Till There Was You
Star From The Sky
He put his shades up on his head and gave the screaming fans and flashing cameras his deadly smirk that wobbled far too many knees of girls and boys. His red piercing eyes scanned the huge crowd, not really seeing anyone. Thousands and thousands of people were screaming his name, asking for his attention, and crying in happiness to have seen him in person.
He was the star.
He was Natsume Hyuuga; one of the most prominent musician currently popular all over Japan. And he was loved by millions.
His concert just ended and he and his band mates tried to walk through the crowd to get to their bus that they travelled with across the country. This was their last concert of their RED tour and the fans were going crazy. 209 Concerts in a year. 627 concerts in three years. 627 cities of Japan. And billions of money made. The band RED made their RED tour a huge success. Their CDs were sold out; their concerts had been sold out, there was no space for additional interviews. RED was the reigning band currently on the show business market.
Natsume and his band, surrounded by bodyguards, made their way to the bus and turned to their fans one last time to wave and smirk in goodbye. The crowd went wild as the last one disappeared into the bus and ran after it as it drove away. Reporters had to yell into their mics to tell the audience in front of the telly about the huge uproar. It was crazy. But for the next few months, RED was going on a well-deserved vacation.
The next few days the news were all about RED and their success, their past interviews, and life stories. While people were still talking about them, the members of the group were already skiving off on Taha'a, French Polynesia. They stayed there for a little more than a month and then went each on their own.
Where his other band mates went, Natsume Hyuuga did not really know. He spent his time with his best friend Ruka Nogi, Hotaru Imai, Ruka's girlfriend, and his other friends in Tokyo. His manager, his agent, and his other co-workers did not know he was already in Tokyo. It had to remain a secret from the press and the safest way was to keep it a secret from everyone. Officially, RED was still on Taha'a.
It was a sunny Wednesday when Natsume went for coffee with his friend. They agreed to meet at the cafe and then go watch a game, and currently, Natsume was walking down the street with his sunglasses, jeans and hoody over his head to hide his identity. It was strange for him to be unnoticed like that. He was used to screaming fans and curious paparazzi surrounding him whenever he stepped out of his – well, he could not say flat, because he rarely spend any time there; traveling around the country with the bus made the bus your home.
Right now he was staying at his flat that had his sister's name on so no one would know who was actually living there. His days were filled with writing new music and doing nothing special.
Natsume sighed. He felt great. He did not have had a night of good sleep since the tour started and these past two months were bliss. He casually walked towards the cafe, enjoying the peace around him, when he noticed her.
He stopped in his tracts and groaned. He pulled his hoody deeper down and turned away, but she and a few of her friends were walking in his direction, shopping bags of new clothes hanging from their arms. Natsume flinched at the sound of his ex-girlfriend's Luna Koizumi laugh and frantically looked around for a place to hide. She would recognize him in his attire. He had no choice.
''Dammit.'' He muttered under his breath in anger and rushed through an open door of the building he was standing in front of. And to his horror the girls decided to stop in front of that building to chat. Natsume cursed and walked deeper in. He found himself in one of the small Tokyo libraries. He blinked in surprise and shook his head in disbelieve.
''I'm so lucky…'' he muttered sarcastically and fished out his phone while he walked around, passing shelves with thousands of books. He called Ruka.
''You're late.'' Came the reply instead of a greeting.
''Mate, I'm in trouble. Luna and her girls are near. I'm hiding in a library.'' Nastume whined.
As an answer, he got a minute long silence. And then hysterical laughter. Natsume growled and rolled his eyes in annoyance. ''Thank you for you sympathy.''
''Man, that's hilarious! You do know you're gonna be hiding for hours.'' Ruka kept laughing.
''Come on, help me out. Luna and I did separate mutually, but we all know she would sell me to the press right away.''
''Haha, I'm sorry mate…'' more laughing.
''You're an assho-''
''Excuse me.'' A soft feminine voice interrupted Natsume's curse and he quickly turned around in shock, ending the call.
''I'm sorry sir, but it's not allowed to make phone calls in the library.'' The brown-haired girl in front of him told him. Natsume gaped at her. She was the epitome of a hot librarian. Long brown curls, big brown eyes, and a petit but perfectly curved body, wrapped into a red short-sleeved shirt and black pencil skirt. Then legs, legs, legs with appropriate black hills.
She looked very alluring. And Natsume's brain practically stopped functioning at the sight of her.
''Uh…'' was his smart reply. He quickly closed his mouth after she frowned at him in confusion and awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. ''Sorry. It was an emergency.''
The woman nodded and smiled. Natsume's hormones went wild.
''Ok, can I help you somehow? Any specific books you're looking for?'' she asked, her posture relaxing. Oh, she could help him very much. But he should hold his tongue. His perverted mind brought only troubles.
''Uh... Actually… I'm looking for-'' he tried to come up with something. ''-books about music…'' he blurred out as she patiently waited for him to tell her what he needed. She nodded and indicated for him to follow her.
''No problem. Follow me.'' She led him through the narrow corridors of bookshelves and showed him where what was. Honestly speaking, he paid more attention to her heart shaped butt that moved elegantly and very alluringly while she walked. ''On this side, we have books mostly for university students, and on the left for lower education. On the right, we have history, geography and other books. The music section is in the far end, together with Art literature.'' They walked a minute to reach those shelves and once arriving, she turned back to him. His eyes quickly went up from her lower body. He seriously hoped she did not notice.
''Here we are.'' She smiled brightly. ''The rows start with classical music, then modern sounds, history and theory and other.'' Then she raised a brow cheekily, making his heart skip a beat. ''You know… I think this place isn't bright enough for you to wear sunglasses. I'd suggest you take them off.''
Natsume blushed a little, but she already turned around and walked away. ''Bloody idiot.'' He cursed himself and breathed out. He put his shades off and threw back his hoody; carefully looking around if someone paid attention to him. No one did. He guessed he could look around. He sent a message to Ruka that he was still trapped in the library and then scanned the books.
He smiled to himself. ''This brings back memories.'' Of when he was still in school, and crazy to know everything about music. He was not the best student, but he was the best in the music field. No one could accuse him of being just a lucky talent, picked up from the street. No. He was a music expert; had a major in guitar theories and harmonies; and had studied musical theory. He had music in his pinkie finger.
He read the titles of a few books and went over the covers with his finger and his heart beat a little faster. The atmosphere in a library had always brought adrenalin into his veins. It was that intense feeling of endless knowledge surrounding you, and he enjoyed opening a book, smell the old paper, and read the content.
He pulled out a random book and opened it. Ah… The theory behind music notes. He loved this one. It was complicated as hell, pure maths behind it, but once understanding the logic behind it, music suddenly became easy. And very fascinating. He loved it. He sat down on a nearby bench and leafed through the book.
And for the next half an hour, he was lost in books. He relived his school days with a smile and went through the theory he once studied like crazy. He did not hear the librarian come take a look at him, so he jumped a little in surprise as she spoke up. ''Excuse me, I think your friend is looking for you.''
Came a soft voice from nearby and Natsume jumped in surprise. He looked up and came face to face with the beautiful librarian, who stared at him with big eyes and shock written all over her face. Natsume was sure she just recognized him. He was about to react somehow, you know, like run away or something, but then something unexpected happened.
The girl blinked and calmed down. With a polite and steady expression, she smiled at him and spoke up. ''I'm sorry to have bothered your reading, but there's someone asking for a man with a hoody and sunglasses. I guessed he meant you, so I came to tell you.'' She explained and waited for him to answer.
This was new. Such a calm reaction was rare. If you were such a celebrity as Natsume Hyuuga, you rarely meet people that calm – unless they are your manager. He nodded, closed the book and stood up. He sighed. Should he ask her to not tell anyone he had been here? Would she call the press?
He was about to open his mouth to say something, when she beat him to it. ''Would you like to borrow these books? Six months of membership is for free so there would be no problem for you to apply for membership if you wanted for such a short period of time.'' She explained and glanced at the pile of books on the table.
Natsume blinked in confusion, his red eyes taking in the female's petit figure. ''I guess that would be a good idea. Haven't read these since college.''
The woman nodded and stepped closer to the table, picking up the pile. ''Then come. We just have to put you in our system and scan the books and you can take them with you. But I do hope you're aware of the rules about how to handle library books.'' She talked while walking towards the counter, where Ruka was waiting. The blonde grinned at his best friend and shook his head in disbelieve.
Natsume shrugged. ''You know, lady, it would be easier if I carried the books. They are quite heavy.'' He raised his eyebrows in surprise when she rolled her eyes. ''No worries, sir. I'm handling and carying books every day. I don't have a problem with it.''
They stopped in front of the counter and the librarian walked behind it and sat down in front of the computer. Ruka chuckled at his friend. ''You seriously have issues, man. Hiding? Really?''
''Just remember Imai from years ago, then you'll know how I feel. And you're lucky for not being in this business.'' Natsume countered, noticing that the librarian purposely ignored their conversation. Ruka rolled his eyes. ''Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.''
The librarian interrupted them. ''Under which name would you like to be put into the system, sir? You have to provide us with your ID, but the name in the system can be a different one.'' She stared at him knowingly.
Natsume was once again surprised. ''Seriously?'' She nodded. Natsume looked at Ruka who just shrugged. He pulled out his ID and gave his real name. Both, the librarian and Ruka stared at him in surprise. ''Well, not that someone would ever look for me here.''
The librarian nodded. ''True.'' Natsume only now noticed the name tag at the counter. Mikan Sakura. He will remember that. Mikan typed the information into her computer and then gave him a few copies to sign and looked for a plastic bag to put the books in. Natsume signed with his normal signature, not the one he used as an autograph.
''That's that. Here are the books. You can have them for two weeks. If you want to keep them for longer, just call or come and tell me. If you bring them back too late, first you'll get a paper warning, then you'll have to pay a small fine.'' She recited and smiled up at the men. ''Have fun reading.''
Natsume took the bag with the books and gave her a half smile. ''Sure thing.'' He put on his shades and hoody and walked out of the library with Ruka by his side.
''That was strange. I'm used to them screaming your name.'' The blonde commented. ''Think she would tell?''
Natsume shrugged. ''Don't think so. We could sue her and she wouldn't stand a chance. She doesn't look that stupid to me.''
''Guess you're right.'' They walked in silence for a few minutes. Then Ruka grinned once again. ''Don't think I didn't notice your perverted staring. Sly dog, you. Set your eyes on her, didn't you?''
Natsume laughed. ''Shut it, asshole.''