Chapter 3: First Dates

His first official date with the manager of Green Drugstore went better than he could have hoped for given their previous dining experience, though by the end of the night he was even more confused than ever about the man he was pursuing. He felt fortunate for the few hints he had managed to pick up.

Kakei never wanted to make anything easier than it had to be. He seemed to relish in making others take the long road – as though it were an elaborate game he was playing with the world.

Though the shorter man had finally asked about the reason for his move – it was a little disappointing that Kakei had accepted his standard reply of, "It was time for a change," without the slightest hint of curiosity – Saiga noticed he skipped the basic questions like, 'What do you do for a living?' and 'Where are you from?' Instead, he favored asking things like, "How did you get that scar on your knuckle?" and "Where did you get your watch?" The scar that was barely even visible unless you knew where to look. The watch that had been given to him by his mentor.

Just another oddity to add to the mounting list.

There were several others. Like how Kakei would occasionally close his eyes while he was thinking. When he would reopen them, there would be this certain smile on this lips. There was something about that. And although the man was always perfectly calm and certainly not malevolent, he got the feeling that the pharmacist could be trouble. As though he didn't have enough of that in his life as it was.

Lucky for him, Kakei's game didn't seem to have any rules against touching. In fact, the pharmacist seemed unusually compliant for such a recent acquaintance. There were no flinches or widened eyes when Saiga took each opportunity he could to touch the other man. He restrained from being too familiar – settling instead for smaller, more affectionate gestures. The hand on the back as they walked through the door to the restaurant. The casual way he let his fingers linger against Kakei's skin when the man had rolled up his left sleeve to share his own story of childhood injury. The warming of Kakei's hands after the complaint about the temperature.

He took particular pride in that last one. It even managed to come off as a bit romantic, or so he liked to think. And apparently so did a small curly haired girl whose face seemed to light up as she stared on in awe – at least, until her parents pulled her away.

He was confident he could have gotten a nice good night kiss out of the whole deal, but increasingly as the night wore on, even when he would touch the other man, when all the actions said that Saiga was in complete and total control, he began to feel that somehow, it was the other man who was holding all the cards. It was troubling, and so when the moment came, when he had a hand on Kakei's cheek, and the other man already had his eyes closed, he decided to play a little game of his own.

Instead of leaning down for the expected kiss, he kept a distance and observed his date's reactions as he moved his hand gently across the smooth, soft skin of Kakei's cheek. A simple, unhurried caress. Kakei, as compliant as expected, leaned into the gesture. After a moments pause, the motion was repeated on the other side to the same result.

With the preliminary test out of the way, Saiga brought his hands down to the lips he had been neglecting and studied the feel of them under his fingertips. The man was so pliable that Saiga wondered just how far Kakei would let him go before he pushed back. He was sorely tempted to find out.

For his part, Kakei gave better access to the inspection by tilting his head back and parting his lips ever so slightly. Saiga used the opportunity to push just beyond Kakei's lips and skimmed the tip of his thumb along the front edge of Kakei's top row of teeth while the bottom pad of his finger remained in contact with his subject's lower lip. That slight parting of the lips widened and there was a subtle squint to Kakei's eyes that made the man look suspiciously like he was letting out a silent moan.

Unable to keep his mind from straying to other scenarios where that expression might be employed, Saiga forced himself to retreat. Skipping the kiss would lose its meaning if he found himself unwilling to stop the natural progression of his actions.

Oddly enough, when Kakei reopened his eyes, he appeared to be pleased. He even let out a soft chuckle. "I was right about you, after all. You are a romantic."

After all? Had he done anything that would suggest otherwise? Harbored thoughts that probably fell into a less idealistic catagory? Yes. Been tempted to act on those thoughts? More than once. But actually done anything…?


Despite his guide's claim that the restaurant they were headed to was very popular and that there was often an extended wait time to be seated if you arrived late, he seemed to be in no hurry to get there. Chalk it up to an unconscious desire to spend more time with his oh-so-irresistible self maybe, but then again, with Kakei, he suspected there was more to it than that.

As luck had it, they arrived just as several small parties of dinners were leaving. With no wait, they were led to a table near the back, off to the side and out of the way of the majority of the restaurant patrons. It would have been perfect if not for the comings and goings of the staff. The restaurant's specialty was Vietnamese cuisine, though they also had a small selection of Chinese and Japanese dishes as well. As promised, the food was quite good – as was the service. But then, how could he complain about the waitress who had leaned down to whisper, "You're so lucky! Your date… The way he looks at you whenever your attention is somewhere else? It's subtle, but… I wish I had someone to look at me like that!" True or not – he never was able to catch the man in the act – that girl got a more than generous tip.

Kakei hadn't asked. He didn't appear to be the least bit interested in what a cute young girl would want to be telling him in secret. Still, he felt the need to say something. "She thinks we look perfect together."

"Is that right?" His tone made it apparent that he knew it was a lie.

When the waitress returned later to present the bill, Kakei gave her a sweet smile and said, "I do hope you won't be whispering more secrets to my companion. I might get jealous." And then he had laughed as if it were a joke.

It wasn't the kind of thing Saiga found funny. It wasn't that he wanted a jealous date, but a jealous date was better than a disinterested one, at least when it came to the man seated across from him

After dinner, they had gone on the promised tour of the area. The whole of Shimokitazawa was a warren of tiny shops and inviting cafes, affordable apartments and crowded bars, all jumbled next to each other and connected by a maze of narrow streets. The second hand clothes dealer had racks of shirts and jeans crowded in front of the store so closely you could barely even make out the entrance to the shop. The man selling character goods more than made up for his nearly nonexistent store front by plastering every square inch of window with signs too bright to miss. They passed more than one group of armature musicians. Some were surprisingly good, others would have been better off staying home.

Even if Kakei hadn't turned out to be so intriguing, he still would have been glad for the guide. It would have been easy to get lost wandering around on his own. And with so many people his own age in the area, it was going be easy to blend in. The place was perfect for him.

During a short stop at an eclectic little store, Kakei had helped him pick out some items for his new apartment. Or maybe 'helped' wasn't really the right word since not two minutes into their perusal of the shop, the smaller man had pointed to a great heap of items under a table and said, "Ah. Saiga-san. Look over here. There is something I think you would like." And he had – enough to buy them and pay the extra 1500 yen to have them delivered to his apartment the next day since he had no intention of hauling them about the area the remainder of the night.

He hadn't mentioned that he needed a new set of floor lamps. His old ones had been so junky, it hadn't been worth the effort to move them. He had tossed them out on big rubbish day two weeks ago along with several larger pieces of furniture. The other pieces had been replaced immediately – purchased ahead of time and delivered on moving day. Replacement of the lamps was put off when he came down sick.

After that, there was no way he would believe the man was the simple drugstore owner he claimed to be. If Kakei really was like him as he suspected, all that was left was to learn the nature of the man's gift. There was no rush, he could wait for that to come out on its own.

His rational side tried to tell him to keep the possibility open that Kakei could be dangerous for him. That this could all be an elaborate trap. He refused to think about it. He couldn't explain why, but he trusted the man. He could only hope that his trust wasn't just wishful thinking.

It helped that Kakei introduced the area as though there was no doubt that he would be living here for years to come. He pointed out which restaurants had the best food and which should be avoided at all cost, which bars had the best atmosphere and which were too popular to enjoy. Then adding that he would find these things out on his own, he warned about how one particular street had a tendency to flood every June and how the narrow roads sometimes made getting around difficult when it snowed.

After full dark, they stopped in a quiet little park to rest their feet. That was when Kakei had complained about the temperature. It was still warm enough during the daylight hours but after the sun went down, the fall chill crept into the air. It was on impulse that he reached out to grab one of Kakei's hands. Telling himself to trust his gut about the man, he worked the cold out of the long, slender fingers. One at a time, he gave each hand his undivided attention. As least, until Kakei let out a soft giggle. When he looked up to see what was funny, he followed the smaller man's gaze to a little girl, staring at them as if seeing something utterly amazing. Caught up in wondering if this girl too had caught Kakei watching him like the waitress had claimed, it took him a moment before he realized that it was odd that the girl's parents had brought her to play by herself at the park so late.

After the park, it was back to the Green Drugstore. The agreement had been for dinner and a tour. He wasn't going to force his luck, though he couldn't help but to push his case for future interaction. "So you live here too. Sounds to me like you work too much."

"Hmm…You think so? Maybe you're right."

He turned up the charm a notch. This was a perfect opportunity. "I'd be happy to help you find a reason to take more time off." And though the way he had said it wasn't quite innocent, surely that hadn't counted against him.

Kakei hadn't seemed to mind the implications at the time. He'd merely laughed and went on to explain his plans for possibly hiring some help in the future. "Maybe a couple of teenagers that are willing to work hard for their pay," he had said, sounding a bit mischievous. That was what had convinced him that he wasn't the only one Kakei liked to toy with. It was just in the man's nature.

There hadn't been anything else – just a few words that he couldn't remember because Kakei had moved a step closer and because maybe his heart was beating just a little bit faster than it usually did at the end of a date. So unless the man could read his mind – which, though not impossible, he highly doubted – there was nothing for Kakei's comment to have been based on.


As he came back to himself, Kakei had a question on his lips, but he didn't ask. He said, "Friday," and moved forward to close the space Saiga had created in his retreat, placed one of those warm slender hands on his chest, and tipped his head back to look directly at him. "There is an old theater around here. They never play the newest movies, but I haven't had a chance to see one in a long time." Saiga met his gaze as he continued. "On Friday, if I were to rearrange my schedule, would you be able to come?" It was the first time all night that he had the opportunity to really study Kakei's eyes – the first time Kakei had let him. There was a sadness there now that he didn't like, something vulnerable.

While assuring that, yes, he thought he would be able to find the time to go, Saiga realized that maybe for the first time in his life, he didn't like being the one in control.


Author's Note: Unfortunately, I think Chapter 4 is going to take even longer to get out than this one. My writing muscles are weak. These multi-chapter things kind of wear me out! For everyone who continues to read, despite the long breaks: Thank you very much! ^^