Model Behavior
By: Princess Ashley
AN: I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry that I couldn't get this up sooner. I hate myself right now but I promise that this will be an extra long chapter just because I'm sure you all hate me right now and maybe I can ease the anger a little bit, so please forgive me! I've already been getting bad remarks about it from my friends who reviewed me and I'm started to feel really down. So thank you all who are still reading. I really appreciate it. ^_^ *hugs & kisses* And just incase 'bad' Ashley is reading this, I'M GONNA KILL YOU FOR STEALING MY HOMEWORK!!!! But since you bought me the necklace I'll forgive you. ^_^
R/r/e
Chapter 10: Don't turn out the lights
Usagi woke in a tangle of sheets, her eyes blinded by a strange blackness around her. That was funny. Her bed was facing the full-length window on the other side of her room. Surely there would be some light in the room. Then she felt up to a foreign head post, and recognized this was not her room. She felt warmth beside her, and turned to fall against warm skin, and a hard chest guarding her from sliding off the bed. She reached up blindly to feel the face of her sleeping guardian, and felt long loose hair falling down her own back and in front of his chest. She sighed, knowing Yaten's long hair anywhere, running her fingers through it, letting it slip daintily from her still damp fingers.
She realized she was in an oversized T-shirt that she could feel under the covers come to her knees. She smelt the fabric, vibrant with Yaten's cologne. She smiled. Yaten must have brought her to the condo that belonged to him and his brothers to sleep. She imagined him tucking her in and sliding in beside her, pulling her close to him.
The warm feeling vanished when she realized the conditions that caused him to make such an offer. Last night filled her head, the memory so thick it was hard to breathe.
The door opened, and a black silhouette stepped in. Whoever it was flicked on the lights, temporarily blinding her, not being used to the light. She heard him chuckle, and saw the black long hair tied into a ponytail at the base of his neck.
Seiya smiled at her. "Hey, Odango." He whispered it so as not to wake Yaten.
Usagi smiled sweetly at him. "Hey, Crow Head."
He laughed quietly, and then came to the side of the bed, sitting cross- legged on the floor, looking up at her. She laid her head on the pillow, watching him from a side-ways view. "You wanna talk?" He asked.
She smiled again and nodded. "I just now remembered. I was hoping against hope it was all just a dream."
He nodded. "Yaten told me about Ameni." Usagi looked down. "You know, any guy that does that kind of thing isn't worth your sympathy Usagi. Guys like that don't get satisfaction from just one girl."
Usagi scoffed good-naturedly. "Now who does that sound like?"
"Hey," Seiya laughed. "I'm wasn't a hopeless case. Remember, I'm going steady with Babe now. She reminds me of you." He looked up at her through his lashes, smiling coyly.
"Yeah, I'm proud of you, Seiya."
He nodded. "You know," Usagi said. "I never really knew how to love until Ameni. He taught me what it was supposed to feel like, what lovers were supposed to act like. He taught me a lot you know. Even if it did turn out to be fake, I liked feeling like that. I liked that it was him making me feel that way. Then when I knew what it felt like, I realized that was how I felt with Yaten, that I was really seeing him behind those words he told me, that I wasn't really falling in love with him, it was Yaten. I realized I wanted Yaten to be telling me I was beautiful, and making me feel loved like that. It was the most incredible feeling in the world when I finally learned he loved me to." She sighed, and then looked at him again. "Does that make sense?"
He nodded. "You speak in riddles but I think I get it."
"Then when I had Yaten, I didn't need Ameni anymore. I saw him with Rei and then." She trailed off, and then bit her lip. "I just can't help wondering if he really did like me, or if he really did like Rei."
"It's a possibility." He only shrugged.
Usagi nodded, then felt a movement in the bed. Yaten had shifted, and she now had a strong muscular arm draped over her stomach, pulled her against his chest unconsciously, and feeling his hot breath on her neck, causing sweat behind her ears.
Seiya got up and slowly tip toed towards the door. "Seeya gorgeous." He whispered.
"Bye sexy." She whispered to him, hearing him let out a laugh behind the closed door. As soon as the door went shut, she got a funny feeling in her stomach. She gripped the tight skin and then sudden recognized the feeling as usually the feeling following a night of intense drinking. 'Oh shit.'
She hoped up from the bed and made a beeline for the facilities, which was thankfully right next to Yaten's room. She released her dinner into the toilet, body too weak to hold up, dropping onto the tile floor, hands clutching the sides of the toilet, head lolling in the bowl.
And that was how Yaten found her, laying on the tile floor of the bathroom, the toilet full of slop unflushed, which he took care to flush before the smell got to much to bear, for both him and the unconscious Usagi. He picked her up, the making sure the shirt didn't ride up, he filled the bathtub up with hot water, putting relaxation rocks into the bottom of it, and plenty of Seiya's bubble bath solution. He placed her into the tub, making sure she would be concealed before pulling off the damp T-shirt.
He gently began to clean her, not even touching the parts that would have strong consequences later. He took a sponge to her stomach and back and legs. He avoided all the other parts. He washed her long hair, and it was surprisingly easy to keep her in an upright position so he could clean her. He took his time on her hair, memorizing every inch and every tint of gold, light and dark yellow, and even some light brown strands. He loved her hair, even more than he did his own. (An: couldn't help myself, Yaten's gorgeous, and he doesn't deny it. What's not to love?)
Too bad Usagi had to wake up before he could finish.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!" Usagi shrieked feeling hands going down her back and massaging her hair. She flopped her hands down in the water, thinking she was drowning.
Water splashed all over Yaten's pajama front, soaking his hair and getting soup in his eyes. He yelped, covering his eyes with his hands, trying to rub the soup out, but instead only making the burning worse.
"Oh my god! Yaten!" She blushed, realizing the mistake she made once realizing she wasn't drowning and only in the bathtub, and Yaten was modestly trying to clean her up. She realized that he couldn't see so she could generally get out of the tub enough to clear his eyesight.
Yaten was still walloping around the bathroom, trying to get the sting out of his eyes, and looking to have intention of even calming down enough to relieve the problem. Usagi got out of the tub, covering her top half with a blue towel. She turned to put her hands on Yaten's shoulders, stopping his blundering, and calmed him down.
"Yaten! It's okay, sweetie, calm down." She got him still enough to get a washcloth, damp it with hot water, and then dab his face with it. Yaten's red-rimmed eyes could see again, looking at her.
She continued to dab his eyes, getting the soup out. "Are you alright?" She asked, kindly, like she was talking to a six year old. "It's alright now." She wiped the bottom of his eyes, and he looked up and down at her, blushing slightly at seeing her in only a towel.
She giggled. "Oh come on, you undressed me and now you're blushing just seeing me in a towel?" She smiled, watching him blush more. She licked the sensitive skin under his eyes, and pushed the damp hair out of the way of his face.
He sighed. "Actually, I." He couldn't finish, Usagi had already claimed his mouth, the breath from her nose coming shaking out. He enclosed her waist with his arms, holding her hips to him, and Usagi slipped her tongue into his mouth. He sucked on it, swirling it around in his mouth. Yaten made sure the towel stayed around her as he slid his hands up to envelope her into a tight bear hug, pulling her close to him. He let her lips go, and she slid her mouth down to busy herself with his neck as he leaned himself against the wall, letting her suck on him, his legs starting to shake when her lips met and licked at a sensitive spot on his collarbone.
Realizing that if he let her go on, he might come across a particular problem he didn't think she was ready to feel yet, he held onto her shoulders and pushed her away. She looked at him in question.
He smiled at her, breathless. "Usagi, when you do that, my whole body shakes." He gasped.
She smiled and shook her head, realizing what he meant. "Really? Then I think I just found the spot I should hit all the time." She laughed as his face went really tense. She laid her head on his shoulder, just letting her breath tickle his collarbone. He held her against him, getting his breath back. His eyes suddenly caught the clock in the hallway, the bathroom door open.
'Thank kami Taiki and Seiya aren't up.' It was 10:23 am.
'Uh oh.'
Usagi pulled away, looking at him. He looked at her. "It's 10:23! We were supposed to be at the theatre an hour ago!"
Usagi yelped. "OMG! Francois is going to kill me!" She ran into Yaten's room. Realizing she could very well walk out of her in the bathing suit she wore last night. She put on a pair of Yaten's dark jeans on, and an orange T-shirt that was only slightly baggy on her. (think the outfit the guy off 'Hot chick' wore when he turned into a girl.) She quickly blow dried her hair, or as fast as she could considering how much hair she had. Yaten came out with a similar outfit on, only a blue shirt, and then jetted out the door, and into the limo outside of the apartment where Mr. Johnson and Mr. Archer were.
They sped off towards the theatre.
***
"Why the hell didn't you wake me up!?" Yaten yelled at them.
"Your door was locked, and your brother said that you weren't to be disturbed. I guess we just figured out the cause of your sudden need for privacy." Mr. Johnson said, looking at Usagi, who only blushed.
"I'm going to kill Seiya." Yaten said, putting an arm around Usagi, hands massaging through her hair.
"And besides, we didn't do anything. Yaten just let me stay over because I was a bit drunk last night. I mean, you guys saw Ameni run out didn't you?" They both nodded robotically. "Well that was the reason. I couldn't hold my liquor and if my parents saw me they'd never let me model again. So you see, we really didn't have a choice." Usagi explained.
Mr. Johnson got a tense look on his face. Exchanging a look with Archer, he took out a People magazine, and turned the front page towards Usagi. "I think people seeing you like that is something you are very soon going to get used to, Ms. Usagi."
Usagi gasped, and Yaten got a shocked and angered look on his face as he saw the headline next to the picture.
'Ameni and Usagi are over? Make way for a player, boys!'
It was a picture of a drunk Usagi in Yaten's arms, and a picture of Ameni with the hurt look on his face, which Usagi could tell had been cut and pasted to make it look like Yaten and Usagi were in front of him.
Usagi grabbed the magazine. "Those bastards! That is not what happened!" She screeched, turning with teared eyes to look at Yaten.
He sighed, teeth clenched. He was going to have to talk with Anya about this.
***
"I don't know how this happened, I swear." Anya said, shocked at the magazine that Yaten had thrust into her face.
"Well, that's me they're talking about. They said I'm a player!" Usagi whined, talking like her reputation was ruined.
And just as luck would have it, her reputation indeed acquired a trench. For no sooner did Usagi finish her sentence then Naomi, Ravyn, and Kassandra burst into the room.
"Oh Usagi! I didn't know you had it in you. Don't you know how to diss 'em." Naomi said, as if it were the best thing that had ever happened. "Way to get publicity. So how did you dump him? Did you just tell him straight out or did you just walk up with Yaten so he would get the picture?"
Usagi started to cry, her sobs infuriated Yaten at Naomi. "Out now!" He picked her up and literally handed her over to Lee and Dana who were standing at the door now, just seeing what she had said to Usagi. "You to!" He yelled at Ravyn and Kassandra. Kassandra was sitting next to Usagi, comforting her at the moment, rubbing her back and letting Usagi rest her head against her chest while sobs wracked her body.
Ravyn bolted, but Kassandra stayed, and Yaten, sensing she didn't have anything to say that would upset Usagi, let her stay.
"Shhh, come on hun. Naomi is just like that. She thinks cheating on someone is considered a good thing. Don't worry; I'm sure the others won't believe it. You already told them right?"
Usagi nodded.
"Right, you have nothing to worry about."
"Honestly, who ever had the nerve to. oh my goodness." Anya said, flipping to the back of the magazine that had all the acknowledgements on it.
"What is it?" Yaten came over, looking at the page, then looking down at the name of the person who sent the picture in, because there had been no photographers at the club when she passed out and they had left.
Cover picture:: Ameni
"That son of a.!" Yaten yelled, but heard Usagi wail even louder, and calmed down, not wanting to upset her. He turned to Anya. "When I find him, I am going to remove his reason for briefs!"
"VER IS SHE!!!???"
Everyone turned to find Francois standing in the doorway. He held a People magazine in his hand.
"Vot did you sink you were doing!?" He yelled, waving the magazine in front of Usagi's face.
"Francois, please calm down. Usagi's got enough on her plate as it is."
"I'll say! She got alcohol all over ze suit. Do you know who expensive zat fabric is?" He got into an argument with Anya about the clothes while Usagi was blotching out the tears from her eyes, being aided by Kassandra and Yaten.
"I hate this. Being a model is too hectic. You've got your personal life all over the newspaper, your friends treat you like movie stars, and you can't get into a relationship without magazines pointing out every single quarrel you ever get into, and now I'm sure Ameni hates me, everyone thinks I'm a whore, my clothes are a mess, and this is the first time in a long time that I REALLY don't like myself." Usagi cried, spilling her tears on Kassandra's purple blouse.
"Usagi, Ameni's a jerk. If he can't see all the hurt he would put you through when he put that picture in the magazine, then he's not worth spitting on." Yaten said, rubbing her back.
Usagi paused in mid sniff. She looked up, her red rimmed eyes, and bloodshot face looking at him. "Wha.what?"
Yaten realized his mistake. He mentally kicked himself right in the noggin for letting that slip.
"Ameni put that picture in the magazine. How? He was in the picture! He wouldn't take a picture of himself!" Usagi cried, looking at the magazine one more time.
"Maybe it was a picture from a different time, or maybe someone else took a picture like that. There are tons of ways a person can do that Usagi." Kassandra said.
"No! I refuse to believe that he would do something like that. No one can write the music he writes and still be able to totally humiliate and disgrace someone he cares about. Or do I forget myself? Did he really care about me at all? Did he only spoil me with his attention and his compliments that I was too blind to see beyond his mask?"
"Wow, you sound like one of those people right off Hamlet, girl." Kassandra said, astonished by her perspective.
Usagi sniffed, and brought a hankie to her nose. She pulled it away, red blotching the white fabric. "And now I suffer consumption. How can this get any worse."
Kassandra sighed, hopelessly. "Oh, you don't have consumption, you have a bloody nose. Come on. We'll clean you up."
"No! I'll clean her up, and get her dressed, ve haf a photo op in fifteen minutes and she is all ved! Hurry, missy. Ve don't haf all day!" Francois took her hand and led her into the dressing room, Yaten getting led into another. This was one of those ops where it was just them. The IT guy, and the IT girl.
***
"You're too tense, all the blood is rushing to your face. We're trying to make you as white as possible but you need to relax. It can't get any worse." Usagi was in makeup, and the artist had already put on over four coats of color on her and still the red flushed over her cheeks.
Usagi sniffed again, looking at herself in the mirror. She forced herself to calm down. Every once in a while her mouth would twitch with concentration. Oddly enough, she found herself more concerned about Ameni then herself right then.
Did she really hurt him that much? What could she have done? Would it have been better if she had just kept up a two party relationship? But how would Yaten have taken that?
She sighed, and got up out of the chair. "Usagi! Where are you going?" The artist said. She hadn't even changed yet, or gotten the flush from her cheeks. Usagi took water to her face, washing off all the make up. She walked out, ignoring the artist's protests that Anya and Francois would have her head if she didn't show up for the op.
Usagi took a blue cap from the clothes closet, shielding her face with it, and left without a word to anyone. Yaten could handle the press on his own. She needed some time to herself. Pulling her bag from the limo, telling Lee and Dana she would be back whenever.
She took a turn around the park, settling down on a bench by the cherry blossom lake. She pulled out a pencil with pink feathers pocking out of the end, and her notebook. She turned to the page where she wrote the poem that Ameni had inspired her to write. She pulled it out and crumbled it up, throwing it into the wastebasket next to her. She turned to a fresh page, and started to write, gradually coming to an agreement with her words, knowing exactly what she was writing, and this is how it went.
I've got it all, but I feel so deprived
I go up, I come down
And I'm emptier inside
Tell me what is this thing that I feel like I'm missing
And why can't I let it go
There's gotta be more to life
Then chasing down every temporary high
To satisfy me
Cause the more that I'm
Trippin out thinking there must be more to life
Well there's life, but I'm sure, there's gotta be more
She didn't know where it was that she started to sing out the words, letting each foreign word come over her tongue to a tune that she had never heard, but still she sang, not even noticing when a pair of green eyes looked over to her, letting himself fall into her music, like he once had fallen into her eyes.
I got the time and I'm wasting it slowly
Here in this moment, I'm halfway out the door
Onto the next thing, I'm searching
For something that's missing
There's gotta be more to life
Than chasing down every temporary high
To satisfy me
Cause the more that I'm
Trippin out thinking there must be more to life
Well there's life, but I'm sure, there's gotta be more
He was drawn to her, life the time he first met her. But this was a different attraction. This was the girl who had felt him in her, as he had felt her. Felt her lips on his, and imagined her as his, until he found himself wound up in this own little world. He was an idol in this county, and he had taken advantage of it. He'd forgotten himself. This was the girl he loved, and he had let her go for someone else, unconsciously driving her away.
I'm wanting more
I'm always waiting on something
Other than this
Why do I feel like there's something I missed
There's gotta be more to life
Than chasing down every temporary high
To satisfy me
Cause the more that I'm
Tripping out thinking there must be more to life
Well there's life, but I'm sure, there'd gotta be more
More to life
She stopped as the words finished themselves in her notebook, and looking at the words, realized the song that she had unconsciously written and sung, and looking around to see if anyone had heard her, she met with a pair of green eyes standing by the tree beside the lake.
She remembered his face from last night, the hurt look in his eyes, the helpless floundering out of the club, to embarrassed to stay, to shocked to speak. She had dreamt of him, watching this scene over and over till it was tattooed across her mind and heart, bringing her down even more than she had felt when she broke up with Mamoru.
She sighed, looking at him, looking gorgeous as ever in a white button up top, and black jeans, shaping his endless legs. She got up and started to walk towards him, leaving her bag on the bench. He left the tree he had been leaning on, and they walked towards each other. They stopped when they were not even a foot away from each other. Then in one swift moment, they took each other in the other's arms, hugging as if good friends who hadn't seen each other in years. Usagi tightened her arms around him, letting herself cry. Ameni let her cry on him, his own little silent storm raging inside him.
They let each other go after a long time, and for a while they just starred at each other.
Ameni was the first to break the ice. "Usagi, I'm sorry I left so suddenly last night. I guess I was just to shocked to even think and just forgot you were still standing there. I'm sorry." He looked so sincere, it was adorable. His guilty smile appeared.
Usagi smiled to. "I'm sorry to. That was an awkward place to make a break up. Kinda."
"Yeah." They both laughed, as if it were a good joke, remembering how everyone was starring at them after Usagi shouted over them as soon as the song stopped.
"Ameni?"
"Yeah?" He looked at her, as if expecting a particular question. And she let him have it.
"Were you with Rei that one day in the park?" She asked, hoping he wouldn't lie, and also dreading what he would think of her if he told the truth.
"Yeah. I was. She said she was a friend of yours, and I guess I just got caught up in the whole 'I'm-a-model-I-can-do-whatever-I-want-and-my-stocks- will-only-go-up' thing. I did like her though, but I was still in love with you." He touched her arm, smoothing his hand up and down her arms.
"Hm. I guess you've heard about me and Yaten by now, right?" Usagi asked.
"Yeah. I read about it in the People magazine this morning. Wonder who made that picture though." His eyes darted around, as if thinking about something.
Usagi caught that last statement. "You mean, you didn't send it in?" She asked, looking shocked and relieved that he didn't really want to hurt her after all.
"No! I'm not that big of a jerk. Whatever gave you that idea?" He asked.
"It said so in the acknowledgements. You know at the end of the magazine? It had your name on it."
"What? I didn't do anything last night. I went to my apartment and slept till about 10:00 today. You can ask my landlord. She saw me come in and not leave till around 11:00."
"Well then."
"Someone's trying to make you believe that I did it. Someone wants you and I to not be friends or anything."
"Yeah, but who could it be?" They began to walk around the park; Usagi had her cap on low so no one would recognize her. They began to go over the options.
"Are you sure it wasn't Yaten?" Ameni asked.
"Yes. Yaten would never do something like that, plus he wouldn't have had the chance. I was with him from when we got to the club till when I woke up in his bed this morning."
Ameni raised a shocked eyebrow. Usagi suddenly caught on and blushed.
"Nothing happened! I swear!"
Ameni got a knowing look on his face. "Uh hugh, sure." He walked ahead, leaving a baffled Usagi behind him.
"I mean it! Nothing happened!" She heard him laugh ahead of her, and she flushed red before running up to meet him again.
Thus, WWIII broke out among Ameni and Usagi. The cause? Ameni thought Usagi slept with Yaten and Usagi was trying to get him to stop giving her the sex talk.
*** ***
Well? Did ya like it? Hugh? Didya Didya Didya? Well that was a pretty long chapter. 11 pages and 4,512 words. And frankly, my hands are tired. Find out who sent in the picture in the next chapter.
Wanna see a preview? Heehee here it is!
***
Preview for chapter 11: Photographer's tracks
"It's gotta be someone who doesn't like Usagi that much. Who have you seen recently that doesn't like you Usagi?" Ameni asked.
"Ummm..no one yet."
"Okay. Now what, Sherlock?" Yaten asked in an annoyed voice, still not too cool with Ameni and Usagi being friends again. He still believe that Ameni sent in the picture, but he wouldn't run it by Usagi.
"Alright," Ameni sighed, shooting a glare at Yaten. "Who was the first person to confront you about the magazine? I'm thinking that person would want to know what you thought about the article pertaining to you. Who seemed interested in what you thought about it?"
Usagi thought back to the preceding day, throwing up, being late to the theatre, seeing the magazine, getting to the theatre, Naomi, Ravyn, and Kassandra, Francois worried about. Usagi stopped.
*twilight zone moment. *
***
Okie dokie. Hope I didn't give anything away. *hint * *hint * Have a nice day!
~PA
AN: I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry that I couldn't get this up sooner. I hate myself right now but I promise that this will be an extra long chapter just because I'm sure you all hate me right now and maybe I can ease the anger a little bit, so please forgive me! I've already been getting bad remarks about it from my friends who reviewed me and I'm started to feel really down. So thank you all who are still reading. I really appreciate it. ^_^ *hugs & kisses* And just incase 'bad' Ashley is reading this, I'M GONNA KILL YOU FOR STEALING MY HOMEWORK!!!! But since you bought me the necklace I'll forgive you. ^_^
R/r/e
Chapter 10: Don't turn out the lights
Usagi woke in a tangle of sheets, her eyes blinded by a strange blackness around her. That was funny. Her bed was facing the full-length window on the other side of her room. Surely there would be some light in the room. Then she felt up to a foreign head post, and recognized this was not her room. She felt warmth beside her, and turned to fall against warm skin, and a hard chest guarding her from sliding off the bed. She reached up blindly to feel the face of her sleeping guardian, and felt long loose hair falling down her own back and in front of his chest. She sighed, knowing Yaten's long hair anywhere, running her fingers through it, letting it slip daintily from her still damp fingers.
She realized she was in an oversized T-shirt that she could feel under the covers come to her knees. She smelt the fabric, vibrant with Yaten's cologne. She smiled. Yaten must have brought her to the condo that belonged to him and his brothers to sleep. She imagined him tucking her in and sliding in beside her, pulling her close to him.
The warm feeling vanished when she realized the conditions that caused him to make such an offer. Last night filled her head, the memory so thick it was hard to breathe.
The door opened, and a black silhouette stepped in. Whoever it was flicked on the lights, temporarily blinding her, not being used to the light. She heard him chuckle, and saw the black long hair tied into a ponytail at the base of his neck.
Seiya smiled at her. "Hey, Odango." He whispered it so as not to wake Yaten.
Usagi smiled sweetly at him. "Hey, Crow Head."
He laughed quietly, and then came to the side of the bed, sitting cross- legged on the floor, looking up at her. She laid her head on the pillow, watching him from a side-ways view. "You wanna talk?" He asked.
She smiled again and nodded. "I just now remembered. I was hoping against hope it was all just a dream."
He nodded. "Yaten told me about Ameni." Usagi looked down. "You know, any guy that does that kind of thing isn't worth your sympathy Usagi. Guys like that don't get satisfaction from just one girl."
Usagi scoffed good-naturedly. "Now who does that sound like?"
"Hey," Seiya laughed. "I'm wasn't a hopeless case. Remember, I'm going steady with Babe now. She reminds me of you." He looked up at her through his lashes, smiling coyly.
"Yeah, I'm proud of you, Seiya."
He nodded. "You know," Usagi said. "I never really knew how to love until Ameni. He taught me what it was supposed to feel like, what lovers were supposed to act like. He taught me a lot you know. Even if it did turn out to be fake, I liked feeling like that. I liked that it was him making me feel that way. Then when I knew what it felt like, I realized that was how I felt with Yaten, that I was really seeing him behind those words he told me, that I wasn't really falling in love with him, it was Yaten. I realized I wanted Yaten to be telling me I was beautiful, and making me feel loved like that. It was the most incredible feeling in the world when I finally learned he loved me to." She sighed, and then looked at him again. "Does that make sense?"
He nodded. "You speak in riddles but I think I get it."
"Then when I had Yaten, I didn't need Ameni anymore. I saw him with Rei and then." She trailed off, and then bit her lip. "I just can't help wondering if he really did like me, or if he really did like Rei."
"It's a possibility." He only shrugged.
Usagi nodded, then felt a movement in the bed. Yaten had shifted, and she now had a strong muscular arm draped over her stomach, pulled her against his chest unconsciously, and feeling his hot breath on her neck, causing sweat behind her ears.
Seiya got up and slowly tip toed towards the door. "Seeya gorgeous." He whispered.
"Bye sexy." She whispered to him, hearing him let out a laugh behind the closed door. As soon as the door went shut, she got a funny feeling in her stomach. She gripped the tight skin and then sudden recognized the feeling as usually the feeling following a night of intense drinking. 'Oh shit.'
She hoped up from the bed and made a beeline for the facilities, which was thankfully right next to Yaten's room. She released her dinner into the toilet, body too weak to hold up, dropping onto the tile floor, hands clutching the sides of the toilet, head lolling in the bowl.
And that was how Yaten found her, laying on the tile floor of the bathroom, the toilet full of slop unflushed, which he took care to flush before the smell got to much to bear, for both him and the unconscious Usagi. He picked her up, the making sure the shirt didn't ride up, he filled the bathtub up with hot water, putting relaxation rocks into the bottom of it, and plenty of Seiya's bubble bath solution. He placed her into the tub, making sure she would be concealed before pulling off the damp T-shirt.
He gently began to clean her, not even touching the parts that would have strong consequences later. He took a sponge to her stomach and back and legs. He avoided all the other parts. He washed her long hair, and it was surprisingly easy to keep her in an upright position so he could clean her. He took his time on her hair, memorizing every inch and every tint of gold, light and dark yellow, and even some light brown strands. He loved her hair, even more than he did his own. (An: couldn't help myself, Yaten's gorgeous, and he doesn't deny it. What's not to love?)
Too bad Usagi had to wake up before he could finish.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!" Usagi shrieked feeling hands going down her back and massaging her hair. She flopped her hands down in the water, thinking she was drowning.
Water splashed all over Yaten's pajama front, soaking his hair and getting soup in his eyes. He yelped, covering his eyes with his hands, trying to rub the soup out, but instead only making the burning worse.
"Oh my god! Yaten!" She blushed, realizing the mistake she made once realizing she wasn't drowning and only in the bathtub, and Yaten was modestly trying to clean her up. She realized that he couldn't see so she could generally get out of the tub enough to clear his eyesight.
Yaten was still walloping around the bathroom, trying to get the sting out of his eyes, and looking to have intention of even calming down enough to relieve the problem. Usagi got out of the tub, covering her top half with a blue towel. She turned to put her hands on Yaten's shoulders, stopping his blundering, and calmed him down.
"Yaten! It's okay, sweetie, calm down." She got him still enough to get a washcloth, damp it with hot water, and then dab his face with it. Yaten's red-rimmed eyes could see again, looking at her.
She continued to dab his eyes, getting the soup out. "Are you alright?" She asked, kindly, like she was talking to a six year old. "It's alright now." She wiped the bottom of his eyes, and he looked up and down at her, blushing slightly at seeing her in only a towel.
She giggled. "Oh come on, you undressed me and now you're blushing just seeing me in a towel?" She smiled, watching him blush more. She licked the sensitive skin under his eyes, and pushed the damp hair out of the way of his face.
He sighed. "Actually, I." He couldn't finish, Usagi had already claimed his mouth, the breath from her nose coming shaking out. He enclosed her waist with his arms, holding her hips to him, and Usagi slipped her tongue into his mouth. He sucked on it, swirling it around in his mouth. Yaten made sure the towel stayed around her as he slid his hands up to envelope her into a tight bear hug, pulling her close to him. He let her lips go, and she slid her mouth down to busy herself with his neck as he leaned himself against the wall, letting her suck on him, his legs starting to shake when her lips met and licked at a sensitive spot on his collarbone.
Realizing that if he let her go on, he might come across a particular problem he didn't think she was ready to feel yet, he held onto her shoulders and pushed her away. She looked at him in question.
He smiled at her, breathless. "Usagi, when you do that, my whole body shakes." He gasped.
She smiled and shook her head, realizing what he meant. "Really? Then I think I just found the spot I should hit all the time." She laughed as his face went really tense. She laid her head on his shoulder, just letting her breath tickle his collarbone. He held her against him, getting his breath back. His eyes suddenly caught the clock in the hallway, the bathroom door open.
'Thank kami Taiki and Seiya aren't up.' It was 10:23 am.
'Uh oh.'
Usagi pulled away, looking at him. He looked at her. "It's 10:23! We were supposed to be at the theatre an hour ago!"
Usagi yelped. "OMG! Francois is going to kill me!" She ran into Yaten's room. Realizing she could very well walk out of her in the bathing suit she wore last night. She put on a pair of Yaten's dark jeans on, and an orange T-shirt that was only slightly baggy on her. (think the outfit the guy off 'Hot chick' wore when he turned into a girl.) She quickly blow dried her hair, or as fast as she could considering how much hair she had. Yaten came out with a similar outfit on, only a blue shirt, and then jetted out the door, and into the limo outside of the apartment where Mr. Johnson and Mr. Archer were.
They sped off towards the theatre.
***
"Why the hell didn't you wake me up!?" Yaten yelled at them.
"Your door was locked, and your brother said that you weren't to be disturbed. I guess we just figured out the cause of your sudden need for privacy." Mr. Johnson said, looking at Usagi, who only blushed.
"I'm going to kill Seiya." Yaten said, putting an arm around Usagi, hands massaging through her hair.
"And besides, we didn't do anything. Yaten just let me stay over because I was a bit drunk last night. I mean, you guys saw Ameni run out didn't you?" They both nodded robotically. "Well that was the reason. I couldn't hold my liquor and if my parents saw me they'd never let me model again. So you see, we really didn't have a choice." Usagi explained.
Mr. Johnson got a tense look on his face. Exchanging a look with Archer, he took out a People magazine, and turned the front page towards Usagi. "I think people seeing you like that is something you are very soon going to get used to, Ms. Usagi."
Usagi gasped, and Yaten got a shocked and angered look on his face as he saw the headline next to the picture.
'Ameni and Usagi are over? Make way for a player, boys!'
It was a picture of a drunk Usagi in Yaten's arms, and a picture of Ameni with the hurt look on his face, which Usagi could tell had been cut and pasted to make it look like Yaten and Usagi were in front of him.
Usagi grabbed the magazine. "Those bastards! That is not what happened!" She screeched, turning with teared eyes to look at Yaten.
He sighed, teeth clenched. He was going to have to talk with Anya about this.
***
"I don't know how this happened, I swear." Anya said, shocked at the magazine that Yaten had thrust into her face.
"Well, that's me they're talking about. They said I'm a player!" Usagi whined, talking like her reputation was ruined.
And just as luck would have it, her reputation indeed acquired a trench. For no sooner did Usagi finish her sentence then Naomi, Ravyn, and Kassandra burst into the room.
"Oh Usagi! I didn't know you had it in you. Don't you know how to diss 'em." Naomi said, as if it were the best thing that had ever happened. "Way to get publicity. So how did you dump him? Did you just tell him straight out or did you just walk up with Yaten so he would get the picture?"
Usagi started to cry, her sobs infuriated Yaten at Naomi. "Out now!" He picked her up and literally handed her over to Lee and Dana who were standing at the door now, just seeing what she had said to Usagi. "You to!" He yelled at Ravyn and Kassandra. Kassandra was sitting next to Usagi, comforting her at the moment, rubbing her back and letting Usagi rest her head against her chest while sobs wracked her body.
Ravyn bolted, but Kassandra stayed, and Yaten, sensing she didn't have anything to say that would upset Usagi, let her stay.
"Shhh, come on hun. Naomi is just like that. She thinks cheating on someone is considered a good thing. Don't worry; I'm sure the others won't believe it. You already told them right?"
Usagi nodded.
"Right, you have nothing to worry about."
"Honestly, who ever had the nerve to. oh my goodness." Anya said, flipping to the back of the magazine that had all the acknowledgements on it.
"What is it?" Yaten came over, looking at the page, then looking down at the name of the person who sent the picture in, because there had been no photographers at the club when she passed out and they had left.
Cover picture:: Ameni
"That son of a.!" Yaten yelled, but heard Usagi wail even louder, and calmed down, not wanting to upset her. He turned to Anya. "When I find him, I am going to remove his reason for briefs!"
"VER IS SHE!!!???"
Everyone turned to find Francois standing in the doorway. He held a People magazine in his hand.
"Vot did you sink you were doing!?" He yelled, waving the magazine in front of Usagi's face.
"Francois, please calm down. Usagi's got enough on her plate as it is."
"I'll say! She got alcohol all over ze suit. Do you know who expensive zat fabric is?" He got into an argument with Anya about the clothes while Usagi was blotching out the tears from her eyes, being aided by Kassandra and Yaten.
"I hate this. Being a model is too hectic. You've got your personal life all over the newspaper, your friends treat you like movie stars, and you can't get into a relationship without magazines pointing out every single quarrel you ever get into, and now I'm sure Ameni hates me, everyone thinks I'm a whore, my clothes are a mess, and this is the first time in a long time that I REALLY don't like myself." Usagi cried, spilling her tears on Kassandra's purple blouse.
"Usagi, Ameni's a jerk. If he can't see all the hurt he would put you through when he put that picture in the magazine, then he's not worth spitting on." Yaten said, rubbing her back.
Usagi paused in mid sniff. She looked up, her red rimmed eyes, and bloodshot face looking at him. "Wha.what?"
Yaten realized his mistake. He mentally kicked himself right in the noggin for letting that slip.
"Ameni put that picture in the magazine. How? He was in the picture! He wouldn't take a picture of himself!" Usagi cried, looking at the magazine one more time.
"Maybe it was a picture from a different time, or maybe someone else took a picture like that. There are tons of ways a person can do that Usagi." Kassandra said.
"No! I refuse to believe that he would do something like that. No one can write the music he writes and still be able to totally humiliate and disgrace someone he cares about. Or do I forget myself? Did he really care about me at all? Did he only spoil me with his attention and his compliments that I was too blind to see beyond his mask?"
"Wow, you sound like one of those people right off Hamlet, girl." Kassandra said, astonished by her perspective.
Usagi sniffed, and brought a hankie to her nose. She pulled it away, red blotching the white fabric. "And now I suffer consumption. How can this get any worse."
Kassandra sighed, hopelessly. "Oh, you don't have consumption, you have a bloody nose. Come on. We'll clean you up."
"No! I'll clean her up, and get her dressed, ve haf a photo op in fifteen minutes and she is all ved! Hurry, missy. Ve don't haf all day!" Francois took her hand and led her into the dressing room, Yaten getting led into another. This was one of those ops where it was just them. The IT guy, and the IT girl.
***
"You're too tense, all the blood is rushing to your face. We're trying to make you as white as possible but you need to relax. It can't get any worse." Usagi was in makeup, and the artist had already put on over four coats of color on her and still the red flushed over her cheeks.
Usagi sniffed again, looking at herself in the mirror. She forced herself to calm down. Every once in a while her mouth would twitch with concentration. Oddly enough, she found herself more concerned about Ameni then herself right then.
Did she really hurt him that much? What could she have done? Would it have been better if she had just kept up a two party relationship? But how would Yaten have taken that?
She sighed, and got up out of the chair. "Usagi! Where are you going?" The artist said. She hadn't even changed yet, or gotten the flush from her cheeks. Usagi took water to her face, washing off all the make up. She walked out, ignoring the artist's protests that Anya and Francois would have her head if she didn't show up for the op.
Usagi took a blue cap from the clothes closet, shielding her face with it, and left without a word to anyone. Yaten could handle the press on his own. She needed some time to herself. Pulling her bag from the limo, telling Lee and Dana she would be back whenever.
She took a turn around the park, settling down on a bench by the cherry blossom lake. She pulled out a pencil with pink feathers pocking out of the end, and her notebook. She turned to the page where she wrote the poem that Ameni had inspired her to write. She pulled it out and crumbled it up, throwing it into the wastebasket next to her. She turned to a fresh page, and started to write, gradually coming to an agreement with her words, knowing exactly what she was writing, and this is how it went.
I've got it all, but I feel so deprived
I go up, I come down
And I'm emptier inside
Tell me what is this thing that I feel like I'm missing
And why can't I let it go
There's gotta be more to life
Then chasing down every temporary high
To satisfy me
Cause the more that I'm
Trippin out thinking there must be more to life
Well there's life, but I'm sure, there's gotta be more
She didn't know where it was that she started to sing out the words, letting each foreign word come over her tongue to a tune that she had never heard, but still she sang, not even noticing when a pair of green eyes looked over to her, letting himself fall into her music, like he once had fallen into her eyes.
I got the time and I'm wasting it slowly
Here in this moment, I'm halfway out the door
Onto the next thing, I'm searching
For something that's missing
There's gotta be more to life
Than chasing down every temporary high
To satisfy me
Cause the more that I'm
Trippin out thinking there must be more to life
Well there's life, but I'm sure, there's gotta be more
He was drawn to her, life the time he first met her. But this was a different attraction. This was the girl who had felt him in her, as he had felt her. Felt her lips on his, and imagined her as his, until he found himself wound up in this own little world. He was an idol in this county, and he had taken advantage of it. He'd forgotten himself. This was the girl he loved, and he had let her go for someone else, unconsciously driving her away.
I'm wanting more
I'm always waiting on something
Other than this
Why do I feel like there's something I missed
There's gotta be more to life
Than chasing down every temporary high
To satisfy me
Cause the more that I'm
Tripping out thinking there must be more to life
Well there's life, but I'm sure, there'd gotta be more
More to life
She stopped as the words finished themselves in her notebook, and looking at the words, realized the song that she had unconsciously written and sung, and looking around to see if anyone had heard her, she met with a pair of green eyes standing by the tree beside the lake.
She remembered his face from last night, the hurt look in his eyes, the helpless floundering out of the club, to embarrassed to stay, to shocked to speak. She had dreamt of him, watching this scene over and over till it was tattooed across her mind and heart, bringing her down even more than she had felt when she broke up with Mamoru.
She sighed, looking at him, looking gorgeous as ever in a white button up top, and black jeans, shaping his endless legs. She got up and started to walk towards him, leaving her bag on the bench. He left the tree he had been leaning on, and they walked towards each other. They stopped when they were not even a foot away from each other. Then in one swift moment, they took each other in the other's arms, hugging as if good friends who hadn't seen each other in years. Usagi tightened her arms around him, letting herself cry. Ameni let her cry on him, his own little silent storm raging inside him.
They let each other go after a long time, and for a while they just starred at each other.
Ameni was the first to break the ice. "Usagi, I'm sorry I left so suddenly last night. I guess I was just to shocked to even think and just forgot you were still standing there. I'm sorry." He looked so sincere, it was adorable. His guilty smile appeared.
Usagi smiled to. "I'm sorry to. That was an awkward place to make a break up. Kinda."
"Yeah." They both laughed, as if it were a good joke, remembering how everyone was starring at them after Usagi shouted over them as soon as the song stopped.
"Ameni?"
"Yeah?" He looked at her, as if expecting a particular question. And she let him have it.
"Were you with Rei that one day in the park?" She asked, hoping he wouldn't lie, and also dreading what he would think of her if he told the truth.
"Yeah. I was. She said she was a friend of yours, and I guess I just got caught up in the whole 'I'm-a-model-I-can-do-whatever-I-want-and-my-stocks- will-only-go-up' thing. I did like her though, but I was still in love with you." He touched her arm, smoothing his hand up and down her arms.
"Hm. I guess you've heard about me and Yaten by now, right?" Usagi asked.
"Yeah. I read about it in the People magazine this morning. Wonder who made that picture though." His eyes darted around, as if thinking about something.
Usagi caught that last statement. "You mean, you didn't send it in?" She asked, looking shocked and relieved that he didn't really want to hurt her after all.
"No! I'm not that big of a jerk. Whatever gave you that idea?" He asked.
"It said so in the acknowledgements. You know at the end of the magazine? It had your name on it."
"What? I didn't do anything last night. I went to my apartment and slept till about 10:00 today. You can ask my landlord. She saw me come in and not leave till around 11:00."
"Well then."
"Someone's trying to make you believe that I did it. Someone wants you and I to not be friends or anything."
"Yeah, but who could it be?" They began to walk around the park; Usagi had her cap on low so no one would recognize her. They began to go over the options.
"Are you sure it wasn't Yaten?" Ameni asked.
"Yes. Yaten would never do something like that, plus he wouldn't have had the chance. I was with him from when we got to the club till when I woke up in his bed this morning."
Ameni raised a shocked eyebrow. Usagi suddenly caught on and blushed.
"Nothing happened! I swear!"
Ameni got a knowing look on his face. "Uh hugh, sure." He walked ahead, leaving a baffled Usagi behind him.
"I mean it! Nothing happened!" She heard him laugh ahead of her, and she flushed red before running up to meet him again.
Thus, WWIII broke out among Ameni and Usagi. The cause? Ameni thought Usagi slept with Yaten and Usagi was trying to get him to stop giving her the sex talk.
*** ***
Well? Did ya like it? Hugh? Didya Didya Didya? Well that was a pretty long chapter. 11 pages and 4,512 words. And frankly, my hands are tired. Find out who sent in the picture in the next chapter.
Wanna see a preview? Heehee here it is!
***
Preview for chapter 11: Photographer's tracks
"It's gotta be someone who doesn't like Usagi that much. Who have you seen recently that doesn't like you Usagi?" Ameni asked.
"Ummm..no one yet."
"Okay. Now what, Sherlock?" Yaten asked in an annoyed voice, still not too cool with Ameni and Usagi being friends again. He still believe that Ameni sent in the picture, but he wouldn't run it by Usagi.
"Alright," Ameni sighed, shooting a glare at Yaten. "Who was the first person to confront you about the magazine? I'm thinking that person would want to know what you thought about the article pertaining to you. Who seemed interested in what you thought about it?"
Usagi thought back to the preceding day, throwing up, being late to the theatre, seeing the magazine, getting to the theatre, Naomi, Ravyn, and Kassandra, Francois worried about. Usagi stopped.
*twilight zone moment. *
***
Okie dokie. Hope I didn't give anything away. *hint * *hint * Have a nice day!
~PA