Chaper 4: there is no running away
Sojirou Nishikado watched in a trance as the golden yellow liquid flowed and filled the glass in front of him. The well-groomed dark haired boy downed the shot in one gulp, feeling the familiar burn slide down his throat and sighed. He looked aimlessly around the bar, taking in views of women clad in skirts that were barely able to preserve their modesty. This wasn't one of the high-end bars that he frequented usually as he wasn't in the mood of humoring the high and mighty Domyouji today. After the initial 20 minutes of unrelenting ringing of his cell phone, Sojirou had switched his phone off altogether and decided against meeting up with F2. Domyouji must be in a angrier mood than usual today, he snickered at the thought though because to most people it would be hard to imagine the boy with the permanent scowl engraved on his face being angrier than he is usually, and practically impossible to imagine him having any days of good mood. And on days like this he knew fully well how stubborn Domyouji could be. Sojirou drummed his fingers on the counter, signaling for a refill, he could be storming into all their usual pubs right the moment, cursing generations of the Nishikado family.
Nishikado was distracted from his thoughts by a brush against his thigh and out of the corner of his eye he saw a dark haired woman slide into the seat next to him. She was teetering slightly on the bar stool, as she crossed her lengthy legs to stabilize herself her black one-piece also hiked up higher, revealing more smooth ivory skin. Nishikado frowned inwardly, although he is a renowned as and admits openly himself, a playboy; he was never desperate enough to hit on women who were already drunk, the chase was part of the game that he found amusement in. He let no disapproval show on the outside though, steadying the neighboring woman with a gentlemanly hand on the small of her back. He took the chance to glance at the woman next to him, he guessed she was in her early twenties although she was clad in a layer of heavy makeup that made her look 5 years older, she was pretty in the generic way that heavy make-up made all women look but she did have long silky raven hair that spilled down to her waist. The woman looked up at him murmuring her gratitude; a manicured hand came to rest on Nishikado's suit. The dark-haired playboy had seen his share of drunk women in his lifetime, this gave him the ability to keenly perceive the way her eyes quickly swept over his watch and shoes, and the way her hand stroked the fabric of his suit inconspicuously. This woman was definitely not drunk. Two can play this game, he suppressed a smirk as he noted the raven haired woman's faux snakeskin stilettos and purse;he had bought enough presents for his' girlfriends 'to know that those weren't your run-of-the-mill brands.
"Let's have a drink together, sweetie." He purred in her ear. "Shall we get you tequila?" he raised his voice to catch the bartender's attention. "I can never resist beautiful ladies who can handle their tequilas." He flashed a devilish smile while handing her the shot glass. As expected, her cheeks blushed red visible even through her layers of makeup and downed the shot in one gulp.
He raised an eyebrow seductively, breathing "I can see we're gonna have a lot of fun today" into her ear, he signaled for a refill and did not let up on her until her cheeks were truly flushed pink and there was a haziness in her eyes as she leaned against him shyly. Sojirou turned away from her alcohol tinged breath and pushed the woman firmly away. "I'm going to call this a night." He stated flatly, cutting the seductive act briskly.
Confusion flashed across the woman's face before she fell back onto Nishikado again, this time with hands propped on his chest. "Shall we go somewhere private then?" She muttered with a coy smile on her lips.
"No, sorry, women who fake drunkenness are just not my type." He said apologetically, pushing her firmly away for the last time, he quickly stood up, brushed the crinkles away in his suit and strolled away out of the pub.
He heard the sound of stilettos tapping the pavement before a tug on his suit, "How dare you just leave me there?" Sojirou turned around, there was nothing drunk about this woman now, she glared at him furious, "I've never being this humiliated in my life!" Whoa, she's strong. Nishikado tried to keep walking and pry open her grip, but it was like her hands were wielded onto him.
Suddenly, through the crowd on this busy night-club street, he spotted a familiar head of red-hair and another head of curly brown hair and gulped, he really didn't want to be skinned alive today. He quickly put an arm around octopus woman, she yelped in surprise as he hurried them down a side-alley. How did he get such bad luck today? Well, at least octopus woman finally released her hold. He hastened his pace to reach the other end of the alley and waved down a cab. Before octopus woman can protest, he shoved her in with a "home time now" and closed the door. She rolled down the window and commanded, "Apologize." Sojirou sighed in frustration and turned back to survey the alleyway, to his relief there was no sign of F2. He gazed deeply into octopus woman's eyes, letting his eyes trail down to her lips, she could feel her stiffen in anticipation and licked her lips. "Where do you live?" He whispered huskily. She blurted out an address situated in the affluent part of town automatically. So he was right about her, he smiled. He ignored octopus woman's attempt to lean in and turned to speak to the driver instead. Repeating the address he added "she gets violent when she's drunk, please lock the doors and get her home safely driver." With a final salute, he chuckled at the sight of octopus woman's dumbfounded then angry face finally disappearing off into the night.
As Nishikado waited for another cab to come, he took notice of the small alleyway that he had just walked through. It was bustling with shops and people, most of the shops had neon lights dancing around boards full of photos; he stepped closer to one that was obviously a male escort pub and skimmed through the photos, subconsciously comparing them to himself.
The world seemed to stop, all the bustling of the street faded as his eyes caught the photo of a boy with breathtaking features and a familiar grim stoic expression on his face. Underneath the photo was the number 707. It can't be â before he had time to finish the thought he was dashing into the shop, running down the creaky staircase that lead to a small dimly lit lounge pub. A young man in a pink shirt greeted him with a surprised expression; he was obviously not the kind of clientele this pub was used to receiving. Nishikado interrupted him before he could finish introducing himself, "707?"
"Oh you're here for Rui-kun. Our Rui-kun is unfortunately busy at the moment, could I be â"
"707" Sojirou repeated again, this time darkly, pulling out a few pieces of big notes from his wallet. There's no question cash got the message through much quicker, especially in a place like this.
The pink-shirt man pointed over at a table at the end of the room, although all the tables have some drapes in between to give the occupants some privacy, the drapes for the end table was pulled open so he could see a solemn young man downing a huge jug of alcohol while the group around him hooted. Sojirou was frozen in shock, there was no mistaking it, even in the dim lighting from this distance, there was no mistaking his childhood friend. What was he doing here? He thought furiously. And Rui drinking like this? He remembered even back when Rui was still in Eitoku, F4 had already begun hanging out in the bars. Rui had always just sat in a corner and watched while F3 drank, stopping them when they got overboard. The group in the end table was chanting 'again, again, again' and Rui was reaching for another jug. He had never seen Rui like this.
He started towards the end-table, but was stopped by pink-shirt. "Sir, you can't going there, he's with paying customers." The message was clear. Sojirou resisted the urge to sink his knuckles into pink-shirt's nose and dying that shirt red instead. It was no good making a scene; he needed to talk to Rui. "I want a table and 707 now." He gritted through his teeth tersely, handing over his credit card.
As pink-shirt led him to an empty table and as he walked away, Sojirou caught him mumbling under his breath distastefully "Geeze, 707's so popular among those weirdos and homos." Sojirou clutched his hands into fists and willed himself not to jump- kick pink-shirt's retreating back.
He could see pink-shirt interrupting the end-table and whispering in Rui's ear beckoning in his direction. He winced with the middle-aged woman sitting beside Rui planted a big kiss on Rui's cheek before letting him go, if it wasn't for the situation Sojirou would have almost chuckled, he could remember clearly how Rui used to shrink away from all the attention he got in the pubs and look pleadingly at him and Akira for help. Rui started walking down towards his table, Sojirou could see him stiffen and their gaze met. His stride slowed but he continued towards Sojirou, sliding into the seat next to him gracefully.
They sat in silence, neither of the two childhood friends spoke up. Sojirou studied Rui intently, he could recognize his friend straight away in a crowded club but studying him closely he realized how much Rui had changed. Rui had always been beautiful, god knows how hard Akira and him tried to recruit Rui into their prowls, but now he was painfully thin, the hollows of his cheeks highlighted his elegant cheekbones more. "Why Rui?" It was Sojirou who spoke up first in the end.
The stoic boy continued to gaze ahead showing no indication of having heard the question. Anger and frustration welled up suddenly in Sojirou and the volume of his voice increased accordingly, "How could you do this to us? Do you have any idea how much grief you caused? That Tsukasa went absolutely bananas! You could have had some etiquette, as a friend, no, even as a decent human being to give us a shout before you up and disappear for two years! For all we know, you could have died!" His tone softened then, remembering what had happened 2 years ago. "Rui, how have you been?"
Rui had closed his eyes and listened silently throughout Sojirou's rant, he slowly turned to face his angry friend. Sojirou could see the overwhelming tiredness in his eyes; whatever he had been up to in those two years had wiped all signs of the shy quiet boy he had once been. "Thank you for your concern, I've been well." Rui's voice was cold and his words politely distancing the other boy.
"I want the truth," Sojirou pressed on, meeting Rui's eyes squarely. "As an old friend."
"I've been fine, Sojirou." Only a slight tremble to Rui's voice betrayed his brave front.
Sojirou sighed and tried a different question, "Where are you living now?" Sensing Rui's reluctance to answer he added, "Please Rui."
Rui looked away and when he turned back he had only determination in his eyes. "The Hanazawa Rui you knew died two years ago."
Sojirou's eyes widened in hurt, "Are you abandoning us again Rui?" he whispered.
"Sojirou, please." This time it was Rui's turn to plead.
"Your phone number at least then." This was his minimum, if Rui wanted he could change his number straight away. He could tell from Rui's slump that he had conceded.
Before handing over the napkin with the numbers, he remembered something and started to say "Don'tâ"
"I won't." Sojirou promised, he understood Rui wasn't ready to face the other F2 yet. "And don't work here anymore."
"I'm good at it." Rui said with a smirk that Sojirou had never seen before. This was a stranger speaking now, "Shall we open a bottle of wine?"
Thank you for reading:) Please give me advice/comments/criticism on how I can improve the story and my writing.
