A wide variety of both Eastern and Western dishes were laid out on the
kitchen table, their aromas inviting diners to sample them. All of them had
been prepared with great care and the chef was in a real hurry to finish
what she was cooking in a frypan over the stove.
Yuki stood in the doorway looking confused. A banquet lay out before a man who hadn't had a decent breakfast in over five years was quite baffling. Her ran his hand through his messy hair and looked at Lily wearily.
She scooped the eggs onto a plate before placing it on the table along with the other dishes. She untied the apron she was wearing and hurried over to the fridge to grab some beers and orange juice.
"What's this?" Yuki demanded to know.
Lily pulled her head out of the fridge and looked over at him. She smiled and carried the collection of beverages in her arms over to the table, kicking the fridge door closed with a small nag kick.
"Morning!" she said brightly.
Her face was still pale and thin and there were still some rings around her eyes despite her large amount of recent slumber, but her body seemed to have recovered a little and her attitude had improved a lot from the previous evening.
"I made you some breakfast but if you don't want it you can just chuck some Gladwrap over it and throw it in the fridge for another day. Shuichi's already had his fair share and left so you can go nuts," Lily said grabbing a glass from the cupboard.
Yuki's dazed state wore off and he decided that this kid wasn't so bad. After all, she cooked, cleaned and kept out of his way. Perhaps he could discuss a trade with Seguchi.
Lily looked at her watch and pulled a face of alarm. She finished setting out the cutlery and walked past Yuki to grab her bag and leave. She had an appointment to keep.
Yuki grabbed the back of her T-shirt and she turned back to look at him curiously.
"Be at the Honya book store at two," he said letting go of her and heading towards the banquet.
"I was actually going to go to sch-"
"School will be there tomorrow," Yuki said without turning around. "And you would have missed half the day by the time you're finished at wherever it is you're going."
Lily thought about that philosophy for a second before shrugging her shoulders. It made sense to do what Yuki said, it was safe.
With another quick glance at her watch Lily scooped an Obento bag off of the kitchen bench and hurried out of the apartment.
**********************************************
"I AM LOOKING FOR THIS GIRL!" a boy shouted very loudly in English at a man in the street while waving a photo of a young girl in his face.
The man threw some money at the blonde boy and then hurried away. The boy sighed and sagged down onto the pavement. That had been the twelfth person who had done that and he'd been trying to find the girl even since he'd stepped off of the plane three days ago.
Perhaps he should have listened to his mother and learnt some of the lingo before buying his ticket. He'd been sure that if he yelled at people loud enough in English they would understand.
Oh well, with all the money people had thrown at him that morning maybe he could buy a Japanese dictionary. All he had to do was ask for directions to the closest bookstore. Great, there was another challenge.
'Where the hell are you?' he wondered as he looked at the photo. 'Who would have thought it would have been this hard to find a single person in Tokyo?'
He sighed and slowly got up. Perhaps it was time for some breakfast; he'd developed quite a liking for salmon and miso soup. He picked up his backpack and all the money that had been thrown at him and stood up.
"Dear sir or madam will you read my book?" a girl walking past sang, horribly out of tune and not caring.
'Geez how lame,' the boy thought as he walked in the opposite direction. 'My Dad likes the Beatles but for a girl my age to be a fan is really sad.'
"It took me years to write will you take a look?" The voice started to fade into the crowd as the boy walked up the street.
He suddenly stopped, swore and ran back towards the voice, his thin figure weaving in and out of the crowd. The wind picked up and his hat blew off.
"Shit!" he yelled loudly as he dashed back for the bucket hat before running back towards the girl. She was easy to spot because like him she was about a foot taller than everyone else in the street, but it was difficult to push through the crowd.
"Paperback writer! Paperback writer!"
Joan abruptly stopped as a boy her age with green eyes jumped in front of her and grabbed her arms tightly.
"Tell me you speak English!" he screamed hysterically shaking her so hard that her earphones fell out.
"Yes, yes I do!" Joan said pulling away. "What's the matter?"
"I need to find this girl," the boy puffed and held up the aged photo.
"Eh? Why are you looking for Lily chan?"
*********************************************
"Lily kun stop bloody fidgeting!" Dr Sullivan yelled as Lily wiggled, squirmed and pushed the American doctor away as she tried to touch her.
"It hurts!" Lily snapped back and sat up on the patient bed that was in Dr Sullivan's office. "And stopped calling me a boy already!"
"When did I call you a boy?"
"You use Kun for boys, San for girls and people older than you and Chan to people you're affectionate towards," Lily explained with a sigh.
Things weren't going well. Lily was so tender around her chest area it wasn't funny and Dr Sullivan had already decided that she needed X-rays done.
"I guess that explains why all the nurses look at me funny," Dr Sullivan said with a laugh.
Dr Sullivan was far from your typical doctor. She was young, wore blue jeans, a red sweater that matched her short hair and spoke to her patients in a language they could understand- not medical mumbo jumbo. She did however wear a long white coat over her clothes, but purely because she liked it.
"All right kid you win this round," she said with a sigh of defeat. "Put your top back on, you're making my cup size jealous."
Lily laughed and pulled her T-shirt back on. Dr Sullivan wheeled her chair over to her computer and Lily hopped off of the bed to look over her shoulder.
"Says here you got some painkillers and a Ventolin here a few nights ago," she said as she brought up Lily's file.
"It's true, and I passed out too," Lily said honestly, "and a few days before I had an attack." There was no point in lying to a doctor for they found out everything anyway.
"That's not good," Dr Sullivan said slowly looking at her with a concerned expression.
"Yea I know," Lily said sitting in a chair next to the computer. "But while I'm here, can I ask you for a refill for my painkillers? I'm all out."
"You're only supposed to use them when you really need to," Dr Sullivan said sternly and typed some more.
"I did," Lily said honestly. "And can I have a new Ventolin too? Actually can I have two? It's always handy to have a spare on hand."
"Lily I'm going to be honest," Dr Sullivan stopped typing and swirled around to look Lily in the eye. "From the sound of things it sounds like you're heading backwards here. I'm going to send you down to the X-ray department now and I'm going to take a longer look at your current situation a little later. I'll need you to come back in few days."
"Doc to be honest I really don't-"
"I know, I know," the doctor said raising her hand to stop Lily talking. "I'd hate the sight of doctors and all this medical stuff too if I were you. Long term hospitalisation can do that to a person, but for now just humour me and do what I ask ok? I'm looking out for you here."
"Yea, you're right," Lily said with a sigh and slouched down.
"Now X-ray is expecting you in fifteen and remember to take it easy," Dr Sullivan said tapping Lily on the head with her pen.
"Right, take it easy, use your puffer, take your regular medication, call your doctor at the first sign of trouble and stay out of the way of irritants," Lily recited the rules that had been drummed into her head over several years.
"That's the stuff!" Dr Sullivan said with a smile. "Now scoot."
**********************************************
Shuichi hummed to Glaring Dream as he walked back to recording room from his interview with a magazine. The topic had been the new song for Tokyo Bay Music Festival and the reporter had been overjoyed that Shuichi had a new song lined up for the performance. He'd forgotten to mention of course all the help he'd been given by a certain somebody with a certain shoebox.
'Maybe I should dedicate the song to Christina's memory,' he thought as he came to the right door. 'I think that Sakuma san would like that.'
He opened the door but stopped suddenly when he heard a familiar voice.
"Oh Fujisaki san it's so big!"
'That's Lily chan!' Shuichi thought with his ears picking up. 'I wonder what she's doing here.'
"Well I really have to thank my Father for it," he heard Fujisaki say happily.
"I've seen it and played with it before but now that I stand back and look at it I realise how awesome it really is," Lily gushed.
Shuichi's hand flew to his mouth as he jumped to a very bad conclusion.
"Well how about we go at it?" Fujisaki suggested.
"Can we?" Lily asked happily.
"Sure, let's do it. Doing it with you is a privilege. How'd you like to do it?"
"Let's start slow then speed up to a really fast finish."
"My you are daring. Would you like to sit or stand while we do it?"
"Can I sit? I still find it awkward to stand and do it."
Shuichi had heard enough. The door flew off of its hinges and nearly hit K on the other side of the room.
"Fujisaki you dammed pervert!" he screamed hysterically. "How could you be so disgusting? She's only thirteen and you're stealing her innocence! You lewd, you pervert you."
Shuichi stopped when he saw the very confused looks that he was receiving from both Fujisaki and Lily. The two of them were standing behind Fujisaki's keyboard that his father had given him and Lily had played and was about to perform a duet on while sitting down.
"Is something wrong Shindo san?" the young keyboard player asked nervously.
A huge sweat drop formed on Shuichi's head and he stood there like a stoned mullet for quite a while. He then shook his head and let out a loud fake laugh as Lily tried to hide a smile.
"So eh, Lily chan, what brings you here?" he asked quickly.
"You forgot your lunch," she said with a smile and popped an Obento bag into his hands.
Hiro snickered and Shuichi's embarrassment meter rose even higher. It was like being back in school except now there was Lily chan instead of his mother.
"Thanks," he said patting her on the head and hid the bag behind his back. "But shouldn't you be at school?"
"Actually I have plans with Yuki san this afternoon," Lily said brightly.
Shuichi's hand fell on her brown head and didn't rise again. Perhaps he had misheard.
"What plans?"
"I don't know to be honest," she said with a shrug. "He didn't say much about it except that I have to meet him at a bookstore. I guess that I'm helping him with his novels or something."
"Yuki asked you to meet him," Shuichi said slowly, twisting some brown strands between his fingers.
"Yep," Lily chirped.
"Yuki wants you to help him." His hand clenched Lily's hair, starting to pull hard.
"Oww Shuichi could you-"
"Yuki never wants me to meet him! Yuki never wants me to help him! Yuki wants you instead! How dare he choose you over me!" Shuichi was shouting loudly as he cried. The others in the room had to jump back to not get soaked in his tears.
"What do you have that I don't? What do I have to do to get Yuki to ask me for help? I can cook! I can clean! I can read really intellectual literature if I try! I could learn English!"
"My hair! My hair!"
There was a frightening bang and Shuichi fell to the ground, Lily's hair relinquished. She stood back and looked at Shuichi's thin figure sprawled out on the carpet.
"Is he ok?" she asked nervously patting her hair down.
"He'll be fine,' K assured her as he placed his gun back in its holster. "You'd best toddle along now Lily chan, you have to meet Yuki don't you?"
"Yukiiiii," Shuichi groaned from the floor.
"Yea, you're right," Lily said and with a quick goodbye left the recording room and headed for the elevator.
If she had of turned around she would have spotted him. Watching sadly from afar.
**********************************************
"I'm here," Lily said and Yuki turned to look at her.
As he sat at the table in the Romance section of the bookshop he noted how she seemed to have lost some of the exuberance she'd shown that morning when she had served him the gourmet breakfast.
"Just how many chemicals did they pump into you at the hospital?" he asked with his cigarette moving up and down.
"None this time but Doc Sullivan said that.." Lily broke off and gave Yuki a surprised look. "How did you know that's where I was?"
"Knowledge is power and I like power," Yuki said with an air of mystery and handed her a bag. "Go and get changed into that."
"Why do-"
Yuki glared and Lily scurried off to get changed. After a few minutes she came back feeling embarrassed; after all you would be too if you were wearing a long pink dress that was covered in frills and bows.
"Is this yours?" Lily asked him as she looked down at the dress. She felt like a doll that had been dressed up for a tea party with Mr Bear and Mrs Rag doll.
As second later Lily was holding her head as a bump popped up.
"Sorry, sorry," Lily muttered as she rubbed her head. "But since I'm here can you tell me why I'm wearing this?"
"You're cute," Yuki said sitting back down at the table and reached into a box that was beside him. "You're far too young to sell anything with sex appeal and I don't feel like doing autographs, so using your cuteness and my literary genius I'm going to sell a large amount of my past best sellers before the new book comes out next month."
Talk about a cold irony. Lily had to stand around selling books by the man who had written the book she'd criticised in the park.
"You really are a vindictive and dirty minded old man," Lily said with a glare.
"Absolutely," he agreed with a grin and stacked some more books up on the table. "Now get to work."
**********************************************
"Shindo san!!!!!!!"
Shuichi stopped walking down the street and whirled around as someone screamed at him. It was blowing a gale and the dark clouds in the sky looked ominous so he was a little annoyed to be stopping for what he assumed would be a crazy fan wanting an autograph.
He saw however that the person calling his name was none other than Joan, long pigtails flapping in the breeze with one hand waving and the other clutching a boy's wrist as she dragged him behind her.
She skidded to halt in front of him and the boy looked somewhat dazed. Joan's energetic nature had that kind of effect on people.
"Shindo san, do you, do you know where Lily is?" Joan panted.
Shuichi crossed his arms and pointed his nose up like a little kid.
"Why don't you go ask Yuki that? I'm sure he'll know. He clearly likes Lily better than me!" he snapped and looked away.
"Don't give me crap for I'll kick you in the bullocks," Joan snapped, talking to Shuichi like he was one of her younger siblings. She'd spent most of the day trying to find him so she wasn't really in the mood for a spoiled brat attitude.
Shuichi feared for his privates and dropped the attitude.
"I've gotta go and pick Daisy, Benjamin and Jamie up from school so take Artemis to wherever Lily is ok?" Joan said with a voice of authority and pushed the skinny boy in Shuichi's direction.
"Yes ma'm," Shuichi gulped. "Who is this guy anyway?"
"An old school mate or team mate or something," Joan said impatiently. "Don't bother asking him yourself because he can't speak a word of Japanese."
She then turned back to the boy called Artemis and jabbered at him in English for a second. Shuichi was just able to make out his name in the string of unknown words.
"This is Shuichi," Joan explained, "he'll take you to Lily ok?"
"Shoe's Itchy?" Artemis asked with a frown.
"No," Joan said with a sigh. She'd been trying to teach him some Japanese but to be brutally honest the boy couldn't learn a second language to save his life.
"Shu-ich-ee," Joan said slowly and wiggling her fingers at the singer. "Now just follow him and you'll be right, and get Lily to call me. Good luck."
Giving a quick hug to both guys she dashed off for the Primary school.
"So, you can't understand a word I'm saying right?" Shuichi asked the boy in the hat who was his equal in height.
"What?" Artemis asked.
"Eh, come on," Shuichi said awkwardly and pulled Artemis along by his sleeve.
**********************************************
Lily was tired, had a sore mouth from smiling, was sick of the repetition of "Thankyou very much" and wanted desperately to burn the dress she was wearing.
Yuki on the other hand was having a great time. Women had flocked in off of the streets to say how cute Lily was and all of them had bought books. Now the store was full of gushing women asking Lily for hugs and the dollars were raking in.
If this kept up he might just have to buy another dress for the release of the new book next month. A high pitched voice put an end to Yuki's good mood.
"Yuki what are you doing?" Shuichi squealed as he saw Lily selling books in her bright pink dress.
"Using your friend to boost my book sales," Yuki said simply and lit up a new cigarette. "Her cuteness appeals to people and I'm using that to help myself."
"But Yuki!"
"Shut up!"
Shuichi crossed his arms pouting and Yuki saw the blonde boy watching Lily.
"Whoever he is he's not moving in," Yuki said with a glare in Artemis' direction.
"Huh? Oh no he's Lily's friend or something," Shuichi explained. "I just brought him here to see her."
"Well make sure he keeps his hands to himself. I don't want my property to become used goods. She needs to stay pure if she's going to be cute," Yuki said after taking a long drag.
"What do you mean your property?" his lover demanded, hands on hips. "She's not your daughter!"
"No but I've decided that she's useful to my profession. And its not like Sakuma Ryuichi is putting her to good use right now is he?"
"Yuki," Shuichi growled in a low voice and was about to flip his lid.
"Thankyou very much!" Lily said with fake brightness and handed over the last book to a lady.
"Ok kid we're done," Yuki said looking at his watch. She'd been at it for about four hours straight.
"Thankyou very much!" Lily said in a wobbly voice. She felt like crying with relief.
"Hey Lily chan look who I brought!" Shuichi chirped. He no longer felt jealous of Lily after seeing what Yuki had made her do. She could sell his books for four hours in a horrible dress any time she wanted. The pleasure was all hers.
Lily took her face out of her hands and looked up. She hadn't noticed Shuichi arrive with all the money swapping going on.
Her blue eyes fell on the boy and she dropped the money she about to hand over to Yuki.
"Well I'll be God damned."
Yuki stood in the doorway looking confused. A banquet lay out before a man who hadn't had a decent breakfast in over five years was quite baffling. Her ran his hand through his messy hair and looked at Lily wearily.
She scooped the eggs onto a plate before placing it on the table along with the other dishes. She untied the apron she was wearing and hurried over to the fridge to grab some beers and orange juice.
"What's this?" Yuki demanded to know.
Lily pulled her head out of the fridge and looked over at him. She smiled and carried the collection of beverages in her arms over to the table, kicking the fridge door closed with a small nag kick.
"Morning!" she said brightly.
Her face was still pale and thin and there were still some rings around her eyes despite her large amount of recent slumber, but her body seemed to have recovered a little and her attitude had improved a lot from the previous evening.
"I made you some breakfast but if you don't want it you can just chuck some Gladwrap over it and throw it in the fridge for another day. Shuichi's already had his fair share and left so you can go nuts," Lily said grabbing a glass from the cupboard.
Yuki's dazed state wore off and he decided that this kid wasn't so bad. After all, she cooked, cleaned and kept out of his way. Perhaps he could discuss a trade with Seguchi.
Lily looked at her watch and pulled a face of alarm. She finished setting out the cutlery and walked past Yuki to grab her bag and leave. She had an appointment to keep.
Yuki grabbed the back of her T-shirt and she turned back to look at him curiously.
"Be at the Honya book store at two," he said letting go of her and heading towards the banquet.
"I was actually going to go to sch-"
"School will be there tomorrow," Yuki said without turning around. "And you would have missed half the day by the time you're finished at wherever it is you're going."
Lily thought about that philosophy for a second before shrugging her shoulders. It made sense to do what Yuki said, it was safe.
With another quick glance at her watch Lily scooped an Obento bag off of the kitchen bench and hurried out of the apartment.
**********************************************
"I AM LOOKING FOR THIS GIRL!" a boy shouted very loudly in English at a man in the street while waving a photo of a young girl in his face.
The man threw some money at the blonde boy and then hurried away. The boy sighed and sagged down onto the pavement. That had been the twelfth person who had done that and he'd been trying to find the girl even since he'd stepped off of the plane three days ago.
Perhaps he should have listened to his mother and learnt some of the lingo before buying his ticket. He'd been sure that if he yelled at people loud enough in English they would understand.
Oh well, with all the money people had thrown at him that morning maybe he could buy a Japanese dictionary. All he had to do was ask for directions to the closest bookstore. Great, there was another challenge.
'Where the hell are you?' he wondered as he looked at the photo. 'Who would have thought it would have been this hard to find a single person in Tokyo?'
He sighed and slowly got up. Perhaps it was time for some breakfast; he'd developed quite a liking for salmon and miso soup. He picked up his backpack and all the money that had been thrown at him and stood up.
"Dear sir or madam will you read my book?" a girl walking past sang, horribly out of tune and not caring.
'Geez how lame,' the boy thought as he walked in the opposite direction. 'My Dad likes the Beatles but for a girl my age to be a fan is really sad.'
"It took me years to write will you take a look?" The voice started to fade into the crowd as the boy walked up the street.
He suddenly stopped, swore and ran back towards the voice, his thin figure weaving in and out of the crowd. The wind picked up and his hat blew off.
"Shit!" he yelled loudly as he dashed back for the bucket hat before running back towards the girl. She was easy to spot because like him she was about a foot taller than everyone else in the street, but it was difficult to push through the crowd.
"Paperback writer! Paperback writer!"
Joan abruptly stopped as a boy her age with green eyes jumped in front of her and grabbed her arms tightly.
"Tell me you speak English!" he screamed hysterically shaking her so hard that her earphones fell out.
"Yes, yes I do!" Joan said pulling away. "What's the matter?"
"I need to find this girl," the boy puffed and held up the aged photo.
"Eh? Why are you looking for Lily chan?"
*********************************************
"Lily kun stop bloody fidgeting!" Dr Sullivan yelled as Lily wiggled, squirmed and pushed the American doctor away as she tried to touch her.
"It hurts!" Lily snapped back and sat up on the patient bed that was in Dr Sullivan's office. "And stopped calling me a boy already!"
"When did I call you a boy?"
"You use Kun for boys, San for girls and people older than you and Chan to people you're affectionate towards," Lily explained with a sigh.
Things weren't going well. Lily was so tender around her chest area it wasn't funny and Dr Sullivan had already decided that she needed X-rays done.
"I guess that explains why all the nurses look at me funny," Dr Sullivan said with a laugh.
Dr Sullivan was far from your typical doctor. She was young, wore blue jeans, a red sweater that matched her short hair and spoke to her patients in a language they could understand- not medical mumbo jumbo. She did however wear a long white coat over her clothes, but purely because she liked it.
"All right kid you win this round," she said with a sigh of defeat. "Put your top back on, you're making my cup size jealous."
Lily laughed and pulled her T-shirt back on. Dr Sullivan wheeled her chair over to her computer and Lily hopped off of the bed to look over her shoulder.
"Says here you got some painkillers and a Ventolin here a few nights ago," she said as she brought up Lily's file.
"It's true, and I passed out too," Lily said honestly, "and a few days before I had an attack." There was no point in lying to a doctor for they found out everything anyway.
"That's not good," Dr Sullivan said slowly looking at her with a concerned expression.
"Yea I know," Lily said sitting in a chair next to the computer. "But while I'm here, can I ask you for a refill for my painkillers? I'm all out."
"You're only supposed to use them when you really need to," Dr Sullivan said sternly and typed some more.
"I did," Lily said honestly. "And can I have a new Ventolin too? Actually can I have two? It's always handy to have a spare on hand."
"Lily I'm going to be honest," Dr Sullivan stopped typing and swirled around to look Lily in the eye. "From the sound of things it sounds like you're heading backwards here. I'm going to send you down to the X-ray department now and I'm going to take a longer look at your current situation a little later. I'll need you to come back in few days."
"Doc to be honest I really don't-"
"I know, I know," the doctor said raising her hand to stop Lily talking. "I'd hate the sight of doctors and all this medical stuff too if I were you. Long term hospitalisation can do that to a person, but for now just humour me and do what I ask ok? I'm looking out for you here."
"Yea, you're right," Lily said with a sigh and slouched down.
"Now X-ray is expecting you in fifteen and remember to take it easy," Dr Sullivan said tapping Lily on the head with her pen.
"Right, take it easy, use your puffer, take your regular medication, call your doctor at the first sign of trouble and stay out of the way of irritants," Lily recited the rules that had been drummed into her head over several years.
"That's the stuff!" Dr Sullivan said with a smile. "Now scoot."
**********************************************
Shuichi hummed to Glaring Dream as he walked back to recording room from his interview with a magazine. The topic had been the new song for Tokyo Bay Music Festival and the reporter had been overjoyed that Shuichi had a new song lined up for the performance. He'd forgotten to mention of course all the help he'd been given by a certain somebody with a certain shoebox.
'Maybe I should dedicate the song to Christina's memory,' he thought as he came to the right door. 'I think that Sakuma san would like that.'
He opened the door but stopped suddenly when he heard a familiar voice.
"Oh Fujisaki san it's so big!"
'That's Lily chan!' Shuichi thought with his ears picking up. 'I wonder what she's doing here.'
"Well I really have to thank my Father for it," he heard Fujisaki say happily.
"I've seen it and played with it before but now that I stand back and look at it I realise how awesome it really is," Lily gushed.
Shuichi's hand flew to his mouth as he jumped to a very bad conclusion.
"Well how about we go at it?" Fujisaki suggested.
"Can we?" Lily asked happily.
"Sure, let's do it. Doing it with you is a privilege. How'd you like to do it?"
"Let's start slow then speed up to a really fast finish."
"My you are daring. Would you like to sit or stand while we do it?"
"Can I sit? I still find it awkward to stand and do it."
Shuichi had heard enough. The door flew off of its hinges and nearly hit K on the other side of the room.
"Fujisaki you dammed pervert!" he screamed hysterically. "How could you be so disgusting? She's only thirteen and you're stealing her innocence! You lewd, you pervert you."
Shuichi stopped when he saw the very confused looks that he was receiving from both Fujisaki and Lily. The two of them were standing behind Fujisaki's keyboard that his father had given him and Lily had played and was about to perform a duet on while sitting down.
"Is something wrong Shindo san?" the young keyboard player asked nervously.
A huge sweat drop formed on Shuichi's head and he stood there like a stoned mullet for quite a while. He then shook his head and let out a loud fake laugh as Lily tried to hide a smile.
"So eh, Lily chan, what brings you here?" he asked quickly.
"You forgot your lunch," she said with a smile and popped an Obento bag into his hands.
Hiro snickered and Shuichi's embarrassment meter rose even higher. It was like being back in school except now there was Lily chan instead of his mother.
"Thanks," he said patting her on the head and hid the bag behind his back. "But shouldn't you be at school?"
"Actually I have plans with Yuki san this afternoon," Lily said brightly.
Shuichi's hand fell on her brown head and didn't rise again. Perhaps he had misheard.
"What plans?"
"I don't know to be honest," she said with a shrug. "He didn't say much about it except that I have to meet him at a bookstore. I guess that I'm helping him with his novels or something."
"Yuki asked you to meet him," Shuichi said slowly, twisting some brown strands between his fingers.
"Yep," Lily chirped.
"Yuki wants you to help him." His hand clenched Lily's hair, starting to pull hard.
"Oww Shuichi could you-"
"Yuki never wants me to meet him! Yuki never wants me to help him! Yuki wants you instead! How dare he choose you over me!" Shuichi was shouting loudly as he cried. The others in the room had to jump back to not get soaked in his tears.
"What do you have that I don't? What do I have to do to get Yuki to ask me for help? I can cook! I can clean! I can read really intellectual literature if I try! I could learn English!"
"My hair! My hair!"
There was a frightening bang and Shuichi fell to the ground, Lily's hair relinquished. She stood back and looked at Shuichi's thin figure sprawled out on the carpet.
"Is he ok?" she asked nervously patting her hair down.
"He'll be fine,' K assured her as he placed his gun back in its holster. "You'd best toddle along now Lily chan, you have to meet Yuki don't you?"
"Yukiiiii," Shuichi groaned from the floor.
"Yea, you're right," Lily said and with a quick goodbye left the recording room and headed for the elevator.
If she had of turned around she would have spotted him. Watching sadly from afar.
**********************************************
"I'm here," Lily said and Yuki turned to look at her.
As he sat at the table in the Romance section of the bookshop he noted how she seemed to have lost some of the exuberance she'd shown that morning when she had served him the gourmet breakfast.
"Just how many chemicals did they pump into you at the hospital?" he asked with his cigarette moving up and down.
"None this time but Doc Sullivan said that.." Lily broke off and gave Yuki a surprised look. "How did you know that's where I was?"
"Knowledge is power and I like power," Yuki said with an air of mystery and handed her a bag. "Go and get changed into that."
"Why do-"
Yuki glared and Lily scurried off to get changed. After a few minutes she came back feeling embarrassed; after all you would be too if you were wearing a long pink dress that was covered in frills and bows.
"Is this yours?" Lily asked him as she looked down at the dress. She felt like a doll that had been dressed up for a tea party with Mr Bear and Mrs Rag doll.
As second later Lily was holding her head as a bump popped up.
"Sorry, sorry," Lily muttered as she rubbed her head. "But since I'm here can you tell me why I'm wearing this?"
"You're cute," Yuki said sitting back down at the table and reached into a box that was beside him. "You're far too young to sell anything with sex appeal and I don't feel like doing autographs, so using your cuteness and my literary genius I'm going to sell a large amount of my past best sellers before the new book comes out next month."
Talk about a cold irony. Lily had to stand around selling books by the man who had written the book she'd criticised in the park.
"You really are a vindictive and dirty minded old man," Lily said with a glare.
"Absolutely," he agreed with a grin and stacked some more books up on the table. "Now get to work."
**********************************************
"Shindo san!!!!!!!"
Shuichi stopped walking down the street and whirled around as someone screamed at him. It was blowing a gale and the dark clouds in the sky looked ominous so he was a little annoyed to be stopping for what he assumed would be a crazy fan wanting an autograph.
He saw however that the person calling his name was none other than Joan, long pigtails flapping in the breeze with one hand waving and the other clutching a boy's wrist as she dragged him behind her.
She skidded to halt in front of him and the boy looked somewhat dazed. Joan's energetic nature had that kind of effect on people.
"Shindo san, do you, do you know where Lily is?" Joan panted.
Shuichi crossed his arms and pointed his nose up like a little kid.
"Why don't you go ask Yuki that? I'm sure he'll know. He clearly likes Lily better than me!" he snapped and looked away.
"Don't give me crap for I'll kick you in the bullocks," Joan snapped, talking to Shuichi like he was one of her younger siblings. She'd spent most of the day trying to find him so she wasn't really in the mood for a spoiled brat attitude.
Shuichi feared for his privates and dropped the attitude.
"I've gotta go and pick Daisy, Benjamin and Jamie up from school so take Artemis to wherever Lily is ok?" Joan said with a voice of authority and pushed the skinny boy in Shuichi's direction.
"Yes ma'm," Shuichi gulped. "Who is this guy anyway?"
"An old school mate or team mate or something," Joan said impatiently. "Don't bother asking him yourself because he can't speak a word of Japanese."
She then turned back to the boy called Artemis and jabbered at him in English for a second. Shuichi was just able to make out his name in the string of unknown words.
"This is Shuichi," Joan explained, "he'll take you to Lily ok?"
"Shoe's Itchy?" Artemis asked with a frown.
"No," Joan said with a sigh. She'd been trying to teach him some Japanese but to be brutally honest the boy couldn't learn a second language to save his life.
"Shu-ich-ee," Joan said slowly and wiggling her fingers at the singer. "Now just follow him and you'll be right, and get Lily to call me. Good luck."
Giving a quick hug to both guys she dashed off for the Primary school.
"So, you can't understand a word I'm saying right?" Shuichi asked the boy in the hat who was his equal in height.
"What?" Artemis asked.
"Eh, come on," Shuichi said awkwardly and pulled Artemis along by his sleeve.
**********************************************
Lily was tired, had a sore mouth from smiling, was sick of the repetition of "Thankyou very much" and wanted desperately to burn the dress she was wearing.
Yuki on the other hand was having a great time. Women had flocked in off of the streets to say how cute Lily was and all of them had bought books. Now the store was full of gushing women asking Lily for hugs and the dollars were raking in.
If this kept up he might just have to buy another dress for the release of the new book next month. A high pitched voice put an end to Yuki's good mood.
"Yuki what are you doing?" Shuichi squealed as he saw Lily selling books in her bright pink dress.
"Using your friend to boost my book sales," Yuki said simply and lit up a new cigarette. "Her cuteness appeals to people and I'm using that to help myself."
"But Yuki!"
"Shut up!"
Shuichi crossed his arms pouting and Yuki saw the blonde boy watching Lily.
"Whoever he is he's not moving in," Yuki said with a glare in Artemis' direction.
"Huh? Oh no he's Lily's friend or something," Shuichi explained. "I just brought him here to see her."
"Well make sure he keeps his hands to himself. I don't want my property to become used goods. She needs to stay pure if she's going to be cute," Yuki said after taking a long drag.
"What do you mean your property?" his lover demanded, hands on hips. "She's not your daughter!"
"No but I've decided that she's useful to my profession. And its not like Sakuma Ryuichi is putting her to good use right now is he?"
"Yuki," Shuichi growled in a low voice and was about to flip his lid.
"Thankyou very much!" Lily said with fake brightness and handed over the last book to a lady.
"Ok kid we're done," Yuki said looking at his watch. She'd been at it for about four hours straight.
"Thankyou very much!" Lily said in a wobbly voice. She felt like crying with relief.
"Hey Lily chan look who I brought!" Shuichi chirped. He no longer felt jealous of Lily after seeing what Yuki had made her do. She could sell his books for four hours in a horrible dress any time she wanted. The pleasure was all hers.
Lily took her face out of her hands and looked up. She hadn't noticed Shuichi arrive with all the money swapping going on.
Her blue eyes fell on the boy and she dropped the money she about to hand over to Yuki.
"Well I'll be God damned."