only thought was that the persimmons would soon ripen.
He set his hand upon the hardy trunk of the tree, looking up at laden branches. "Soon," he said.
"And how soon," Sho asked quietly from behind him, "is 'soon', Masaki?"
"Sho-chan," Aiba said, his heart picking up speed. He turned and it seemed as though his heart stopped entirely. "Emperor," he said, bowing, for Sho was in his most formal robes and was accompanied by a richly dressed Satoshi. Sho carried the Bright Blade of Heaven and Satoshi the Great Stave.
And behind them stood Matsumoto Jun.
Expecting many things of an ill nature, Aiba was shocked to find that he was in no trouble at all (or at least, not so very much more than was his wont) and was, instead, being asked for his help.
"I must defeat the Demon King in the West," Sho sighed, leaning back against the persimmon tree uncaring of his robes. "It's expected of me."
Ohno picked at a thread on his cuff. "Sho-chan fails a lot," he said.
Aiba assumed this was meant for Matsumoto edification; Aiba himself was aware of Sho's peculiar ability to both succeed and fail in unpredictable ways.
"Indeed," Sho sighed. He straightened and clasped Aiba's shoulders. "Satoshi volunteered to come with me when I accepted this task—"
"The baker gave him those buns I like," Ohno agreed. "I might share them if I go along."
"—and Matsumoto Jun, too, has said he shall lend me all the skill he may yet muster."
"It is only right," Jun said with a bow of his head.
"Then, Masaki, I shall now ask if you will also lend me your strength. I fear I shall need it," Sho said, hands tight on Aiba's shoulders. "You have been long absent from the Kingdom and remain undiminished."
Once more, Aiba's only thought was of Nino. "I—" he said, looking toward the house, so near in the distance.
"Masaki," Sho said. "It will be dangerous and it will be a long road. I need a stout heart to weather it with me."
Many things was Nino but a person to take a long and dangerous road for a stranger was not one of them. Aiba knew that Nino would not be able to come on this journey and that he, himself, would be unable to stay behind. "Then you shall have me," he told his oldest friend.
Ohno touched his arm. "Gather your things quickly. We must away."
He bid a goodbye to Nino, quiet and sad.
Nino ignored him utterly.
"We'll be back," Aiba promised softly at the door. "Sho and Satoshi and Jun and I—we will return from the West."
Still, Nino ignored him, looking only at his game.
Aiba knew him well, this young man with untidy hair and sharp mind. He knew Nino's moods and his ways. "I'll take your smile with me," he vowed before shutting the door resolutely and walking away to face the danger of the Demon King.
He did carry Nino's smile with him. When the wood was too wet too light, when the road made him footsore, when fear and doubt and pain assailed him from all sides and all foes, he thought of the way Ninomiya's eyes lit and lip curled and it added to his strength. Aiba fought on and on when he wanted to give up—when he wanted to drop the tinder, sit at the side of the road, or hide his face from dark world before him—and he continued on. With each change of the season—the cold, the wet, the heat, he continued on bravely.
For he had promised Nino that he would return and it was a fearful thought of what Nino would do to him (and just how he would do it) if he failed to keep that promise.
Along the way, fighting off the Lesser Evils, he took a moment to apologize to his companions, one by one. "I'm sorry I never came to you, Jun," he said. "I know I was fated to be sent to your side and I never came and—"
Jun hit him over the head. "Don't be stupid," he said in a kindly tone that brooked no argument. "We are friends now so go to sleep."
"Satoshi," he said, crouching over the artist, warding away an attack by a hopping demon animal. "Your peach did well. It's only by my own fault that I did not arrive at Jun's side as I was destined to do."
"Oh," said Ohno. "Okay. Thanks?"
The worst was apologizing to Sho, who had gone to such great lengths to help him to his destined fate. "Sho-chan," he knelt at his friend's feet. "I beg of you, please forgive me for failing you! I did not go to where I was fated. I—"
"Peace, Aiba," Sho said, hand steady on the hilt of his sword. "Peace."
"—and I know how great an effort you made to make sure I was sent to Jun and—"
"Is now really the time?" Jun demanded.
"There is no better," Aiba told him, looking away from Sho.
"The Demon King is about to pound you to paste and waste," Satoshi pointed out reasonably.
"Exactly," Aiba said staunchly.
"It's a good a time as any other," Sho said, shrugging. "Now come! To battle!" he roared, racing ahead.
Aiba leapt to his feet and raced after him.
The Demon King and his iron club and his castle in the West fell that day before the sun could leave the sky. Aiba stood among the ruin, injured but alive, and looked only to the East.
"We should stay," Jun said. "Ensure that there is no thing foul or fell to rise up in this place."
"I cannot," said Aiba with no little regret. "That you have been my brothers in arms is a great thing but—"
"As always," Sho said, laughing quietly under his breath. "Then, if this is the way of it, I shall send the great Generals to this place for a time. And we shall return as we came."
"As we came?" said Satoshi. "Does that mean we're leaving all the treasure behind?"
"Hell no!" Jun and Aiba chorused. Jun was poor, after all, and if Aiba knew any one thing of Nino it was that he liked money.
"Good thing we've got all these empty food sacks," Sho said, handing them out.
Home was a far place, a long road. It was not fraught with the dangers and despairs of the journey into the West but it had its own way of being weary and wearing and of casting doubt as the seasons changed.
"What if," Aiba said softly, "he has forgotten me?"
"Then you may return home," Sho said. Aiba knew he meant the Celestial Kingdom and not the cramped, recently-repaired home of Ninomiya Kazunari. "And be celebrated for your deeds beneath the branches of the Celestial Peach Tree."
"Or, if you wouldn't, we are friends and you may stay with me if you'd so choose," Jun said kindly.
"Perhaps," said Aiba, but he turned away from them both.
Satoshi looked at him level and steady, calm. "Show him the treasure. I'm sure he'll let you stay."
Aiba sighed deeply, chin tucked to his chest. But then, he wondered how should he smile at me? "Perhaps," he repeated. "Perhaps."
When he had last stood at the persimmon tree, it had been ready to bear fruit. Now, standing beneath the boughs, it was clear that even the very last, bitterly unripe fruit had become sweet windfall. Aiba picked one from the grass and studied it. "I would that you were a peach," he told it.
"Well I would that you explain just where you've been for the last however long," Nino said forbiddingly.
Aiba's head jerked up as though on a string and he stared into the long-missed face of the man who had pulled his peach from the river. "Nino."
"Oh, so you remember who I am as well as your way back to our door? Now I bid you remember the answer to 'where the hell have you been'," he instructed bitterly.
"Uh," said Sho uncertainly.
"I—" said Jun uncomfortably.
"West," said Ohno helpfully.
"Yes," Aiba nodded. "West. As I told you." He frowned at Nino's dark scowl. "You do remember that I told you, do you not, Nino?"
Nino's scowl grew darker. "You never shut up," he said sullenly. "Sometimes I just stop listening to your prattle." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You told me you were going West?"
"I did," Aiba nodded. "I said that I would be going off to defeat the Demon King in the West and that I would return to you." He thought. "You were looking at your game," he offered.
Rolling his eyes, Nino unfolded his arms and quit tapping his foot impatiently. "And you suspected I was listening to you at all?" He switched his glare to the others. "Well? Who are you, then?"
"Sho," said Sho, gesturing to himself. "Sakurai Sho. The Emperor of—"
"Great. You?" Nino pointed at Ohno.
"Yes?" said Ohno. Then, at Nino's look, "Oh. I'm Ohno Satoshi."
"Thank you for joining us today, Oh-chan," Nino said, whipping to face Jun. "And the pretty face?"
Jun rolled his eyes. "Matsumoto Jun."
Nino seemed to freeze in place and Aiba, who had practiced and learned all of Nino's expressions, who had called them each to mind as he'd travelled, could not read him at all. "There's treasure?" he said softly, holding his bag out to Nino. "Gold and gems and lovely silk."
Unreadable still, Nino took the bag and looked inside of it without a word.
"I've carried your smile with me all this time," Aiba said pleadingly. "Nino."
"Go sweep the floor if you want the couch for the night," Nino said roughly. "Oh-chan, you're starting up the wash, Sho you get to cook and Matsumoto Jun you can just forget about taking that first moron home with you. He owes me."
"Owes you?" Jun exclaimed.
"Forget?" murmured Aiba.
"Cook?" Sho despaired.
"You don't want Sho to cook," Ohno said.
"Owes me!" Nino said, planting his hands at his hips. "I looked for that idiot for months. I had to talk to other people. I had to go places." His arms dropped and he looked, Aiba thought, like the man he'd first met. Somebody who had been alone. "I haven't smiled once since—"
Aiba swept Nino into a wild hug. "I brought your smile back with me," he promised, blinking back tears. "I kept it safe."
"Get off!" Nino barked, pushing him away. "Quit hugging me! Weren't you meant to hug that guy?"
But Aiba knew him. "No." Jun was halfway down the lane with Sho and Satoshi anyhow, running fast. "I never was."
"Liar! Peachling! Pervert!"
Nino wasn't, Aiba noted as he held him tighter, struggling very hard at all. Unless it was against himself and the way his arms were creeping round Aiba's middle and holding him tight in return.
Once upon a time, in the world of humanity, there were a great many people. Among them lived Ninomiya Kazunari and he had few needs and fewer wants. If he was lonely, he never said. If he wanted for a great companion, he never asked. If he wanted a giant peach—well, once upon a time he had found one and had, inside of it, found a great deal more than a stone.
And also in that once up on a time there lived, in the realm of mortals, a man who had once crawled in side a peach in order to reach his fate, to be at the side of the one who needed him most of all. In the end Aiba decided even though he'd been destined to be sent to Jun it was not necessarily his destiny to reach him. He had found Nino and fate, it seemed, had found them both.
They lived happily (enough) ever after.
For now:
Title: MomoMasaki and the Journey to the West
Rated: G
Warning: None?
Pairing: Aimiya with hints of Aiba/Jun?
Prompt: Fairy Tale AU
Summary: Putting Aiba in a giant peach can't really lead to any good, can it?
MomoMasaki and the Journey to the West
In the world of humanity there was a young man who desperately wanted a companion. Somebody to be by his side, to be his comfort and his joy, somebody to be the morning sun and evening star. But he was a poor man and awkward and finding such a person when one had almost no money and no food was a dismal prospect.
He was lonely and his name was Matsumoto Jun.
In the realm of Heaven there as a young man who was born from sunshine and smiles, from teardrops and hard work. He was gifted with a peaceful nature and filled to the brim with a sense of fun and adventure.
His name was Aiba Masaki and he was to be sent to Jun.
There were other men in the world, of course, but Aiba was not concerned with them. He thought only of being sent to Jun's side.
"Ahh, it's finally time, Masaki," the emperor of Heaven said to him one day. He patted the side of a luminous peach. It was fuzzy and smelled sweet and was bigger than any peach Aiba had ever known in the whole of his life.
"Waaah! Sho-chan this is amazing!" cried Aiba, circling the peach. "Did you grow this? Did it come from the Celestial Peach Tree?" This was the tree that grew at the center of Heaven, under whose branches the Heavenly Court celebrated its festivals. It had the best and tastiest peaches in all of creation.
Sho scrubbed at the back of his neck. "Ahahaha," he laughed abashedly.
"Did you almost kill it again?" asked Aiba kindly.
"It looked like it needed water!" Sho said looking beseechingly at him. That was something about Sho which Aiba loved very much—his friend was the emperor and yet felt the need to beg forgiveness for his smallest offenses. "At any rate," Sho said, recovering himself, "this was made by Satoshi."
"Ohhh," Aiba nodded. Ohno Satoshi was another friend, an artist once plucked from the human realm to live amongst them, immortal in the High Kingdom. Satoshi was also Aiba's partner-in-crime when it came to raiding the Celestial Peach Tree of its treasures.
Sho opened a door on the peach—which was made of actual peach, somehow, as though Satoshi had grown it with his imagination. And perhaps he had because he appeared at Aiba's side and was thoroughly coated with dirt, small peach sticks, a great many leaves and he smelled sweetly of peaches. "I forgot to add windows," Ohno pointed out as Aiba peered into the depths of the peach.
Aiba crawled into the peach pit, which was crafted from papier-mâché, and smiled at his friends. "It's all right. Jun will find me. We're destined, yeah?"
"Yes," Sho smiled. "You're destined to be sent out to travel to the side of Matsumoto Jun."
Ohno rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I hope this goes all right."
"It will!" Aiba assured him. He reached out to close the peach. "Let's go drop me in the river!"
The river was a rollercoaster ride and Aiba liked it very much. He knew when he'd been found because he felt his peach being pulled up and out and then carried. He was so excited that he could barely wait for Matsumoto Jun to eat the peach.
Several days later, Aiba got sick of waiting for Jun to eat the peach and he bashed his way out of it instead. "I'm here!" he called as he climbed from his pit. "I'm here to be your—you're not Jun."
Indeed, where Jun should have sat was instead a young man with messy dark hair and a mole on his chin. He was very absorbed in a game that sat in front of him and while he was dressed in old clothes that had holes in them, Aiba had the rather very distinct feeling that it was because this young man didn't very much care about his state of dress and not because he had no other clothes. He appeared to take no note of Aiba whatsoever.
"Um," said Aiba. "Where's Jun?"
The young man finally looked up. "Who?" he asked. And then, brow wrinkling, "Wait. Who are you and how did you get in here?"
Aiba blinked. "I'm…I'm looking for Jun. Matsumoto Jun. I was meant to come to him. He was supposed to drag my peach out of the river and eat it and I was supposed to be his."
"Don't know him," said the man. "I did find a huge—DID YOU WRECK MY PEACH?" he demanded, eyes landing on it.
Technically, it was Aiba's peach. Or perhaps it was in the way of belonging to Satoshi, who'd crafted it or to Sho, who'd ordered it made. It certainly did not belong to this man, whoever he was. "I had to get out," Aiba said, sidestepping the issue as he came to the decision not to quibble.
"I was going to sell that to the highest bidder!" the young man complained bitterly. He shoved aside his game (but so gently that the stones did not even rattle against themselves) and stood, planting his hands upon his hips. "All right, peach-wrecker, who the hell are you?"
Aiba was uncertain what to do. He'd been sent for Jun and he'd been ready to take whatever name Jun would give to him. His plan had been to pretend he couldn't remember his life, his name, his home in realm of Heaven so that Jun would not feel badly about keeping him. Jun had seemed the sensitive sort. "Um. I don't recall?" he offered, deciding to stick to his plan.
The man rolled his eyes. "You remember this Matsumoto guy and what was supposed to happen but you don't remember your own name? Try again, Peach-boy."
Aiba gave up with a sigh. "I'm Aiba," he introduced himself, "Aiba Masaki."
"I'm Ninomiya Kazunari," said the man. "You can just call me Nino. And you can drag my shattered dream out the door before it stinks up the place, if you please."
Aiba felt his own frown fold across his face. "What?"
"Get rid of your ride, Peach," said Nino. "Dump it back in the river or something."
"But—" Aiba considered his peach. It was well and truly smushed. "I'll drown. It will surely fill up with water and I'll drown before Matsumoto finds me."
"Then don't get in it," Nino said, shrugging and settling himself back before his game. "For a small fee, you can sleep on my couch until he finds you or until you find him."
It took little time for Aiba to decide to stay with Ninomiya until he could figure out a way to reach Matsumoto—he had no clue as to how far away Matsumoto might be and, without the peach, he had no way with which to convince him that he was his destined companion.
Much longer was the time it took for Ninomiya to agree to let Aiba sleep on his couch without actual money changing hands, as Aiba had none. Finally, in exchange for the couch, Aiba got an apron and a list of chores to be done daily for each day that he stayed on as usurper of Ninomiya's sofa.
"Nino!" Aiba whined. "Are you certain the whole thing?"
Ninomiya did not look up to face directly Aiba's upset. "Yep."
"But—" Aiba stuttered.
Nino remained bent to his tomato patch. "Did you wish to sleep in the lane tonight?" he asked pleasantly.
Aiba dropped his head with a sigh. "I'll do it."
"Don't fall off," Nino cautioned, finally looking at him. "Or through. Roofs cost a lot."
Shouldering the bag of shingles and nails and hoisting the bucket of pitch, Aiba mounted the ladder. "I think it should count for two nights," he said softly.
Nino smiled at him. "One night only."
"Idiot," Nino sighed over him later. "Did I not say to not fall off?"
Aiba sat up groggily, rubbing his head. "At least it was not through?" he offered hopefully.
"Idiot," Nino said again, toeing him rudely before stepping over him and going inside.
"Ahhh—" said Aiba cautiously, edging away from the door.
"Yeah," Nino said proudly, "I haven't cleaned the bathroom since I got the place. Have fun with it."
"But!" Aiba protested.
Nino pointed at the front door and raised his eyebrows with exaggerated question.
Aiba's shoulders slumped. "I'll do it."
Smiling, Nino clapped him on the shoulder. "I expect it to sparkle so very much that I fair to hear it."
Gagging, Aiba fell out of the room. "I don't wanna—" he gasped. "I can't—"
"Sparkle sounds?" Nino asked.
Aiba looked at the door and at Nino. "Not yet."
"I look forward to it," Nino said with a smile.
"No!" Aiba wailed in protest.
Nino held open the front door.
"I'll—"
"Do it, I know."
And Nino smiled.
It was that smile that made it worth it. For as much as Nino demanded of him, for as much as Nino ignored him to play his game, he would smile with such a brightness and a measure of such poorly hidden sweetness that Aiba could not help but do whatever was asked of him in exchange for it.
It was summer and not an unpleasant time to be out of doors. He could have easily walked to the nearby village—as Nino did to do the shopping—and found a place to take him in. He could have gone across the fields to the neighboring homes. But that would mean missing Nino's smile.
So Aiba stayed and as the days passed into a week and the week stretched into a second and a third, he found himself with less work to do (for Nino—as Nino had sold Aiba's cleaning and cooking and shoulder massages to various elderly neighbors on more than one occasion) and more time spent playing games with Nino. Not just the stones, but word games, cooking contests, and strange sporting games that he half-suspected Nino made up on the spot (though Nino often said the same of the games Aiba knew).
One day Aiba came to the startling realization that he'd not tried to find Jun at all in all the time he'd spent with Nino. Too tired at first and lately…perhaps too forgetful. Perhaps simply unwilling.
"Are you lonely, Nino?" he asked one night as Nino set plates of food on the table.
Nino looked at him, a solemn face that Aiba had not seen since their first days together. "No," he said shortly after a moment of silence.
"I—" Aiba said. And then, "Good." But he thought that what Nino might have thought but not said was 'Not now'. "I'm not either."
"Idiot," Nino said and Aiba fancied that he could indeed hear a wealth of affection within the word.
Perhaps the thought of finding Matsumoto Jun and going to his side should have concerned Aiba more than it did. It should, at the very least, have ranked higher among his thoughts than 'what's for dinner tonight' and 'is it my night to cook again already'. The first of the leaves of autumn fell, gold and burnt orange, and Aiba's only thought was that the persimmons would soon ripen.
He set his hand upon the hardy trunk of the tree, looking up at laden branches. "Soon," he said.
"And how soon," Sho asked quietly from behind him, "is 'soon', Masaki?"
"Sho-chan," Aiba said, his heart picking up speed. He turned and it seemed as though his heart stopped entirely. "Emperor," he said, bowing, for Sho was in his most formal robes and was accompanied by a richly dressed Satoshi. Sho carried the Bright Blade of Heaven and Satoshi the Great Stave.
And behind them stood Matsumoto Jun.
Expecting many things of an ill nature, Aiba was shocked to find that he was in no trouble at all (or at least, not so very much more than was his wont) and was, instead, being asked for his help.
"I must defeat the Demon King in the West," Sho sighed, leaning back against the persimmon tree uncaring of his robes. "It's expected of me."
Ohno picked at a thread on his cuff. "Sho-chan fails a lot," he said.
Aiba assumed this was meant for Matsumoto edification; Aiba himself was aware of Sho's peculiar ability to both succeed and fail in unpredictable ways.
"Indeed," Sho sighed. He straightened and clasped Aiba's shoulders. "Satoshi volunteered to come with me when I accepted this task—"
"The baker gave him those buns I like," Ohno agreed. "I might share them if I go along."
"—and Matsumoto Jun, too, has said he shall lend me all the skill he may yet muster."
"It is only right," Jun said with a bow of his head.
"Then, Masaki, I shall now ask if you will also lend me your strength. I fear I shall need it," Sho said, hands tight on Aiba's shoulders. "You have been long absent from the Kingdom and remain undiminished."
Once more, Aiba's only thought was of Nino. "I—" he said, looking toward the house, so near in the distance.
"Masaki," Sho said. "It will be dangerous and it will be a long road. I need a stout heart to weather it with me."
Many things was Nino but a person to take a long and dangerous road for a stranger was not one of them. Aiba knew that Nino would not be able to come on this journey and that he, himself, would be unable to stay behind. "Then you shall have me," he told his oldest friend.
Ohno touched his arm. "Gather your things quickly. We must away."
He bid a goodbye to Nino, quiet and sad.
Nino ignored him utterly.
"We'll be back," Aiba promised softly at the door. "Sho and Satoshi and Jun and I—we will return from the West."
Still, Nino ignored him, looking only at his game.
Aiba knew him well, this young man with untidy hair and sharp mind. He knew Nino's moods and his ways. "I'll take your smile with me," he vowed before shutting the door resolutely and walking away to face the danger of the Demon King.
He did carry Nino's smile with him. When the wood was too wet too light, when the road made him footsore, when fear and doubt and pain assailed him from all sides and all foes, he thought of the way Ninomiya's eyes lit and lip curled and it added to his strength. Aiba fought on and on when he wanted to give up—when he wanted to drop the tinder, sit at the side of the road, or hide his face from dark world before him—and he continued on. With each change of the season—the cold, the wet, the heat, he continued on bravely.
For he had promised Nino that he would return and it was a fearful thought of what Nino would do to him (and just how he would do it) if he failed to keep that promise.
Along the way, fighting off the Lesser Evils, he took a moment to apologize to his companions, one by one. "I'm sorry I never came to you, Jun," he said. "I know I was fated to be sent to your side and I never came and—"
Jun hit him over the head. "Don't be stupid," he said in a kindly tone that brooked no argument. "We are friends now so go to sleep."
"Satoshi," he said, crouching over the artist, warding away an attack by a hopping demon animal. "Your peach did well. It's only by my own fault that I did not arrive at Jun's side as I was destined to do."
"Oh," said Ohno. "Okay. Thanks?"
The worst was apologizing to Sho, who had gone to such great lengths to help him to his destined fate. "Sho-chan," he knelt at his friend's feet. "I beg of you, please forgive me for failing you! I did not go to where I was fated. I—"
"Peace, Aiba," Sho said, hand steady on the hilt of his sword. "Peace."
"—and I know how great an effort you made to make sure I was sent to Jun and—"
"Is now really the time?" Jun demanded.
"There is no better," Aiba told him, looking away from Sho.
"The Demon King is about to pound you to paste and waste," Satoshi pointed out reasonably.
"Exactly," Aiba said staunchly.
"It's a good a time as any other," Sho said, shrugging. "Now come! To battle!" he roared, racing ahead.
Aiba leapt to his feet and raced after him.
The Demon King and his iron club and his castle in the West fell that day before the sun could leave the sky. Aiba stood among the ruin, injured but alive, and looked only to the East.
"We should stay," Jun said. "Ensure that there is no thing foul or fell to rise up in this place."
"I cannot," said Aiba with no little regret. "That you have been my brothers in arms is a great thing but—"
"As always," Sho said, laughing quietly under his breath. "Then, if this is the way of it, I shall send the great Generals to this place for a time. And we shall return as we came."
"As we came?" said Satoshi. "Does that mean we're leaving all the treasure behind?"
"Hell no!" Jun and Aiba chorused. Jun was poor, after all, and if Aiba knew any one thing of Nino it was that he liked money.
"Good thing we've got all these empty food sacks," Sho said, handing them out.
Home was a far place, a long road. It was not fraught with the dangers and despairs of the journey into the West but it had its own way of being weary and wearing and of casting doubt as the seasons changed.
"What if," Aiba said softly, "he has forgotten me?"
"Then you may return home," Sho said. Aiba knew he meant the Celestial Kingdom and not the cramped, recently-repaired home of Ninomiya Kazunari. "And be celebrated for your deeds beneath the branches of the Celestial Peach Tree."
"Or, if you wouldn't, we are friends and you may stay with me if you'd so choose," Jun said kindly.
"Perhaps," said Aiba, but he turned away from them both.
Satoshi looked at him level and steady, calm. "Show him the treasure. I'm sure he'll let you stay."
Aiba sighed deeply, chin tucked to his chest. But then, he wondered how should he smile at me? "Perhaps," he repeated. "Perhaps."
When he had last stood at the persimmon tree, it had been ready to bear fruit. Now, standing beneath the boughs, it was clear that even the very last, bitterly unripe fruit had become sweet windfall. Aiba picked one from the grass and studied it. "I would that you were a peach," he told it.
"Well I would that you explain just where you've been for the last however long," Nino said forbiddingly.
Aiba's head jerked up as though on a string and he stared into the long-missed face of the man who had pulled his peach from the river. "Nino."
"Oh, so you remember who I am as well as your way back to our door? Now I bid you remember the answer to 'where the hell have you been'," he instructed bitterly.
"Uh," said Sho uncertainly.
"I—" said Jun uncomfortably.
"West," said Ohno helpfully.
"Yes," Aiba nodded. "West. As I told you." He frowned at Nino's dark scowl. "You do remember that I told you, do you not, Nino?"
Nino's scowl grew darker. "You never shut up," he said sullenly. "Sometimes I just stop listening to your prattle." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You told me you were going West?"
"I did," Aiba nodded. "I said that I would be going off to defeat the Demon King in the West and that I would return to you." He thought. "You were looking at your game," he offered.
Rolling his eyes, Nino unfolded his arms and quit tapping his foot impatiently. "And you suspected I was listening to you at all?" He switched his glare to the others. "Well? Who are you, then?"
"Sho," said Sho, gesturing to himself. "Sakurai Sho. The Emperor of—"
"Great. You?" Nino pointed at Ohno.
"Yes?" said Ohno. Then, at Nino's look, "Oh. I'm Ohno Satoshi."
"Thank you for joining us today, Oh-chan," Nino said, whipping to face Jun. "And the pretty face?"
Jun rolled his eyes. "Matsumoto Jun."
Nino seemed to freeze in place and Aiba, who had practiced and learned all of Nino's expressions, who had called them each to mind as he'd travelled, could not read him at all. "There's treasure?" he said softly, holding his bag out to Nino. "Gold and gems and lovely silk."
Unreadable still, Nino took the bag and looked inside of it without a word.
"I've carried your smile with me all this time," Aiba said pleadingly. "Nino."
"Go sweep the floor if you want the couch for the night," Nino said roughly. "Oh-chan, you're starting up the wash, Sho you get to cook and Matsumoto Jun you can just forget about taking that first moron home with you. He owes me."
"Owes you?" Jun exclaimed.
"Forget?" murmured Aiba.
"Cook?" Sho despaired.
"You don't want Sho to cook," Ohno said.
"Owes me!" Nino said, planting his hands at his hips. "I looked for that idiot for months. I had to talk to other people. I had to go places." His arms dropped and he looked, Aiba thought, like the man he'd first met. Somebody who had been alone. "I haven't smiled once since—"
Aiba swept Nino into a wild hug. "I brought your smile back with me," he promised, blinking back tears. "I kept it safe."
"Get off!" Nino barked, pushing him away. "Quit hugging me! Weren't you meant to hug that guy?"
But Aiba knew him. "No." Jun was halfway down the lane with Sho and Satoshi anyhow, running fast. "I never was."
"Liar! Peachling! Pervert!"
Nino wasn't, Aiba noted as he held him tighter, struggling very hard at all. Unless it was against himself and the way his arms were creeping round Aiba's middle and holding him tight in return.
Once upon a time, in the world of humanity, there were a great many people. Among them lived Ninomiya Kazunari and he had few needs and fewer wants. If he was lonely, he never said. If he wanted for a great companion, he never asked. If he wanted a giant peach—well, once upon a time he had found one and had, inside of it, found a great deal more than a stone.
And also in that once up on a time there lived, in the realm of mortals, a man who had once crawled in side a peach in order to reach his fate, to be at the side of the one who needed him most of all. In the end Aiba decided even though he'd been destined to be sent to Jun it was not necessarily his destiny to reach him. He had found Nino and fate, it seemed, had found them both.
They lived happily (enough) ever after.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-02 06:33 am (UTC)Putting Aiba in a giant peach would have never led to much good. But when it's Sho who puts said Aiba in said peach, it's doomed. For greater things like destiny and Nino. In that particular way Sho fails and succeed all at the same time.
And I liked that Nino just never got to go on the trip. It was kind of unexpected (since most Arashi fics rarely leave out only 1 member, if any at all) but really sweet at the end.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-02 07:46 am (UTC)Aiba being inside the peach fits. And I agree with your summary. Aiba in a peach will only lead to unexpected but happy things XD
Aiba/Nino were cute especially the last part.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-02 10:19 am (UTC)aimiya is <3
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-02 02:19 pm (UTC)Nice fic! I love it!! XDD
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-03 01:03 am (UTC)I loved the really fairy tale tone you kept throughout the entire thing. A lot of people can start out good with the tone but then it just falls into a rather bland sort of light tone. This stayed whimsical without losing track the entire way through.
NOT TO MENTION IT WAS ADORABLE! OMG, did I spazz about adorable? Because sdklad. Aiba being so excited to go and find Jun, thinking about how wonderful it was going to be and how happy they'd be. And then Nino scoops his peach out of the river and life just takes him down a completely different path. I love the line about "I'll take your smile with me" while promising to come back. And I love that Nino wasn't listening and probably thought something horrible had happened to Aiba while he was gone because he had no clue where he'd went!
About the only thing I have a teenie, tiny issue with is that I feel bad for Jun. LOL I get the feeling that his problems were solved when Sho and Ohno came down from heaven and they all made friends with one another through their travels. It took care of Jun's loneliness and so on. But it just sort of felt like he got cheated a bit? Although he didn't seem to mind too much.
As always, absolute love ☺
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-03 02:36 am (UTC)I enjoyed a lot this fic, so funny and sweet, and the end is so great, Nino needed him as much as Jun, really it changes all the perspective, I mean the image of Nino in the fic.