Disclaimer: I do not own anything! Nothing belongs to me
Chapter 3
Akira held Rei's hand as they both walked down the street licking their ice creams. Akira looked at Rei and a smile graced his features as he watched her innocently polish away her frozen treat.
"Where do you want to go next Rei-chan?" he asked and she looked thoughtful.
"Hmmm I don't care where we go Akira-san, so long as I get to go there with you" she replied and resumed her ice cream licking.
"Ok then, how about we go to the new amusement park?" he asked and she positively beamed at him.
"Ok" she replied and grabbing his hand, she skipped along beside him. Akira paused when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Usually when he got to spend the day with Rei, he always put his phone on silent. It was a habit that he'd picked up from when Rei was a baby. He'd put his phone on vibration mode so that he wouldn't wake her when she was sleeping. Now even though she wasn't a baby anymore, he couldn't shake the habit. He still thought of her as a baby. His baby.
"Moshi, moshi?" he answered as he flipped his phone open.
"Moshi, moshi Akira-san?" came the familiar voice.
"Hai Emu, what's up?" he asked the elder of his twin sisters.
"Well let me put you on speaker" Emu replied and Akira could hear her shouting for her sister in the background. "Memu! An-chan is on the phone!" she yelled.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Memu Mimasaka squealed and Akira heard her getting closer to the device.
"Ok we're both here now" Emu said.
"Well what's up?" Akira asked again trying to keep his patience. His sisters always did this to him. Although they were almost seventeen years old, they still behaved like they were five.
"Well…" Emu began.
"It would be nice" Memu continued.
"If you could"-That was Emu.
"Bring Rei-chan" That was Memu.
"Over to the house" That was Emu again.
"For a while" That was Memu again.
"So that we" Emu continued.
"Can play with her" Memu finished. Almost seventeen and they were still finishing each other's sentences. Akira had a brief vision of his two sisters ending up like Patti and Selma, Marge's twin spinster sisters from The Simpsons. He shuddered as he pushed the thought out of his mind.
Akira blinked twice; he had forgotten that his sisters were on the other line for a second. "Err…really?" he asked.
"Yes, yes" they replied in unison.
"The last time we saw Rei-chan" Emu said.
"Was during our visit to New York" Memu continued.
"And that was three years ago" Emu exclaimed.
"Ok, I'll bring her" Akira replied with a sigh.
"Thank you Akira-san!" they replied in unison. He could hear them bustling around excitedly and with another sigh, he shut his phone.
He felt selfish but today was meant to be a whole day where he could spend time with Rei alone and now he'd have to share her time with his sisters. He supposed he wasn't being fair. After all, his sisters had loved Rei like a little sister and they doted on the little girl. Despite the physical distance between New York and Japan, his sisters would pool their pocket money together and occasionally send Rei a gift of some sort. Granted that the Mimasaka twins received a small fortune each week for pocket money, at the end of the day it was the thought that counted.
Whenever Emu and Memu Mimasaka sent presents, you could bet your life savings that it would be pink, girly and pretty. In total, Rei had received four frilly, party dresses, two complete sets of Barbie dolls (including Barbie's car, house, family and Ken), a complete designer make up set (despite the fact that Rei had been four years old at the time), sixteen pairs of shoes, a toy castle large enough for a grown man to play in (and Akira had indeed played in the castle with Rei a couple of times) and a puppy (which had to be sent back because there was no way that Rei and Yuuki could have kept the puppy). All these gifts had been sent to Rei in the course of three years. Like Akira, Emu and Memu had been so taken with the little girl since they saw here three years ago, that they had brought it upon themselves to pamper her with the best.
"Rei-chan, instead of going to the amusement park would you like to go and see Emu and Memu? I don't know if you remember them but they're my sisters. They sent you the puppy. How about postponing the amusement park visit till next week? Then maybe we can also go ice skating, how about that?" he asked and she all but glowed.
"Yes! Akira-san yes! Yes!" she squealed as she did a little happy dance. Akira watched her, laughing out aloud as she wiggled her bottom to imaginary music.
"Alright then, come on you!" he called and she giggled as he took her hand.
Akira had barely opened the double doors to the Mimasaka mansion when both he and Rei almost got a shock of their lives. There, standing in the doorway was Emu and Memu Mimasaka; each had a giant balloon attached to the back of their matching dresses.
"Rei-chan!" the twins exclaimed as they caught sight of the little girl.
"Hello Emu-san, hello Memu-san" she replied with a little bow and they 'awwwed'.
"She's more adorable than I remember" Emu exclaimed.
"Oh isn't she precious" Memu exclaimed.
But the loudest exclamation of all came from behind the twins. "REI-CHAN!"
Akira groaned loudly and the twins yelped as they were shoved aside by the one woman who was possibly more childish than them.
"REI-CHAN!" Aimee Mimasaka exclaimed clapping her hands together in a child-like fashion and Akira was sure that if he'd let her, she would have jumped around in delight.
"Mother" he said glumly "please control yourself".
"But Akira-kun" she whined "you hardly ever bring anyone back home besides Tsukasa-kun, Soujiroh-kun and Hanazawa-kun! Can't I get excited over you bringing back Rei-chan?"
"Mother…" he began tiredly.
"It's the first time we're seeing her in three years, I think this calls for a celebration don't you think?" Mimasaka Aimee exclaimed in delight.
"Oh yes!" Emu and Memu responded in unison.
Akira slapped his face with his hand and let out a loud groan. "Mother…"
"It's ok Akira-san" Rei replied with a smile as she put her tiny hand on his arm. "I don't mind".
"Come on Rei-chan, let's go and have a tea party" Aimee Mimasaka exclaimed as began to lead the younger girl away.
"Are you sure?" Akira asked as Rei was being pulled away.
"I'll be fine Akira-san" she replied bravely. Akira had to commend her; it took a lot of courage for someone to be led into the unknown realms of the Mimasaka females. It was as though they were leading Rei into the lion's den. Akira's father had always said that his wife and daughters were like lionesses, pink, frilly, squealing lionesses.
"Oh Rei-chan we're going to have so much fun!" Aimee squealed and her daughters clapped enthusiastically behind her.
"Is it really wise to let them take her like that?" Akira asked himself.
"Yuuuuuuuuukiiiiiiiii" Michael Corte called in that effeminate, sing song voice of his.
"Yes Corte-san?" she asked and he let out a high pitched laughter that made her cringe.
"Oh Yuuki darling, don't need to be so formal. Even in the States I told you not to call me Mr. Corte. Just Michael would do darling, we are after all good friends" he said batting his eye lashes that would have looked better on a woman.
"Yes Michael?" Yuuki corrected.
"I need you to take my tonight's appointment. I need you to make sure that my eight o'clock client wears her dress right. She's the daughter of a very important person and I need you to handle it" he said.
Yuuki blinked at Michael, working that night would be a problem. She had Rei to look after. At such short notice, she couldn't possibly get a babysitter and Akira had a function to attend to that night.
"Err…Michael I can't work tonight, I've got to take care of Rei" she replied.
"Rei?" Michael remarked "why don't you ask that delicious looking young man of yours to watch her for the night?" he asked.
"You mean Akira-san?" Yuuki asked and Michael nodded vigorously.
"Yes, yes, that's the one. Oh I've never seen such a yummy ass on a man in my entire life and his body, oh it makes me turned on just thinking about it" he remarked dreamily.
"Err…oh-kay" Yuuki replied feeling incredibly grossed out. "Akira-san has a function to attend to tonight, so I couldn't ask him even if I wanted to" she replied.
"I see…hmmm" Michael replied and then looked thoughtful for a while.
"Michael?" Yuuki asked.
"Well I don't care" Michael said snapping his fingers as he straightened up. "Tonight's the first time in a long, long time that I've got a date and I'm not going to pass up my boy toy for anyone. So I suggest you start finding a babysitter for Rei".
"But Michael"-
"No buts Yuuki darling, I'm counting on you. Plus, if you do this little favor for me, I'll let you design a dress for my debuting fashion show coming up" he said looking at her slyly.
"Michael that's not fair" she protested. He knew that she had always wanted to showcase her talent at a fashion show but the timing was never right. He held up his hand to stop her.
"Ah darling, don't be like that. Life's not fair so I suggest that you start finding a babysitter pronto!" he said in that same sing song voice that Yuuki was beginning to hate.
"But who do I ask?" she asked as Michael walked towards the door, pretending no to have heard her.
"Tata darling!" he called as he shut the door behind him, leaving Yuuki alone in the room.
"I know, maybe Tsukushi can help" she said to herself and began dialing Tsukushi's number.
"Moshi, moshi, Tsukushi speaking" came the familiar voice of her best friend.
"Tsukushi?" Yuuki asked.
"Oh! Yuuki! Hello Yuuki, how's things?"
"Tsukushi I have a favor to ask of you" she began.
"Sure Yuuki, what is it?"
"I need a babysitter for Rei tonight, and I know its short notice but I would be ever so grateful!" Yuuki said praying to the heavens that Tsukushi would babysit Rei.
"Oh, tonight?" Tsukushi asked "well tonight Domyouji and I are supposed to be going for a function but our Tsukashi will be staying at home. We've got a babysitter for him. I don't want him to come with us for the function because he will probably be bored with all the stupid snooty people that will be there" she replied.
If Yuuki wasn't so desperate to find a babysitter, she would have laughed at Tsukushi. She was still the same after all these years and it never ceased to amaze Yuuki how Tsukushi still hadn't gotten used to being wealthy and being around wealthy people.
"Oh" Yuuki replied, well what other option did she have? She was just thinking about taking Rei to work with her when Tsukushi spoke up.
"I know Yuuki, how about you bring Rei over here and the babysitter can babysit them both together and tomorrow you can pick Rei up. She and my Kashi are the same age anyway" Tsukushi said.
"Are you sure Tsukashi-san and my Rei will get along together?" Yuuki asked nervously.
"Yes I'm sure, my Kashi isn't like his father; thank god for that" Tsukushi replied.
"Ok well Rei is with Akira-san at the moment, she's spending the day with him at his house. So maybe I will get her from Akira-san's house and then drop her off at your house is that ok?" she asked.
"Sure, that's fine. I'm actually quite excited to have Rei-chan play with Kashi" Tsukushi said truthfully. "It will give them an opportunity to get introduced to one another". Yuuki could practically hear the excitement in her friend's voice.
"Alright then Tsukushi, I'd better be going. Thank you so much" she replied and her friend made a clicking noise with her tongue.
"Yuuki, what are friends for eh? To help each other and to be there for one another when the need arises" she remarked.
"Arigato gozaimasu" Yuuki replied with a smile. Sometimes she couldn't believe that she'd been so blessed. Her friends were good people and she thanked god everyday for letting her meet them.
Akira was seated on the floor; his longish collar length hair was up in two ponytails, his face was powdered white, his cheeks were rouged pink, his lips were painted red and his manhood lay in tatters at his feet. Anyone could tell from Akira's disgruntled expression that he was not a happy man indeed. The reason why he had come to be in this position was because of the little girl sitting next to him, looking up at him sympathetically. He had wanted to make sure that Rei wouldn't be traumatized by his sisters and he'd jumped 'into the fire' without thinking of the consequences. He should have known that the three Mimasaka women of his family would try to pull something of this sort on him. The minute he'd entered Emu and Memu's room, they'd attacked with their womanly tools. They were the most immature people on the planet, possibly in the entire universe as well. How did he not foreshadow his mother and sisters ambushing him with make up?
"Akira-kun" his mother cooed as she looked at him, like a beast stalking its prey.
"What?" he asked with a disgruntled expression.
"I want you to"- she was cut off by a buzzing from his pocket.
"Hold on that's my phone" he said and ignoring his mother's dismayed expression, he answered his phone.
"Moshi, moshi? Oh Yuuki-chan" he said gratefully. "Ok, sure. I'll see you soon" he said as Aimee Mimasaka looked at him curiously.
"Alright!" he exclaimed loudly and made Aimee jump slightly. "Get this make up off me now!"
"Why?" Aimee whined "it looks nice on you Akira-kun".
"Mother, just please get it off me now, Yuuki-chan is going to be here in five minutes and I don't want her to see me like this".
"Oh I see" his mother said cheekily. "You want to look good in front of Yuuki-chan eh? Perhaps you like her?" she asked and her simply glared at her.
"Yuuki-chan and I are just friends and besides mother, any sane person wouldn't want to be seen looking like this" he said gesturing to his make up.
"I think you look good Akira-kun and if you and Yuuki-chan are just friends then you shouldn't have any problems appearing in front of her like that. After all aren't friends usually comfortable enough around each other to show their true selves, no matter how or what they look like?" Aimee Mimasaka put in wisely and Akira gawked at her. The woman had a point there. It was times like this that he realized that his mother wasn't all that insane as he's thought her to be.
"Rei-chan" Akira called "your mama is going to be here soon, we'd better get you cleaned up".
Rei got up from her place and Akira looked at her face feeling horrified. "EMU! MEMU! WHAT DID YOU DO TO REI-CHAN?" he bellowed.
"What's wrong Akira-kun?" Emu asked sweetly.
"I think she looks pretty" Memu replied in the same tone as her sister.
"We did her make up just like us" Emu replied proudly and Akira blinked dumbly at her.
"SHE LOOKS LIKE A CHILD GEISHA!" He exclaimed. Actually come to think of it, Rei's face was painted in the exact same way as his sisters. If he wasn't so used to seeing his sisters like that, he might have thought that they looked like Geishas too.
"No she doesn't, she looks like a doll" Emu cooed.
"A beautiful porcelain doll" Memu replied.
"Like that beautiful porcelain doll from that shop called Doll Maker" Emu replied dreamily.
"Yes" Memu replied with a faraway look in her eyes. "Just like that beautiful porcelain doll from that shop called Doll Maker that we want for our birthday".
"Ok, ok I get it! I get it!" Akira groaned "you want dolls for your birthday". His sisters squealed in delight.
"Come on Rei-chan" he said taking the little girl's hand. "Let's go wash your face before your mama gets here".
Akira had just finished getting off all the foundation from Rei's face when the doorbell rang, echoing throughout the mansion. "That must be my mama Akira-san" Rei said.
"Yes and thankfully, you're back to normal" Akira said as he hunched towards her dabbing her face with a towel.
"Hmmm" she agreed "but Akira-san, you aren't".
"Eh?" he asked looking at her in confusion.
She gently turned his head to the side, so that he was facing the mirror. Looking at him pointedly she giggled "that's what I mean, you look silly".
"EH??" he all but yelled and tried frantically to wipe off the stark white foundation from his face.
"Rei? Akira-san?" A soft voice asked as the bathroom door opened.
"Yuuki-chan?" Akira asked looking absolutely mortified.
"Hello Akira-san" she said staring at him.
"How did you"-
"I let Yuuki-chan in" Aimee Mimasaka said as she stepped into Akira's huge bathroom.
"I should have known" Akira mumbled to himself.
"Oh Akira-san, you have a little something on your face" Yuuki said and taking her handkerchief from inside her pocket, she ran it under the tap and began to wipe away the remnants of make up from his face. Then she gently removed the two hair ties from his head.
Aimee Mimasaka smiled from the doorway. "See Akira-kun" she said sweetly "I knew that Yuuki-chan wouldn't mind". Akira all but hissed at her.
"There" Yuuki said "done".
"Thank you Yuuki-chan" Akira replied.
"Ok Rei, say thank you to Akira-san. We have to get going. You're going to be staying with Domyouji Tsukashi tonight because mama has got work".
"Is he the boy with the curly hair that I met last year when Tsusaka-san and Tsukushi-san came to New York?" she asked.
"Yes" her mother answered.
"But mama, I HATE him" she stressed and Yuuki looked at her. She'd never heard Rei exclaimed her dislike for anyone before. She was usually so pleasant.
"Why?" Yuuki asked.
"Because he's loud and he has no manners!" she said earnestly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Beside them, Akira let out a short bark of laughter.
"Anyway you have no choice baby, no one else can babysit you" Yuuki replied.
"What about Akira-san?" Rei asked looking hopefully at him.
"Akira-san has a function to attend to tonight" Yuuki replied.
"I would gladly not go to the function and spend time with you but tonight is my good friend's engagement and I have to go" Akira replied.
"Oh" Rei replied.
"But next week we'll go ice skating and we'll go to that amusement park ok?" he asked and she grinned broadly at him.
"Ok" she exclaimed happily.
"Now say thank you to Akira-san" Yuuki said.
"Thank you Akira-san I had fun today" she replied and hugged him tightly around the middle.
"What about Emu-chan and Memu-chan and Aimee-san?" Yuuki prompted.
"Thank you Emu-san, thank you Memu-san" she said and ran over to the twins and hugged them both together.
"Awww" Emu and Memu cooed together.
"Thank you Aimee-san I had a wonderful time today" she said as she hugged the older woman.
"Don't mention it Rei-chan" Aimee said "come back whenever you want ok?" she asked and Rei smiled toothily.
"Thank you Akira-san" Yuuki said with a slight bow "sorry to have troubled you".
"No, it was my pleasure" he replied.
"Emu-chan, Memu-chan, happy birthday for next week, your birthday presents should arrive in a day or two. I hope you like it" Yuuki said with a small smile as she looked at the Mimasaka twins.
"Oh Yuuki-chan, don't be silly" Emu exclaimed.
"We like all your presents" Memu supplied.
"Especially the Michael Corte summer dresses, you sent us last year" Emu said.
"Definitely the Michael Corte summer dresses" her twin replied.
Yuuki bowed again and she walked over to the car she'd purchased a week ago holding Rei's hand.
Rei walked into the Domyouji playroom after her mother had dropped her off. She wasn't too happy about spending the night there. It was the first night that she'd be staying with a person other than her mother or Akira and of all people she had to be with, it had to be Tsukashi Domyouji. The babysitter was seated on the couch watching television on the large screen TV. Domyouji Tsukashi was playing with his cars and only looked up when she stood a few meters away from him.
"Who are you?" he asked in that haughty tone that she'd heard her godfather Tsukasa use.
"I'm Rei" she shot back.
"I don't know you" he hesitated for a fraction of a second before replying, raising his nose in the air.
"Yes you do, your mother and father are my god parents" she replied frowning slightly. "You came to my house in New York".
"No, I don't remember" he replied haughtily.
"You went on the monkey bars and you fell off and you made a big scene because you thought you'd broken your arm" she replied, her tolerance level was being sorely tested.
"No, I still don't remember" he replied dismissively and she gave up.
"Fine" she replied and walked over to a spot to play by herself.
Tsukashi watched her as she walked over to play by herself. The truth was that he did remember her but his ego and pride wouldn't warrant him to 'remember' someone like her. Hadn't his grandmother always said never to mix around with people 'lower' than him? Rei was lower than him right? He may have been a child but he knew that much. He wouldn't lower himself by associating with her. He was a Domyouji after all!
Nishikado Soujiroh stared at his reflection in the mirror. He looked dashing as always, if he might say so himself. He always felt debonair in a tux; there was something so alluring about the tuxedo that Soujiroh felt himself being transformed just by wearing it. It was as though he was James Bond. Actually he would have preferred wearing something a bit more traditional but Minako had insisted on them wearing western outfits and both her parents and his parents had agreed. Usually whenever he wore a tux, he would imagine himself as James Bond. At the school socials or grand events, he liked to pretend for that one night that while he was wearing a tux, he was not himself. But tonight was different, tonight he was just Nishikado Soujiroh; the man who was about to be engaged to Minako Watanabe.
He supposed that beyond the realm of his changing room, there were hundreds of people gathered to witness the merger between the two. Not the merger between Minako and himself but rather the merger of the Watanabes' with the Nishikados'. Minako's change room was just a few doors away from his. Although change room might be understating what the room actually was. Since he'd chosen to have the engagement in a hotel owned by Tsukasa Domyouji; the room was nothing short of a presidential suite. Needless to say that since Minako was his bride to be, her treatment mirrored his. Over the past week, he'd been coming to terms with the fact that he would be getting married soon. His initial displeasure had progressed into a numb emotionless feeling. His take on his upcoming betrothal was summed up in three words. So-be-it.
Soujiroh had never felt nervous in his entire life, never. Yet today for some reason, he felt his nerves leaving his body and vanishing into thin air. Although he wondered why he was feeling nervous, it was probably due to the fact that the inevitable was occurring. He'd always had things going his way since the day he was born and yet today at almost twenty nine years of age, the one thing that was supposed to go his way wasn't.
"Hello Soujiroh, need some moral support?" asked a voice and Soujiroh turned his head to look at the door where Akira's head was peeking out.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever" he replied although he was mighty grateful for Akira's presence at that moment. He was in desperate need of it but he would not admit it. He was wearing the tux after all and a man in a tux was supposed to be the epitome of masculinity. He couldn't disgrace the tux by admitting to Akira that he needed such a weak thing like moral support.
"How are you holding up?" Akira asked.
"Meh" he replied with yet another shrug of his shoulders.
"Are you really that nervous?" Akira asked with a laugh.
"No" Soujiroh replied defensively "I'm not nervous at all".
"Ummm hmmm" Akira replied as he sat down on the great armoire a few feet from Soujiroh.
"I'm NOT nervous" Soujiroh stressed but Akira wasn't buying any of it.
"It's almost time for you to go out" Akira replied as he walked to stand behind Soujiroh.
"Now?" Soujiroh asked and for that moment he reminded Akira of a lost little boy.
"You'll be fine Soujiroh" Akira comforted as he patted his friend's back. Then the two of them walked out into the hall where Soujiroh's fate was already decided.
"Yuuki-chan I think it needs to be a little tighter around the bust".
"Yes Minako-san" Yuuki replied with a bow.
"Yes that's better" Minako replied as Yuuki made the necessary changes.
"Would you like me to pin it in a little here at the waist? Just to emphasize your shape?" she asked and Minako smiled.
"That would be great Yuuki-chan" she replied.
"So I'll just get this done and you should be fine Minako-san" Yuuki replied.
"How come Michael couldn't make it today?" Minako asked.
"He had an important meeting today that he was unable to cancel" Yuuki replied and almost laughed out aloud, imagining what Michael must really be doing.
"Well I'm glad he sent you Yuuki-chan, you made me look more fabulous than before" Minako remarked as she twirled around in front of the mirror admiring herself in the crimson gown.
"No problem" Yuuki replied.
"Do you design and make your own dresses as well Yuuki-chan?" Minako asked as Yuuki took another look at Minako's dress.
"Yes I do, but I'm just starting out" Yuuki replied honestly.
"Well I'd like to see more of your work Yuuki-chan. Is that alright?" Minako asked.
"Sure Minako-san I'll be glad to show you my designs" she replied with a smile. "Here's my card" she said and handed Minako her card.
"I'd better make my way outside" Minako said "it's almost time".
Yuuki smiled and with a small bow she began to put the things back in her bag. "I'll be taking my leave as soon as I finish putting away my things" she said to Minako.
"No problem Yuuki-chan, thank you for all your help" she said pleasantly.
It had been a good ten minutes since Soujiroh had placed the huge rock of a diamond ring on Minako's finger and already he was beginning to feel the weight of his responsibilities on his back. He was now officially meant to be a one woman man. He turned behind him and saw that in a corner his friends were talking to his fiancée and he sighed. His eyes scanned the crowd and he looked at the people there. He didn't know most of them. They were all probably business associates of his father or Ken Watanabe. He made his way to the exit of the hall and shoved his hands into his pockets. He needed some fresh air; the atmosphere inside the hall had been suffocating.
He made his way outside when he saw caught sight of a woman walking in front of him. Normally he wouldn't have looked twice at her but he noticed that she was carrying a rather large bag and seemed to be struggling with it. Soujiroh watched as she accidentally bumped into a man who seemed to be in a rush, dropping her bag on the floor with a loud 'thump'.
"Gomenasai" she apologized and picked up her bag from the floor not noticing that she had dropped her cell phone in the process. The man she had bumped into picked up the phone and jogged after her. Soujiroh watched as the man called her to get her attention. By now she was just outside the hotel waiting for a cab.
"Miss" the man had called. "You dropped your phone".
"Thank you" she replied as the man handed her the phone. Soujiroh stopped in his tracks as she turned her head to thank the man. No, it couldn't be. He hadn't seen her in seven years and there she was standing right in front of him. But she was supposed to be in America somewhere right? Then what was she doing here? No, he was delusional, there was no way that Yuuki could be standing merely a few feet away from him, not when he'd been searching for her for seven years. Seven years!
"Yuuki-chan" he whispered to himself as if the very mention of her name would shatter the image before him. He began walking in her direction.
He quickened his pace when he saw a cab pull up in front of her. He began to run faster when he saw her open the door of the cab but by then it was too late. By the time he'd burst through the automatic doors of the hotel, her cab had already disappeared into the night.
He suddenly had an urge to go after her, and was contemplating getting into the next cab to follow her when a voice broke through his thoughts.
"Soujiroh-kun?"
Soujiroh turned around and stared into the face of the man who'd bumped into Yuuki earlier.
"Err…" Soujiroh said.
"I'm Minako's elder brother, Minami?" the man prompted and realization clicked in his head.
"Ah Minami-kun, sorry I didn't recognize you earlier I was preoccupied" Soujiroh apologized.
"It's no problem" Minami replied "sorry I'm late, I just finished a meeting with the board of directors of one of our hotels".
"Oh it's ok" Soujiroh replied, his mind was still processing the fact that Yuuki had been right in front of him and yet he'd missed her.
"By the way Soujiroh-kun what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be upstairs?" Minami asked and Soujiroh looked at him quite blankly.
"Upstairs?" he asked
"Yes, with everyone else? In the reception hall?"
"Oh yes, I just needed some fresh air and I wanted to stretch my legs" he offered feebly.
"I see, shall we make our way upstairs now? People might be looking for you" Minami said and without waiting for a reply, he began steering Soujiroh in the direction of the hall.
"I'm telling you, I saw her" Soujiroh insisted to Rui.
"Saw who?" Akira interjected, having just approached the pair.
"I saw Yuuki-chan" Soujiroh said exasperatedly.
Akira paused and he stared at Soujiroh very hard. If Soujiroh hadn't been so focused on trying to convince them that he had seen Yuuki, he might have noticed that Akira had turned pale.
"You're probably mistaken" Akira replied.
"I didn't make a mistake, I really saw her" Soujiroh insisted.
"Maybe you thought you saw her but you didn't?" Rui offered casually.
"What is wrong with the two of you??" Soujiroh exclaimed "I'm telling you that I really did see her".
"Saw who?" Tsukasa asked as he too joined in the conversation, with Tsukushi by his side.
"I'm trying to tell them that I saw Yuuki-chan" Soujiroh told him "and Akira and Rui don't believe me".
"That's impossible" Tsukasa burst out suddenly "Soujiroh you must definitely be mistaken".
"Domyouji, that's the smartest thing you've said all night" Tsukushi remarked from beside her husband.
"Hah! My little weed has finally acknowledged that I am smart" Tsukasa exclaimed proudly.
"I believe she was actually meaning it literally" Rui remarked. "It would be impossible for Yuuki-chan to be here Soujiroh, the last we heard she was overseas".
"Yes Hanazawa Rui is right, there's no way that Yuuki would be here of all places" Tsukushi replied with a laugh as she ignored her husbands rambling. "She's in New York. You must have mistaken someone else for her". Soujiroh wasn't aware of the secret, nervous looks exchanged between his friends.
Soujiroh sighed "maybe you're right" he replied. After all he had mistaken other women for Yuuki a good few times. Perhaps it was because he was desperate, desperate to see her. He hadn't seen or heard from her in a long time. Maybe his mind was doing things to him or maybe it was feeding off his immense need to see her. All he wanted was to see her once, just once. He wanted to know that she was doing ok, that she was fine. He did care about her as a friend after all and he was a friend that was concerned about her. He knew that Taukushi received the occasional e-mail from her but she never disclosed how Yuuki was doing or what she was doing apart from the fact that she was in New York; despite the number of times that he'd pestered her. He seriously hoped he wasn't mistaken though; he'd like to think that he had really seen Yuuki. In all honesty, he hadn't actually seen her face up close but it was his gut feeling that alerted him that she was Yuuki. Ok, so maybe he might have made a mistake, it was easy to make that kind of mistake right? From a distance away anyone could have looked like her. If only he'd run faster, if only he hadn't hesitated, if only he knew what he'd done to make her leave in the first place.
"Soujiroh?" A voice asked from beside him and he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Is everything alright?"
"Akira?" he asked his throat suddenly dry.
"Hmmm?" Akira asked.
"We're friends right?"
"Sure we are" Akira replied "what are you going on about?"
"Sorry, it's just that I- you don't have any secrets from me right?" he asked.
"Soujiroh? What are you"-?
"You tell me everything right?" Soujiroh asked.
"Sure" Akira replied.
Of course Soujiroh knew that that was impossible. No one told anyone everything. He knew Akira had his own little secrets just as Soujiroh had his own. Those were the kind of secrets that you had to keep to yourself. It was only natural. Akira wouldn't lie to him, they were buddies after all. Feeling a little more comforted he smiled at Akira.
"Thank you Akira" he said suddenly.
"What for?" Akira asked looking taken aback at how vulnerable Soujiroh had sounded.
He shrugged his shoulders "I just wanted to say thank you. You're a good friend Akira and I'm thankful that you're around" he replied and putting his hands in his pockets he walked towards the bar situated in the back of the hall.
Akira watched as Soujiroh walked away feeling the dread slowly settling in his stomach. He felt ashamed; Soujiroh was vulnerable at this point, in fact this was the pinnacle of his insecurity and Akira could tell. Anyone who was close to Soujiroh could see that this upcoming marriage was slowly eating at him. In the beginning during his first engagement, Akira had marveled at how gung-ho Soujiroh had been. It was only after everything had fallen through that Akira realized that Soujiroh had actually been devastated about the whole thing. He hadn't loved Yuri Toyogo, heiress to the Toyogo fortune; it was just that his ego and self esteem had taken a mighty blow. Soujiroh had always thought himself invincible; he was the mighty Nishikado Soujiroh after all. He had never been dumped before; it was usually he who had done the dumping. Besides, all the preparations had already been done for the wedding and at the very last minute Yuri had left him. He never thought for a second that a woman might leave him. He'd always assumed that women loved him for the simple fact that he was who he was. After a great inner debate he'd mustered up the courage to test the marriage waters for the first time only to end up drowning. Yuri abandoning him at the altar, so to speak, had left him with a feeling that he'd never experienced before. He had felt inadequate and insecure. She had chosen love over him. Soujiroh was left wondering if he would ever feel strongly about a person, the same way that Yuri had felt for that man that she'd left him for. His love for Sara had been such a long time ago that he had forgotten that feeling. Love was as alien to him as he was to it. A part of him wanted to know what it felt like to love someone and be loved in return; to feel that utterly blissful feeling that came along with love. Yet at the same time he was scared of it.
Akira had been there to witness it all. In fact it was Akira who had picked up the pieces of Soujiroh's shattered self and swept them under the rug. He was there when Soujiroh had been on a rampage. Drinking heavily each night and waking up the next morning with no memory of the previous night's events. Every night was the same story, he would witness Soujiroh drown his sorrows with expensive alcohol unable to stop the ravenous creature within his friend.
There was one particular night almost seven years ago, that Akira had remembered when Soujiroh had gone overboard with his drinking. He had been on his second bottle of whiskey when Soujiroh met Seiko Yakama and under the influence of alcohol, he'd been thoroughly infatuated with her. Akira had been surprised when he'd first seen Seiko. She was not a national beauty by his standards nor did she seem Soujiroh's type but rather she looked uncannily like Yuuki. She had been a nurse at Tomo Private Hospital and for one night, she had Soujiroh completely under her spell. Of course the next morning when he'd woken up with no memory of the previous night's events, Soujiroh had sworn that he'd never repeat his actions. But that promise was as hollow as Soujiroh felt. All this had happened just a couple of months after Yuuki had left for the states and Akira thought that her departure had somehow caused a domino effect in Soujiroh.
Speaking of Yuuki, Akira had felt like he'd betrayed Soujiroh for keeping her whereabouts and his relationship with her a secret. But a promise was a promise and he had given his word to Yuuki that he wouldn't mention anything to Soujiroh. The conversation that had taken place minutes ago at the wedding hall between him and Soujiroh, had just added fuel to the fire that was Akira's guilt. Yuuki and Rei were his dirty little secret and he wondered what would happen if Soujiroh found out that Akira had known about them and where they'd been the whole time. Would Soujiroh still thank him then?
A/N: Hello my darlings! I managed to finish up chapter three…many of you are wondering why this chapter is so long winded…well it's because I had to lay some of the foundations for this story…take care everyone and please review! I don't mind if you don't like it or if you find it boring but I'd just like to know what you think…I'm more than happy to welcome your constructive criticism…
