9
Chapter 1: The Big Day
~Darn! Of all the days to be running late, why did it have to be today? This was just unfair on so many levels. But really what could you do? 'Fair is where the pigs went.'~ Shuchi chuckled to herself at the phrase. Her sister Maiko had once told her that after she had been whining about God knows what, and it had sort of stuck with her ever since.
She was so getting off the point though. Why did it always have to happen like that? She would get distracted, then she would forget what she was supposed to be doing, and before you knew it K had a magnum pointed at her head and was threatening to blow her brains out if she didn't snap out of it.
K was this unruly American manager her agency had slapped her with. Of course it wasn't to say that the man didn't get results, he did. As a matter of fact the pink haired actor had gotten more crappy roles since signing up with NG productions. It was just that . . . K scared the crap out of her, and Shuchi was mildly sure that the blond man was certifiably insane, but then again so was most of the company she hung around. In fact she was sure that if you asked certain people they would lump her in with the crazies as well.
See she was getting off subject again. Shuchi paused in digging through the enormous pile of clothes scattered along the ground in her crappy basement apartment that she shared with her brother. What had been her point again? Violet eyes turned towards the wall where her Ryuichi Sakuma calendar hung, and kept herself from drooling over her idol long enough to see the 14th circled over and over again with a red magic marker, and the day before was colored in green with one word: 'script'.
She glanced at her watch to see that it was already 5:30. She was supposed to have been to the playhouse a half hour ago. Her best friend Hiro had told her and her brother over and over how strict the auditions were going to be, and that they were only handing out the script a day before to ensure to pick up on real talent. Honestly she wasn't sure how an actor being completely unprepared could show good talent, but she was certain that they'd love her. Everyone thought she was amazing, and so it was only logical that they would too. Plus it was a musical, and she knew that she had a voice like a God, so if she was already sure that the singing part was in the bag then the acting part would be too! Well of course it would be in the bag if she ever got out of her apartment and to the building!
Diving head first into her enormous pile of discarded outfits, Shuchi managed to come out with a khaki skirt and a sleeveless red shirt. It was a simple outfit. After pulling on some red heels she ran out the door as fast as she could so that to onlookers it just looked like a bundle of pink and red had zoomed past.
She just had to get this part! Other than singing, acting was the only thing that ever consumed her brain. It was literally her life! Ever since first grade when she was in Sleeping Beauty and she got to play the sleeping Aurora she'd became addicted. She'd been the biggest drama geek imaginable all throughout High School, and had somehow managed to get Hiro and her brother to tag along. Not that her brother wouldn't have helped her. Besides he was just as hooked as she. They both loved acting and singing and he was just as late as her too. Besides they weren't in school anymore. They'd been out on there own for over a year, and they were determined to make it big at any cost.
Sadly so far all she had managed to nail were crappy extra roles, and the occasional cough syrup ad. Shuichi . . . the same. It was a break out kind of business, and so far the only thing he'd managed to break was their bank account. He had heard of struggling actors, but this was getting ridiculous. Though he supposed that they had to be thankful for the genius invention known as Raman. If it wasn't for that food he knew that he and Shuchi would've starved to death long ago.
Shuchi and her brother whizzed by pedestrians on their way home from work as they rushed to get there in time. Their lungs burned and their veins pumped battery acid as they pushed themselves the few miles it took to get to the Orpheum Theater. They could have called a cab, but then that whole no money thing reared its ugly head again and so they knew they were doomed to travel it on foot.
The large historic building came into view, and Shuchi skidded to a halt just before she watched her brother smash his face into a layer of brick. He bounced back, a huge grin covering his face as he thought about just what he was going to do. This would be their first big gig. This would be what would either make or break them. The gig that proved they were worth a penny, so to speak, and he knew they couldn't mess it up.
Shuchi thought the same thing. She had to be great. She had to be perfect! Shuchi's and Shuichi's eyes lit up in excitement at the thought of nailing the lead roles. She could imagine them on the stage with hundreds of people in the audience cheering them on. If they wanted to, could they be like the great Ryuichi Sakuma some day?
"Shuichi! Shuchi!" The pink haired actors swirled on their toes at the sound of their best friend's voice, and turned sharply on their heels to face the eerily smiling longhaired red head. Shuichi gulped in trepidation. He knew that look. Hiroshi Nakano had definitely learned such a thing from his mother. She too always gave him that creepy smile before she began to scream at him for corrupting her son.
Scratching the back of his head in nervousness, Shuichi tried his hardest to quell off the source of his friend's anger. "Umm hiya Hiro . . . have you been waiting long?"
He received that same sickly sweet smile. "Well actually now that you mention it Shu, I have." Hiro replied in a friendly manner, but when his eyes opened up that smile faded from his face only to be replaced by fury. Shuichi and Shuchi cried out in pain as they were smacked on the back of their heads. "I've been waiting three hours, you bakas! You were supposed to get here earlier . . . not an hour late!"
Shuchi waved it off. "Okay, so we're a little late, but in the end does it really matter? I mean we're here now aren't we?" They both smiled ear-to-ear as they remembered why they came there in the first place. "All that matters is that we're here now, and we're gonna to totally rock this show!"
Hiro gave her that same smile. "Correction, my friends, you may be here, but the scripts are not." The twins' hearts sank. No more scripts? It seemed that the redhead really was perturbed by their tardiness, because he didn't feel like destroying all of their dreams was good enough. No, he had to go ahead and pour salt in the wounds. "You should have seen it guys, as soon as the doors opened people swarmed in by the dozens to get one of the few precious scripts they were handing out. It was crazy."
Even though they had heard their friend, the twins really couldn't comprehend what he was saying. No, they were too heartbroken to think of anything like that.
"No. More. Scripts?" The pink haired actors chanted as tears began to fill their eyes. "No more scripts?" The small actors collapsed to their knees, letting their sobs out by the bucket full. "How can there be no more scripts?!" They screamed letting their wails bounce off the side of the building until everybody in a mile radius was staring their way.
"Shuichi, Shuchi calm down I . . ." Hiro started, trying to consol his friends, but the twins were having none of it.
Their wails grew even louder as they grabbed the sides of their heads, shaking them back and forth and destroying even more of their few remaining brain cells. "It's over! This was our big break, and now we'll never get to act again!" Shuchi sobbed overdramatically.
"I'm a washed up has-been. Might as well take a gun and paint the walls with my brains . . . at least I'd be of use to someone!" Shuichi wailed.
Hiro crouched down into the puddle of tears surrounding his friends, and laid a comforting hand on Shuichi's and Shuchi's shoulders. The pink haired actor's sobs stilled at the touch, and when they looked up their eyes were red and puffy. "Now I'm not too sure how this acting business works Shu, but I think you have to be someone, before you can ever be a has-been, so it looks like you're safe in that area." Knowing full well of his friend's antics, the redhead continued before Shuchi could scream something in retort. "Besides what kind of friend would I be if I didn't grab you a copy before they all ran out?" He seemed to realize something, and quickly added. "Plus even if I didn't grab you one you still could have always used mine."
It was like all time and space had collapsed and then expanded all at once. The twins burst up from the ground, laughing manically as their dreams of becoming famous actors once more filled their heads. This would be their big break! This is what they were looking for, and it was all thanks to Hiro. Speaking of the good-natured aspiring actor.
Shuchi turned still tear filled eyes towards her best friend, trying to convey through just a look how completely and utterly grateful she was to have him as a friend. "Oh Hiro . . ." Sadly her love filled gaze, and the fact that she had just moaned out his name gave quite a few wrong impressions to the passer-bys who were still entranced by the twins seemingly never stopping change of emotions.
Ignoring the sneers, and the occasional 'ohhhh I hope they kiss' from the stream of rapid girls surrounding the pair, Shuchi once more focused on her and her brothers tasks that were set out to them today. "So Hiro, where are the scripts?"
Smiling, the redhead pulled the before mentioned scripts from his jacket, and in the twins eyes they were glowing as bright as the sun. They reached towards the coveted objects. Their fingertips had just brushed the edge of the booklet, when it was yanked back.
They then turned snarling eyes on Hiro, who just seemed smug about ripping their dreams once more away from them. "Hiro what the heck are you doing?!" They screamed, only seconds away from breaking out into another fit of wails.
All they got in response was a reprimanding shake of a finger. "Now, now Shu-Chan, I hope you didn't think that my generosity came for free." Violet eyes widened at the devious tone her usually innocent friend was using with her. That was of course when her mind went somewhere it really shouldn't have.
Her hands gripped at her sides when she pictured a maniacal Hiro standing above her in bed with her hands and feet tied and a ball gag in her mouth. 'Oh yes Shuchi we're going to talk about all the things you'll do for me.' Evil laughter filled the air as the creepy version of her best friend held up the shining scripts. 'After all, you'd do anything for these . . . wouldn't you?'
"No!" Shuchi screamed, falling forward and latching onto the front of the confused redhead's pants. "You know I love you almost as much as I love acting Hiro, but I can't!" She sobbed, clinging even closer to her friend's jeans. "I don't wanna be tied down and made to perform weird favors!"
Shaking his head, Hiroshi leaned down and pulled the whiny actor to her feet, dusting the pink bundle of energy off and wiping the seemingly never ending stream of tears from her eyes. "Don't worry Shu-Chan, you're safe." He gave a laugh at his friend's conclusions. "I was just talking about you setting me up with Maiko."
Shuchi stilled, the information she had just learned sinking into that thick skull of hers. This was the second time this had happened. It wasn't her fault. She just had an unsightly habit of jumping to the wrong conclusions. It probably wasn't helped by the fact that because she had overslept she had made herself five espressos to ensure her awake ness. Of course she would rather bite off her own tongue than inform Hiro of that fact. The redhead had banned her from coffee after an unfortunate accident involving a thing of chocolate sauce and a rubber duck. She wouldn't get into details over it, but suffice to say they had agreed that coffee was bad, and that Shuchi and caffeine really just didn't mesh well.
But now that she thought about it, of course Hiro would have asked her about Maiko. Her sister had always been on the redhead's lists of conquests. Though saying such a thing made Hiro sound like some playboy, which was about as far from the truth as you could get. Yes, her friend was rather popular with the ladies, but that was only because he treated them with the kindness and respect they deserved. Plus Hiro gave off the alluring quality of being the resident bad boy, and those two mixed together made the women fall all over him . . . almost including herself.
Shuchi looked at her brother. He never had that kind of luck. Girls had always looked at him as the hyperactive kid that always held some antic to stay and watch for. Of course because they had the impression that he was just some immature hyperactive kid he didn't just scream 'datable' and so since Shuichi and Hiro were always together, members of the fairer sex always tended to flock towards the more normal of the two. Maybe that's why Hiro was always so much cooler than him.
Well he was always getting who or what he wanted except their little sister. Okay, well calling her their 'little' sister was probably overdoing it a bit. She was only two years younger than them, and now a senior in High School. Maiko was the epitome of perfect. She was gorgeous, smart, popular, witty, pretty much everything Shuchi was. Heck she and Shuichi wouldn't even have passed school if they hadn't coasted off of their drama scholarships and cheated off of Hiro for all of their classes.
It probably irked Hiroshi like crazy to think that he could have any girl he ever wanted except for the one that was around them most often. Honestly Shuchi had a feeling that Hiro really didn't even like Maiko all that much. It was just that whole 'wanting what you can't have' thing that kept him going. However, if he didn't know what he really wanted, then Shuchi wasn't going to be the one to inform him. Especially if agreeing to this got her something she really wanted.
"Yeah okay . . . I'll set you up with Maiko." Shuchi sighed.
Shuichi lunged for the coveted piece of paper. "Now give us the scripts already!" His hands had almost closed around his prize, when Hiro once more jerked it from his grasp.
Shuichi went tumbling towards the ground, smashing his face against the sidewalk. Blood squirted from his nose as he rolled onto his back and glared up at the longhaired figure smirking above him.
"Just like Charlie Brown and the football." Hiro tsked, before laying the script on top of the actor's belly. "Enjoy . . . and don't forget you have to be ready by tomorrow for rehearsal. Don't screw this up you guys, you might not get another chance."
The pink haired boy was way too insanely happy after finally getting the thing in his hands that it took him a while to realize what Hiro had just said. As soon as it kicked in though he was right back on his feet and in snarling mode.
"What the heck do you mean don't screw it up? You're supposed to be helping me tonight!" Hiro looked the other way, conveniently avoiding his eyes.
"I can't man . . . I have a previous engagement." Shuichi practically began to snarl. Previous engagement . . . if that wasn't code for 'I have a date' then he didn't know what was. "Plus think of it this way . . . if we don't practice together than they can't hate both our styles and the chances of at least one of us getting the part are raised."
His fists balled at his sides as he tried his hardest to remain in control enough not to just haul off and punch the longhaired man right there. "You idiot! You're ditching rehearsing for the part so you can go take some girl out?!" He couldn't believe it. After all the time they had spent preparing for different parts together, going to plays, singing. He was going to ruin their one chance at stardom over a random date. "If that's all acting means to you then I don't even think I can consider you my friend!"
Shuchi's violet eyes narrowed at the comment. "That's low Shuichi. You know Hiro would never ditch us for some chick." Her voice was cold and quipped. For the first time Shuichi noticed the dark circles under his friend's eyes and how utterly stressed out he seemed.
"I have something I have to take care of." Hiro muttered. Shuichi immediately opened his mouth to ask just what that was, but Hiro beat him to the punch. "And no I can't tell you what it is right now, but I promise you that I will . . . you just have to give me some time and trust me when I say that I would never make you sad unless it was for a very good reason."
Violet eyes immediately softened. Now didn't he just feel like a jerk? Here he was accusing Hiro of not being his friend, when it was obvious just who was being the inconsiderate idiot of their relationship. The redhead was obviously going through a very difficult time, and he had only put more on his plate by making him feel guilty over something he couldn't get out of.
Pink hair fell in front of his eyes as he looked down towards the sidewalk. "Sorry man . . . I won't ask you anymore." His melancholy attitude once more shifted from serious to hyperactive, and when he looked back at his friend he was all smiles.
"Just don't forget to practice tonight. You know we can't do this show without you." Shuchi and Shuichi held up their forearms in invitation. "Together forever, remember?"
Hiroshi smiled before putting up his arm as well so that their forearms and fists were touching. "Of course . . . besides who else could put up with your crazy behinds all the time?" They stared fondly at each other, before Shuichi let out a small giggle, followed by a chuckle, and soon all three were laughing like maniacs where everyone was still staring at them as if they were crazy.
But then . . . what else is new?