27/12/02

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

*smiles*

Thank you everyone for all your support.  *hugs*  It really means a lot to me that people do still follow this, even though updates are few and far between.  And a couple of people said that they liked Hitoshi.  ^^  Thanks.  Not sure if he'll feature much from now on…  But I hope you guys like Minoru too.

Anyone not aware of it:  I've added the fourth part to Edition 1.  I'm just sorry that it's taken me so long…

This chapter; totally new material.  *beams*  And a scene that you won't find mentioned at all in the 1st edition.  Or at least I very much doubt it will be.

Any case, there's a new piece of information in this that's very key to the plot...but that I've so far neglected to mention, and should hopefully put a completely different spin on things.  ^_^ 

Well, I won't keep you any longer, I hope you enjoy the next part.

~

Late Night Radio (Edition 2) Pt.3

While you were Sleeping...

Yamato awoke, as someone was gently shaking him by the shoulder and calling his name.

"Yamato?  Yamato, we're here."

"We're where?" he mumbled, sleepily opening his eyes.  He was met with the sight of Hitoshi staring at him, concerned in a paternal way.

"At your hotel." the chauffeur told him.

"My...  Oh." he said, and nodded as snippets of information reported back to him.  Yes, that was right, the tour was finished, which meant that he had some time off to use exactly as he pleased.  What's more, he felt completely relaxed, and far happier than he would have expected to feel.  He frowned slightly.  Now why was that?  And why did his left side feel oddly warm?  He turned his head to look, and his breath caught in his throat.

"Taichi..." he whispered softly, tenderly.  The brunette made no response, still being deep in sleep, but gave a soft sigh, and snuggled closer to him.  Yamato gently smoothed a stray lock of hair away from the brunette's face, and carefully studied his features.  He absently thought how he really ought to be getting cramp down his left side because of Taichi leaning against him...only he wasn't.  All he felt was comfortable, and warm, and safe, although really those weren't physical sensations but emotional ones...

Hitoshi coughed gently to try and regain the blonde's attention, as the blue eyes had taken on a slightly vacant look that meant that his mind was drifting.  The singer's gaze drifted back to him.

"Hmm?" he said, his mind obviously still elsewhere.

"Your hotel, you want to go inside?" the chauffeur prompted.

"Yes." Yamato said, shaking his head from side to side in an attempt to wake himself up.  "Yes, that might be a good idea."

"You feeling okay?"

"Yeah..." he replied, stifling a yawn.  "I'm just feeling kinda tired."

"Well, I'm not surprised." Hitoshi tsked.  "After all you did stay up half, correction, all the night!"

"Aw, shut up..." he grinned affectionately.  "You're worse than my Dad!"

"Well, I expect you don't tell your father the half of what you get to."

"Hitoshi, I'm twenty-three.  As far as he's concerned I can do what I like now.  I'm not a kid anymore, I'll have you know."

"Be that as it may, you still need your sleep."

"I have to agree with you fully on that one..." he said as he yawned again.  "I haven't felt this tired in ages..."

"Then we'd better get you into this hotel without any further delay, hadn't we?" Hitoshi answered with a grin, and opened the door to get out.

Once he had left, Yamato turned back to Taichi.  Carefully, he shifted the brunette so that he was no longer leaning so completely against him.  Gently, so as not to wake his friend, he shifted towards the open door, all the time supporting Tai to make sure that he would not fall.  Having now managed to manoeuvre himself out of the limousine, he let the brunette lie full length across the seat whilst he took a step back to decide what he was going to do next.

How exactly was he going to get Taichi into the hotel?  Well, the obvious thing to do would be to wake him, but he felt oddly reluctant to do that.  He looked so peaceful, and he'd been so tired before that it just didn't seem fair...  The blonde smiled to himself.  Now that that option had been ruled out, there was really only one other viable way that he could think of.

Leaning back into the limousine, he gently gathered the brunette up into his arms.  He carefully lifted him out so as not to bump him as he moved him through the narrow doorway.  Now that had worked rather well...  His gaze fell on the trunk.  Ah.  Maybe there was a problem after all...

Hitoshi, who had been standing patiently holding the door open whilst all this had been going on, noticed the look on his face.  He followed the blonde's gaze, and guessed what it was that was going though his mind.

"I'll sort out the luggage Ishida-san.  Don't you worry about that.  Just get yourself inside." he said, shooing him towards the doors.  Yamato smiled his thanks, and complied.

It was a good job that this was an expensive hotel, Yamato thought, as a smiling doorman opened the doors to let him pass through into the building within.  Otherwise there wouldn't be a doorman, and he'd have gotten into difficulties trying to get into the damn building as well...  How they could be so cheerful at this time in the morning, however, was incomprehensible.  Seriously, did they go through some special training, or did they have plastic surgery so that they couldn't do anything but smile?  Or were they just naturally like that?  God knows he wouldn't have been able to smile all the time, and at all hours too...

He had reached the reception desk by that point, and so discontinued that thoroughly random train of thought.  He had been quiet enough in his approach that the receptionist hadn't yet looked up.  He would have pressed the bell to get her attention, only both arms being full of a sleeping Taichi made it rather impossible to do so.  He settled on just actually speaking to her as the best way to go.

"Hi, I have a reservation for a room here."

"Okay Mr-" she looked up, and when she did so, she smiled, obviously recognising him.  But this wasn't the huge grin that he so often saw when fans noticed him out and about, and ran up to him.  No, this was a much more gentle smile, one that was used to greet a friend.  As soon as she had looked up, Yamato had recognised her instantly, and had smiled back.

"Minoru!" he exclaimed in surprise.  "I didn't know you were working today."

"Oh, I'm touched.  You make it sound as if you'd rather I wasn't here."

"I didn't mean-"

"I know you didn't, Yamato, I was just teasing you."  She turned to the computer on her desk, and began looking through the database.  "The penthouse suite, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"You know, maybe we should rename it the 'Yamato Ishida Suite'." she said with a grin.  "You seem to be in it often enough."

"Oh, very funny." he said, giving her a withering look that only succeeded in making her laugh.  "I think not.  You really want to be swamped with a hoard of fans trying to book that room simply because I've stayed in it?"

"You're so modest!"

"It's true!" he protested.  "They would.  I know they would.  They're practically camped out in the corridors outside my room in other hotels when they've managed to find out which one I'm in.  I've had to escape down the fire escape before..."

"I know, I was just teasing you again.  You never seem to quite notice when I am though."

"Maybe that's because you do it all the time."

"Then surely you should have picked up on when I'm not being serious by now..."

"No, because when I said you do it all the time, I meant all the time!  As in everything you say to me seems to be to tease me in some way, and that I assume that you have to be being serious at least some of the time...  Trouble is, it's pure guesswork as to which bit is which, because they all sound the same!"

"Ouch, it bites!"

"Oh, very funny..."

"Ah-ha!" she laughed.  "You got that I was teasing you that time!"

"As I said before," he said, with a mischievous grin playing on his features, "Pure guesswork."

"Oh, you're impossible." she scolded.  "Anyway, I had better get your keys, and get a porter to take you up there as you seem to have your hands full."

"What?" he said in surprise, and looked down.  He blinked.  How the hell could he have forgotten that he was carrying Taichi?!  It's not exactly easy to forget that you were carrying someone, for God's sake...  It was just...  It felt all too natural holding the brunette close to him, to such a degree that he was only subconsciously aware of him being there, because it felt as though he were meant to be close to him.  As if the brunette was an integral part of him...  But no, that was just the tiredness talking, and playing about with his thoughts...  Right?

"Yeah, I guess..." he murmured quietly.

Minoru looked at him curiously at the change in his voice.  Then, quite unexpectedly, to Yamato at least, she stood up and leaned over the counter so that she could take a closer look at the sleeping brunette.

"Hmm, he's a real cutie, that's for sure..." she said after a moment of reflection, sitting back down.  Then she sighed.  "You lucky thing."

"What?" he exclaimed, taken aback.

"I wish I had as many cute guys flock to me as you have flock to you."

"No." he shook his head vigorously.  "Minoru, I think you're reading more into this than there really is."

"Am I?"

"Yes." he insisted.  "Taichi is just an old school-friend of mine.  That is all.  Why doesn't anyone seem to believe me when I tell them that?"

"Well, you have to admit that it does look a little suspicious..."

"Why?" he asked, exasperated.

"Because you're holding him in your arms?"

"Carrying him.  There's a significant difference.  And before you ask why I'm carrying him, it's because he works nights, and he was tired enough to just fall asleep.  He looked so peaceful I just didn't have the heart to wake him...  So I thought that the best solution for all would to just simply carry him."

"That's another thing that looks suspicious.  I mean, taking him up to your hotel room?  There could be talk..."

"You're not going to start spreading rumours are you?"

"Do you really think so little of me?" she asked, looking genuinely hurt.

"Of course not..." he soothed, then smirked.  "Can't you tell when I'm just teasing?"

"Oh you..." she glared at him.  "Though I suppose I deserved that one.  But you still never answered my question as to why you're taking him up to your room."

"I guess it's because I don't want to risk losing touch with him again, y'know?" he said quietly, gazing at Taichi's face as he slept.  "When we lost touch, I really missed him.  If I drop him off somewhere else, then things might come up, and we might not be able to meet and catch up.  And then we might lose touch for good, and never run into each other again...  But if I let him sleep here, then we'll be together..."

He trailed off into silence, and Minoru, watching him carefully, noticed the slight dulling of his usually brilliant blue eyes, and the sadness that suffused his features.

"It sounds like you really missed him a lot..."

"Yeah...  And you know the worst thing?"

"What?"

"I don't even know why we lost touch.  I mean, we were best friends and everything, we didn't have a major falling out...  Actually we'd promised each other that we'd never lose touch."  He sighed deeply.  "I don't know what happened.  One day he just upped and left without a single word.  This is the first time I've seen him since then..."

"How long ago was that?" the receptionist asked quietly, moved and saddened by the emotion showing so clearly in his voice.

"Five long years..."

He was surprised when Minoru reached out and placed one of her hands cool against his cheek.  Looking into her eyes questioningly, he saw compassion there, and was suddenly aware of how tired he felt.

"Come on, you'd better get on up to your room, you look beat." she smiled warmly.  She turned to the other receptionist at the desk.  "Kai, hold the fort whilst I take Ishida-san up to his suite."

Kai glanced briefly at Yamato with star-struck awe, before speechlessly nodding his agreement.

"Thanks." she smiled, grabbing the correct keys from the rack and walking out from behind the counter, her heels clicking on the polished floor.  She signalled one of the porters to carry Yamato's bags before leading the singer towards the elevators.

"Poor boy." she said quietly as they moved away from the counter, inclining her head slightly towards Kai, who was still looking stunned.  "He's new here, and I don't think that he was quite aware that people like you stay here fairly often."

"What do you mean 'people like me'?"

"Nothing bad...  Just...more than slightly famous." she grinned.  "You're the first star we've had here since he began...and just about our most famous patron at that."

"I'm flattered." he grinned, blushing a little.

"Good, because if you weren't then you'd be getting a big head."

"Listen, Minoru, you don't have to do this..."

"Do what?"

"Go out of your way to help me.  I mean, this isn't exactly in your job-description-"

"Don't be silly!  I'm more than happy to help stop you walking into doors.  And besides which I could use the chance to stretch my legs, there isn't exactly much room behind that counter.  Oops, budge up a bit will you?" she said o Yamato, as they shifted aside to make room in the elevator for the porter.

"Er, hey!" the blonde said suddenly as the doors began to close.  "What about Hitoshi, I forgot to say thanks..."

"He waved to me after he'd given the bags to the porter, and then I think he left."

"Oh." he said, looking troubled.

"Yamato, I'm sure he won't think that you were being rude, if that's what you're worried about.  In fact, I know he won't."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely, so stop looking like that!  He knew that you were tired, and had other things on your mind...  So he's not going to blame you if it momentarily slipped your mind."

"How do you know that?" he asked incredulously.  "You didn't speak to him!"

"Anyone who knows you, and has talked with you a couple of times can tell that simply by looking at you." she said seriously.  "Anyway..." she continued as the lift chimed, and they all stepped out onto the top floor.  The singer didn't mind her taking charge of the conversation, as he was feeling too tired to say much as it was, and her voice had a soothing quality to it.  She unlocked and opened the door to the penthouse suite, and held it wide whilst Yamato manoeuvred himself and the still slumbering Taichi into the room beyond.  "To go back to what I was saying before...  You could do a lot worse than having me help you.  I, at least, don't spread false rumours, unlike some people..."

She shot a stern glance in the direction of the porter, who was carefully placing Yamato's bags just inside the doorway.  The man flushed a deep red at her comment, mumbled something unintelligible, and hastily backed out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Minoru, do you terrify all the staff like that?"

"The point needed to be made." she said, still glaring after the porter, and clicked her tongue disapprovingly.  "I don't know why women are made out to be the worst when it comes to spreading gossip...  That porter is one of the worst for spreading rumours out of all the people that I know!  Really I would have rathered that one of the others had taken up your bags, but it wouldn't have done to make a scene, and besides which he'd already seen you.

"Any case, he knows I'm going to be keeping an eye on him now, so it should be fine.  He won't be spreading any rumours if he knows what's good for him..."  The blonde didn't know quite how to feel about the glint in her eyes; whether to be relieved that his privacy wasn't going to be invaded, or whether to worry for the safety of others.  "Oh, but listen to me rambling on...  You're meant to be getting some rest!"

She opened the door leading to the bedroom, and smiled.  It wasn't a smile with an edge to it that said 'bedroom, and you know what happens there', but a gentle, warm smile between friends.

"You really do spoil me y'know..."

"Well, somebody has to take care of you Yamato..."

She smiled again, and exited before he had the time to find his voice to respond.

"I wonder what she meant by that..." he said quietly to himself, and yawned.  He walked the few steps to the king-size bed that dominated the bedroom, and carefully laid Taichi on it.  After some moments of deliberation, he removed his friend's shoes, but left him otherwise fully dressed, and tucked the blanket around the brunette.

Yamato yawned again as he slowly walked back to the lounge area, massaging the back of his neck with one hand.  He paused in the doorway, and looked back.

"Sleep well, Taichi..." he whispered, pulling the door shut behind him.  "And don't think that I'll be letting you vanish without an explanation this time, because you haven't got a chance if you do..."

Wearily, he flopped down onto the sofa, and shut his eyes.  He didn't bother getting changed.  He didn't even bother taking off his shoes.  What he did do was promise himself that he was going to get to the bottom of the matter about Taichi, come hell or high water... 

And that was all that he had time to do before sleep claimed him mere moments later.

To Be Continued...

~

So, did you see that coming?  (And if you did, I would love to know where you got your information from! ^^)

Meh, am trying to write the forth part of this, which is not going at all well.  *sighs*  So if I were you, I wouldn't expect to see it for a while.  So until then, if you'd like to tell me what you thought of the new revelation, or the fic in general so far, then I'd be obliged.  ^_^  It might just help to shift my WB which is still persisting...