Wer Hält Deine Hand-I
Aya stood in the back of the bar, slender arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the wall and staring at the empty space where a band was soon to play. Youji was poised beside him, one shoulder against the wall, grinning under his mop of chestnut hair. He nudged his friend and looked at him over the rims of his dark glasses. "You'll like this Aya-kun-" before he could finish a young female voice drifted out of the speakers and into the audience.
"Minna!" A small woman with spiked ivory hair walked out onto the stage, snaking one fish-netted arm out above her head and waving to her fans that gathered in the room. "Thank you all for coming here tonight to support The Endless." She continued to speak in perfect Japanese but the light German accent she bore shone brightly through, accenting her syllables in places where a Japanese accent normally would not. "It means a lot to us that you have supported us for this long and I just want to say thank you." A few people clapped while others cheered and whistled.
The lights began to fade and spill a blood red shine over the stage. The blonde girl took her place behind a set of drums as the other three members of the band made their entrance. First in line was a tall man, skin paler than the girls with waist length black hair and a bass guitar. He was followed in suit by a golden-blonde boy a guitar slung over his shoulder and another girl, taller than the first with a guitar of her own. She stepped up to the microphone.
"Anou, Aya," Youji grinned, eyes gleaming. "These are some of the nicest pieces of work I've seen in Japan for sometime." Aya's violet eyes widened and then narrowed into slits.
"Baka." Aya growled. Youji only laughed and smiled at his friend. "We are not here to chase women, Youji-kun."
"I have been told that those boys up there are not bad themselves, if that is what you prefer." Youji's eyes flashed with a merciless gleam. Aya's jaw dropped every so slightly and he stared at Youji before muttering something unpleasant to him and turning away. "I'm just kidding Aya. They're all quite interesting, as people. I mean all of them are from somewhere else in the world," he continued, not really caring if Aya was listening or not. "They all came together here in Japan to form this little group called the Endless. They're hitting it off pretty well. I've seen them play here a few times."
"You seem quite knowledgeable on this subject." Aya said at last.
"With two women as beautiful as those two, who, besides you, wouldn't be interested?" Youji smirked again and averted his gaze back to the stage as the performance began. The second girl picked up the microphone out of it's holder and began to speak. However, unlike the other girl, she spoke in her native tongue, complete with British accent.
"Hallo, tonight we are going to play for you a song written by myself and our drummer, Delirium. It is called Realm of Stars." The girl put her microphone back in its stand and lifted her guitar to a ready position and threw a glance back to the blonde girl. The drummer then reached up to switch on her own microphone, which stood perched just in front of her, and nodded back to the brunette who was waiting for an "ok". A hard drum riff started the song before melding perfectly with a chord from the bass guitar. Soon the lead and rhythm guitar were mixed in too, drowning Youji in a world of lust, leaving Aya behind bored and leaning on the wall of a second class bar.
The show at the Purple Penguin night club lasted a good three hours. The group that had played, Endless, finished their last encore just past eleven 'o clock and they players disbanded for the night, going their separate ways. Youji grabbed Aya's arm and started heading towards a shadowed corner table. "Aya-kun, care for a drink?" The younger boy frowned as Youji sat down in a chair and signaled a waitress.
"It doesn't look like you have given me a choice." Youji only smirked in reply.
"Loosen up Aya-kun. Have fun." Youji reached across the table and grabbed Aya by the wrist and pulling him down into a seat beside him. "Find a woman, have a drink. Live." Aya stared hard at Youji before putting his head into his arms atop the table. He was tired and his head was aching from the loud music that had blasted his ears for the last two-point-seven hours. Coarse industrial was not a genre that had ever suited his taste, but besides the headache it gave him, after listening to this particular band, he could say he liked it more than he had earlier that evening.
Youji shook his head at the younger man. Aya had no idea how to relax. He fished a cigarette out of his pocket and put it to his lips trying to quiet a sudden craving. Within minutes, a young brunette waitress walked up to their table and smiled brightly, curly hair framing high pink cheekbones and big lavender eyes. Youji took a puff off his cigarette and offered her one of his charming smiles. His eyes raked over her, taking in the skin-hugging vinyl that stretched across her upper body and her long tan legs that sported a pair of high-heeled boots at the feet. The waitress coughed uncomfortably trying to draw his eyes back to her face.
"Can I get you anything?" she asked, her voice soft and sweet. Youji stared at her face a moment before setting a frown deep on his features.
"Are you Destiny?" She nodded, blushing.
"Just Torii for now though. I'm at work." She winked and pulled an order pad out of the pocket of her apron. Aya twisted his head to the side and leaned his cheek on his arm so he could face the older boy and shoot him a curious look.
"Aa. Of course of course. Aya-kun, this is Destiny-Torii, the singer from the band that just played." Youji grinned at Aya before turning his gaze back to the waitress. "You have a beautiful voice Torii."
"Thank you," She blushed deeper. "So have you boys decided what you want yet?" Back to business. Youji assumed she was playing hard to get and Aya was thinking how horrible her Japanese was as she stumbled over every word she spoke. It was so obvious she was English.
"I'd like a scotch please. On the rocks." He glanced down to his companion who had once again hidden his face in his arms. "Same for him." The girl scribbled down something on the pad and looked up, still smiling.
"Anything else sir?" As if long planned, Youji reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap.
"Only you." he purred, a cat-like grin playing on his lips as he replied to her question and moved in to steal a kiss. Torii's eyes were wide as a cats as she mentally translated what he had said. Her face contorted with anger when the words registered, mouth opening and closing again in shock. She stood up and let her hand fly, knocking Youji's face away from her cheek with a vicious slap and backing away from him with eyes of fire.
"You-You ASSHOLE!" she sputtered, screaming at him in her native language. Youji watched as she stormed off, thinking silently to himself about her 'cute' rump. When she was out of sight he turned to Aya with a puzzled look.
"Asshole?"
"Bakayaro." Aya said evenly, though his violet eyes were laughing. "Let's go home Youji-kun. We have done what we needed to do." The two stood and left the bar, never to receive their order for that night. Youji left 500 yen on the table for the pretty young waitress.
"…And then the asshole grabbed me!" Manni laughed and tried to stifle it behind the back of her hand. Torii had to resist the urge to break the shot glass she had just cleaned against the wall. Manni only laughed harder, collapsing against the wet counter she was wiping of and snickering into the rag in her hand. Torii whirled on her, giving her the glare of death. Manni's condition worsened into an all out spasm.
"Anou, Torii, he's a male. He can't help it. Besides, you should take it as a compliment. It means he liked you." She paused thoughtfully and looked crookedly towards the ceiling. "A lot." She concluded with a smile. She turned her focus back to her work and wiped up a puddle of stale beer that one of the nights drunkards had drooled on to the counter hours earlier. "At least he didn't get rough…I mean, we could have had to call Darren over to kick him out." Torii looked up at her and started laughing.
"Darren couldn't kick a baby's ass Manni. You know that." Torii started speaking with a lisp in her voice. "Stop that! No fighting here boys! Enough!" She flipped her hand and the two girls broke down into giggles. Darren was the owner of the bar, their friend, and the gay bouncer. Torii stifled her chuckles. "Anyways, I didn't give that bastard a chance to get rough." She sighed, still twitching with giggles in sporadic moments. The chime of the doorbell drew their attention away from their boss, but their eyes remained on their cleaning duty. "Get lost. We're closed for tonight."
"Not for me you're not." The voice was deep and spoken in English that dripped with a German accent.
"It's two 'o clock in the morning buster, I'm closed to anyone and everyone. She turned around to look at him after flicking the light off behind the wine bottles. The man stepped deeper into the room, his long trenchcoat shrouding him in mystery. He threw off the hood revealing a brush of blonde hair that stuck out in every imaginable direction. A harsh frown twisted his lips upside down.
"I am looking for Manni Lorenz." Her name was pronounced perfectly, flowing over his tongue as if he had said it a million times before. Manni looked up.
"Kristian…" she whispered, her green eyes wide as she stared at him. Torii didn't over look the shaking of her hands as Manni grasped her cleaning rag tighter in her fist and answered with dry fright. "I haven't seen you for awhile."
"Come. Let us go. We must speak." He stretched his hand out to her and looked towards the door. Manni stumbled with her words before answering back meekly in German.
"I have to finish work. I can't leave yet."
"She can finish what is left to be finished. The car is waiting." Manni sighed and hung her towel up and took off her apron and threw it on the rack. Torii narrowed her eyes and leaned over the counter to look at the man. She wondered briefly how many guns and knives he had hidden in the pockets of his coat.
"Do you know this bastard Manni?" she asked, her brow furrowed as she studied her friend. She wondered what had given her the courage to speak so brashly, especially after imagining he could be a weapon wielding maniac.
"Yes, I do. Would you mind finishing up for me? I have to go."
"Sure…I'll see you tomorrow right?" Torii asked, worry seeping into her voice. Manni merely nodded and walked around the end of the counter and over the Kristian's side where she looped her arm in his. They walked out the door. Torii shook her head and finished cleaning up.
Moonlight spilled across the dirty pavement as they exited the bar. As promised, a black car waited, offering private space in the back. "Only Kristian would bring a limo to give someone their death sentence." She thought dryly. He opened the door and placed a hand on her back as he guided her in. "Where are we going?" She asked quietly, scooting to the other side of the seat to allow him room. He climbed in and shut the door. With a snap of his fingers the limo started to move. Manni decided he wasn't going to answer her questions and she was right.
"It has been one year, my dear." His voice was deep and it sounded like more of a growl than human speech but it never failed to send shivers up Manni's spine. "Ein Jahre." He repeated, switching into his own language, a language that made Manni remember everything about herself that she wanted to forget. "One year since I let you run off with that little friend of yours, what is her name-" He paused, taping a finger to his chin thoughtfully. "Torii was it?" He smiled at the twinge of anger that jolted through Manni's clenched jaw. "I let you run off with that girl and those boys with the band. I allowed you to quit your job and leave my home. But the condition was you paid me 20,000 DM in exactly one year. Remember Leibe? If we had not made that agreement, you would not be here now, no?" the girl shook her head, keeping her eyes downcast. "If you don't give me the money you'll be nothing more than what you were this time last year." He pushed his fingers under her chin and turned her head to face him. "Nothing but a low-class whore who can't perform well enough to make a living. Do you really want to go back to that?" He ran a teasing thumb across her lower lip. She shook her head trying to hold back the tears that sprung up in her eyes and pulled her face free from his hand.
"You have two weeks left. You had better have that money by next Monday afternoon at one 'o clock. If it is not in my hands by then Manni Lorenz, you will be." He smiled darkly and reached over to place a hand on her thigh. "I have missed having you around. I haven't had anyone quite as…entertaining…as you since you left me." He whispered in her ear, letting his hot breath trickle down her neck. "Maybe if you do me a favor tonight I'll give you an extra week to get the money to me." He let his hand ride a little higher on her leg, hiking her skirt up even further revealing unmarred white skin. She couldn't stop the tears that trickled down her cheeks. She shook her head.
"Nein." She whispered, her voice hoarse. She gritted her teeth together and shook her head placing her hands over his and pushing it away. "Never." She repeated more forcefully, trying her best not to scream out in disgust.
"As you wish." He growled, pulling his hand away. "But don't forget Manni, I always get what I want. You know that. You learned that back in Berlin." Manni glared at him, green eyes bright with tears under her defiance. "Driver, stop the car." He sized her chin again as the car stopped, bringing her face close to his. "But know this, and do not forget it, if I don't have the money by the time arranged, your body and your life are mine. And don't you bother running away. I'll just find you again. Do you understand me frauline?" He glared at her, searching her face. She nodded slowly but didn't speak and kept her eyes trained on his angry face. He threw her head to the side with a jerk of his wrist. "Good. Get out of my sight."
He reached over and pulled the handle on his side, swinging the car door open into the dark night. Manni glared at him evenly before climbing over his lap to get out of the car, expecting a trick at any moment as she carefully placed herself over him and stepped onto the pavement outside. "Monday after next, Lorenz." Was the last reminder before the door slammed shut and the wheels skidded loudly on the streets leaving only harsh memories flashing behind her eyes as she ran home through the allies of Tokyo, crying in the night.