Disclaimer: HYD ain't mine… it just ain't.
Note: italicized words or paragraphs are either thoughts or stressed words, it won't take an Einstein to figure it out.
Chapter One
Setting: Japan; in a pub
Red. Violet. Blue. Colors of light that flashed through the pub. The exact same shades of colors simultaneously flashed through Tsukushi's eyes as she raged in anger during her daily routine argument with Doumyouji.
"You're too insensitive! You know, that bartender -"
Before Tsukushi could utter another word, Doumyouji interrupted her. "That bartender was a rude, barbaric moron! How many times did I tell him I wanted a dry cherry martini? He kept giving me an olive martini!"
"He's tired. He's been working overtime, I could see! It was obvious…"
"He was also hitting on you!"
As Tsukushi and Doumyouji continued arguing, Soujirou on the other hand was busy flirting with a girl. He just broke up with his girlfriend for one week and was now on the prowl for another sexy, young lady.
"Hey, how you doing?" he asked. "I'm Nishikado Soujirou…"
"Yeah, I know," the pretty girl in an oh-so-skimpy dress told Soujirou while batting her eyelashes. "My name is Miyashita Keiko."
Soujirou licked his lips. "Are your parents terrorists?"
"No," Keiko said slowly. "Why?"
"Cause you're the bomb!"
As Soujirou continued flirting endlessly with Keiko, Rui and Akira were sitting on the cream sofa behind them with nothing to do. As usual, Rui was quietly drinking his beer and staring off at the floor thinking of something or nothing, we're not really sure which. Akira on the other hand was hopelessly bored. He wasn't really into dancing because he already danced with all them girls just the other night, except for the girl Soujirou was with now.
"Damn! Why does he always get to them first?" Akira complained loudly.
Rui looked up. "Huh? Did you say something?"
Akira rolled his eyes. "Why are you always oblivious? If it weren't for F4, you'd be a total loner, you know that?"
Rui looked at Akira and smiled then looked back down at the floor. Then he quietly said, "No, 'cause even without you guys, I'd still be drop dead gorgeous."
Akira laughed. "I heard that."
Rui remained silent.
Just when I thought he starts to have a sense of humor, he's autism suddenly snaps back. Akira shook his head. "Hey Rui, listen to this: What did Satan say when you were born? "Oh shit! My replacement!"" then he bowled over laughing, still getting no reaction from Rui. "You're a boring dude, dude."
Rui took a sip of his beer.
"Man! I'm so bored, Japan is so dull. And to spend a night with you and a couple of beers? Damn!" Akira stood up and went on to find better company.
~*~*~
"My room? Look who's talking! Your room is messier than mine!" Doumyouji yelled. "Oh, don't go walking away from me!"
"Hey guys," Akira said, putting his arms over Doumyouji and Tsukushi's shoulders, before Tsukushi could go anywhere. "What's up? I thought you were fighting about the bartender guy. How did it go to your rooms?"
"Well, Doumyouji said…" Tsukushi started.
"Ah, never mind. I'm sure that's gonna be a real long story. I've got a shorter one for you. How bout F4 and Tsukushi go to somewhere? Like maybe China. Just for a change of scenery."
"Huh? China? Me?" Tsukushi asked. "I don't know. Mama and Papa may not agree."
"Are you kidding me virgin girl? Of course they will. Here, I'll show you," Akira took out his cell phone and rang the Makino's.
"Hello?" Mama said, answering the phone.
"Yeah, hey Mama Makino!" Akira said cheerfully. "F4 has decided to take a trip to China, and Doumyouji was wondering if you and Papa Makino would allow Little Makino to come with us to China."
"Of course, of course!" she said brightly.
"Thanks!" Akira hung up and gave Tsukushi a smile. "Told ya they'd say yes. I'll book our flight." Akira started to walk off.
"Hold it," Doumyouji said. "Why China?"
"Well, it doesn't have to be China. Hang on, lemme call F2 for the decision."
"Wait! I don't know if I have enough money for the trip," Tsukushi said.
"Of course I'll pay for your ticket!" Doumyouji yelled. "What kind of a man am I if I let a woman pay? I'm not an idiot you know."
Akira backtracked. "No, not really an idiot. Just got a few screws loose," he chuckled and hurried back to grab Rui and Soujirou before Doumyouji could do anything to him.
*~*~*
F4 and Tsukushi (Soujirou already said goodbye to Keiko and got her phone number) gathered around the table.
"So, where do you guys wanna go to?" Akira asked.
Soujirou shrugged. "Nowhere really. The only places on earth I haven't stepped foot on yet would be North and South Pole. And the Sahara Dessert - how bout there?"
"I'm not into getting burned," Rui said.
"We're never gonna be able to decide on a country!" Akira said with frustration. "We've all been everywhere and did everything. I can see it in the papers now," he said moaned dramatically. "Boy Died - Bored Out Of His Mind. Only now have I realized that being rich has its disadvantages. If you could go anywhere you want to, then there'd be no thrill of travelling anymore. Oh the humanity!"
Tsukushi glared at him. "You rich people! You always take for granted the opportunities given to you. Don't you see that you guys are lucky that you have seen beautiful places and different cultures -"
"Yada, yada, yada…" Akira interrupted.
"And yet you say you are bored while I have been stuck here in Japan my whole life. I haven't even seen the entirety of Japan but you don't here me complaining about it." Tsukushi continued.
"I have a brilliant beyond brilliant idea," Soujirou quipped excitedly. "How about Tsukushi choose the country for us? Brilliant huh?"
Rui rolled his eyes.
Tsukushi giddily named places of Japan she would want to go to. "Okinawa! Or Kyoto! Kanazawa, Yokohama, Kobe, Osaka…"
"Okay, stop!" Doumyouji commanded. "Soujirou said countries. Not Japanese cities. Woman, are you deaf or just plain stupid?"
Tsukushi pouted. "Well I'm sorry Mr. Been-There-Done-That, I just really wanted to go there. Okay, how about Sweden, Singapore, Thailand, Germany, Africa, Philippines, France…"
"Why don't you just write the countries down on a piece of paper and we randomly pick one?" Rui suggested.
Akira looks around for a piece of paper but finds none. Doumyouji whacked Akira in the head and grabbed a couple of napkins from the napkin dispenser in the middle of the table and handed them to Tsukushi. Rui gave her the fountain pen from his checkbook holder and lent it to Tsukushi.
Tsukushi scribbled down her top five picks and folded them into itty bitty squares. Doumyouji grabbed the scraps of napkins and held out his hand for Akira to pick one.
"Singapore?" Akira read. "You can't get any further away from Japan than that?"
"Yes, Mimasaka Akira, Singapore. Your first pick wasn't that far from Japan either, besides, I thought we agreed that I get to choose where…"
"No wonder you and Doumyouji always gets into fights," he sighed. "Okay, Singapore it is."
Setting: Singapore: Shangri-La Hotel
The entire ride to the hotel, Tsukushi kept gushing about how beautiful Singapore was. It's cleanliness and modernized public transportations.
"It looks just like Japan," Doumyouji had said.
"Well it's a new country to me," Tsukushi retorted.
And in the hotel, Tsukushi was in awe of the grandeur of it all. The huge chandelier, the colorfully lighted fountain, the swan ice sculpture…
"Stop it, you're embarrassing us. Its like you've never been to a hotel before," Doumyouji hissed.
Tsukushi glared at him. "I'm sorry for liking the hotel, Doumyouji Tsukasa, but you can't blame me for -"
"Drooling like a starving puppy who has never seen food for ages?" Akira asked, putting an arm around her shoulder. "Don't be sorry. Just enjoy," he said smiling, and quickened his pace to walk with Soujirou.
"Now why didn't I just date Akira? Sure he could be an idiot, but his a kinder idiot that Doumyouji is," Tsukushi pondered out loud.
"Oh, so now you want to date my friend?" Doumyouji said menacingly.
"I've never known you to be a two-timer, virgin girl," Akira said looking behind and winked at her.
"Shut up Akira," Rui said, he was walking slowly behind them. "The two will work out their problem alone, as they always do."
"Don't tell me to shut up Rui," Akira said. "I know they do, that's how their love works. They have a love-hate relationship that I will never, ever understand. Lighten up, feel the love!"
Rui shook his head.
They finally reached their penthouse. The penthouse had three rooms. One was the master's bedroom with a king-sized bed and a 42-inch flat screen TV. The other had two twin beds and a 32-inch TV, while the other remaining bedroom had a single twin bed but had a view overlooking Singapore.
"So, who gets which room?" Soujirou asked.
"Well, Doumyouji and Tsukushi will definitely take the masters bedroom," Akira smirked. "The bedroom of love," he sang out.
"I will not sleep in the same bed with Doumyouji," Tsukushi said, blushing furiously. "Not because I don't like you," she told Doumyouji quickly before they start fighting. "I just think it's immoral, we're not even married yet!"
"And you might just take advantage of her while she's asleep," Soujirou piped up laughing. "Akira, you naughty pervert! You wanted this to happen didn't ya? Ha ha! Yeah, no doubt Doumyouji will lose control -"
"Shut up Soujirou, I will do no such thing. Tsukushi can have the masters bedroom, I'll take the pull-out bed in the living room."
"Ooh, Doumyouji! Is that you? Sacrificing a good, soft bed for Tsukushi? That's so sweet. I wouldn't do that, not even for Pamela Anderson," Akira teased.
"I'll take the room with one bed," Rui announced and entered his bedroom, which happened to be the closest one to the kitchen.
"All righty then, that leaves the other room for me and Akira," Soujirou said. "C'mon Akira, lets check out our room!"
*~*~*
"Damn! This room is wow! This can be featured on MTV cribs," Soujirou said glancing around the room. It was big enough to hold a small party. It had two twin beds made of pine wood, the TV in between the closets and a small, circular table near the mini-fridge and the microwave (on top the fridge). They didn't have to go out the room for breakfast, lunch or dinner, as long as they stock up on TV dinners. But who'd want to be cooped up in a room when they can be out, exploring the females of Singapore?
Akira jumped on one bed and claimed it to be his. "Oh yeah! A room I can trash without having an hour long sermon."
"Totally!" Soujirou said in a surfer dude accent.
"Hey guys!" Tsukushi yelled from her room excitedly. "We have to go here!"
"What's she talking about?" Akira asked.
Soujirou shrugged. "Let's see what the virgin girl's talking about."
~*~*~
"A carnival? We went all the way to Singapore to go to a carnival. That's so…" Doumyouji trailed off.
"Childish?" Soujirou supplied. "Immature? A waste of perfectly good time?"
"I know it seems childish, but it's a great place to discover Singapore!" Tsukushi argued.
"If you wanna discover Singapore, you can get a ten dollar tour guide to fill you in on the Singapore… uh… place," Akira said. "We don't have to go to the carnival, which I'm sure has hundreds of bratty little kids begging for their turn on the carousel. And when at last they get their turn, they run off crying. Scared at the horrible, creepy looking horses. I'd rather spend the day in this room doing a Rui, you know what I mean?"
"This carnival is not the kiddie carnival with clowns on stilts and jesters juggling apples and pears and whatnots. It's an elegant, enchanting carnival with illusions; real boat rides on rivers that magically appear, cause there really isn't a river in that place. It's a magical carnival that we really have to go to. Please?" Tsukushi begged.
"No WAY!" argued Akira.
Doumyouji saw the crestfallen look on Tsukushi's face. "Why don't we just give it a try?" he said with a "frown".
Soujirou groaned. "Why? Don't you see what she's doing man? She's controlling you! You're like a puppet! Anything she wants you to do, you do - as long as its accompanied with a pout or –"
"Love makes you do sickening things," Akira said, shaking his head sadly. "At least it's only for a day, nothing bad will happen to us there."
*~*~*
Setting: Carnival
Tsukushi was right. The carnival was magical. It wasn't just for the kids, it was for everybody. The entrance gate was made of two thin silver poles with translucent periwinkle drapes. Glowing butterflies led the way inside, everyone there was happy. A beautiful black haired girl welcomed them with a large smile. She was the most beautiful girl F4 had ever seen. She had wide green almond eyes, dark pink lips and thick glossy black hair. She was wearing a light blue dress that only pixies (like Tinkerbell) wore.
"Hey, how you doing?" Soujirou asked. "I'm Nishikado Soujirou…"
"Damn! There he goes again!" Akira said.
"Hey Rui, Akira! Tsukushi and I are going to have our picture taken in that booth," Doumyouji said pointing to the black, glittery booth with sparkly magenta moons. "Then we'll have our palms read, then we're going to the River of Love thingy… it might be a while, so we'll just see you guys later, okay?"
"Ah, all alone at last my dear Rui!" Akira joked, grabbing Rui's right hand and placing it on top of his heart. "Oh never mind. Let's go to the carousel shall we? Let's beg and plead each other to allow ourselves to ride on them horses, then freak ourselves out by looking into the horses' scary marble eyes. Shall we?"
"I don't know," Rui said. "I'm not really up for the carousel."
"Yeah, me too. Between you and me, the carousel makes me puke. I get dizzy and all, then I throw up. So, whaddya wanna do?"
"I heard that there's an orchestra that'll play in the gazebo at one o'clock, I was thinking of checking that out. The maestro is Gao Tang Feng. He's a genius. Started playing the violin and cello at age seven. The saxophone at nine and the clarinet at -"
"I learned how to play the oboe at age fourteen in band class, how bout that?" Akira interrupted. "Look, I'm sorry Rui, but the orchestra just doesn't fascinate me the way it does you. Why don't we just hit the bar? I saw on Tsukushi's flyer that this place has a wild bar. We could go dancing with some hot Singaporean women! Hot older Singaporean women!"
"We can check out hot Singaporean women at the gazebo too."
"Ha!" Akira snorted. "The only older women you'll be seeing there are sixty something women that are in love with Josh Groban and they think that To Where You Are is the coolest song since Blue Moon."
"Why don't you at least try it? It won't be that torturous."
"Well why don't you try loosening up? It wouldn't be that torturous. You're too rigid and uptight. You're too young for that; you have to learn how to have fun. You used to know how. "
"I still do, I just don't waste time talking about things that are of no importance. I don't like dwelling on nonsense."
"Are you saying I dwell on nonsense?" Akira asked, outraged.
Rui sighed and shook his head. "Forget it. Forget I said anything. See ya."
"And now you're leaving me? You can't do that," Akira said running in front of him and turned his back at him. "You can't do that cause I'm the one doing the ditching. See ya Rui!"
*~~*
Akira was having a hard time trying to have fun. He had three Budweiser's in front of him. Two were empty and the other was half full and he'd been there for only twenty minutes. There was something still plaguing him.
Pull yourself together, Mimasaka Akira. Rui and Doumyouji had worse fights than this! Have fun! Relax, lay back - go flirt with a girl or something, Akira told himself mentally.
Just a few yards away, Rui was having the same troubled thoughts. He couldn't concentrate on the beautiful music being conducted by Gao Tang Feng. All he could think about was his argument with Akira. He sighed and stood up, both hands in his pockets. He didn't know where he was going; he just kept on walking. And stopped when he reached a white fountain made of marble. In the very center of it was water rapidly flowing out of a huge white jar being held up by three marbled maidens. It was a wishing well.
Rui got out a silver coin from his pocket. He closed his eyes and wished. I wish Mimasaka Akira would take things a little seriously for once in his life. Be more practical. You know… like me. Then threw the coin into the fountain.
At that very same moment on the other side of the fountain was Akira. He wasn't having any fun so he walked around till he found the fountain. It wouldn't hurt to try. He, too, reached for a coin in his pocket, closed his eyes, made a wish and threw the coin in the fountain. I wish Hanazawa Rui would learn to lighten up, have fun and have a sense of humor. Be cool, for once in his life, sorta like me.
"Hey man," Soujirou said coming up to Akira. "Why are you all alone here? You weren't able to find a girl as hot as the one I found, eh?"
Akira smirked. "Yeah. That, plus I was having a lousy time. Rui and I had a little disagreement."
Soujirou laughed. "You always do. Anyway, wanna hear about the girl I hooked up with?" Without waiting for an answer, Soujirou began telling everything there was to know about Sonia.
On the other side of the fountain, "Rui!" Doumyouji said slapping Rui on the back. "Why am I not surprised to see you here, all alone, staring at the fountain?"
"Where's Tsukushi?"
"Over there. Somewhere buying dolls and stuff. She knows I'm here with you, we saw you go here from the gazebo. She'll be coming any moment now."
At that moment, Tsukushi came up to them with three huge paper bags and a smiling face. "This is the best place I've ever been to!" she announced.
"Are you guys ready to go home now?" Doumyouji asked.
Rui nodded.
"Yeah, I'm tired," Tsukushi answered.
"Okay," Doumyouji said. "I'll call Akira and Soujirou."
A/N: Love it? Hate it? Tell me what you think! REVIEW!!! Thanks! Ü