DISCLAIMER: ~carves it out in big letters twelve feet tall made entirely of cardboard, chicken wire, and duck tape (as any true techie would): "I DO NOT OWN FUSHIGI YUGI"~
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Here comes the money (anyone who was ever involved in theatre can appreciate this):
In is down, down is front
Out is up, up is back
Off is out, on is in
And of course-
Left is right and right is left
A drop shouldn't and a
Block and fall does neither
A prop doesn't and
A cove has no water
Tripping is OK
A running crew rarely gets anywhere
A purchase line buys you nothing
A trap will not catch anything
A gridiron has nothing to do with football
Strike is work (In fact a lot of work)
And a green room, thank god, usually isn't
Now that you're fully versed in Theatrical terms,
Break a leg.
But not really.
Shuddup still means shuddup.
~_~ Just thought that might be amusing. I wish I could credit it to someone, but I can't find an author's name! Can someone tell me? ~got it from a girl in her Play Prod class~
Last chapter! OK, just to clear something up: in this fic, Hotohori is straight. However, that doesn't mean Nuriko can't have massive crush on him! (~blink blink~ Kaze-chan? Writing something with shounen ai? ~faints dead of shock~) Anyway, about the shounen ai, it's so miniscule and only takes place in one character's mind that I didn't really think it was worth documenting.
I am soooo hyped up on Runts (pure sugar!) and no school tomorrow! For once I get to sleep past seven! Sleeping TILL seven happens rarely enough, past it is almost never heard of. Gods, I'm SO exhausted at the end of a normal work... Why am I rambling like this? Last chapter! Read!
(By the way, if you see any typos, please let me know so I can fix them!)
"Six o'clock! Quitting time everybody!"
A chorus of cheers erupted throughout the theatre as people whooped with delight at Hotohori's announcement, Tasuki's enthusiastic curses probably the loudest among them. The temporarily white haired high schooler took off at his highest speed for Houki's domain, beating even Yui, who was right next to the door. He grabbed the handle, turned the knob, and-
"All actors to the stage! IN COSTUME!"
Loud, loud, LOUD groans.
Tasuki sighed, pushing back the suddenly overwhelming urge to bawl his eyes out or possibly throw a tantrum, and trudged back through the maze of curtains that blocked the backstage from every possible angle to stand on the lip of the stage. All the rest, from Subaru to Miaka to Tamahome, trickled after him, forming a long line to his right and left. Hotohori was standing a few feet from the stage, Houki by his side, the director right behind them. The stage manager and costume mistress gestured at the actors and spoke quietly to each other, ignoring the one who was supposed to have the authority but had no idea what his job was.
"What the hell's goin' on?" he muttered to Chichiri, who was directly to his left.
"Hotohori's approving the costumes no da. He's seeing if we look good in them, if they fit our characters, all of that na no da."
Tasuki groaned. Couldn't they freakin' do this without him?!
"Don't worry Tasuki," Amiboshi, on his right, muttered. "This is the only time we have to do this." The shorter boy hid a mischievous grin. "Although I think we're gonna have to wear them in every rehearsal from here on in…"
He was rewarded by Tasuki's enthusiastic muttered, scathing curses.
Everyone wanted to go home. Most had homework to do, and more than one had a paper to work on, or some other big project. The techies were quickly cleaning up their tools and putting away set pieces while the actors were surveyed, Tokaki yelling at people in the shop about where to put things away so they could be found again. Every so often wonderfully sarcastic phrases such as "Do you even know we have an organizational system in place here?" drifted out the open shop door, making Tasuki grin maliciously. Freshmen and other newcomers might be frightened of the guy, but he got the job done right.
Nuriko was delighted. He didn't know how it had happened, but Hotohori had been fussing over him for the past hour! And he had shamelessly played up to expectations, pretending to feel faint much longer than he normally would have, nearly swooning once or twice, anything he could think of. And it had wooooooooorked! Hotohori was TAKING HIM HOME! He'd BE IN NURIKO'S HOUSE! And he'd never be allowed to get away, hee hee hee…
Soi wandered out of the makeup room and down the short staircase on stage right, ambling over to Hotohori and Houki. She needed to study the costumes as well, make sure they went with her makeup. She absently stood listening to the other two talk as she surveyed the cast, most of which were fidgeting uncontrollably to get out of there and go home. "Hey Tasuki, Tamahome, c'mere," she called suddenly.
The two in question threw her grateful looks and jumped off the stage, landing with the ease of much practice on the house floor and approaching her. "What is it Soi?" Tamahome inquired.
"Just want to give you some useful tips on that stuff." She gestured at Tasuki's hair and Tama's skin. "Tasuki, when you get home, brush out your hair really well. That'll take care of most of the dye, and then take a really good shower. It'll come out easily. Just remember to use shampoo this time." She grinned mischievously at him as he threw her a "duh" look. "And Tama, stick around after rehearsal, I'll show you how to get that stuff off. It's a bit more complicated than washing your face." Tamahome nodded in acquiescence and climbed back on the stage, reclaiming his place by Miaka.
Tasuki waited until Tama was a discreet distance away before voicing a rather urgent question in a fierce whisper. "Look, do I have to ******* do this every ******* day?!" He gestured expressively at his hair, forcing Soi to hide a laugh. "What's so ******* funny?!"
"You, you idiot. No, you don't have to do that until the last dress rehearsal and of course the performance. Costume yes, hair no. Is that OK? Wait, don't answer that, you don't have a choice!"
Tasuki was just about ready to rip that sweet, innocent look off her face. Instead he clomped back onto the stage and stood there until the others finished discussing The Most Torturous Clothing in the World.
Finally, finally, AT LAST Hotohori and Houki nodded and Hotohori turned to the stage. "All right, you're free to go." His last words were drowned out in the stampede of feet to the dressing room. However, one small figure hung back, sitting down in a frail manner on the edge of the stage, folding in on itself. The slight figure could only be one person, as his "twin" was currently behind the stage manager, still taking to Soi. Hotohori frowned again; Nuriko's health was very bad today, something new must have happened to have robbed the normally exuberant boy of all his energy and spirit. It just wasn't normal… and it was his Sacred Duty, as stage manager, to get to the bottom of it. He left the girls discussing and slowly approached the stage, trying not to startle him.
Nuriko watched him come out of the corner of his eye, hiding an almost maniacal grin and barely managing to smother gleeful laughter. It was working it was working it was wooooooorkiiiiiing! YA-HAH! He smooshed his glee for the moment and turned to Hotohori, displaying a tired but persevering, sweet smile. "Oh, hello…"
"Nuriko, are you all right? You're not yourself today…"
He coughed slightly, doing his best to build up a convincing front (he was an actor, after all) and smiled again. "Yeah, I just caught Kourin's cold, that's all…" He was incredibly lucky that his sister had the tendency to catch whatever was going around the school. At that moment, she was probably at home, curled up under her comforter, coughing her lungs out. She'd be fine of course, like she always was (she seemed to have amazing recuperative powers) but it gave him very detailed insight into exactly what the symptoms were for a variety of maladies. He could probably get out of school any time he wished himself. Not that he'd ever do that of course! Only sometimes when there might just possibly be a paper due or something like that…
Hotohori frowned. "Now that's not good…"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine, I'm just a little tired. You already said you'd take me home-" even though it occasionally worked in his favor, Nuriko still mentally cursed his inconvenient car-less existence "-you don't have to do anything else."
"Well, at least you're not sick opening week." Hotohori started to turn back to Houki and Soi.
"Yeah, that would be annoying…" It was failing, he was acting too good, Hotohori was beginning to believe him! He wasn't supposed to believe he was all right, he was supposed to believe he was in horrible horrible shape! Time for drastic measures. He lay back slowly, pressing a hand to his forehead.
"Nuriko?" Hotohori looked back when no other sound came from the smaller boy, and he gasped in shock. "My god! Are you all right?!"
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!! "Yeah… just a bit… dizzy."
"Don't worry, it's all right, you'll be fine!"
Soi watched with mouth wiiiiiiide open. Having a crush, sure, fine, all well and good, but going to this extent?! Sometimes she questioned whether Nuriko had any shame.
Houki growled in her throat and started towards the boy on stage, but Soi (much taller and much stronger) grabbed her around the waist and bodily lifted her off the floor, marching as quickly as she could up the aisle to the back of the theatre, Houki thrashing and vengefully hissing protests and threats on Nuriko all the way. Soi dropped her in the small sort of lobby area next to the doors (just an area where there was a bit of open floor) and physically held her down by pressing hard on her shoulders to keep her from going down and strangling Nuriko without any ceremony. If it was up to her, there would be a trumpet fanfare and banners and flags and an executioner, but they were too poor to afford it so there would be no killing of an actor. "Houki! Listen to me!" she hissed. "I know you want to strangle him! But you can't! We need him to act! Strangle him after closing night."
"He better get away from my Hotohori before then or… or Scrooge'll have no family left! He better! I'll stick 'im full of pins!"
"Sure, just after we're done with him."
Tomo emerged from the dressing room (having neatly arranged his robe on a hanger, just as Houki would want him to) and paused in the darkness to watch the minor drama unfolding on the stage. He snorted quietly. Why, of all days, had Nuriko picked today to start his Get Hotohori Forever campaign? It wasn't like Hotohori didn't have a girlfriend. Or was even gay. Which he wasn't, but try making Nuriko listen to reason sometimes. The guy definitely had selective hearing.
He returned to trying to figure out a way to alter his costume so it prominently displayed his makeup. He thought the colorful makeup would actually lend a lot to his costume, make the Ghost of Christmas Future look a lot more strange and twisted than had ever been accomplished before-
Hello floor.
He was suddenly face down on the dark, scratched wood flooring, a place he'd thought he'd never be and didn't want to be at any time. He tried getting his breath back, but it had exploded out of him with that first collision, then the rest trampled out when two more sets of feet ran right over him as if he was a speed bump.
"Sorry Tomo!" a quickly-retreating voice called, and he managed to weakly raise his head to see Miaka, Subaru, and Amiboshi (all now back in their regular clothing), ignoring the rather-ridiculous looking sort of silhouette of Hotohori and Nuriko, leap off the front of the stage and into the house. They raced midway up and turned suddenly in at a certain row, nearly colliding with each other as they abruptly stopped. Miaka's head disappeared for a moment as she bent over, then reappeared as she straightened triumphantly with a small package in hand. Tomo could barely make out the red plastic-paper before she was jumped on by Subaru and Amiboshi, each demanding their share.
The door next to him opened again, much more sedately this time, and a calm pair of feet approached him. A hand was extended into his field of vision and he gratefully gripped it, using it to haul himself to his feet as the owner of the hand also pulled him up. "I feel your pain no da." Chichiri was once again wearing his jeans and sweatshirt, and he watched the minor brawl in the house with a "poor them" expression on his face. "I told Miaka earlier that she could have my Skittles na no da, and when I told her where they were Subaru and Amiboshi overheard and well…"
"It's all right," Tomo wheezed. He nearly had his breath back. "It's not your fault they're uncontrollable around sugar."
"I guess they trampled you no da?"
"How'd you know?"
"Hey, have you two seen Subaru? Is she done yet?" Tokaki ran up to them, having finished his triumphant smirking over being in charge of so many easily manipulated freshmen (and also having finished his supervision of clean up). "I wanna get going, the movie's starting soon."
"What are you going to see no da?" Chichiri asked.
Tokaki shrugged. "I don't know, she's picking it. Might be one of those chick flicks."
"I thought you hated those no da…"
Tokaki grinned lecherously. "I do, but it'll be dark and probably not crowded…"
Tomo groaned. "I did NOT need that mental picture…"
"So, anyway, where is she?" He clapped his hands together, looking around for his girlfriend.
Chichiri solemnly pointed out at the house, where she and Amiboshi were currently struggling for possession of the package while Miaka stood on a chair and refereed, happily chewing her processed sugar.
Tokaki groaned.
"I know no da…"
Tasuki came out next, ignoring everything and racing up to the booth, jumping over the random things in his way (like Hotohori and Nuriko). He pulled the door open with a crash and dashed inside, quickly inhaling the comforting smell of lots of cardboard and the general feel of electricity. Even though they were technically in the same room, the stage and the booth had completely different feels and smells and could be at times different dimensions. He definitely did not like acting.
"So, how's mister ghost-man?" Koji called as he finished shutting down the light board and putting away various things.
"A lot better now that I'm outta those ******* things. Damnit, why couldn't they have picked somethin' modern?!" He groaned loudly, clearly demonstrating his animosity for everything Dickensian. He could live with the hair (if he didn't die from inhaling the fumes); in fact, when he had it brushed so it wasn't a stiff statue, and was in his typical clothing (baggy everything with a black leather jacket on top), he actually thought it looked kinda cool. Sort of rebel-like, in a way. Maybe he'd convince Soi to do it before school one day so he could freak out his teachers. But the costume… and the rest of the makeup… they should be taken to an incinerator and left there. "So, how'd everythin' go today? Give me some feedback, tell me what I gotta fix."
"Aside from that damn light, things went pretty well. One short that we fixed, and the board again, but you fixed that so we should be okay until next week." Koji tossed off the list nonchalantly, used to Tasuki always asking for a review.
"And I'm bringing a new CD so we don't die from torture," Mits muttered under his breath. "Whoever brought that one in the first place?"
"I don't know, but I wanna kill 'em. Wanna help?"
The door crashed open again. "Tasuki! You're here! Good! Look, take a look at these and tell me if they're all right, if they are then tomorrow I'll grab some people and start posting 'em." Suboshi rushed up and shoved the stack of holly-green paper quickly at him, looking like an over-eager puppy.
Tasuki took a careful step back from the enthusiastic publicist before inspecting the flyer. He mumbled something and nodded a bit, then placed the flyers back in Suboshi's hands. "Sure, they look fine. I just wish the administration would lighten up and let us put somethin' interesting on 'em for once…"
"I know, but they're too conservative. Hell, we had trouble getting one curse word past them in the one-act; they're definitely not gonna let us be 'original' on the flyers. But I can start posting them?"
He nodded. "Sure, go ahead. More time people have to notice 'em, more likely they are to come; more that come, more money we get."
"Exactly!" Suboshi rushed out the door in a flurry of paper.
Mitsukake was looking at Tasuki strangely. "I thought you didn't want this one to be heavily publicized…"
Tasuki sighed heavily, forcing himself to ignore Koji's smirks. "I don't, but we need the money pretty ******* desperately, especially if there's no duck tape to be found anywhere but the dressin' room. Speakin' of which, I'm draggin' you two to Home Depot tonight to help fix that oversight."
Koji and Mits nodded, both knowing that with Tasuki as their ride, reckless and scary driver as he was, they really didn't have a choice.
Back in the house, Miaka finally ruled in favor of Amiboshi and ended the tussle. Amiboshi yelled triumphantly and ran to collect his brother, Yui, and their stuff so they could go home, gulping the Skittles as he did so.
Subaru gave Miaka a very Deliberate Look. "Why'd you do that?"
"Because you're going to the movies tonight." Miaka just smiled sweetly as Subaru demanded to know what the hell that meant and hopped off the chair, racing back up the aisle to the stage (Subaru hot on her heels) and backstage. "Tamahomeeeeeeeee!" She pushed open the door to the makeup room, frightening Soi and Tamahome, who had removed about half of the green stuff from his face with special cleanser. Subaru skidded to a stop just before she crashed headlong into Miaka, catching sight of Tama over her head, and bursting out laughing.
"Hey, this is not a picnic to get off you know," Tamahome grumbled, going back to swiping at his hands with cotton pads as Soi attacked his face again.
"Of course not, but you look ridiculous!"
"Subaruuuuu…"
"I'm allowed to be truthful!"
"There you are!" Tokaki swooped down and wrapped an arm around Subaru's waist, grinning at her. "Ready to go?"
"Take a look at Tama-chan, he looks ridiculous, right?"
Tokaki glanced over obliviously, but double-taked to stare at him. "My god, she's right…"
"HEY!"
She grinned proudly. "See! I was right! Come on, let's go before all the tickets are sold." She grabbed him by the shoulder of his shirt and dragged him away. Miaka waved at their wake.
"Soi, are we leaving?" Tomo poked his head around the door. "We've got those papers for Lit to worry about, remember?"
"Yeah yeah, just give me a minute." Soi frowned in concentration as she scrubbed at Tamahome's forehead. "I've just gotta get him un-green… Damn, it shouldn't be this hard to get off…"
"It's not coming off?!" Tama jerked back in alarm.
"Well, it won't if you won't stay still!" She yanked him back to where she needed him and kept scrubbing.
"Soiiiiiiii! Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaasse let me kill hiiiiiiiiim!" Houki slipped in through a gap in the door and grabbed the taller girl's hand, a crazed/pleading look plastered on her face. "Please please please please PLEASE!"
Soi groaned and gave up on de-greening Tama for the night. "I thought he would have been the last male you'd kill…"
"Not when he's doing what he's doing!"
"What's he doing?"
"Who's 'he'?" Miaka piped up.
"Loooooooook!"
"Houki! Come on, we're going!" Hotohori's voice rang through the theatre, echoing nicely in the acoustics. All four of them (Soi, Miaka, Tamahome, and Tomo) peered out to see what exactly was making Houki so irate, and as one their jaws dropped.
For some strange, inexplicable reason, Hotohori was literally… holding Nuriko. No kidding. He'd easily picked up the smaller boy, who had seemed too weak to walk, and was going to carry him to his car.
Soi opened her mouth to try and speak, but closed it again, then tried once more, but her voice emerged as a squeak. She quickly swallowed and gave it another shot. "Y-Yes Houki, I think you can kill him now…"
"Come on Houki, I have to take you home first today, I'm sorry," Hotohori called. "Nuriko isn't feeling well, I have to make sure he's all right."
Chichiri wandered up, remembering his promise to Miaka earlier and wanting to get it over with while he actually had money (in other words, ASAP). "Miaka-chan, where do you want to eat no da?"
"Soi, can I go home with you?"
Soi nodded wordlessly.
"Go on ahead without me, I'm going to help Soi for awhile!"
No one (except Hotohori) missed Nuriko's victorious grin as they left the theatre.
AUTHOR'S NOTES II: Raise your hands if you have actually experienced any of this! ~_~ I KNOW I missed my self-imposed deadline for finishing this thing, but as I was considering not finishing it AT ALL this is actually good. May the Theatre God grant you much duck tape in your future!
Unofficial Official Soundtrack: Otome Ranman, by Sakamoto Chika-san (Nuriko's seiyuu!) because it's so upbeat and perky and happy! ~_~
Kaze-chan's Favorite Line: This is a REALLY HARD one, but it's probably "DAMN woman, why the hell'd you have to go and hit me with your shoe?!" - Tokaki to Subaru, in chapter 2. What was your favorite line? ~_~