Well I've had a bit of a response ^_^ thanks for the reviews folks!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything...nothing at all except for the song lyrics in this chapter.
High Rollers & Smooth Talkers
Chapter 2 Chinese Whispers
It was 2 in the morning and Zero had just gotten to sleep by the time Kaito came stumbling into the apartment reeking of bourbon and cheap perfume with a cigarette hanging from his lips.
Ichiru had gone out again to who knows where so Zero was stuck alone with the damn drunk.
Hopefully he'd just fall asleep on the sofa instead of wandering around keeping him up when he was trying to get his precious sleep.
"Kaito shut the hell up!" he called out from the bedroom as he heard the front door slam loudly. If Kaito hadn't been a son of one of Yagari's friends and they couldn't find anyone else who wanted to be their drummer he probably would have kicked the inconsiderate asshole to the curb long ago.
When he woke up later that day the sun was already high in the sky and there was music blaring through the radio.
"Wow you're finally up I thought I'd have to get the smelling salts out again" his brother joked polishing his trumpet as Zero meandered into the living room in his pajamas with bleary eyes and his silver hair sticking up everywhere.
"What time is it?" he grumbled rubbing his face tiredly.
"Half past three...oh and Touga called, he's got a message for you" Ichiru said staring up at him "God Zero! You look like crap".
"That's nice to know Ichiru..." Zero murmured sarcastically "Why the hell didn't you wake me?!" dashing back into the bedroom and hurried around as quickly as his sleep addled brain would let him to get dressed.
"Well for one thing I didn't want my hand bitten off, you know you sleep bite bro... I wonder sometimes if you're not secretly a vampire" he called through the open door.
Zero quickly threw on a clean shirt and black tie then pulled on his pants and braces, he didn't really like them but at least his pants weren't falling down because they didn't fit him anymore.
"Yeah but like hell I'd drink you're blood" he joked as he rushed through grabbing his jacket and hat.
"Zero...forgot your shoes!" Ichiru yell out to him just before he slipped out the door and Zero had to run back to slip them on before leaving.
"I'll see you later, kick Kaito's ass for me okay" he replied and then ran down the stairs.
&.&.&
It took him about forty minutes to get down to Yagari's bar The Bloody Rose dodging pedestrians, cars and one horse drawn carriage on the way.
He took a brief moment to catch his breath and compose himself "Hey old man Ichiru said you called, what is all this all about?" he asked taking off his fedora as he opened the door.
"Nice to know I can be of service kid" Yagari spat and continued to wipe down the counter. Some of the other customers looked over curiously then turned away when Zero glared at them.
"Just tell me already..." he whispered sitting down on a stool leaning forward on his elbows.
"Guy said his name was Hanabusa Aidou supposedly the manager of the club he works at heard about your little band and wants you to play there, it's some nightclub called Crimson Moon in Manhattan" he explained "Talked to an old friend over there turns out the place actually exists".
"You couldn't have told me all that over the phone...hell you could've told Ichiru" Zero argued "What's with all the paranoia?".
"I heard you had a falling out with Jinmu, a couple of ya guys called up before that Aidou guy wanting to know where to get in contact with you" Yagari said his brown creased with worry "What's going on with you kid? Not that I don't like you or anything but I don't appreciate having to play messenger boy".
"God...I'm 23 years old stop calling me kid, damn it old man" he growled "Anyway I'm thinking of getting a new job Ichiru can't work and I don't care if you knew his dad Kaito's a damn drunk bum...I'm just sick of this life alright".
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself they're plenty of people out there worse off than you and with not nearly as much talent" he ordered Zero slapping him on the shoulder "Go to this address okay it's a gig and at least you'll be able to pay the rent, I'll only tell you this once Zero...if you can do anything to change your life you have no right to complain but if you couldn't do anything then there's nothing to regret" Yagari patted Zero's head softly "You know who said that? Your Pa, so don't go around hating your life when you've got such a gift...if he could see you now he'd be rollin' in his grave".
"Shut up" Zero spat angrily as his hand covering his left ear "You don't know what happened to them! You were already retired, I was the one who found them! I have to live with the consequences everyday" he turned himself around so his left side was facing Yagari "Now get me a beer... I don't wanna have come all this way for nothing".
Touga gave up, there was no point trying to talk to the kid when he would get like this...though he'd been this way for the last ten years even after Kaien had adopted him and his brother.
Zero could still remember his mother, she was beautiful with her long blonde hair and violet eyes. He stared down at a photo of the Kiryuu's that was taken when he was twelve years old... only a year before her death...both their deaths. His father had short silver hair just like his brother and he did but with narrow charcoal eyes as black as night.
The police never caught their murderers and the two boys went to live with their dear old uncle Kaien Cross. He'd been the one investigating his parents deaths even though Zero's mom was his sister...the other cops had been busy on a Mafia sting.
Zero quickly put the picture away in his back pocket.
"Zero..." Ichiru asked.
"Ring Kaito we have a show tonight" he told him his voice flat and emotionless.
"Okay...but that's a little short notice isn't" Ichiru said handing him a cup of coffee.
"I don't care we need the money and you know I don't work until Monday" Zero said not wanting any argument "If you can't get him to come back threaten to burn his playing cards and tell Hanadagi about how he's banging his daughter".
"Didn't Hanadagi threaten I quote 'If I see you scum sucking sewer rat anywhere near my little girl they'll be picking body parts out of the fishes stomachs for the next twenty years' unquote" Ichiru reiterated what the old race horse owner had yelled with air quotes.
"Yep...well it's his fault for kissing her at her brother's wedding" he laughed softly remembering how it had gone down "What you think I wouldn't?"
"You really can be a right jerk you know" his brother muttered and walked over to the phone to call their perpetually missing drummer.
"Yeah yeah like I haven't been called worse at work" Zero said smirking and picked up his guitar.
&.&.&
It was nine o'clock by the time the three of them arrived at the club.
"You're a sadist Zero I mean really threatening to ring old man Hanadagi...that's just cruel man" Kaito complained and poked him in the shoulder with his drum sticks.
"Shut up stop complaining or I'll do it anyway" Zero threatened as he went over his sheet music one last time, they'd be doing two songs as a warm up for another band but what could he complain from what Yagari had told him their money was legit.
"Ichiru come on back me up" Kaito continued.
"I think you should do what my dear brother told you and shut up while you're ahead" Ichiru shot back as he looked down his trumpet for blockages even though he'd only just cleaned it.
Suddenly a short auburn haired man stepped into the room they'd been told to wait in "You guys are on in ten minutes" he told them twiddling a clarinet in his hands.
"Hey Senri have you seen the band for tonight Aidou said they were placed back here" Zero heard a familiar male voice say though he couldn't remember where from.
"Yeah there here Ichijou" the younger man replied his electric blue eyes staring up boredly.
"How times do I have to tell you to call me Takuma?" the other said cheerfully.
'Takuma...' Zero thought 'That's the guy from yesterday with the little girl' he thought the gig was a little too sudden. He growled under his breath a little but a gig was a gig after all and better yet a paying gig.
"Come on guys" he ordered them picking up his guitar case and sheet music.
Walking out on stage wasn't a rush...he didn't care for audiences. After working evenings in a major department store screaming crowds just doesn't get you going. It was like any other club he'd played in...dancing girls, a bar in the back...the usual.
"Good evening" Takuma announced as Zero sat down at the piano "Tonight we have for you a new band, please welcome The Hunters"
Zero's hands flew across the keys as he and Kaito started a fast up beat tune.
"I dream a nightmare for you...You're a money hungry woman...A vampire that bled me dry...I dream what happened to me...Will happen to you...You left me here...Beat black and blue...I'll bleed ya dry...Cut you up and make you cry..." Zero sang with Ichiru joining them on his trumpet.
"You originally...Had my sympathy...I took your word...And you took my heart...But you aren't getting away with it" as he broke into the chorus and the beat picked up he noticed someone in the crowd, a tall man with one red eye "Now you've got yourself a new man...Diamonds and jewels hanging from everything...A fancy new diamond ring...But you're miserable" he blinked and he was gone "You call...Me up out of the blue...Telling me you want me back...I'm not gonna cut you any slack...Now you're not happy...I don't really care...You say everything's crappy...You're a gold digger...You're lies are getting thicker" he looked around his eyes wide unwanted memories coming forward but he kept on singing, he was a professional after all "You've got yourself a new man...Diamonds and jewels hanging from everything...A fancy new diamond ring...But you're miserable" as the first song ended he mentally sighed barely hearing the light rapping of applause.
He knew Ichiru was watching him and was slightly worried. He was a brat but he definitely cared about him.
Zero nodded to Kaito and immediately started their second song which was had slightly less sad lyrics mixed with a similar upbeat happy beat. "Jump, jump up and down...Burn to the sound...Whispers from a thousand miles away...Sound like shouts...In an empty room...You're voice is lost...Everything is too loud...When you're heart is found...I can't believe my ears...I can't understand a word you're saying...Sing a song...I know...So I can sing along...Always jumping around...From one scene to the next...I blink and I miss you...I tried to follow along...But you're singing...An unfamiliar song..." he sang before taking a break for Ichiru's solo.
"I can't believe my ears...I can't understand a word you're saying...Sing a song...I know...So I can sing along...I know you know...What I'm saying...You just want to have a song...Only you can sing...I tried to listen...But I had to grab onto something...So I wasn't pulled along...I don't the words...But I remember the tune...And it's like swords...To my heart" his voice faded to a whisper as he continued for a little while on his guitar before the song finished to a much better knew the best way to get gigs in clubs was to have fast upbeat melodies...it gave the dancing girls something to move to.
TBC