Tornado: Hi people! This is my first "Gravitation" fic. Just because I'm lazy and don't feel like putting a disclaimer at the beginning of every chapter, I don't own "Gravitation." So now you know. I am honored to present our feature fanfiction.
The Blue-Eyed, Blue-Haired Mistress
There was something about the girl that Eiri Yuki could not describe. There was a feeling that was aroused when he shot a glance her way. It was that feeling that you get only when you lay eyes upon someone that you used to love but left. It was the feeling that he wrote about in his books just before his character committed adultery. Surely this was not an omen. Eiri, who knew all the signs of life for he had written about them in his novels, had a lover, who made him happy, and was not about to dispel all that he had endured and grown to care for just so he could bang some random girl for the night. Not even he, however, could ignore the feeling. It irked him in the deepest sense.
He observed her, marveling at her shadow hair that was accented in cobalt blue. Her long, thin hands flew across the keyboard of her laptop, pausing only when she, presumably, had not quite perfected the wording on whatever sentence she was currently dwelling. Perhaps, she is an author. Or perhaps she is preparing a contract for whatever corporation she works for. Why do I even care? Yes, that was the true question. Why did he care? Not even the great romance novelist Eiri Yuki could answer that inquiry.
She had just downed her third soda when she finally ceased her ever-present movements. Stretching her hands and shoulders, she surveyed the room for the first time since her arrival. Her cerulean eyes, whose hue was an identical twin of the shade that streaked her first locks framing her face and tipped her hair, fastened on the contrasting golden hue of Eiri's. Her elegant brows furrowed as her hand came up to support her head. She diverted her attention to the waitress, who had appeared out of nowhere.
"Would you like another Pepsi, Ms. Lireal?" the elderly woman asked.
"Yes please. Can you tell me who that man over there is?" the younger questioned, pointing to Eiri, who had turned back to his computer.
"That is the famous novelist Eiri Yuki. He's quite the looker, eh. Of course he's not real friendly to outsiders. He's a romance novelist."
"Thank you," Ms. Lireal responded before the waitress left.
She stared at the blonde for several minutes before deciding upon her resolve. She quickly began packing away her laptop in the leather that she used for transport. Upon having thoroughly packaged the electronic, she moved towards the so-called "hostile" novelist. She had thought that he had appeared familiar, but those golden eyes gave it away. She took a seat in the stool next to him. Her eyes pierced his head until he finally spun to face her.
"Is there something that I can do for you?" he snapped irritably.
"Boy, what crawled up your ass, Eiri?" she asked harshly.
"Look, lady, if you want an autograph choose a better time because I have a deadline to make."
"Why would I want your autograph? You know I hate romance novels."
"Who the hell are you!!" he asked rather loudly.
"Lower your voice. You're making a scene, Uesugi," the girl hissed.
"What did you just call me?" he said, lowering his voice slightly in surprise.
"Now that I have your attention," the girl said with a smile. "We can begin the true conversation. My name is Tora. Tora Lireal."
His mouth gapped a few inches upon hearing the name. Golden saucers replaced the orbs on his face, and brows contracted together. This girl could not be the one that had helped fill his past with enlightenment and comfort. If she indeed was the same Tora Lireal from the grand city of New York, she had played about as big a role as Tohma had. The girl continued to smile knowingly at him.
"What is the point of doubting your intuition? You are usually correct with your first thought," Tora stated.
"How do I know it's really you?"
"It's always why and how with you. Please don't make me tell you the sizes of Tohma's and your dicks in public," she replied smirking.
"Only a slut like you would play a card that dirty."
"I was only a slut for you and Tohma if you will recall."
"And Yuki," he whispered.
"No, he only bragged about that. They were baseless claims. Which reminds me, Eiri Yuki? Quite an interesting pen name, wouldn't you say?"
"Yeah. I don't know why I chose that name."
"I do. You loved him." Eiri smiled a true smile, shattering the ice crystals that had long since formed.
"I guess so, but I still killed him."
"And you hated your father."
At this he laughed, causing the girl to smile even more. She had guessed from the cracking sound that had echoed when he smiled, that this was a rare event. She thought back to what Tohma had said to her on the phone before she left for Japan. "You may be a bit surprised if you happen to see Eiri. He's changed a lot since you last saw him. One other warning: he's been diagnosed as a schizophrenic. Don't bring it up unless he does." Oh, Eiri, if I ever had only one wish it were that you can finally escape your past, but you take it with you wherever you go. Are you trying to punish yourself for what you think you have done wrong? Or are you accepting your past and keeping it as a brutal reminder of all you have done?
"So," he started. "What has the great warrior Tora Lireal been doing since our departure?"
"I followed your example and taken the job as an author."
"You always enjoyed writing much more than me."
"We wrote for two very separate reasons. You wrote because you had to and because you needed to think out what your options were: you wrote to deal with reality. I wrote to escape it. I hated the world I lived in and couldn't accept myself. I was your stereotypical teenager. I graduated from that level of angst and moved to pitying the helpless world."
"Once a rebel, always a rebel. I see that with age has come a more daring persona. Perhaps even a more whimsical mind."
"I'm not the fairytale enthusiast that I once was. I prefer a more violent, gory tale. Just like you, I too have changed a good deal since we last assembled. Enough about me. What is the life of Eiri Yuki like?"
"Have you talked to Tohma?" She nodded. "Well, I'm told that I'm a schizo. Since you're not surprised I'll take it to mean that you already knew that. So into the part of my life that I know you'll be surprised. I have a lover. I've actually maintained that same lover for two years. I've been known to be a womanizer and to have many lovers at the same time."
"Why I am supposed to be surprised?"
"Because my lover is … well… a man," he whispered.
She stared at him. Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped. All in all, she was not totally surprised because of her experiences with Eiri and Tohma, but then he had said that it was teenage hormones. Now he was a full-grown adult, and he was bluntly admitting that he was gay. Eiri was gazing at her with a countenance of embarrassment and a bit of hopefulness. She shrugged, allowing Eiri to relax.
"What did you think that I would care? Please, I'd been telling you for a long time that you were bisexual, but you always came up the that stupid teenager hormone crap. You were in denial back then. I think that it's good that you're not lying to yourself anymore. I won't hold it against you if you maintain the straight image with the media. They're a bunch of sharks."
"They know. They've known for about a year. I came out and told them. Of course that took a reckless move fro my lover to make it so."
"This is surprising. Who is you lover, if you don't mind me asking? I know it's not Tohma, so who is it?"
"Have you ever heard of the band Bad Luck? Yes? Okay, well you know the lead singer? The pink-haired idiot well that's him."
"No way! Oh my god! That's cool. Wait how does Tohma feel about this? Is he jealous?"
"I think that he felt threatened at the beginning, but he's pretty much accepted it now."
The girl nodded knowingly. Tohma Seguchi had never been the type to share things. It didn't matter if it was information, personal possession, and especially not lovers. Tora had been surprised beyond all belief that the man had allowed Eiri to share his girl with him, but then, wasn't Tohma also in a relationship with the boy? Many a time the trio had endeavored in vain to make sense of their relationships with one another to no avail. They finally accepted that what drew these three together was beyond the understanding of humans and agreed that their relationship was a three-way. Amazingly, it was simpler than trying to divide their time between one another, though to any "normal" person what they were doing was a "sin" and "immoral."
Tora was not the only one reminiscing. Eiri also was contemplating how their relationship had actually worked. Then again, he didn't know how they had done it before then. Before it was Tora and Tohma, which Eiri didn't know about, and Tora and Eiri, which Tohma didn't know about, and Tohma and Eiri, which Tora didn't know about. Then it was just a bunch of lies when they were each just cheating each other. So, on that night that they had first sat down and discussed their problems, they made a pact that they could be involved with each other, all three of them. This led to many nights of passion in which everyone was satisfied. Eiri was glad that no one had ever known about that.
They were expressing their thoughts through their eyes just as they had done in the past. Eiri noticed something for the first time since he had entered the diner. There was a reporter sitting in the table across from them. Tora averted her eyes to the place where Eiri was looking before they were flooded with anger. "I'll meet you at the East Entrance of Samurai Park," Eiri mouthed. Tora nodded her head before bidding him goodbye and exiting the diner. Eiri scrutinized her as she entered her metallic light blue 05 Mustang. Once she had left his sight range, he finished the chapter that he was on, which took about five minutes, and left as well, paying both his and his companion's checks. Thanks, Tora. I know I'm rich, but you could have at least paid your bill.
She was waiting for him. Not that he cared because he was already sweating about the reporter. He was amazed to find that she was not impatient, knowing how much shit the media could cause for him and his love life if he had been spotted with a girl. The pair greeted each other before walking down a shaded path. They found a bench to sit on not far from the main path but far enough that no one was going to pester them. Tora was the first to break the silence.
"Do you ever think about it? Our three-way relationship?"
"Sometimes. After having only my second successful relationship, I wonder how we managed to do it and be happy with it no less."
"I wonder that all the time. I have only one possible way: we loved each other. I'm going to sound mushy-gushy here for a moment, but you write about that stuff so I'm not worried. We were rebels and didn't believe that there was only one person that could be right for them, and since we had been having secret relationships with one another, we said 'what the hell, let's try it together.' It worked, amazingly."
"We had some wild nights. You remember that time when you came over and found Tohma and I making out? That was the time that you were wearing all leather and a thong."
"I don't think I ever heard the two of you scream that loud. What about the time when Tohma walked in on you and me in bathtub? Or when you walked in on Tohma and me in the kitchen for the first time? Why is there a theme with us walking in on each other? Did we ever just look at each other and go at it?"
"Not that I remember. It was always someone barging in on the others' fun. We didn't even live in the same damn house. How the hell did we get interrupted all those times?"
"Cause none of us knew what a doorbell was."
"Tohma still doesn't."
"Yeah , I know. He got into my hotel room one time while I was taking a shower."
"So, you and Tohma continued your relationship after I left, huh? I didn't think that you were the type to allow him to morally bend."
"We stopped after he got married. Although I don't think that stopped him. He's your brother-in-law right? How does it feel having your ex married to your sister? Never mind, I'll drop it. Shit, I have to get going. But first, can I ask you a question? Do you ever miss it?" she asked.
He fell silent and just stared at her. She saw in his eyes something that she had not seen before: confusion. She knew not of the source whether it be the question or the answer. He abruptly stated, "I have to get home to my lover. He'll be waiting."
He rose without another word and started to walk away. He suddenly halted, scribbling something down on a small tablet that he had pulled out of his pocket. He spun around, throwing the sheet of paper towards the girl. She unfolded it in confusion, attempting to decipher the scribble note.
"That's my address and phone number in case you need anything or just want to talk. I'm sure I'll see you around," he added before leaving.
The girl's sad expression had been replaced by a small smile. She stared after him long after his car had driven by. Somewhere in her, a small glimmer of hope arose. Perhaps they could resurrect what they once had, but that glimmer was murdered by the realization that it would never happen. Tohma was married, and Eiri was happy with his lover. They could never be together again. Tears began to spill down Tora's face. She loved them enough to let them go do what they wanted to do, but now she felt sorrow. She had not cried since her joy had first been taken away when Eiri had left. She had been prepared when Tohma had gotten married, for she had known long in advance. Knowing now that this would be the way their lives turned out, she would have never made that decision. It was too late though. She was doomed to the road of friendship, but it was better than the road of invisibility.
Tornado: What did you think? It'll get better and more to the summary in the next chapter, but for now R&R.
