Obsession and Possession
Disclaimer: In my dreams they're mine, does that count? On another note, we're at chapter three already and absolutely nothing has happened, isn't that dull? Well it would be if what we had wasn't vaguely entertaining.
Chapter four
Tilting her head back to look at the (much taller) person she'd just slammed into, Maiko found herself staring into faintly amused, ink-black eyes. Her own eyes, a deep indigo blue in colour, narrowed slightly as she tried to place just where she'd seen this guy before. He didn't go to her school, she'd remember that, he didn't hang out in any of the places she usually did and he wasn't related to any of her friends. So who the hell was he, and why was he so familiar?
"Hey," even his voice was somewhat familiar, why was that? "Aren't you Shuichi's little sister?"
Ah, he was a friend of Shuichi's, that actually made sense… and now she remembered who he was, "Yeah, and you're that guy who brought Ayaka over to borrow my clothes right?" She furrowed her brow, trying to remember his name, "Tatsuha?"
Smiling, Tatsuha nodded his head slightly, causing several women (and a few men) in the background to swoon slightly. "Good memory… Maiko, wasn't it?"
Smiling herself, Maiko mimicked his nod, with considerably less effect on the casual observers. "Yeah." She tilted her head to one side as she looked at him curiously, the faintest hint of mischief sparkling in her eyes. "So… did Ayaka find her 'brother' in the end?"
Tatsu met her enquiring look with one of his own, again catching outside attention (perhaps they were wondering what such a handsome guy was doing with a little girl like her, we'll never know). "You don't believe what your big brother told you?" He laced his voice with faked horror, "You should always believe your older siblings!"
"Ooh, sarcasm." Maiko half-scolded, half-teased, "They say it's the lowest form of wit y'know?" She grinned then shrugged, dismissing the comment and going back to their original topic, "My brother has many talents, lying convincingly isn't one of them."
Tatsu found himself grinning yet again. He liked this confident, intelligent young woman who was so different from her sweetly naive brother. "True, that's my brother's forte."
"Your brother?" This time Maiko's curiosity was genuine and Tatsu remembered what Shu had told him about his sister's obsession with Eiri.
"I - I'm Yuki Eiri's younger brother." He stuttered nervously, hoping she wouldn't go raging fan girl on him.
The girl cocked her head to one side again, "Really?" She paused and studied him intently, "Actually yeah, why didn't I notice that before?" The question was rhetorical really.
Tatsu shrugged, "Most people just see the different colouring." He paused for a minute, suddenly feeling the urge to tell this girl he'd just met about his crush on Hiro, even though she hadn't asked anything about his love life. But how did he work that into casual conversation? "So, uh, being Shuichi's sister and all, you must know the rest of Bad Luck? Or maybe even Nittle Grasper?" Way to go Tatsuha, he congratulated himself, make it into a music question.
"Bad Luck yes, partly. Nittle Grasper no. Why?"Damn, now what? "N-no reason really, it's just that, uhhh, well, I know them so I, uh, thought you must to." Great, now I sound like a stuttering teenager talking about his crush! Of course, he was overlooking the fact that he actually was a stuttering teenager talking about his crush. A fact that did not, however, escape Maiko's keen observation.
"Oooooh, who is he? It is a he right, 'cos there's only one she, and she's way older than you, like twice your age, actually all of Nittle Grasper are older than you aren't they? So that leaves Bad Luck which means it's either Hiro or that Suguru guy since you have no chance with my brother." Suddenly she seemed a lot more like Shuichi, excitable and rather hyper.
"Hey! What makes you think I'm not in to older men?" Tatsuha protested, all too aware of how weak his voice sounded, and the triumphant grin on Maiko's face.
"So it is one of those two?" Tatsuha opened his mouth in protestation once more, but was cut off by Maiko, who had been anticipating that reaction. "Oh come on," she teased, "You were asking about Bad Luck first and then you protested too much when I suggested it was one of them. So which one is it? C'mon, I might be able to help if you tell me."
Hmmm, she had a point there. Being Shuichi's sister she had to know Hiro pretty well, especially considering the bond the two guys shared. "Uh, well… you promise not to tell anyone?"
A wicked grin danced across the girl's face, "No."
He tried, and failed, to frown at the blunt and honest answer. Should've expected that, he thought, she's Shuichi's little sis after all.
"I promise I won't tell everyone though," she amended with a mischievous grin.
Nodding slowly, the young monk glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation. Fortunately the majority of people had moved on now and they were alone. "I - It's Hiroshi." He deliberately used the full version of Hiro's name so as not to sound too obsessed with the guitarist, though he had a strong feeling he had failed at that.
"Really? That's so great!" the girl applauded, bouncing in place and literally clapping her hands.
Tatsuha was so completely unprepared for the enthusiastic response, expecting instead to be scorned for desiring someone like Hiro, that he felt his jaw drop stupidly.
"What?" Maiko's overly innocent voice questioned, "I'm not allowed to be pleased that an obviously great guy has a crush on the guy who's practically my second big brother? Now c'mon," she grabbed his arm before he could do anything and dragged him off in the direction of NG studio's, not that Tatsuha actually noticed, still being in a daze over her reaction, "You'll want to know all the gossip about him."
---
It wasn't until he was halfway to the studio that Nakano Hiroshi realised he had just walked out on his girlfriend (who had travelled from Kyoto especially to see him) without a single word of explanation. He felt the slightest twinge of guilt at that, hating to inconvenience her in the slightest, but not enough that he would go back to his place to sit in silence (as was usual in their relationship nowadays) with her. He'd just call her from the studio and explain, surely she'd understand why he'd done it? Though, come to think of it, he wasn't entirely sure of the reason he'd left himself.
Out of the corner of his eye Hiro, walking instead of taking his bike as he usually would have, noticed two familiar figures. Closest to him, and angled slightly away, was the petite form of Shindou Maiko, the look on her face (what he could see of it anyway) almost identical to the one Shuichi got when he was excited about something. And across from her, standing in a way that allowed Hiro to see his entire face from his position across the road, Uesugi Tatsuha, blushing and stammering, looking absolutely adorable as he did so.No! Bad Hiro! You have a girlfriend remember, you can't be thinking about Shuichi's boyfriend's 16-year-old brother that way. No matter how incredible he looks, he scolded himself, hastily continuing on his way before he gave in to the urge to go over and kiss the boy senseless. He really was too attractive to be allowed.
---
Suguru had always thrown himself into his work, when it wasn't the arrangements for Bad Luck's up and coming collaboration with Nittle Grasper it was his (ridiculously easy) school work. Most people just assumed this was because he was simply boringly serious (though one person had claimed, quite dramatically, that he was an 'old soul') and he'd never bothered to dispel those rumours. It wasn't true of course, not really. At least, he didn't think it was.
Ok, so he was focused on his work, music was a tough business after all and he couldn't afford not to be, and he didn't find the immature antics of Shuichi and Ryuichi to be particularly amusing, perhaps if they really were the five-year-old's they acted like it might have been. But that didn't make him boring… did it?
Caught up in his (rather depressing) self examination he barely noticed when Hiro walked through the door and greeted him with a lustreless "Hi," to which he absently responded in kind.
Did acting like a child make someone 'interesting'? No, that couldn't be it, Hiro didn't act in the same way as Shuichi did (well, not often anyway), yet he had that elusive 'cool' title, something Suguru himself never expected to achieve. Perhaps it had something to do with relationships? Both Hiro and Shuichi were in one after all, whereas he, the 'boring one', wasn't. But he didn't want to just jump into a relationship with any old person for the sake of popularity.
Perhaps that was the reason he wasn't seen as cool, he wasn't into casual relationships (not that he'd actually had any relationships, casual or otherwise). In fact, if he was completely honest, he was something of a romantic. He was saving himself for the perfect person, he just had to meet that person now.
