I think I got the idea for this one because of this school production I'm supposed to be a part of. I guessed I'd like an AU story once in a while, starting the Yukimura/Sasuke tale from scratch and all. So, as a brief summary, Yukimura is a star actor, and Sasuke got dragged into his latest film with some warped coincidence. Let's sit back and watch what happens between the two.
Disclaimer: But wouldn't it be cool if Yukimura really was in a movie?
Enjoy!
It was a view so splendid it could only have been molded by the very hands of God. It was the very core of the trickling substance called "nature" – and the "beauty" of the whole universe seeped into it, as the waist high, thick blanket of grass and flowers seemed to within the rich, dark soil unseen under the colours. The sky was a shining blue, with not a stretch of cloud in sight, and underneath the clear azure, amidst that land of green and red and white and all the makings of the rainbow, stood two lone figures, embracing, loving. It seemed as though they were in a world of their own.
One was a man, strong and bold, his muscled arms wrapped around the slighter body pressed up against him. His wavy, silky black hair danced in the wind, tangling slightly with his partner's own light one. His skin was a transparent ivory, flawless to every pore; his long lashes covered his dark orbs that gazed tenderly at the young woman at his chest.
His lover was of similar beauty, rosy cheeks snuggled up tight against his broad front, wheat coloured hair flowing all around her, around them. Her pure white dress streamed out slightly behind her, carried by the breeze that swept across the field and carried bright, light petals along with it to the horizon. Her slender fingers curled slightly, very gently fisting the plain shirt the man wore. They stood there for a while, in a deep, revered silence, he standing brave and tall, she with her lovely face scented in flowers, hands clasping at the frail cloth underneath them, almost desperately. Finally, at a little nudge from the man, she looked up timidly, eyelashes fluttering at the sudden brightness.
"Must you really have to go?" she said softly, staring pleadingly up at her lover's face. "You know I will not hold you back…but still, our time together…"
"Shh," the man whispered, placing one single finger at her lips, allowing no more words to drop from her pretty lips. "Our time together was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to me. In the mornings, I could hear the birds chirp ever so clearly. In the nights, the stars shimmered as though they had never seen such a perfect contrast between them and the midnight sky. Your voice is a music so sweet that I could almost taste it…and your beauty knows no bounds. You could be Aphrodite in human form – but the lowly earth does not strain any of your magic. All I could do everyday was watch you, and only you…so gentle, and gorgeous, and grand…"
The woman could do nothing but blush. "Oh, Eric…" she murmured, resting her head once again on his torso.
"But alas, I have no other options," the man continued. "It's my work, Sarah. If my superior has ordered me to go to Huefar, then I must follow his commands and respect them. Oh, Sarah," he took her hands, and stepped back, so to have a full view of her face. "How I wish…"
But the lady smile tearfully, and shook her head. "You don't have to wish for anything, Eric," she said quietly. "You have a mission – you must accomplish it. Even if it means you will leave me."
They drew in, closer once more, till their lips touched and fit each other perfectly. A chaste, simple kiss, and then they broke away; their hands still clasping each other's; their eyes still fixed with each other's. The man spoke first.
"I will come back as soon as I can, I promise," he said determinedly. "And for me, there will be only you – now and forever on. If, in turn, you can promise me the same…"
"I promise, Eric," the woman told him. "I promise that I will wait for you to come home, even for an eternity, and I will love no one else apart from you."
Transfixed in each other's gazes, they kissed once more, before the man broke away and set off, running across the sheet of green, towards the horizon. The woman simply stood there, watching as her lover disappeared into the distance between the green and the blue, never looking back…..
"…..Aaand, CUT! Well done everybody!"
There was a loud applause all around, and people jostled to reach the actors to congratulate them on their first take. The green screen was rolled up, and taken away with the packed footage and cameras. A crowd formed behind the computer which was replaying the scene, checking for any faults or mistakes. The woman was eventually carried off towards the dressing room for her next scene, but not before sending her co-actor a flirtious wink. The man grinned, showing off all of his sparkling white teeth, before turning away to his assistant with a disgruntled expression.
"Remind me never to do anything like that, Saizo," he told the assistant, taking the offered soft towel and water bottle and thanking him.
Saizo gave an apologetic smile. "You'll have to bear with roles like that for quite a while from now, Yukimura-sama. With your looks and attitude, directors cannot think of handing you a role other than that of the tragic romantic."
"Then the directors haven't a shred of imagination whatsoever," Yukimura sniffed. "Don't they know that to capture a modern lady's heart, it's much better to act as the handsome evil overlord?"
"Haha…on second thought, I suppose that part would fit Yukimura-sama well enough…"
They started making their way across the studio, nodding and smiling at the technicians who greeted them. Yukimura took a great gulp of water as he walked on, exhaling as he lifted it from his pink lips and wiped them with his sleeve. Saizo watched in great appreciation, wondering to what extent the beautiful actor could stretch his dazzle with just his refreshed looking face. However…
"Yukimura-sama! Please don't dirty the costume, it was costly! Here, a handkerchief…"
Yukimura blinked in surprise, and gave a nervous chuckle. "Oohhh, sorry Saizo. I've been in this thing for so long, I forgot that it wasn't mine." He took the piece of cloth and cleaned his pale face with it, taking a breath of satisfaction.
Saizo sighed and shook his head, exasperated. "If you only agreed to kiss Ms. Tran without any questions, we wouldn't have spent hours bickering with the producer! Next time, you should stop being so picky and go with whatever the script tells you to."
"You've seen what else I was supposed to do with her!" Yukimura complained. "If we hadn't negotiated with that pompous guy there and then, I would have ended up practically stripping her of that flimsy dress!"
He coughed, and stuck his bottom lip out in a pout as Saizo quickly looked away, holding back a snigger. "Just so you know, I'm not as indecent enough as to feel up a woman I've only seen twice in the past weeks!"
Saizo tried and failed to hide his smirk. "Of course you're not…Yukimura-sama." The assistant gave up the moment Yukimura shot him an irritated look, and was openly laughing by the time the pair reached the actor's personal room.
Said actor threw the heavy script onto the coffee table. "I'm going to kill the crap who wrote this," he growled, dumping himself on the plushy sofa. Saizo raised an eyebrow. Yukimura must be really pissed – he was mad enough to swear.
"I'm sure that everything will turn out wonderful in the end," he replied soothingly, setting a new cup of black tea before Yukimura. "They always do! Oh, just have a sip and calm down, Yukimura-sama. You know this one will be a hit as well."
Raising the bitter smelling drink for a good smell, he deemed it worthy enough for his tastes and gulped a good portion of it down his throat. "…I don't know, Saizo," he said wearily, leaning back into the sofa. He passed a hand in front of his eyes, staring up at the ceiling. "No, I didn't mean that I don't know if the film will be a hit or not," he said hastily, as Saizo made a panicked face. "I mean…I've gotten more popular than I could ever imagine. I have more fans than ever fawning over me, and I can buy every sake bar in the whole world with the money I'm being paid. But, still…"
Saizo felt as though he knew what was coming. "…You feel like you're missing something…?" he asked slowly.
Yukimura gave a small smile. "I sound so cheesy I could have made that old advertisement for the cow farm they finished last week, right?" he grinned. "But for your information, no, that's not really it. All this filming business is getting to your head, Saizo."
The other man frowned, perplexed. "Then, what is it? Yukimura-sama."
He was not given an immediate answer. "…I really wonder what," the actor answered quietly. His head rested on the backrest of the furniture, long black hair tumbling like waterfalls down the back of it. A hand rested on his forehead, as he stared up into the light bulb of the lamp hanging above their heads. "I wonder…"
Suddenly, he snapped up, eyes twinkling. "Good grief, I've watched too much soppy love movies for the preparation!" he cried. Saizo jolted in his place, almost spilling the contents of his mug onto the lush carpet underneath his feet. "Well, no time to dawdle now! Our break will be almost over – studio seven next, right? For the one with that dog?"
Saizo quickly collected himself and put his tea down, with plans to finish it later. "That's correct, Yukimura-sama," he answered enthusiastically. "Do you want me to bring a chew toy or–"
He was cut off by a swift knock on the star's door; both of them turned to it as a balding, flustered man entered without waiting for permission, out of breath and reed in the face. He took a couple of wheezes before starting, Yukimura eyeing him up and down and Saizo wondering if he should get some water along with the chew toy.
"The – the Head of the studio is calling for Mr. Yukimura…" he trailed off, gladly accepting the bottle of mineral water from an anxious Saizo.
"But I thought that I had to work on a take with Maxey the Maltese," Yukimura frowned. "Why would Mr. Gregory need me now?"
The balding man coughed and pushed his slipping glasses higher up his nose. "The matter was not specified to me, sir," he said briskly. "Mr. Gregory has given you permission to miss whatever job you have next – you are to go to his office in this instant."
He squeaked and ducked out again when Yukimura turned his piercing gaze on him, still frowning. Shaking his head, he reached for his brown shoulder bag and headed out as well. Saizo scuttled uncertainly after him, and the two started off once more towards the main block of the building.
"But really, what could Mr. Gregory want with you?" Saizo wondered out loud. After a second of thinking, he whipped around to look sternly at the actor walking beside him, whistling tunelessly. "Yukimura-sama, you didn't do anything like taking one of his cars out for a spin and crashing it, did you?"
Yukimura feigned mock horror. "Nonsense, Saizo! If I did that, then it would have been on the news, and even you would have heard of it! I merely hacked into his fanfiction account and read a few entries he made on that anime about the samurai, and this cute girl bounty hunter with a weird gun…"
"……Uh-huh."
Stepping off the creaking elevator at the topmost floor, they reached the grand oak door leading to the forbidden office of the Head. A strange, mighty aura emitted from behind the door, overpowering even those of the strongest steeled stomachs. Saizo gulped, and reached for something to wipe his face with, but Yukimura knocked lightly on the buffed door, sang "Coming in!" in his tinkling tone, and pushed his way in without twitching an eye. His assistant hesitated for a moment, wishing he could be as brave as his idol, before scampering after the other man, not wanting to be left behind.
Gregory sat at his majestic desk, right at the end of the huge room. The walls were plastered with framed posters of the studio's recent hits, quite a number of them depicting Yukimura as the part of the heroic lover. The gigantic windows behind him did not have their curtains drawn, so the sunlight poured in through the transparent materials, forcing Saizo to squint slightly as he stepped in. (Yukimura had his shades on.)
The Head of the studios looked up from his mountain of paperwork, and cracked a beam when he caught sight of his favourite actor on the lot. He greeted them in a deep, jovial voice.
"Ah, Yukimura! Just the man I wanted to see!"
Yukimura lifted his sunglasses a bit to let his own dark eyes crinkle. "Mr. Gregory. To what do I owe this pleasure?"
A low chuckle. "Now, now, Yukimura, there's no need for such formalities!" Completely ignoring Saizo, who was shifting his weight from foot to foot beside Yukimura, Gregory placed his sleek pen down and stapled his fingers together, elbows on desk. "You are always welcome anywhere on the face of the earth that I own, so long as you keep bringing in money and fame back here!"
Yukimura's laugh this time was a surly one, but Gregory didn't seem to notice that.
"Anyway, I have an important announcement to make to you," Gregory continued, getting up and walking around in a wide berth of his desk. He stopped in front of it, thick hands behind his back. "You know the movie, 'The Missionary of Huefar'?"
"Ah, that one," Yukimura recalled, the spark of the memory not too difficult to grasp. "Yes, we actually finished taking the first shot of it some ten minutes ago. Just before you called us."
The Head nodded approvingly. "Yes, yes, that one…well, you remember the plot of it, don't you?"
Of course he does, thought Saizo. No offence meant, but Yukimura-sama is so picky with his plays, he reads the plot line to the smallest nooks and crannies. I have enough trouble getting him to agree to at least playing one role to pay for his living!
"The Missionary of Huefar" – a tragic tale of a young man, referred by the title as a "missionary", who leaves his beautiful hometown some miles away from the Alps to work in the smoggy, dusty town of Huefar. Since it was very different from where he grew up, the man discouraged himself from making any kind of connection with other people or the city, getting into the habit of locking himself up in his own room, sometimes for weeks onwards. Because of his refusal to socialize with those of Huefar, the man's reputation was ruined and he found himself fired. Having no more means to remain there, he goes back to his home he has not visited in years, and his lover who, he discovers upon arrival, has broken their eternal promise and married another youth during his absence. Rejected even by his precious motherland, the man has no choice but to turn back to the only other place he knew in the world – Huefar.
It is after a year spent in humble solitude, working as a poor journalist and keeping his profile as the former missionary in the dark, that the man finds a small boy in need of his assistance. This boy was born in an even poorer state than he was – he has no idea who his parents are, he had lived in a rundown orphanage since he was aware of his surroundings, and now, with no money or a roof over his head, he makes a living by selling his body to prostitution. After meeting him, the man finally faces with his former, arrogant self, and battles between his decision to protect the boy, or stay low, but safe, as the nameless writer he is now. In the end, he saves the boy and takes him to a village near his home as a fresh man, deciding to care for the child as his own son. His last work went into the papers, and effectively brought down the prostitution centre, with the true recounts of a child who once worked there included, along with his own new views of life, children and the world surrounding him.
"But, we face a problem here," Gregory said. "I assume you met Billy Tramp, child actor, in the last meeting?"
"The one who plays the boy?" Yukimura backtracked. "Oh, yes. Him. Bright boy. Lots of freckles."
Gregory snorted, his moustache ruffling dangerously. "And clumsy on his feet. He tripped on the way back home from his geography field trip at school. Loose stone near a waterfall. He's at home right now, with a broken left leg and a terrible bruise on his crown."
"Oh no!" Saizo gasped. His exclamation went unnoticed.
Yukimura bit back the bad pun that tried to escape his lips. Fortunately, Gregory got there first.
"When we say, 'Break a leg', we don't mean it in a literal sense!" he growled, pacing up and down before his desk. "So when we got the news, the whole of the upper ring was in an uproar. We needed a replacement immediately! But there wasn't enough time! What should we do?"
Oh dear. He's in his drama queen mode.
He gave a bark of laughter, and stopped in his steps, the theatrical gleam in his eyes. "Then, a saviour! My own assistant, Sheldon Malkins, introduced us a good friend of his who give drama lessons to children about Billy's age. He also ran an orphanage, which most of his students are from. Although it's not as prehistoric as in the movie, it meant that we could get a little boy with enough experience to relate! It was a perfect match!"
"So I gather you found someone?" Yukimura asked coolly, handing Saizo a tissue to wipe his tears of compassion.
"Oh, we found someone, alright!" Gregory said triumphantly. "And he's just what we're looking for! Sure, he'll need a bit of softening up, but he's agreed to do it. Why don't you come and meet him?"
"He's here now?" Saizo asked, surprised.
"Yes, he's in the waiting room," Gregory finally acknowledged his presence. "Well? Do you want to go meet your co-actor?"
Well, I can't exactly say no, can I.
Saizo could just hear what Yukimura was thinking.
"I would be delighted to, Mr. Gregory," Yukimura replied smoothly. The other man simply nodded.
"Good, good!" The Head, always so faithful to Yukimura's expectations, was already halfway towards the door. "Follow me then, gentlemen."
They did so in silence, Saizo quietly clicking the door shut behind them as they proceeded down the long corridor. The boy must be waiting in the Head's personal waiting room, Yukimura surmised, during the short walk there. The studio was a large place, and easy to get lost in if not given a thorough tour or two at first. Of course, Yukimura was well known for serving Tarfly Studios for a few years now, producing many a famous pictures and for being the person responsible for bringing the name of the company to the Hall of Fame.
They reached a plain door, almost at the end of the hallway, next to a water fountain and the bathrooms. Yukimura and Saizo waited while Gregory rapped upon the thin strip of clouded glass placed to the side of the door, and trailed after him and into the room.
"Hullo, Kosuke," Yukimura said the moment he caught sight of her.
Kosuke whipped around from her position with her back to the door, and Yukimura glimpsed a small body sitting on the couch behind her. He assumed that it must be the child, but he couldn't get a good look at him as Kosuke was standing right between them, blocking his view. She must have been attending to him in someway, perhaps talking, but now she adopted a joyful manner as she caught sight of her beloved star.
"Yukimura-sama!" she cried, eyes shining. "A pleasure to see you again! How have you been?"
The actor smiled. "The same I have been since yesterday afternoon, when I last saw you Kosuke," he teased, successfully coaxing a blush from the girl who so looked like himself.
"Miss Kosuke has been looking after our new boy," Gregory told the other two. "But make sure that he can ask you anything he may be unsure of. You're all to make him feel at home while he's here, got that?"
All three adults nodded, and Gregory, pleased, clapped his hands together. "Well then, come on out here boy! Greet your co-actor for "The Missionary of Huefar", Sanada Yukimura!"
And Kosuke stepped back to reveal to Yukimura; a small boy with snowy hair, and marvelous golden cat-like eyes. He was adorned with a simple T-shirt that was decorated with nothing fancy, and extremely short shorts that barely reached his thigh. Despite not being any older than twelve, he wore a look of wariness and calculation, and Yukimura could tell that he was highly suspecting of anyone, with all his guards raised.
He decided that he liked that look.
The boy clambered down from the moth-bitten couch and trodded slowly over to where the celebrity stood. The older man gave a reassuring smile and stuck his hand out, which the little boy took with his smaller one after a second of contemplating.
Somehow surprisingly, it was very warm. Even with the colder weather approaching, the boy remained in summer clothes, and yet managed to maintain a heated body temperature? Yukimura felt a little envious about this – he was, actually, the type to catch colds easily, and it had caused many problems for his job in the past. So the boy wasn't too bad on the eyes, and could make a nice heater in the winter.
"Nice to meet you," Yukimura smiled, grasping the warm hand tightly. "I'm sure it will be a pleasure to work with you from now on."
The boy was staring at the hands, still in the handshake. He had a curious expression, as though he wasn't used to such a greeting. Or any interaction with people at all.
Taking up the tiny hand with both of his own, Yukimura knelt down on one knee to be eyelevel with the boy. Staring into his shocked face, probably because he was witnessing a celeb get to the floor for him, the older man smiled gently and massaged the boy's rigid fingers.
"Do you think you can tell us your name, little boy?" he asked kindly.
The silver haired boy squirmed slightly, looking this way and that as though he was unsure who Yukimura was talking to. Finally, he fixed his wandering gaze on the enveloped hands, and trailing it upwards till he reached the chest, the neck, the chin and the man's eyes, he spoke in a small, husky voice.
"Sarutobi, Sasuke."
And so, I'll cut it short for now. We've pretty much got the idea of how things work, don't we? Yukimura, I imagine, is a little stricter than usual, but that's probably because I wrote this till I finally curled up to die in my bed at four in the morning. Sasuke I hope will be his normal Tsundere self, after I regain energy with some sleep and a proper breakfast (mother's in Japan and father has the can't - get up - on - time syndrome). And Saizo is lurking in the background, admiring Yukimura's back from somewhere afar.
Not sure if Gregory is the Head's last or first name. But let's not pick on the smallest bits of information.
R&R! Trust me, they'll keep me going so I can actually get the story finished...
