Chapter Two
A large crash resounded as a piece of the drum set fell to the ground of the platform.
Jude Everest reached out and set it back in place, his hands shaking only slightly. This wasn't his first show, not by a long shot, but lately every show was beginning to terrorize his nerves. The reason for this terror had yet to appear.
"Have you seen my lucky rabbit's foot?"
Jude looked up to see band mate Nolan Starre scratching around on the floor by the front right piece of the platform.
"No," he replied, "You may have to do without, we're on in two."
Nolan uttered some sort of curse under his breath and jumped up to check on his guitar.
"No rabbit's foot, no manager, and where the hell is-" Nolan began.
"Who cares?" broke in a dark voice.
Nolan and Jude's heads swiveled as one, their expressions mixtures of annoyance and frustration. The speaker slid a pair of dark glasses off his nose to pin them down with an icy blue stare.
"We don't need the little twerp anyway."
"Hey, look, hot shot," Nolan began, frowning disapprovingly, "We were a band a long time before you jumped on board-"
"Guys, please," Jude rasped, "We have less than two minutes-"
"Hello, gentlemen," came a steady call from the backstage door.
Jude let out an almost embarrassing sigh of relief.
Kip folded his glasses and put them in his pocket as he walked slowly toward band.
"Jude, your jacket's undone," he observed, calmly, "Nolan, have you checked your back pocket for the foot? And M -"
The dark haired man in the glasses turned to face Kip in an attitude that was almost but not quite a respectful one.
"Don't forget the lyrics."
Kip smiled as M's expression slipped into shock and disappointment for a very brief moment before he covered it back up with a relative aloofness.
"Right, whatever," the younger man muttered, and went back to strumming the strings lightly.
"And, of course, the million dollar question -" Kip began.
"We don't know." they all chorused.
Kip sighed.
"Hello, gents!" a cheery voice called as a yellow and blue blur leaped to the center of the stage.
A blond man in blue-jeans and a long blue coat twirled center stage to face his band-mates with a lovely smile.
"Sorry I'm late." he said.
"Late?" Nolan asked, quietly – his deep voice had a dangerous edge to it.
"Aw, come on – you didn't think I'd ditch you did you?"
The blond man laughed and stretched out his arms.
"The thought did cross our minds, yeah," Jude added.
The other man's face fell.
"Really? You really thought I'd leave you? That hurts me, Judy, it really does."
"Please, don't call me that," Jude growled.
"Well, forgive and forget, right shades?"
The blond man turned to the man named 'M' and smiled an electrically beatific smile. It hit M square in the face and slid right off his impenetrable features to the floor.
"Geez, you guys are pissed."
"Zoe," Kip said, coming to stand on stage with the other man. He held up a quick hand to tell the stage-manager that they would be requiring five more minutes.
"Kipper!" Zoe yelled, going to hug the other man before drawing back from him in a brief moment of good judgment.
Kip folded his arms across his chest and towered over the youngest band-member.
"If you don't mind, tell me – why are you three hours and seven minutes late?"
Zoe blinked, and for the first time a hint of fear crept into his wide green eyes. He decided to make a joke out of it.
"Well – my alarm – er – there was this fabulous girl – uh – and then traffic -"
"Uh-huh."
Zoe let out a chuckle.
"But what does it matter? I'm here now, right?"
"Yes, you are," Kip answered, an odd light in his eyes.
"M," he called, without taking his eyes from Zoe's.
"Yeah?"
"You still ready to do the set?"
The others exchanged quick glances behind Kip's broad back.
"Uh...yeah. I mean, yes." M stood a little straighter.
"Excellent, that's the call," Kip reached out and took Zoe firmly by the shoulders.
"Let's leave the stage to the professionals," he suggested.
"Hey – wait a damn minute," Zoe protested, his angelic expression beginning to waver. He tugged himself out of Kip's hold as the gears for the rising platform stage began to groan to life.
"I'm the lead singer," he said, his eyes becoming hard, "And I'm here to sing."
"Not tonight you're not," Kip replied, his eyes and voice calm. Instantly the others grew very still.
"What the f-"
The noise from the crowd suddenly grew and began to drown out all other sounds. Jude picked up his drumsticks and sat down behind the drum set while the others got into place. The tall, dark haired M assumed Zoe's place at the front mic.
"You can't do this!" Zoe spat – his eyes blazing now.
"Oh, I think that I can."
Kip merely continued to gaze at him, his cool gray-green eyes firm as steel.
"You mother f-"
"Calm down, you'll ruin your voice."
Zoe was furious at this point. Almost like magic, his face transformed and the affected carelessness left his posture. All semblance of angelic qualities completely vacated his features – they were now twisted into a nasty glare. His slender hands were contracting in anger, and the vessels stuck out on his arms and at his temples.
"You have no right to do this to me," he said between his teeth.
Kip raised an eyebrow in gentle irony.
"I'm your manager," he reminded the younger man, quietly, "And until you remember to act like the professional I hired, I can't allow you to perform."
"Bull shi-"
"That's our cue," Kip continued, turning his back on the other man as the platform locked into place above them, cutting off all sound from the stage and arena. The beginning notes of the band's first song started up.
A sudden quiet decended.
"You're so self-righteous! Where do you get off punishing me!?" Zoe shouted across the room.
Kip turned slowly.
"I'm not punishing you," he answered, "I'm merely acting as your manager."
There was a moment of tense silence between the two. Two pairs of nearly matching green eyes engaged in a staring contest of wills. Then suddenly Zoe's face contorted into an impossibly angelic smile. He closed the distance between them with a few quick strides. His anger had seemingly vanished.
"Yeah," he said, quietly, "You're just my manager, right? So say what you want to me here – do what's best for the band. Like you always do."
"But when the show's over -" he added, bringing his face close to Kip's, his eyes glaring hatefully, even while he continued to smile:
"When the show's over, you can leave me the hell alone. You're my manager, or you're nothing to me – you got that?"
Kip simply stared at him for a long moment, then finally he nodded.
"Yeah, I got it."
"Good," Zoe spat, and shoved his way past the other man to stalk out the door.
Kip stared at the door as it swung shut.
"Uh, excuse me, sir," one of the stage hands said – he was new and obviously didn't know who Kip was, other than that he was an extremely important person.
"Uh, is – if you don't need me – uh, I'll just take Mr. Greene's equipment back to the locker - if he's not going to need it tonight."
"That's fine, he won't need it tonight," Kip answered; he suddenly felt very tired and very old.
"I can't believe I gave up the police force for this..." he muttered, and slowly walked to the arena entrance to watch the show.
A tall woman with an air of elegance and sophistication that marked her almost as a different species from those normal people around her stood quietly in the booth of the recording studio.
Through the glass she watched as the ever vivacious Mina Aino, her hair pulled back in a long, golden pony tail, stepped up to the mic and hummed a bit to clear her throat.
Beside her, Mako, her long hair down for once, tightened a string on her guitar. She took a moment to blow a stray whisp of ruddy brown hair out of her face and behind the glass one of the male techs sighed.
The mysterious woman smiled to herself. All the members of Ai No Soldier were very talented, but it didn't hurt that they were attractive as well.
And if the techs and recording studio workers were anything to judge by, America was going to love the band.
From the other side of the glass, Rei wiped a speck of dust that only she could see off of the neck of her bass guitar and flexed her elegant fingers. She turned to look at the two people behind her, a bit impatiently.
Since the first song was one of the few that required neither violin nor piano, Ami was sitting at her closed instrument while flipping quietly through a science magazine – her glasses kept slipping down her nose.
To her left, Usa was busy tearing off huge strips of duck tape and applying them liberally to her drum set and the recording studio's floor.
"Uh, excuse me Miss Meioh," one of the techs asked, "But, why is Miss Tsukino taping her drum set to the floor?"
"Don't ask," Setsuna replied, smiling. It was her trade mark smile – the one she had developed early in her career. It tended to both provoke curiosity and to shut people up – both of these reactions amused Setsuna greatly.
Usa sat down at her drum set and flipped the sticks between her fingers – beating out a quick, exuberant solo. As she hit the last drum her elbow hit one of the cymbals and it tottered bumping into the chair beside it. Usa reached over the rest of the set to catch it – and if the other pieces hadn't been securely taped to the floor she would have decimated her drum set.
As it was she simply pulled out the tape and took care of the cymbal.
"Oh, that's why," the tech muttered.
Setsuna chuckled.
Mina gave them a count and Usa picked it up, beating out the count quickly before literally launching herself into the song. Mako picked up with her quickly, she and Rei playing in counter point while Mina picked up the melody.
Mina took a breath and began to sing.
Not for the first time, Setsuna listened with pleasure to Mina's voice – noting that, while it wasn't a unique sound, it was a very enjoyable one. Mina put her heart into her singing – her songs felt more than they sounded – so to speak. It was the major part of her appeal.
They were borrowing the recording studio for the day – they weren't actually recording anything new - they'd already done all the work on their recent album. But Mina wanted to try out the new things she'd come up with on the voyage to California, and so Sets had booked the studio for her to practice.
As the song wrapped up with a loud finish, Setsuna gave them a thumbs up sign.
Mina smiled and nodded and the others put their instruments down. Setsuna motioned to the crew and then stepped into the studio. She walked over to Mina, and waited as the younger woman took a long swig of water.
"That was pretty good," Sets admitted, "It's got a lot of raw power behind it."
"Thanks," Mina smiled.
"But..." she added, playfully – noting the expression on her manager's face.
"But," Setsuna said, smiling, "I don't think we can use it for the next show."
"Why not?"
Setsuna had worked with many singers and bands in her time, and it was moments like these that she thanked her stars that Mina Aino, the world's most easy-going and amiable star, had decided on her as a manager. Instead of blowing up or even sounding disappointed at Setsuna's decision, Mina merely seemed curious.
"Well, it's mainly the lyrics. I like it because it's a very different direction for you," Sets commented, "But I think, because of the change in mood, and because it's different, that we shouldn't mix it with the set. They won't mesh well."
"Oh, I see."
"Just out of curiosity," Sets continued, eying Mina's distracted expression thoughtfully, "Where did you come up with the idea for this song? It's an unusual topic for you – or I suppose I should say, it's an unusual treatment of your usual topic – lost love."
Mina blinked, her eyes looking wary for a moment before her normal, happy smile returned.
"Oh, I don't know. All our love songs are so happy, you know, I guess...I thought I'd try something different?"
"Really?" Setsuna was completely unconvinced.
"Yeah," Mina shrugged.
"I like it," Mako commented, coming to stand beside them.
"I mean, I know it's sad," she went on, a little bashfully, "But I think it's kinda angry too – you know – like she really can't decide if she wants to kill the bastard or kiss him."
"Well, that's one way to put it," Rei commented, wryly – but not without humor.
"I think everyone's felt that way before," Mako finished, her voice becoming gruffer as she became more embarrassed by her own admission.
"Certainly," Setsuna said, trying to hide her smile. Her eyes twinkled for a moment as she looked at both Mina and Mako.
"Certainly everyone has..." she repeated, thoughtfully.
"Well, carry on, you had at least two more you wanted to try, right?"
"Yep!" Mina chirped.
"Alright then, impress me," Setsuna said with a smile.
"If the next are any good we may use them at the benefit concert next week."
"Isn't that when we're playing with Four Kings?" Ami asked, putting her magazine on the piano bench while she opened the instrument.
"That's right, so practice hard. You don't want to leave a bad impression."
Setsuna chuckled to herself as she walked back to the glass door and went to her seat.
As they started up again, she kept her eyes on Mina's face. Slowly, her signature smile crept across her lips.
Author Note: Thank you for reading so far. Yes, Zoisite is an ass - but his attitude will be explained, as well as the full extent of his relationship with Kunzite. I promise. Again, thanks for reading and reviewing, and trusting me this far. - F.F.