AN: This is the beginning of the end my friends. There's no use in trying to hide it from you. This is what it's all been coming down to. I hope it's not disappointing.

Shooting the Moon

Ever since I was very young, I hated hospitals. I understand their usefulness and I can appreciate the general cleanliness of the atmosphere, but there's something about being in one that truly irks me. It might have something to do with the way Grandpa always used to bad mouth the place. He claimed that he'd never set foot into a hospital his whole life. I suppose it's true. He died on our living room couch last year, or so dad tells me. I wasn't there to see it. It's not my fault I wasn't there. I mean, it's not like death is a scheduled event. But I'm still not sure if I regret that or not.

But I don't really think that's the full reason I can't stand these places. I don't even think it has anything to do with that time that crazy nurse tried to hit me with her guitar. The real reason I don't like hospitals is the smell. It's that musky smell that seems to permeate the halls and seep through patients' doorways. It is the smell of sickness and deterioration. It's the smell of death. And I've never been more aware of it than when I was in Masashi's grandpa's room.

As I stepped inside, I was immediately greeted with the sight of an old frail man hooked up to various life-sustaining machines. It was a sickening sight. I was beginning to see why my grandpa hated these places.

Masashi was sitting in the corner in one of those hospital chairs that look like they'd feel really comfortable, but when sat upon bring hard cardboard to mind. I didn't know how long he'd been there, but I sure wasn't going to ask him either. Instead I opened up with a simple greeting.

"Hi Masashi."

I myself was greeted with a kindhearted, "What do you think you're doing here?"

"I'm just here to wrap things up," I said calmly. I think calm is the best way to describe it. "It's wrong to leave things when they're incomplete."

"You…" started Masashi sounding almost venomous, but then he just stopped. There was no room for anger from him now. "You always speak so cryptically. Do you even know what you're talking about?"

"That's what I liked about you," I told him truthfully. "You never let me get away with anything. You don't jump down my throat like Gaku, but at the same time you won't sit quiet like Sanji and Ninamori."

"What do you want?" he asked wearily.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"So you know I didn't do it?"

"Of course," I say. "I know you. I know all of you. You're predictable… and so am I. We're all set to do what we have to do to accomplish what we want to accomplish."

Masashi frowned deeply.

"Is it all that simple for you? Can you really move us all with you're puppeteer hands?"

"No," I say plainly. "I don't control anything. I just… I solve problems Masashi. I've always seen the problems, but now I finally know how to solve them."

"But you hurt people Naota. You realize that don't you?"

"People hurt themselves, Masashi. Take you, for example." And it's important for you to realize that I know I'm going into dangerous territories here. "You work so hard to save a man because you feel guilty about how you treated him. But all you've done is make yourself unhappy. And when all this is over and done with, all you'll have left is a dead Grandfather anyways."

"Shut up," he said, but there was no power behind it. It was more of a plea than anything else.

"Old men die. It's not your fault, it really isn't. But what you need to know is that the only thing worse than death is living unhappy."

"Please, just shut up." I hated to see him beg. It's not fitting for him at all. But I had to say one last thing.

"Do you think he'll like living in pain?"

"Get out of here Naota," said Masashi quietly. It wasn't a suggestion. "There's nothing more for you to do here."

On this point we both agreed.

"I just want to say, good luck Masashi. If you want it, there'll always be a place for you in the band." Then I turned to leave.

In fact, I was already out of the door when I heard him say, "Knock'em dead tomorrow."

-----------

It was midnight when the two of us met atop the old formerly abandoned Medical Mechanica plant. The weather was nice that night. It had been much too hot in the morning, but when evening came it cooled down considerably. There was a nice breeze cooling our skin and it seemed like you could see every star in the sky. It was the type of night I'd kill for, but there was one thing that was bothering me.

"Why do we always seem to meet at midnight?" I asked Naota breaking a long understood silence between us. I wasn't sure how long we had been sitting there, but I knew that I didn't care in the least.

"I'm really not sure, Sanji," he said looking at me almost seriously. I figured he was still a bit stressed from all the work of preparing for the concert. I thought about how nice it would be for all of us when Miss Katherine's company took over all of that stuff. I'm sure Naota would appreciate it.

"Well I just think it's odd," I say conversationally. "Midnight is just so… I don't know… mysterious?"

"Yeah," said Naota, "you could say that. I guess."

"So why's it always midnight?" I asked again. Naota just shrugged. I looked down at the city dimly glowing below us and another question flowed from my lips.

"And why do we always meet in these weird exotic-like places?"

Naota shrugged again but this time he provided an answer.

"I suppose we're just mysteriously weird, exotic-like people."

This time I shrugged. As odd as it was, his answer seemed to fit. My curiosity sated, the two of us sat in contented silence for a while longer. I realized then how tired I was. However cool and mysterious it was to meet at midnight, it was also pretty late. It didn't help that I hadn't been sleeping too well lately. I'd been feeling pretty bad actually. Not sick or anything, but just not myself. I guess it was the strain of the upcoming concert and all that stuff with Ninamori. That and I was lonely. Being with Naota helped. A lot.

"Are you ready for this?" he asked me out of the blue.

"For what?"

"What do you think?" Of course he meant the concert. What else was there?

"I don't know man," I say because it's the truth. "I guess I'm as ready as I'm going to be."

Naota just said, "That's good enough for me."

I was both glad and disappointed when he said that. I sorta expected him to question deeper, to ask if anything was bothering me or something like that. In a way, I guess I wanted him to be concerned about me, even though I already knew that he cared… in his weird way. I was sorta in a bad place that night. Just… I was off. If you've felt that way, you understand.

"Are you ready?" I asked him. I felt like saying something. That was the best I had. I was surprised when Naota turned his head away from me. I was even more surprised when he started talking… and just didn't shut up.

"I don't know. I've… I expected this you know. I had my doubts, sometimes. Sometimes I thought it was impossible to get where we are… other times I thought it was pointless. But I didn't stop because I had nothing else to do. You know? What else is there for guys like me? Do I go to school, work my butt off for the grades, find my way into some cheap college, and then a decent paying job that I wind up hating? Do I slack off the rest of my life and end up on some corner begging for quarters so I can buy my next bottle of beer? It makes no sense, you know? This had to work for me or nothing would. But honestly… I didn't expect to like it so much, you know? I mean, I could really play music for the rest of my life and I'd love it… I really would. But now that I've worked for it… this is it you know. This is the last time we play for real… this is the last time we play for us. After this… it's all performance for you guys. Mass production. They'll all have access to it, which means it's worth nothing. Because accessibility is what makes a weed a weed. But you'll still like it I'm sure. It won't be bad. It won't be bad at all… just less. But we have tomorrow. Tomorrow night will be real. And we're good. We'll play well. We'll move the heavens… you and I, we'll move the heavens. And that's what I'm worried about…"

He was shaking. He was shaking badly. When he brought his right hand over to his left wrist to stop the shaking, I found that I was somewhat scared. Not "run away screaming" type scared but "lost and I don't know what to do" type scared. He nervously looked over at me and I nervously looked back.

"You… why do you care so much?"

Naota laughed. It was a sound full of nerves. The kind of laugh designed to diffuse the tension from a situation, but only ends up building it. In a way I almost expected the answer he gave me next. It fit completely.

"It involves a girl."

"Doesn't it always?" I find myself saying without really thinking about it. Responses like these don't require anything more than a mouth in order to leap out from your throat. It was like this conversation had already happened and we were both reading lines from a script.

"I… used to love her," he said quietly smiling at some distant point in the horizon. "I think I still do. I'm not really sure."

"hmm," I said because it fit.

"She was beautiful, of course. They're always beautiful… the ones that you love. Especially after they're gone. And she really changed my life. Maybe not for the better… I'm not really sure. Maybe what she did for me was something that I would have done for myself overtime. Or maybe she saved me from everything I was set out to become… but that's pretty dramatic isn't it? Saying things like that."

I nodded. "Very dramatic indeed."

"For the longest time I really thought she was horrible. Her very way of life made me question everything about myself. I'm still not sure if she was carefree or just careless. But I was always so… serious."

"You still are pretty serious."

"I was worse."

"How so?"

"I was serious about being serious."

"Is that such a bad thing?" I asked.

"It really is…" He paused for a while. I debated upon responding, but I never got a chance as he began to tell his story again.

"She couldn't keep her hands off of me. I was pretty squeamish about that kind of thing, but she just wouldn't stop. And I think I liked that about her a lot. And really… she didn't care at all what I thought about her. She didn't care what anyone thought. She just lived the way she wanted. When things didn't go the way she wanted, she'd change them to be that way. And when she couldn't change things the way she wanted… well she'd leave."

"What couldn't she change?" I asked, trying to play my part as well as possible.

"What do you mean?" asked Naota finally looking back over at me.

"You said she left when she couldn't change things to be the way that she wanted. What couldn't she change?"

"Me," said Naota because it was the answer he was supposed to give. It was the answer that I had expected because it was the answer that fit perfectly in the script. "I wasn't able to give her what she wanted. So she left. Without really saying goodbye… and I think that's what I hated the most about her."

"That she'd just leave?"

"Yeah…" Naota was already looking in another direction again. I was beginning to think that he sincerely lacked the ability to look at me while talking about her. I guess I should have just been glad that he was willing to talk to me about something like this at all, but it annoyed me a bit. In retrospect, I don't think there was anything really odd about it. I suppose he was just nervous.

"I'm sorry…" I say, but Naota just waved me off.

"It's not your fault. She was selfish… that's the difference between who she was and who I am now. We both go after the things we want, but I've learned to never be selfish. I don't think it's right to leave when things aren't settled and I don't think it's right to take without giving back."

Noble sentiments, I believe. You could tell that he meant what he was saying. He truly was convicted to these ideals. He didn't seem self-righteous about it, or even angry that his girl didn't follow the same beliefs. I, however, did find it odd that he could care so deeply for someone who held none of the same values.

"So if she didn't teach you to be unselfish and she didn't teach you to be caring, then what exactly did she teach you anyways?" I asked. What he said next almost sounded like a rebuke.

"People don't always have to teach you something for you to care about them. Sometimes they just have to be there. They just have to exist around you."

"Oh," I say as if this is news to me. In all honesty, it might have been. I had never really given it much thought really. "So she's coming to the concert then?" I ask because I'm already growing bored with feeling stupid. The way Naota spoke of this whole situation made me feel oddly inferior.

"Yeah… she's coming… I think." His eyes shifted around in their respective sockets. My mouth hung slightly open in mild surprise.

"You don't even know if she's coming?"

"I'm pretty sure she'll be there… either that or she'll show up afterwards... maybe."

"But you don't really know?"

"Not really…" said Naota sounding much sadder than before. I instantly regretted pressing the issue. "I told you before… she doesn't really care… I know it sounds horrible, but she's just… well she might not even know about it, really."

I didn't say anything. There was really nothing to tell him. He knew that what he was saying was ridiculous. And I think he understood that I didn't understand him at all. I just didn't get how he could be so nervous about the slight possibility of a girl that didn't care about him seeing him play. I suppose that it wasn't really important that I understood. I just needed to be there really. I just needed to nod and try my hardest to care. I think I pulled it off pretty well.

"Sanji?" asked Naota looking my way once again.

"Yeah?"

"We have to go for it."

"We will." Suddenly I felt confident.

"You and me… in everything. We go for it. We don't stop until we get it. No matter what it is."

"We'll blow them out of the water." I was getting pretty pumped.

"The two of us. We play our hearts out. If the world comes down around us, we'll still be playing." Naota was pretty pumped too.

"They don't stand a chance."

"If Gaku and Ninamori stop, we'll keep playing."

"They'll get left behind."

"We'll do it for life."

"We'll do it for ourselves." I say.

"We'll do it for the world."

"We'll do it for you and me." I say.

"We'll do it for love."

"For the ones who were left behind." I thought briefly of my parents.

"We'll do it for her… for her… and for Ninamori."

"Shut up," I say and we're both quiet for a while.

"It's okay Sanji," he says. "It really is okay. You can get her back you know."

"Naota," I say after a long drawn out pause.

"Hmm?"

"Shut up." I only know I'm angry because I'm shaking… and my words are harsh. Much more harsh than needed.

"Alright," said Naota with a sigh. "I suppose it's not really my place."

"I suppose so," I say almost mockingly, but there's no real anger behind the statement. None truly directed at him anyways.

The two of us stared at the sky in silence. Suddenly I felt stupid. Stupid and hungry. In fact, I was craving some very unhealthy food. Something with enough grease to fix every creaky door in the city. The stars shone on, unaware of my odd desires. I remembered when I told Naota that if I could catch one I'd probably do something stupid with it, like lose it. But now I'm not so sure.

I think if I could catch a star I'd never let it go.

----------

I had no problems with playing for a large audience. I really didn't. It was just the preparation that got to me a little bit.

At first it was fine. We went through some songs, playing most of them halfway through and reminding our selves of the consistent problems. It bugged me a lot really. Doing it halfway is just so… un-cool. It's hard to get a feeling for the song. Ninamori sat out of this last minute practice. She said she needed to rest her voice for the real thing. I guess I understood. She'd be singing for a few hours straight. But that sort of annoyed me too, because she never does any real work for the band. And then Sanji… well Sanji just bugged me. And he kept on throwing me these looks when I made the smallest of mistakes.

It wasn't my fault though. Like I told you, I have to feel the song. I just can't turn it on and turn it off. Of course, I was going to make a few mistakes. And yeah, I was a little nervous. I wasn't really nervous though. I mean, I had control, you know? I had a handle on it.

But then I started to hear this murmur in the background. At first I didn't know what it was. I didn't really care because we were playing. And even if I wasn't doing so hot (but really I wasn't that bad) I tried to concentrate and do my best. But eventually that noise started to distract me. And I realized it was getting louder. So I asked Naota what it was and he said it was all the people on the other side of the Medical Mechanica plant who were waiting for the concert. And that sorta bugged me a bit.

I mean, you'd figure if tons of people were waiting for you to rock their socks off with some killer beats they'd at least have the courtesy to be quiet for a little bit while you practiced. It only makes sense right? But they just kept on talking or yelling or screaming or maybe just breathing… it was probably all of those things. Just the sound of people upon people being in one small confined place. What really bugged me was that the concert didn't even start for another forty-five minutes or so. What were all these people doing here so early anyways? And why couldn't they shut their mouths for just a little bit?

So eventually we're done with our emergency practice and Ninamori is done standing around watching us do all the work. That girl… she's my friend but sometimes… I swear she's so annoying. And then Sanji threw me this look that really made me want to sock him after the last song, but I kept my cool because I didn't want to get all worked up before the concert and all. But then Naota, our high and mighty leader, comes up to me and asks me if I'm alright and everything. Of course, I tell him I'm fine. I mean there was nothing wrong with me and he knew it. I just messed up a few rhythms here and there because that dang murmur was getting in my head. Naota seemed to relax a little when I told him that, but then he goes and asks me if I'm sure that I'm feeling okay. And that bugs the crap out of me. When people go and ask you if you're sure that you're okay. If I wasn't sure I wouldn't have said so in the first place. So where does the guy get off asking me twice?

So then that John Gregory guy comes in and tells us to head over to the make-up station they set up a little ways from our practice area. And I look over at Ninamori expecting her to get up and go, but she stays still. So I ask her if she heard the man because obviously she was the one that he was talking to. But she just says, "Yeah, I heard him" and goes back to standing around doing nothing. And I was about to say something else, but I figured "screw it". If she didn't want to look good for the stage and whatnot, that was on her. But then Sanji tells me to come on and go over to the table with him and Naota. So I ask him, "What for?" And then he says to get our make-up done. That sorta ticked me off a bit. I told him I wasn't a chick and that I was not about to get all dolled up for the stage, but Naota said some crap about everybody doing it. Like all sorts of actors and musicians and stuff. Everyone who performs anyways. So then I'm a little more accepting of the idea, but really I'm not sold. So I ask him why Ninamori isn't getting her make-up done and then she piped in and said she already got it done while the three of us were practicing and doing real work. And that ticked me off a bit more. Really she's the laziest person I ever met. And she's the star that everyone's always fawning over. "Oh look at how pretty she is." "Her voice is amazing." "She's such a dedicated artist." When really she did jack squat for this band and everyone knows it. So yeah, that ticked me off a bit.

So we go to the make-up guys and they make us all look like clowns and crap. But they assure us it'll look good up on the stage. I'm thinking "yeah right", but I don't say anything because they're "professionals" and John said that we should treat them as such "if we ever want to get anywhere in this business". I'm not sure I buy into that crap… I mean they just put on the make-up. They're no better than the people who stand at the doors collecting tickets. Any Joe could do that crap, but John says we're supposed to worship the doormen too. And the security people. And anyone who lifts a tiny finger to run a simple concert. But we're the talent here. The people came to see us, not watch some guy push dirt with a broom. But I do have some respect for the set up crew. Those guys who haul all our stuff up to the top of the plant and down. I've been hauling equipment for this band far too long not to have some appreciation for the job.

So anyways, we've all been dolled up now and John says we're on in fifteen. He says it just like that too. "You're on in fifteen, kids." And then he's off doing whatever it is he does that supposedly "keeps this concert running smoothly." The set up crew takes all our instruments up to the top of the plant using this elevator system that the city just put in specifically for these types of events. I told the guys thanks for hauling all the stuff. I try to be appreciative when people do stuff for me. I figure it's only fair, you know? The guys were all like, "it's our job" and I said, "better you than me." We all laughed at that and I felt a little less nervous just then. Not that I was really nervous anyways.

So, I figured I'd just stand around and wait the fifteen minutes out. I go over a few songs in my head and I sorta "air-drum" with my hands. It's really not all that hard to visualize the drums at all. But Ninamori asked me to be quiet because she was trying to concentrate. Apparently I was making the noises of the drums with my mouth or something like that. I really hadn't noticed, I was concentrating so hard. So I apologized and tried to keep my mouth shut while I was practicing, but it was harder for me to keep my focus without the sounds I was making. And then there was that murmur from the crowd getting louder and louder. But what really pissed me off was Ninamori. She told me to be quiet, but then she goes making noises herself. "A-E-I-O-U" she goes and "La La La La La La La" and if that's not annoying I don't know what is. So I try to confront her about it and ask her why she gets to make noises when I don't. But she just says that she needs to warm up her voice before the concert. And that just pisses me off more because she could have been practicing with us and "warming up her voice" the whole frickin' time!

I tried to ignore her warm-up session and concentrate on my air-drumming, but she just wouldn't quit. And then she has the nerve to tell me that moving my hands around like that is making her nervous. I'm really pissed and really tired of hanging around her about then so I go and sit down in one of the chairs next to where Naota and Sanji are standing and talking. So I start to air-drum again, but I get distracted by their conversation and that darn murmur. I try to ignore them but I hear bits and pieces of their conversation. Apparently they were going over some last minute stage effects and show-offy stuff. Naota kept going on and on about some rip-cord on Sanji's guitar and he keeps on talking about this special pick-up that they're going to use and I could really care less. But it was kinda interesting watching the look on Sanji's face as Naota kept on adding more and more things to the list. The guy looked as if he was getting real nervous.

So then John comes back to tell us we're "on in five " and that we should "take care of last minute preparations." That causes the two chatterboxes next to me to stop talking and even Ninamori stops doing her gay warm-up. Then we're all sitting there and Naota starts giving us a small little pep-talk saying crap like, "let's keep our cool and be great out there. Put some feeling into it. And no matter what happens don't stop." It's all stuff we've heard before and honestly it's pretty annoying that he keeps saying it. And then he really really got on my nerves when he asked me if I was okay again. I sorta snapped at him. I said he should be asking Sanji that since the guy was still shaking a lot. But then Naota ignores me and asks me if I'm alright again and I tell him to keep his frickin' concerns to himself.

But suddenly I wasn't feeling all that hot. I figured I just needed to go to the bathroom. Sometimes you don't feel good and you have no idea why, only to find out that you just needed to go to the bathroom. So I head over to the porter potty they have set up over by the make-up station. I take a little leak, but nothings coming out of the business end, if you know what I mean. And really I don't feel any better. And then I hear that horrible murmur again… I'd sorta drowned it out for a little while, but it was back in full force. And the noise was really horrible. I didn't get how they could stand to listen to themselves being so loud. And then I heard the rest of the band talking outside and I just knew they were talking about me. And I started to feel a little worse. And then I heard John come out and say "You kids are on now… where's the little drummer boy?" And then I hear Sanji say "he's in the can." And then John says, "Well he better get out here quick. We've got a show to do." And then someone is knocking on the door. And I think it was Ninamori who said, "Come on Gaku, we've got to go." And then I felt ten times worse than before. And they kept knocking for a few moments and I began to feel really, really bad. And I got off the toilet real quick and I turned around. And…

I puked a little. Not a whole lot, just a little.

So then I wipe my mouth off real quick with a piece of toilet paper and flush it all down. I would have washed my hands (I'm a real clean guy, really) but there was no sink in there. Just a toilet. I really wished there was a sink though because my mouth tasted like vomit. So I came out to find them all surrounding the porter potty waiting for me. And then John asks if I'm alright and I just ignore him because it's pretty annoying. I walked over to the make-up table and picked up this bottle of water that I had been drinking earlier. I swirled some water around in my mouth and spit it out and for some reason I felt a lot less nervous. Not that I was really all that nervous to begin with. I just felt better though.

And then Naota goes and asks me if I'm okay again and that's pretty annoying too. But I don't let my annoyance show because I didn't want to get all worked up before we started playing.

So I just said, "I'm fine." And then I said, "Let's do this."

----------

The elevator ride was horrible. If I had to name the most agonizing moment of my life, this would be it. Bar none. At least when my parents died I had been too numb to accept it. And when I broke up with Ninamori… well there was a lot less uncertainty. But this moment in time was unrelenting. In many ways my life hinged upon the next two hours. The worst thing about it was that I could not diminish the importance of this event. I couldn't tell myself that it meant nothing, or that it was just another gig. This was our stepping-stone into the big leagues. That night was the deciding factor: hit or miss.

The audience was huge. I didn't try to count them because… the audience was huge. When they saw us they clapped like thunder. The lights were beaming down on us and for a moment I forgot that I could breathe.

Ninamori mounted the stage like a pro, taking up the center mike. She looked amazing wearing that black skirt and red blouse. The hair dressers let most of her long hair to simply hang with gravity, opting only to curl her bangs in the front. I almost wanted to say she had a punk rock look going for her, but the way she carried herself was just too… classy. But when she started counting, it was like she hit a switch.

"Ah-1, Ah-2, Ah-1, 2, 3, Go!"

If there was ever a person I hated to complement, it would have to be Gaku. But the way he came in on those drums… it was like bottled electricity. You could just feel the beat flowing through the air, shocking us all with it's contagious static. Then Naota came in an eight beat later and a melody was born. I looked down at my hands as they moved across the strings of the old Rickenbacker guitar. I realized they were bloody. Music was bleeding from my fingers.

Did I ever tell you that Ninamori could sing? Well she could… and it was amazing. We played American Band Boy for the opener. The crowd was roaring. When we got to the breakdown in the middle of the song they were still yelling and screaming like maniacs. And when we finished our first song they were screaming so loud that I was out of breath. Really, I was out of breath. No joke.

Oh my God…I thought in that moment. This is what I'm supposed to do.

I never realized before then how much my life was intertwined with the band. Aside from my job, I held no other extra-curricular activities. And the only reason I had the job in the first place was in order to help along our progress. And I was good at this. I was good at this. I could play the bass guitar the way that ducks swim in water. The shock of this realization was so great that I laughed out loud at the enormity of it all.

And it wasn't just playing the music. No it was all of it. It was being up here in front of crowd. Listening to them scream our name. Our Band's Name. And feeling the rush of pure endorphins that came along with the whole ordeal. Artists are made to paint. Architects are made to build. Writers are made to write. And I was made to play.

I was all of them rolled in one; I was an artist painting in the invisible canvas in front of me the tunes the crowd was chorusing; I was the architect building the momentum for when Naota would let it rip, for when Eri would make it shimmer away like fine dust onto all of them, I was the writer writing the story with the bass notes, setting the tempo, making them follow the lead Gaku was setting for me like building blocks.

I was made to squeeze every last ounce of music from my body into this old, perfect Rickenbacker guitar.

I was born for this.

I played a small little improvised solo for the crowd. Just out of the blue. For no apparent reason. They clapped like mad men.

Ninamori introduced all of us one by one, starting with me since I had just played a little. She then introduced Gaku who gave a little rim shot, and Naota who played a few jamming chords. They of course clapped their hands off. We could have played "Mary had a little lamb" and they would have died of excitement. Man I loved them for that.

I feel bad though… because aside from that I really don't know what to tell you. How does one describe indescribable feelings? It was just incredible. The whole thing was incredible. We played The Beatles ("I wanna hold your haaaaaannd"), then Lithium by Nirvana (Ninamori's voice was so chilling). And God Knows… by Aya Hirano. We didn't pull that one off to well, since we honestly needed another guitarist to fill in some of the background. Naota and I even had to switch guitars, since the lead part was a bit too much for him. We killed on Universally Speaking by the Chili Peppers (yes the "Red Hot" ones). Somehow Ninamori's accent made the song sound even more… I suppose "trippy" would be the best word. Then we sung a short little song Masashi wrote a while back called Suburban Slumming. The lyrics were all about some guy wandering the suburbs and dreaming of the city and he keeps "finding new places where I've already been". I thought the song was pretty good (and so did the crowd) but I felt sort of bad for using it when the guy was no longer in the band. Janie's Got a Gun had never been more fun to play. I always felt like laughing when I heard the way Ninamori sung the lyrics… not really knowing where one word ended or the next begun. In a way it took the focus off the words and put it more on the music itself. For that moment it was perfectly okay. Scratch that. It was perfect.

"How are you guys liking the show tonight?"

The noise flowed into my ear like liquid through a funnel. Ninamori laughed into the microphone.

"I guess that means you enjoyed it." The noise only grew louder at that. "You've all been great tonight. Fantastic. We're going to take a little break and we'll be right back out here to rock you all through the end of the night!"

It didn't get any louder than that. It simply couldn't. The crowd was insane. Ninamori had them eating out of the palm of her hands. They cheered us all the way off the stage and well into the elevator. My jaw hurt from smiling.

The moment the elevator hit the ground floor I found Ninamori's arms around me.

"This is so amazing!" she said.

"I know!" I nearly yelled back at her. She took a step away from me as if suddenly remembering how things stood. It did nothing to kill our excitement. "Did you hear them out there? They're practically in love with us!"

"I know!" she yelled back at me. Then much softer she said, "I just… I can't even begin to believe it."

Then I looked at her. For the first time in a long while I got a good look at the person who is Eri Ninamori. My God was she glowing. And did I ever smile so hard? I must have looked like a complete idiot, but man did I smile.

"And did you see me out there… I swear I didn't make a mistake!"

It was Gaku and apparently he was talking to Naota. It surprised me how little I cared about his presence. In fact I wasn't even annoyed by him at all. If I had thought on it long enough, I might have even convinced myself that I was glad to see him. I was so high… like Lucy in the Sky, reaching for the diamond that threatens to fall.

"You were great!" said Naota. "We all were!"

Then I looked over at Naota. I saw that look on his face… the utter triumph. The way the corners of his mouth seemed to be glued upward. The way his eyes screamed excitement. My best friend was on fire. It was written all over his face.

I don't know how, but I smiled even harder.

----------

We all calmed down after awhile. It was a matter of necessity. If we continued to ride that crazy high, we would have never been able to play again. It's hard to be giddy during concentration.

However, the mood backstage was far from morbid. Gaku was still talking animatedly to anyone who would listen and Naota and Sanji were talking some last minute "strategy" when John Gregory approached us.

"You kids did great out there," he said with an almost crooked smile. "How're you all holding up?"

It was Sanji who answered, his voice ringing with a sense of finality. "We're perfect John." The rest of us decided that this answer was sufficient enough.

The man smirked at that. Apparently he found us to be amusing. I can't say I really blame him.

"And you drummer boy, you feeling alright?"

"Never been better John." Gaku was doing that annoying air-drum thing again. But whatever…

"How about you Miss Ninamori?" I'm not sure if I liked the way he said my name.

"I'm fine sir," I said after a pause. Then as an after thought I added. "I love this."

Mr. Gregory chuckled at that. "You kids are something. Are you sure you're all fine?" we nodded. "You've still got 10 minutes before you're on again."

I hummed a little in my throat. It was beginning to feel a little off. Not sore or anything, just a little broken in.

"Do you think I could have some more water sir?" I asked. Water usually helped a little.

"Sure. You like it warm right?"

"Yes, please."

"I never can remember. You'd be surprised how specific some singers get with their water. They want it hot, they want it cold, with lemon juice, with lots of ice, with no ice, and my personal favorite with one cube of ice. How weird is that. Just one cube."

I laughed. It was easy to tell that he was enjoying this as much as any of us. I don't think I'd ever felt closer to the band. I'm not sure how to describe it. The whole thing just felt… right.

When John came back, I took a long sip from my water. As the warm liquid traveled down my throat I imagined it mingling with my vocal cords and repairing the damaged tissue there. After taking a few more sips, I downed the whole thing in one go. I could feel the contents of the bottle swirling around in my stomach. For some reason it made me feel better.

I took a second to view the world around me. Gaku was still air drumming and making those pathetic beat sounds with his mouth. He sounded like a child. John Gregory was standing off by the elevator talking into his headset. Apparently a few kids without tickets tried to sneak in. Then I looked over at Sanji and Naota.

Naota looked serious. He was explaining something to Sanji very slowly. Taking his time to make sure that he got it. The expression plastered on his face was intense. Then I looked over at Sanji. His eyes bored heavily into the eyes of his friend. He seemed to be following each word as if his life depended on it. But what really threw me was the ferocity of his smile.

I frowned.

We were on in five.

-----------

Try to pay attention. It gets a little rough here.

We all got onto the elevator. We all pulled out the game faces. The crowd roared at us and we stared back valiantly. We took up our instruments and we played. No jokes. No idle chit chat. We just played. And we kept on playing.

There's really not much to say. I could tell you that we were amazing out there, but what good does that really do you. You can't hear it. You weren't there. All that you need to know was that we played our songs and the crowd loved it and everyone was happy. Ecstatic. Right up until the last number.

And that's when the turbulence started.

"This next song we're about to play is one written exclusively by our two guitar players." They cheered of course. They wouldn't stop cheering. Ninamori had a way with crowds, that's for sure.

"This song is very personal to us as it comes right from the heart. So I'm going to sit this one out and let someone who's much more qualified sing it. Give a hand to our lead guitarist Naota Nandaba!" The noise erupted before she even finished my name. I approached the mike on shaking legs and gave Ninamori the dirtiest look I could muster.

"Oh come on," she said still smiling brightly for the crowd. "Don't tell me you didn't see it coming. It was obvious."

I dropped the death glare. Of course, I knew she'd do this. I'm not sure whether she loved me or hated me at that point, but I knew one thing: she knew me. She knew that like it or not, I had to do this. And she knew that even if I didn't want to, even if I was dangerously frightened of it, I had already prepared myself to sing the song. Because the song was my song.

The song was me.

----------

It gives me chills thinking about it really.

I never would have thought I'd see my best friend up there on the stage singing our closing number. I would have sooner expected Gaku to do it. I mean, Gaku has the voice of a drowning pig, but at least he loves the spotlight. Naota… he seemed to almost shrink away from it. Though not noticeably so.

"Alright," said Naota turning around and speaking to the rest of us. He wasn't trying to hide anything from the crowd, but the microphone picked up his voice anyways. "We do this just like we practiced, right. Sanji, you remember the pickup switches?" I nodded. "Then as a friend of mine once said: Let's do this."

I couldn't believe he was quoting Gaku.

The song was called "Shooting the Moon". A play on a title used by half a dozen other songs. Nothing special there. It wasn't the type of song you'll ever hear on the radio. It was more like that 14th track on the CD. The one that comes after all the popular songs that you've ever heard and right before the closing song that wasn't so popular, but the producers seemed to really like it. It's the one you find on a digital playlist downloaded once upon-a-time by a friend of a friend. The song that one out of ten professed die-hard fans of the band can recognize by the intro and four out of ten can vaguely remember. It's the one that gets stuck in your head on the way to work, while the windows are down and the radio's off and you're not even sure if you're thinking anymore.

You know what song I'm talking about.

So we started to play. I was on the third pickup. No pedals or nothing. I loved the way it sounded. Like the whine of a fork scraping along crystal glass. Or something like that. It was nice. And for some reason I was very surprised when Naota began to sing.

His voice was a little soft at first. A little shaky too. But the uncertainty only lasted him a note or two before he began to truly sing. It was easy to tell his heart was in it. Really you had to be there… I can't emphasize that enough. But at least I can tell you the words.

Words

You always say the wrong words

But everything you show me

You show me with action

Touch

I think you touched me too much

You knew I didn't want it

So you forced the attraction

But the world keeps turning

And I keep burning

And still there is no room for regret

We took a chance

at happenstance

We gambled but you won the bet

And I lost it so I'm…

Shooting the moon

While I'm falling from the stars

Wonder when my battle wounds

Healed into battle scars

Not sure what I have to do

illusions tend to mar

Don't know where I'm going to

I know it's very far

Name

You always called me the same

I think you only did it

Just to grab my attention

Love

I knew you were from above

You couldn't grab the sun

But you still have my affection

The world keeps turning

And I keep burning

But still there is no room for regret

I took my chance

You held your stance

I gambled and I won the bet

But I lost you now I'm…

Shooting the moon

While I'm falling from the stars

Wonder when my battle wounds

Healed into battle scars

Not sure what we had to do

To become who we are

Don't know where we're going to

I know it's very far

It was all very good. Very emotional. Each musical phrase was like riding a wave. I really shouldn't have been too surprised that Naota was good. Well… maybe not good. But not half bad. Especially for a guy who was playing the lead guitar and had never sung on stage before. During the chorus Ninamori even came in on harmony and it sounded that much better.

You know what though? While I was up there, I honestly couldn't have cared less. I was lost in my own little musical paradise. This was my music. I wrote it. And I played it. I played it pretty darn well too. When we came to the solo I got lost… man did I get lost.

Like we planned, I switched the pickups.

Gaku lit up the drums. He played my beat almost expertly. If he made any mistakes I didn't hear him. The two of us blazed through the music like fire through a forest. Burning folks and taking names. It was like nothing I've ever experienced. And then we reached the slow part. And I could feel the deep melody flowing out of my fingers, spreading to the guitar and amplifying out for the world to hear. But what surprised me the most was the sound of Naota on his Flying V. After all, it's not often that you hear an electric guitar during a bass and drum solo. I figured this is what he meant when he said he'd tweaked the lead part a bit. It didn't matter anyways, because like it or not I'd grown to trust the guy. I knew that he wouldn't blow it. He'd worked far too hard for that. In fact, his part was very complementary. It was almost like dueling. His countermelody filled in where my melody was lacking. Like… well even now I hate to admit it… but like Yin and Yang. Just like the jerk said all those many months ago.

And then the crazy started.

At first the stage lights went out. The crowd all screamed in excitement. And then the stage started to glow an unearthly shade of red. And at first I thought the same thing as the audience: we got some pretty sweet stage effects that I didn't know about. But then something else happened.

I began to feel the red.

My fingers ceased to move across the fingerboard for only a fraction of a second before I felt a horrible lurching in my stomach. And I almost thought I was going to throw up. But before I do that I hear a sharp reproach from Naota as he continues to play his part of the song.

"Don't Stop!"

I remember our promise from the night before and begin to play again. Almost instantly I feel better. The notes come to my fingers on autopilot. My brain is no longer a part of musical equation. I look out at the crowd and realize suddenly that they're all looking just as horrible as I felt moments before. I look back at Gaku and Ninamori and see that they too are "feeling the red". Needless to say, Gaku had stopped playing.

"What's wrong with them?" Somehow I managed to keep up my melody and scream at Naota simultaneously. In the back of my mind I almost thought that my life depended on it. Seeing Naota smile so viciously did nothing to alleviate my fears.

"It's science," he yells back at me over the sound of our guitars. "It's like electricity and magnets! When you produce a current, a magnetic field is created. Just like gravity is created when you produce this!"

"This?" I ask because there's no way I could have possibly understood. I'm still not sure that I do.

"N.O.", he yells as if this explains something. "It's like nothing. The absence of matter. The essence of power! Like the harnessed abilities of a black hole!"

"You're making no sense!"

"It's what she wanted!" he yells. And it scares me how happy he is. I look around and see that everyone else has fallen to the ground, pressed to the Earth's surface by some invisible weight. I started to shake.

"I don't understand!"

"Look," he says and points at the glowing Medical Mechanica plant under our feet. "This is how they caught him all those years ago. This is how they brought down the Pirate King. But they needed power. Power for the N.O. and even more power to counteract the gravity."

"Pirate King?"

"An N.O. GOD!" he yells ecstatically. "And we've got him right here. Thanks to these!" he points down at his guitar and instantly I stop playing. Just as quickly the weight is upon me.

"Play!" he yells as he slowly falls to his knees. The color has completely drained from his face by the time he says, "You're holding us up Sanji!"

I play some random chord since the solo is already over. We both feel a heck of a lot better.

"You can't stop playing Sanji… not yet."

"I don't get it… Naota I don't get it!"

He strums random notes on his guitar.

"I'm pulling him in," he says as if this explains everything. "But while pulling him in, I'm pulling us down. It's the gravity, you see? There's no N.O. without the excess gravity. So I need you to keep us up. It's the only way to get him here."

"What?" I yell. I want to understand. I want this to stop. I want to quit playing and just walk over and hit him.

"Pickup seven pulls it in and pickup six pushes out. You're six and I'm seven. Together we make balance. Just like I told you Sanji. Like Yin and Yang!"

"Why me?"

"You're the one man!" His answer is less than satisfactory. "We both play the same song… a few variations, but it's all the same song. It would have never worked with the other one…"

"Masashi!" I yell in a sudden revelation. Naota merely nods at me, his fingers setting his guitar ablaze.

He looks back down at the plant and his crazy smile widens. "We've almost got him!" he yells. "He's almost here!"

I look down at the plant and see its burning red surface pulsing with an intense glow. I can feel it's power sending jolts through my guts and I honestly can't think of a moment in which I wanted to puke more. But then I advert my gaze to the sky and I think my heart nearly stopped.

With undeniable awe I find myself staring dazedly into the face of the moon.

"I knew it!" yelled Naota as he spotted the silvery orb. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!"

"But it's supposed to be gone!" I yell back. But to this he simply laughs.

"She said it herself. You can't get rid of the moon Sanji! You can only move it out of sight!"

I stared dead into his face and for a moment I wanted to weep. This wasn't right… this couldn't be happening at all. But then I looked back up at the moon and something struck me as odd.

"Isn't it closer?" I asked and curse words were his only reply. I think it was the first time I ever heard him swear.

"This isn't good," he says. The smile is gone from his face. "It's coming down too fast." He looks down at the plant all the while still playing away at his guitar. "And he's not even here yet."

"It's coming down!" I yell in disbelief. "It's coming down here!"

"It's the gravity!" he says again. "It's pulling it out of orbit!"

"Then stop playing!" I scream. It's the only logical course of action. However, Naota's fingers move as fast as ever.

"He's almost here… she has to know he's here or she'll never come."

"Who cares if we're dead?"

Naota is silent. I look up at the sky again. The moon is picking up speed. I felt like I needed to wake up from this dream and fast.

"Naota!" I scream. My voice cracks at the end. It's the first time I ever remember fearing for my life.

"Naota!" I scream again when he doesn't answer me.

"I'm thinking," he says. It does nothing to placate me. I was sure that I was going to die. I was this close from making a lunge for his guitar.

"I got an idea," he says and I'm all ears. I'd listen to anything at this point. God I didn't want to die.

"We let it fall close enough… and then we hit it back."

"What! Hit it back?"

"I can hold the nail, but you have to be the hammer."

"What?" I knew he had to be crazy then.

"I'll line up for the pitch and slow it down. But it's up to you to knock her out of the park."

"God Naota, make some freakin' sense would you?"

"Stop playing the moment I tell you to… just aim for the center of the V."

After that I yell at him, I scream at him, and I curse at him, but he doesn't say another word too me. I throw every dirty insult I have at the guy and he doesn't bat an eyelash. Before long I stop caring. I just look up to the sky to see my doom approaching.

The moon gets closer and closer and Naota's playing never slows. I want to knock his guitar out of his hands, but to do that I'd have to stop playing myself… and I know what'll happen if I do that. Soon the moon is so close that even if Naota were to stop playing I'm sure it would still fall to the pull of the Earths own gravity. There was no way out of this anymore. I was going to die.

The worst part about it was that Naota wouldn't even acknowledge our situation. He wouldn't even look up at me, or say anything reassuring. He'd just stare down at the ever-increasing glow of the plant and pluck incessantly at his guitar. I heard him quietly muttering to himself.

"Almost there… almost… a little more."

But I could care less. I just stared up at my impending doom.

"We're going to die," I think I said. "We're all going to die."

"Almost… almost…"

"Can you at least tell me it's alright?"

"Almost there…."

"Just tell me it's going to be okay!"

"Only a bit more…"

"I hate you"

"Just a little bit…"

"We're going to die."

"Finally!" he yells as he finally stops playing. The moon slows down to a crawl, but continues its downward decent. It's right above us now and if I wanted to touch it all I'd have to do was jump a few feet. I could jump and touch the moon. Let me tell you that the idea sounds a lot more appealing on paper. Naota suddenly looked up to see how close it is and before I can proclaim my absolute loathing for him he yells, "Run!"

And the two of us are running as fast as we can away from the center of the plant: the moon's target. I'm still playing my heart out on my guitar. I really really didn't want to die.

But then I realized something awful… something terrible.

"Gaku and Ninamori!" I yell. They're lying helplessly right near by where the moon would soon touch down. If we didn't do something soon they'd be crushed. Naota swore again. It was starting to sound natural coming from him.

Before I could say anything else he was running back toward the center of the stage… running back toward the moon. His guitar was slung carefully over his shoulder and he was holding it at the neck just as I'd seen him do on one occasion when I'd woken him up in the middle of the night. He seemed ready to do battle. In mid run he called back to me yelling the following words: "Stop playing!"

And for reasons I still don't understand, I complied.

The events to follow happened very fast. It took me some time afterwards to put together all the details. The moon hit the plant at one point and easily broke through the metal. In an instance the red glow disappeared and it was as if it was never there to begin with. I watched with great fascination as Naota was lifted a few feet off the ground by the moon's gravity and catapulted toward the celestial body. As he got closer I saw him wind up for a blow and before his face was planted against the giant space rock, he unleashed his guitar upon it with a mighty swing. A loud noise emanated from the impact, which sounded like a symphony of clashing chords. I barely had time to be surprised by the fact that the moon's downward motion had completely halted. No, I was too busy being dragged through the air myself.

I screamed. Naota hadn't said anything at all about flying. Although I figured it was nice that I'd get to experience it once before I died. But then I thought, "Screw it… why die?" What's the point of dying when you could at least try to live. I brought the guitar over my shoulder in mid-flight and lined up for my swing. "Just aim for the V," I thought and I easily found my mark. It was right where Naota stood, suspended in mid-air strain clearly evident upon his features as his guitar grinded against the mark. I waited until I could see the words "Gibson" before I violently swung the Rickenbacker Bass right between the two points of the guitar.

The clashing of chords sounded again. This time it was a thousand times louder to my ears. It was amazing… I couldn't even believe it.

The thing went flying towards the sky at a speed I would have never thought possible. But I didn't have long to appreciate it as I found myself instantly falling to the ground. Luckily our decent was only a few feet, but I would be lying if I said it didn't hurt. I rubbed at my back and I looked around.

Naota was lying a few feet away from me looking just as rattled from the fall as I was. Gaku and Ninamori were kneeling a couple of yards away. They were both staring up at the sky in wonder. I looked up myself and saw that the moon was still shooting off into the sky. It got smaller and smaller until I just couldn't see it anymore. One thing soon became apparent: wherever the moon was going, we hadn't knocked it back into orbit.

Then I looked back down at Naota and I saw him staring up at the sky. I looked down at the audience. They were back on their feet and staring as well. For the first time since the concert had begun there was uncontested silence.

I stood up and my fellow band members followed suit. We all looked at each other in something akin to confusion. Then there was noise again. Just a little at first, but then in the moments to follow it grew. It took my adrenaline addled brain much longer than it should have to realize that the sound was that of clapping. The four of us looked back at each other and then we stared out at the crowd. The clapping was joined by a chorus of hollering and whistles.

Gaku in his never-ending search for attention took this as a cue to bow. The crowd took that as their cue to grow even louder. Then Ninimori curtsied. And I was incredibly shocked to see Naota bow. I however did nothing of the sort.

We all took our leave of the audience and made our way to the elevator. The audience cheered us straight off the stage. When we reached the bottom of the lift we were met with incredibly confused stare of one John Gregory.

"What the heck was that?" he asked sounding more bewildered than I'd ever seen the man.

I looked over the faces of my fellow band members. Ninamori shrugged. Gaku let out a noise that said something akin to "I don't know". Naota simply stared off into space and smiled. They were useless.

I looked back over to John and then looked back at my band. It looked as if I'd have to explain the whole thing. I looked John straight in the eyes and calmly said, "We shot the moon."

----------

Thanks to Eric Blair for pre-reading and some good suggestions

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AN: Ah man was this hard to write. I'm not even sure if I like it or not… but here it is. This is the big concert that you've all been waiting for. I find myself at a loss of words. This really is the climax. The next chapter will be the last. Chances are it won't be nearly as long (Almost 25 pages… yeesh!). So I hope you all like it. It's been a fun ride but it's soon coming to a close. I thank you all for being patient with me and for even caring that this chapter has been posted. I know I'm the worst updater this side of the Mississippi, but you can expect the next chapter before the end of my summer vacation. Until next time…