A/N: my muse songs were "Perfect Day" by Hoku, "Tangled Up In Me," and "Number One" by Skye Sweetnam, "Hey There Delilah" and "I Will Write You a Song" by the Plain White T's, "Everywhere" cover by Yellowcard, and "Your Song" Moulin Rouge version. The original song is mine. Claim it as your own, and get injected with the t-virus before I pull out my shotgun and shoot you in the head.
Oh, and yes, yes I DID use the song toward the end. It wouldn't stop nagging me. And because I used the song, SCREW TIMELINE! xD
The official song I settled with that reminds me of this story is "It Sucks" by Skye Sweetnam.
All I Need
Mimi Tachikawa was on one of her visits again from the states, and for once, had absolutely no plans. No, it wasn't that she hadn't made plans, but Sora told her at the last minute that she was going away to tennis camp the week of her arrival. Right after Mimi had purchased the non-refundable tickets. She sighed; no, she wasn't going to be upset, Mimi had plenty of other friends. Friends who were all busy at the moment doing something or another.
Okay, maybe she was a little upset. She flies around the world to what? No one! Nothing! She could have used this vacation to go to Hawaii and pick up some cute guys on the beach. Not that they would be anything more than just flings. There was only one person she would ever really want a real relationship with, and he was taken. Mimi blinked as she arrived at the Odaiba central park, and said taken person was sitting on a stone bench, strumming on his guitar. The right thing to do, was to just turn around and go somewhere else, she however, walked right up to him.
"Yamato Ishida," she stood in front of him with a grin and her hands on her hips. He looked up, slightly surprised, and set his guitar aside as he stood up.
"Hey Mimi, I didn't know you were visiting!" he sounded excited as he gave her a hug. A hug that lasted a little long for someone whose girlfriend was out of town- not that she minded much, she quite enjoyed wrapping her arms around him. When he released her, she sat down on the bench next to him.
"Sora didn't tell you? She was the reason why I was coming in the first place," it was hard to hide the resentfulness in her voice. Yamato looked at his guitar case on the ground and laughed in a not-so-amused way, which Mimi picked up on.
"She hasn't really been telling me anything lately," he scratched the back of his head and turned to Mimi, "she kind of got offended when I told her that I was writing a duet." Well this was interesting.
"Why would she be offended by that?" the question was innocent enough, it really didn't sound like Sora to be offended by something as trivial as a song.
"It wasn't the fact that I was writing a duet that bothered her," his guitar case interested him once again, "I was writing it to be performed by you and me."
"Me?" Mimi felt honored that her friend wanted to share his talent with hers, but why would Sora get so offended?
"Yeah, after she read the lyrics I wrote, I asked her when you'd be visiting again, and she told me that she could sing it herself, then one thing led to another and now she's not really talking to me all that much," he gave a shallow smile to the ground before getting a small stack of papers out of his guitar case and handing them to her. "But you're here now. Do you want to try to sing it with me?"
Mimi gave the music a once over, pretty easy vocals, and beautiful lyrics.
"Sure," she answered and he smiled like a child who got just what he wanted for Christmas before strumming a soft tune, and singing softly with his strong voice.
Oh, there's something
I have to tell you,
And you cannot tell a soul…
My heart's been aching all these years
And somehow I didn't know.
She listened to his voice and ignored the small crowd that the music was gathering, and sang her part as if she'd been practicing for hours.
I have to tell you something too
And I've been so scared to do it.
Everytime I hear your voice
My heart rejoices, but I know…
A larger crowd was gathered as their voices did a crescendo into harmonization.
Yes I know…
We're so far apart…
We can never be together.
Our lives are torn,
But our hearts are connected.
And that's all I need.
Even if it means unhappiness
For the rest of my life
Just knowing that there
Is someone for me somewhere…
That's all I need.
Yamato strummed to a slow end, and looked up when he heard a round of applause, as did Mimi.
"Thanks, my band has a gig at the coffee shop down the road Saturday night if you guys are interested!" blatant advertisement on his part, yes, but why not? He was utterly talented and wonderful to look at. Mimi blushed slightly and said quiet "thank yous" to the small crowd as they dispersed.
"That song was beautiful!" not to mention the lyrics hit close to home.
"It sounded better when you were singing it," they were quiet for a few seconds before he started to put his guitar back in its case, "Do you want to go get something to eat? It'll be my treat."
"I am a little hungry. Sure, let's go," she stood up at stretched- Yamato couldn't help but stare as she did so; she didn't have to try to be beautiful or sexy, it just happened with her. If only she hadn't moved away…maybe they would have had a chance. He was staring when Mimi waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello? Anyone in there? You're spacing out." He snapped out of it.
"Nah, I'm good, just watching the sun go down," thank god the sun was behind her otherwise he would've been screwed.
"So where are we going?" Mimi asked as they began walking together, if only he was single, she would have casually bumped into him and let their hands brush against the other until they were holding hands…kind of like how they were now- which shocked her. When did this happen? She was about to say something before he squeezed her hand and smiled at her.
"I told you it's my treat, so it's a surprise," his brain was going haywire even though he kept his cool on the outside. This was wrong! He was with Sora! But Mimi was radiating energy, and beauty, just like he remembered, and tried to forget. Can't he just have one chance? One time to see what it would be like if she hadn't moved away? If there was no Sora? "We're here," he turned to her before putting his hand on the small of her back to lead her into the restaurant.
"Yamato…" she had let herself relax during the short, quiet walk to their destination, enjoying his warmth and closeness, but she was slightly taken aback by what was in front of her.
It was a small, but cozy place with a stage and mini booth-like tables scattered about. Above the stage hung a large sign that read "OPEN MIKE NITE!" They grabbed a seat by the stage, close to the middle, as someone was setting up said microphone and speakers on and around it. They climbed into the little booth, Mimi on one side of Yamato, his guitar on the other. A waitress then descended upon them.
"Hey Ishida!" she seemed to know him fairly well, "So is this the girlfriend?" she turned to Mimi, "Glad you finally decided to come see Ishida play in a quieter environment." Mimi blushed slightly before opening her mouth to speak.
"Actually I'm-" Yamato interrupted her.
"She's just a good friend, Asako," the girl set the menu's down and made a face.
"Didn't seem that way to me, the way you two were looking at each other. But what do I know? I'm just a waitress," the looks on the couple's faces were priceless, before Asako brought them down to earth. "So what do you guys want this evening?" Mimi was finding the menu interesting for other reasons until the waitress spoke and made her concentrate on what it actually HAD on it. Yamato spoke first.
"I'll have my regular. And I'm paying for whatever she gets," Asako sighed with a smile and shook her head.
"And what can I get Ishida's date for the evening?" damn, this waitress was pushy.
"Um… I'll have a chocolate shake and a grilled chicken salad with sesame dressing," Mimi was trying very hard to keep her composure as the waitress said, "gotcha, be back in a few" and left the table. "Ha…" she laughed nervously, "I guess technically this is a date." He gave the same nervous laugh.
"Yeah, I guess technically it is." They were quiet for a few minutes as their drinks came- Yamato's was a strawberry shake, she noticed, and each were avoiding the other's gaze. Mimi decided to break the ice.
"So…why doesn't Sora come here with you? You seem like a regular and it's a nice little place," she was genuinely curious, and their eyes met again as they conversed.
"She says it's too boring. Compared to my concert gigs, the most of a crowd we'll get here is about 5 or 6 other people. I kind of think it's relaxing to play for people who actually appreciate music," he took a drink of his shake and leaned back in his chair, "Sometimes I don't think she appreciates what I do to make myself happy."
"I'm sorry to hear that…" Mimi took a sip of her shake –which was delicious, and was prepared for another awkward silence before he spoke up again.
"But we didn't come here to talk about Sora. I brought you here because I thought you'd enjoy yourself," he stretched comfortably, and put his arm on the back of the seat, his fingers dangling and touching her shoulder as someone walked on stage.
"Welcome welcome! Today is open mic night, and since I'm the owner, I guess I'll start things off." The owner sat at a piano as their food arrived- for some reason, Mimi wasn't hungry. Yamato's arm never left its spot; in fact it somehow crept closer and was now resting casually on her shoulders. The owner began singing a lounge-like song in harmony with his piano, but she wasn't paying attention. She picked at her salad, while Yamato never actually touched his soup; he seemed to be mesmerized by the person up on stage.
In reality, Yamato was mentally cursing himself. Holding Mimi like that was blissful, and felt so right, but he knew he shouldn't be doing it. If he knew this, then why did he hold her closer, and let her lean on his shoulder? The song ended and they slowly separated from each other to clap for the owner on stage. He introduced their waitress next, Asako, with her boyfriend playing guitar, and she began a song that sounded a little too romantic, and a little too much in their direction. This time Mimi took the initiative, and held his arm close to her, resting her head against him. She didn't like how she felt good here. She didn't like how her mind kept yelling at her, telling her that this is what she could have had. Everything that now belonged to her friend, Sora. Sora who always seemed to get what she wanted. It was funny to some extent; Mimi was always the princess, the one who always seemed spoiled, but she never actually got what she wanted. She was never able to make her own decisions. This was going to change, she decided. Today.
Mimi leaned in to whisper into Yamato's ear, her smile showing through her voice, "So are you going to serenade me next? It is a date after all."
Yamato grinned and turned to her, "Planned on it." Just as Asako was finishing her song, Mimi clapped as Yamato pulled out his guitar and walked on stage before sitting in a stool in front of the microphone. As he was tuning, he spoke to the small crowd.
"Hi, I'm Yamato Ishida, the lead to 'The Teenage Wolves,' and today I'd like to dedicate this song to a friend of mine from the United States. She's the pretty one sitting there in the middle," he winked and began playing the chords. Mimi recognized the song immediately- she had just been to their concert recently. This time, he was singing it. And he was singing it to her, and she knew the meaning behind it as much as he did.
Hey there Delilah
What's it like in New York City?
I'm a thousand miles away
But girl, tonight you look so pretty
Yes you do
Times Square can't shine as bright as you
I swear it's true
His eyes, those ocean blue eyes bore into hers as he continued on.
Hey there Delilah
Don't you worry about the distance
I'm right there if you get lonely
Give this song another listen
Close your eyes
Listen to my voice, it's my disguise
I'm by your side
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
What you do to me
His singing became more passionate as everyone in the little restaurant was looking between the two.
Hey there Delilah
I know times are getting hard
But just believe me, girl
Someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar
We'll have it good
We'll have the life we knew we would
My word is good
Hey there Delilah
I've got so much left to say
If every simple song I wrote to you
Would take your breath away
I'd write it all
Even more in love with me you'd fall
We'd have it all
A thousand miles seems pretty far
But they've got planes and trains and cars
I'd walk to you if I had no other way
Our friends would all make fun of us
and we'll just laugh along because we know
That none of them have felt this way
Delilah I can promise you
That by the time we get through
The world will never ever be the same
And you're to blame
Mimi stood up, awestruck, and slowly walked to the stage as Yamato began to walk down to meet her while still singing his heart out to her.
Hey there Delilah
You be good and don't you miss me
Two more years and you'll be done with school
And I'll be making history like I do
You'll know it's all because of you
We can do whatever we want to
Hey there Delilah here's to you
Yamato strummed to a stop and met her in the middle of the restaurant. He swung his guitar over his shoulder and cupped her face gently before singing the last lyric he was planning on singing tonight in a whisper to only her.
This one's for you…
Mimi had stopped breathing and kept her eyes intent on his before he whispered, "Breathe," and kissed her softly on the lips.
The small crowd erupted in applause as they broke away, both of them red-faced, but their hands were clasped tightly together.
Asako sauntered over to them, "That didn't look like a kiss of friendship to me," she smiled at them, "but my lips are sealed. It isn't everyday you see Yamato Ishida smile."
They stayed close to each other for the duration of the evening, until Mimi yawned at realized the time.
"Wow, we got here at four and it's almost one in the morning." He kissed her forehead, then proceeded to get up, holding his hand out to help her get out of the small booth herself.
"Where are you staying? I can walk you there." She smiled and they both waved goodbye to everyone left in the restaurant as they walked outside.
"At the hotel near the park," Mimi wrapped an arm around his torso while holding his hand, which was draped around her shoulder, his other hand holding his guitar case; a blissful smile across his features.
"Thank you, Mimi."
"Hmm?" the continued walking as they spoke to each other.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"Being you…letting me see what being happy is really like."
"Then… thank you too…for the same thing."
"You're welcome."
They arrived at the hotel shortly after and reluctantly let the other go.
"So is this it?" she asked.
"I guess…" he seemed completely devastated.
"I guess the fairytale ends for me again…" she tried to look away, but he took her chin gently and lifted it.
"Always stuck in a fairytale, aren't you princess?"
"I wish I was." Yamato slowly wrapped his arms around her and sang softly in her ear.
"We'll have the life we knew we would…my word is good…" he then kissed her lips long and hard, with as much passion as he had when singing to her. When they parted, it was Mimi's turn to sing softly to him.
"We can never be together- our lives are torn, but our hearts are connected," smiled before touching his cheek, "I'll always remember this fairytale."
"I'll always be your prince," he kissed the hand that was on his cheek.
"Until next time. Goodbye Yamato."
"Bye Mimi." And with that, she turned and entered her hotel building. Yamato turned and began to walk home, a song starting in his head- no one needed to know that he was writing about a certain girl from New York City.