Rogue (Part 1)

[24iza_run]

Title: Rogue (Part 1)
Rating: R
Genre: AU, angst, supernatural, drama, family
Characters: All Arashi members are supposed in there, but more revolving around Sho and Masaki. And I 'borrow' Kasumi and Mana names as their younger sisters in this. The parents are OC, but you can freely imagine the characters as you want.
Disclaimer: I only own the plot!
Summary: They are just a normal family. They live happily in the countryside with the parents happily manage their family restaurant while the playful siblings are so closed to each other just like one sweet family. However, everything turn upside down one night when something broke into their supposed to be safe sanctuary. An old hidden secret slowly revealed beyond their wish, crumbling the happiness that they tried really hard to build as that thing comes to claim what is long supposed to be its...
A/N: Un-betaed! And this story is actually based on my dream.

PART I

They are just a normal family lives peacefully in the countryside. The parents – Hideo and Miki are a lovely couple nearing their fifties who are also the owner of a lake family restaurant that they build from scratch for more than 20 years ago. Their children are siblings of six whom always bickering, fighting, and teasing each other just like normal siblings out there and often complain how lame it is too live in such a rural area with nothing fancy to brag about. Even their house is located far from neighborhood and in the middle of thick forest which limiting them from keeping in touch with their friends except during schooldays. The only access out is by 20 minutes driving with their family van or an antique old red car which owns by their eldest brother – Sho – who unfortunately is also the only dutiful son out of the siblings. Since the older one was allowed to take his driving lesson every time he followed their parents out to the family restaurant before, he is also the only one who can drive among them. Yet, no matter how much the younger siblings – Kazunari, Jun, and Kasumi beg him to take them out once in a while from the boring town, the too serious eldest brother firmly rejects it and tells them to come and help the restaurant instead. That brings pout to the younger siblings’ face who then go to plead for the second brother – Masaki – who is also the only one who already reach the legal age apart from Sho to apply for driving license. Unfortunately, being a Mother Nature maniac who often spends his day exploring the thick forest and communicating with livings in it, Masaki just grinningly answer them back that there is no reason to take one since he is already happy enough with the life he has now. That leaves the young siblings to no other choice, but accepting what they think as ‘dull, unadventurous, pathetic’ young life until they eventually reach their 20s.

7 years later, only 4 out of their 6 siblings are still living in their big 2storeys wooden house. Kazunari already went to further their study to the university hundreds kilometers away from there as soon as he reaches his twenty before Jun followed him two years later, leaving only the 18 years old Kasumi behind. Since the ones left are only the 27 years old Sho and 25 years old Masaki who both have no intention of leaving the town while their youngest sister – Mana – just reaches her 7 recently and too innocent to understand the outside world, Kasumi doesn’t have choice but to fight for her ‘freedom day’ alone. Her path doesn’t seem so difficult though considering her famous reputation as the athletic high school girl in their prefecture who had won various sports tournaments from tennis until swimming competition. Growing up with 5 brothers strengthen up her too much as their father said that she now doesn’t even have a trouble to win against his brothers whenever they have any sort of fights.

And that night as well – is supposed to be a normal night just like the other day.

“Macchan! Where’s my socks?!”

“Don’t call me that! I’m your brother! And I told you that I already put it in the laundry basket!”

The bickering continues with Kasumi shouting back from the laundry room that she can’t find it while Masaki stamps toward her and nag about her attitude toward him. Sho who is watching them from the living room couch on the other hand just chuckles by the sight before his attention goes back to the little Mana on his lap who impatiently asks him to resume reading the storybook for her. Their two sisters turn out to be quite clingy toward them after the left of the other 2 brothers, but who is he to complain when deep inside he actually enjoys the attention himself. He loves the warmth, bubbly family feeling and if possible he wants them to stay it that way until the end. He doesn’t even realize that his thought already fly to somewhere else until Mana suddenly shake his arms, this time with her big brown eyes staring worriedly at him.

“Sho-nii… You’re not feeling well?”

The obvious concern behind the voice brings a smile to Sho’s face. He immediately shakes his head as he fixes her cute ponytail that he had tied for her before.

“I’m fine. Just thinking about something.”

Mana just nods when hear that before seemingly lost in her thought. Then, she turns to read something on the book that the older man is holding before looking at him again with a smile on her face.

“The book says that the spell can cure any worries and wounds, right? I want to do it to Sho-nii too!” without waiting for her eldest brother to say anything, the little girl already take the storybook from Sho’s hold and put it beside them. Sho can’t help but laugh by her excitement and just pretend to be sick when she then starts to touch his forehead to check for his condition. Later, he smiles when Mana climbs down from his lap and starts to follow the movement that shows on the book while saying the ‘healing spell’ on it. Joyful laughter and playful fight fill the remote house as all the siblings continue to play around like they normally do every day.

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Outside the house though, the family’s Shiba Inu – Mamoru – suddenly has his ear perk up. The dog instantly lift his head by something before his attention goes to the dark forest on one side of the house that vigorously shake out of sudden. The siblings are still cheerfully laughing inside the house when the dog eventually see something in the dark before noticing a strong wind blows there out of a sudden.

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“Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Sho-nii! Help me!” Masaki screams while running to the living room with Kasumi on his back already locking her arms around his neck just like how it shows in the wrestling program they often watch together. The second brother desperately tries to escape the deadly strangle, but to no avail when Kasumi already kicks the back of his knees that make him fall flat with his back on the floor. He doesn’t even get to whine due to the burning pain yet when Kasumi already lock one of his arms and tell Sho to count for her, which the eldest brother gladly do due to his soft spot on their sisters. As soon as the count reach 3, the sister immediately cheer with excitement and gives Sho the latter’s awaiting high five while Masaki whimpering pitifully for his poor arm’s fate.

“Sho-nii is so cruel…”

He pouts when the partner in crime just laughs away his misery. Just then Mana suddenly sits beside him and rubs his aching muscle.

“Pain, pain, go away. Pain, pain, flies away. Let Masa-nii be happy and sound again.”

The innocence of his cute and gentle little sister makes him squeal happily inside. In no time the pain is all forgotten as Masaki hugs Mana tightly while literally screaming how much he loves her until the giggling little girl has to push him away when he tries to kiss her face. Kasumi already rolling her eyes when the second brother doesn’t show any sign of mercy despite their youngest sister’s effort to escape from his so called ‘Chuu attack’ that she has to save Mana away and lift her into her arms.

“Okay, it’s time to put Mana to sleep. And stop being all gross on her, Macchan. You’re creepy.”

“I’m not! You only say that because you are jeaaaalous~”

“What?! I’m not!”

“Yes, you are. Now give Mana-chan to me. Let’s sleep with Masa-nii tonight, okay Mana-chan?”

Only the innocence girl cheers with excitement while Sho and Kasumi already have their eyes bulge due to shock. Both the overprotective brother and scary sister immediately questions him with what he is trying to scheme about in which the offended Masaki scolds them back for having such an indecent thought about him. None of them realize it when did Mana disappears to her and Kasumi’s shared room upstairs to look for her beloved teddy bear so she can bring it to Masaki’s room for the awaiting sleepover. Yet, when the little girl appears with her ‘Kuma-san’ on the staircase later, Kasumi quickly tells her to return into their room instead.

“You’re going to sleep with Nee-chan as usual tonight, Mana. We can’t trust Macchan.”

“I told you to stop calling me that! And don’t listen to her, Mana-chan! Wait for Masa-nii in the room, okay?”

“No, no, no. Go back to Nee-chan and Mana’s room, okay? Sho-nii will come in later and continue with the story.”

Neither Masaki and the brother and sister pair wants to surrender as the fight escalate. Poor Mana at the same time just confusedly watches from the stairways before she slowly climbs down the stairs. Noticing that, both Sho and Kasumi want to stop her but startle when their dog suddenly barking outside. Just when they are about to turn to the window to see if someone is coming there, the house suddenly turns to dark. The shock immediately sends the siblings still but not for long since that happens quite often since they are young.

“Masaki? Can you find the torchlight? I want to go outside and switch on the generator.”

Masaki’s answer immediately echoes in the dark space follow by hurried footsteps to the kitchen. There is another short silence before he and Kasumi hears Mana’s confused voice from the staircase. Concern for the little girl’s safety, they quickly tell her to not move as Kasumi says that she is coming to her place instead. By the time Masaki finally appears with two torchlights later, he immediately gives one to Sho who takes it and tells him to watch over the house for a while. The eldest brother however doesn’t get to move a step when hear Kasumi’s worried voice from the stairs that makes him and Masaki quickly aim their torchlight to her. Cold shiver though run down their spine when found only the older sister is standing there while the younger one is nowhere to be seen.

“Kasumi, where’s Mana-chan?”

“I don’t know. I thought I hold her hand before, but it turns out to be her teddy.” the slightly panic elder sister then continues to scream for Mana to answer her. Thankfully, the brothers are calm enough as they reassure them that Mana probably just anxious by the darkness and run into their room. Once see Masaki has followed Kasumi to upstairs to lead their path later, Sho focus on his previous job to switch on the generator back. He is just about to walk toward the backdoor when he hears their dog begins to growl outside and suddenly bark angrily toward anything he sees. For a while that makes him torn between shouting or remains silence and makes it look like nobody at home, but he decides to choose the latter to avoid from revealing his location just in case there is really an intruder outside. The shotgun that their father hides in the upper cabinet of the storage room comes into his mind as he carefully walks to there before he later hears his younger siblings rush down without concerning about the noise they are making. Sho is about to scold them for that, but the combination of their panic look and uneven pant make him frown.

“We-We didn’t find Mana-chan anywhere.”

Sho’s heart drops by that. All the previous precautions in his mind were left abandoned as he tells them to move separately and search for her in downstairs instead. He tries to calm himself down by repeating that Mana is only hiding inside one of many rooms in there, but for some reasons his fear betray his logical side.  His heart just can’t stop from pounding like crazy due to endless worries…just like the huge incident 12 years ago that happened to their family.

BAM!

All the three occupants quickly alert when realize one door has been slammed open somewhere. Despite being in different rooms with Masaki and Kasumi are checking the second brother’s room while Sho is standing in the reading room, the three of them freeze at the same moment like trying to grasp their situation. Yet, as soon as they hear creaking door follows by soft howling night breeze from outside, their expression instantly changes into pale. Both the elder brothers don’t waste any time to barge out from the room that they are currently in as they haste into the living room where the front door already found left open.

“Get the shotgun, Kasumi!” the younger sister hurriedly follow the order and disappears into the storage room. Masaki at the same time run to outside where he surprises to find their already unconscious dog lying next to the door. His hand trembles by the sight before his attention goes to Mana’s whining voice which comes from the nearby forest. That is when he notices there is a shadowy man somewhere near the shade of the trees who is currently holding their little sister’s hand as he tries to take her away from there. Burning with unusual rage, Masaki immediately roars toward the man and run with full speed despite Sho’s question for his behavior behind.

“MASAKI! WAIT!”

The second eldest brother however already disappears into the dark, thick forest. Yet the fact that his brother is going to go inside there is not as much as terrifying with the thought of letting the latter to face the intruder armless. Knowing how the forest in that area is like a second home for Masaki, Sho knows that his brother still can return safe and sound to their home no matter how dark it currently is, but if the intruder is a very dangerous man or has a weapon with him, he isn’t sure if Masaki is going to stand a chance of winning. Later when Kasumi eventually returns with a shotgun, he immediately takes it and tells her to follow him closely behind. The two of them are about to run after Masaki when they then startled by Mana’s amused laughter from inside the house. Completely shocked, both the brother and sister quickly turn to each other. It takes a few more minutes before they decide to get inside their house back with the fully alert Sho lead the way while unlocking the firearm. Kasumi herself already grabs for her baseball bat to protect themselves as they literally tiptoe toward the voice source despite their crazily pounding heart for the unexpectedness. By the time they are standing in front of the dark kitchen where they hear Mana is asking for someone to talk to her again, they turn to each other for the last time and nod. Then, Sho hurried into the space and direct his weapon toward the first suspicious shadow he sees.

“WHOEVER THE HELL YOU ARE, YOU BETTER STAY AWAY FROM HER NOW!!!”

His warning breaks the heavy silence that makes Mana gasp. Her voice at the same time immediately gains both Sho and Kasumi’s attention as they swiftly turn to the little girl who is kneeling on the floor. Seeing there is nobody around her anywhere though, Sho quickly runs toward her and pulls her protectively closer. Kasumi on the other hand inspect every inch of the place to look for any sign of intruder before she eventually turns to the eldest brother and shakes her head.

“Mana? Are you okay? Did you hurt anywhere?”

Mana just shakes her head though for some weird reasons keeps on smiling like something just amused her. Ignoring that, Sho is about to take them into a much safer place, but Mana unexpectedly refuses to budge from there.

“Kuma-san was talking to me before. We can’t leave him alone in here.”

Now, that creep Sho and Kasumi a little. They are about to ask what her meant by that when they realize there is a familiar silhouette on the chair where Mana was kneeling in front. Blood instantly stop flowing to their face when find Mana’s previous teddy bear which was supposed to be left on the stairways before is now sitting there, quietly staring at their little sister back. That reason alone enough to not make Sho wasting any more time in there as he drags both his sisters into the storage room and lock themselves inside there despite the youngest one’s protests to grab her teddy along. Yet, even though he knows that the storage room is actually the safest place in the house that purposefully build by their father in case of emergency like now, Sho still fail to calm himself down and think rationally. It is Kasumi who speaks first after she can’t longer stand the long heavy silence which is surrounding them.

“Where’s Masa-nii?”

That instantly snaps Sho from his trance. He is just about to say something back to her when the light in there all of a sudden has been switched on. Voices of their parents who seemingly just return from restaurant outside startle the three of them that make Kasumi to shout back for confirmation before eventually unlock the door. The fact that the three siblings are hiding inside the emergency room with a weapon in their hand surprise the couple more than ever that it makes the father worriedly rain them with tons of questions. Yet, the mother quickly cut in before he can ask even much further.

“Darling, it’s…that thing.”

Sho frowns due to discomfort when realize how pale their mother’s face suddenly becomes. Kasumi at the same time hugs Mana closer to calm the younger one down who is clearly scared by the heavy atmosphere in there. Their father already opening and closing his mouth a few times before eventually can find the right word to say.

“Are you…sure? After all this while?”

“I’m sure. I can feel that thing’s presence in here. He had been here.”

For some reasons, Sho eventually come to understand what thing their parents are currently talking about. His heart immediately clench by an old memory before a realization finally hit his mind.

“Masaki. Masaki went to the forest. It’s probably that thing.”

Their parents quickly turn to him with clearly shock expression. That enough to make the head of the house to tell all the ladies to lock the doors after they left and stay together until they return there. Instead of letting his son to bring the same shotgun along though, the father then hand an antique gun with spiral design which Sho has never seen in his entire life before. Their father himself grab for a pair of silver guns with the same design before telling his son to come with him to look for Masaki in the forest. As if the entire bizarre situation itself is not enough to make Sho has his stomach turn due to uneasiness, his father low and cold warning just manages to make his anxiety grows even worst.

“You might be unprepared for this, so just follow me closely. Pull the trigger when you see any weird creatures. You know what I meant, son.”

Sho just swallow down hardly before forcing a nod. As soon as they leave the house after being reminded to stay safe, the father and son do not waste any of their time to enter the forest and look for Masaki. He doesn’t have any idea for how long they have been walking in the dark with only his torchlight showing their way, but judging from his father’s unhesitant steps and the sight of the familiar trees at some points, he knows that his father has the same guess of Masaki’s current wellbeing as him. If his memory serves him right, Sho knows the place is somewhere deep in the middle of the forest where for some reason there is a long empty path with slight mud combine with grass. There is a huge tree without leaves at the end of it – seemingly balancing itself at the edge of death or alive based on what his father said before. Each step toward the haunting place enough to make him pass out due to extreme fear, but he forces himself to walk anyway since his worries about his brother’s state is much greater.

Later, they are alarmed by rustling sound from the nearby bushes.

“Who’s there?” his father asks as they lift their gun toward the source. Sho on the other hand feels like his heart is going to jump out of his heart soon when hear no answer from the other side until the rustling sound reappears, followed by a figure which then comes out of the bushes. As soon as Sho directs his flashlight toward the place though, the said person immediately lifts his hands to protect his eyes from the blinding light.

“Masaki!”

“Thank God! What are you doing in here?!”

Masaki quickly peeks from behind his cover by the familiar voices before letting out a relief sigh. He nearly trips on his steps as he tries to walk out of the bushes that blocking his path, but their father quickly catch him.

“I thought you’re the intruders. I tried to follow him before, but I lost sight of him. But Mana-chan…I–I fail to find her–”

“She’s safe in the house, so need to worry.”

That statement of course shocks Masaki more than ever.

“But I saw the intruder took her into here before.”

“Maybe you mistook it with something else. The intruder probably stole something and your brain tricked it as Mana. But it’s okay. As long as you guys are safe, your mother and I are grateful enough.”

Sho who notices the lie that hidden under their father’s words already fidgeting, but chooses to not say anything for the best. Masaki who is clearly confused by the entire situation at the same time frowns by the explanation, but can’t bring himself to ask anything further when their father said they should return to home now since their mother is very worried about his sudden disappearance. Neither Sho and the father says anything more after that as the two of them begin to lead the way back, both obviously battling with something inside their mind though neither want to talk about it. The two of them however fail to notice about the troubled expression that Masaki is actually having behind as the second son seems to be pondering about something himself, later eventually stops on his track. He then turns to the direction that he just came out from before he met them where he encountered the view of a weirdly familiar area with a tall, big tree in the middle of it.

                                                                                                                       

Everyone seemed relief. Their mother was crying as she hugged Kazunari and said how glad she was that he was safe. Their father at the same time continued to rub their mother’s back to calm her down while patting his little brother’s head with other hand. He also remembered how he then turned to Sho who was standing still not far from him with the older brother’s face looking so pale like blood already drained from his face. Yet, when the elder one met his gaze later, he noticed how his brother looked very freak out until nothing could leave his mouth. After that, someone came closer to him before he felt a soft pat on his head. A young man with chubby cheeks who seemed a few years older than Sho then stood at the same height with him as he beamed with a reassuring smile.

“Masaki-kun, did you remember anything?”

He remembered that he nodded his head by the question.

“What was it?”

He chewed his lip as he tried to explain something. Just when he started talking though his sight suddenly turned to blinding white.

Then…he couldn’t remember a thing anymore.

…Wind …A voice… A man…

 

I finally found you again.

 

A warm yet eerie breeze suddenly blows toward him. Slightly shivering, Masaki immediately rubs his arms before hasting to follow his father and brother again. For the entire way back home though his mind keep on returning to the whisper again and again as if trying to remember a piece of lost memory that actually exist in his brain. He only finally can fully come down when they arrive at their home later and have everyone welcome him with relief expression and sigh.

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Even though the warm reunion scene supposed to bring a smile or touched tears to anyone’s face, a watching man unexpectedly just smirk due to amusement by that as he watches quietly the house from afar. By the time the family disappears inside with the father look obviously paranoid of something outside, the man finally snaps his fingers again, shutting the portal that was supposed to separate them back.

-to be continued-

>I'm back! *wiping away some dust from keyboard* It's been a while since I post a story, so I'm sure a lot of people don't know or at least remember me (= v =") Anyway, I want to say tons of thank you to those who encourage me to keep and writing and patiently wait for my new story. I know some might be disappointed since this is not entirely OT5, but due to the reason that OT5 fic that I'm working on is pretty much long, I need some confident-boost and 'warming up' first before I start posting longer story. Also, this is only 4 parts fic so it might be a little 'lighter' compare to the next one (by 'lighter', I mean in term of length. I'm not sure about the genre and the plot though...)
>As I mentioned in A/N part, this story is based on my dream. I finished this part in one sitting after I woke up from the sleep XDDD Never thought an idea can just come in like that. There were a lot of modifications was done though, but the main characters are basically Sho, Aiba, and (Arimura) Kasumi-on the later part. And for some (unknown) reason, in the dream that I had, the antagonist is Aiba's character from Kizoku Tantei. But unlike in the drama, that alter-ego Aiba is pretty much creepy and ruthless. But feel free to imagine the character the way you want!
>Anyway, comments, advises, and constructive criticisms are welcomed! Thank You SO much for reading!