We Will Meet Again
Chapter 12:
Yumiko Kaze
"Keisuke?"
Turning, Keisuke stuck another spoonful of frosted flakes in his mouth, answering with the ever universal "Eh?" to eye his sister who was just entering the kitchen and looked like she hadn't slept a wink the night before.
"You look like hell."
Miaka made a face and started foraging through the cupboards for something to eat, "Thank you Keisuke. I wasn't aware of that fact. I feel so loved." She found a semi-tasty looking granola bar and unwrapped it, eating it while she glared at Keisuke, "You know, it's not like I could have something serious that I would like to talk to my older, more worldly, brother about. Oh no…I'm just little Miaka, I couldn't possibly have anything important to say."
"Are you PMSing?" Keisuke glanced down at her middle as though he were trying to develop some sort of PMS detection and then took a step back. "Please, take your Midol immediately."
"Keisuke!" Miaka hissed, "Be serious!"
"Alright." Finally realizing that Miaka might actually want to ask him something, Keisuke shut up, moving to sit at the kitchen table and motioning for his little sister to come and sit next to him, "What's up?"
Miaka sighed, "I don't really know where to start…" she said, tracing the wood grain of the table with a finger, "Well… it's like this…"
Keisuke, though corny and immature, was one of the world's greatest listeners. While Miaka poured her heart out to him about her feelings for both Taka and Andy and about Andy's suggestion that she accompany him on the Tour, he stayed silent until at last she finished and looked up at him with wide green eyes so much like his own.
"So what do I do?" she asked, "I'm so confused. I know what I'm feeling, but my mind right now is just so jumbled up with stuff…school, work, relationship junk…I can't even think straight anymore." She rested her head on the table and groaned. "And now I have a migraine."
"Well…" Keisuke began, "First of all, I'm not you, so I can't make your decisions for you. Second; what have you always told me?" he looked at her as though she should know.
Miaka gazed up at him through dead eyes that told him just how much thinking she couldn't do at the moment. Usually he could see what she was thinking snapping through her mind like lightning, but today it seemed that her brain had come to a screeching halt.
When it became apparent that she wasn't going to answer, Keisuke placed a hand on her head and closed his eyes before giving her a light kiss on the head, "Follow your heart, you moron."
Miaka snorted lightly at him, "How did I know you were going to say that?" she sighed, forcing herself to sit up. Following her heart seemed like the most obvious thing to do, but first she had to make her mind stop throwing out a million and a half reasons why she should just stay in Tokyo.
It was then that Miaka decided that she really didn't want to go into work today. Maybe she could call in sick? Nah… she'd get found out someway or another for sure. Besides, she needed the money. "Thanks Keisuke." Feeling resigned, Miaka stood and hugged her brother before going to the refrigerator and grabbing some juice.
"When did you say you needed to decide this?" Keisuke asked as he cleaned up his dishes and took them to the sink.
"By Sunday night." She answered, "And it's already Thursday."
Inwardly, Keisuke winced. Only til Sunday? That seemed like a pretty tall order for even someone like his sister to have to make a decision on so quickly. However, he would not let Miaka see his apprehension. "You still have three days; four if you count the rest of today." He put on a cheerful face for his sister, even though he doubted he looked very convincing.
Miaka groaned, "It's too fast. Everything's moving too fast. I don't know what to do anymore. Gods…Do you think if I prayed really, really hard that I could just go back to kindergarten? You know, when everything was easy?"
Keisuke laughed as he headed out the door, "Wouldn't that be nice."
Miaka frowned as she absently called out "Have a good day," before going to her room to find something to wear.
Oh yes. Wouldn't it be nice…
***
Andy groaned to himself as he sat down in the plush chair in Mr. Kimoto's office. It was only nine o'clock and he was already being dragged into Kimoto's office to "discuss" the plans for later that week.
Hmph. Like there'd be any actual discussing.
How sad. The man hadn't even walked into the room yet, but Andy knew that pretty much everything was already decided on, Andy was only called in order to make sure that it looked like he was having a say in things. It was times like this that Andy really wondered whether or not what he had to give up for his job was worth it. Sure, he had more money than he would ever possibly know what to do with, but it seemed like, piece by piece, he had given up his life and entire being to the will of others. He couldn't even remember how he liked his eggs, as they usually were ordered for him.
Sometimes he felt like just walking out on it all. Miaka probably worked far more, and harder, for less money, than he did and it seemed that she was still happier with her lot in life than he could ever remember being with his. What would happen to her if she decided to come with him on the tour?
Would she grow to be as miserable as he? Would she resent him? After all, he was asking her to give up quite a lot; her family, her friends, her job, and school. If she just up and left with him and things didn't work out, what would she have to return to?
And then Kimoto would rub it all in Andy's face.
Oh yeah. Meeting. As in a meeting of more than one indivual. As in now.
And where was the short and balding bane of Andy's existence?
Psh. Tells me to get here at nine on the dot and he's not even here. Jerk.
"Good morning."
Andy jumped guiltily, startled at Mr. Kimoto's sudden appearance, and wondering if the older man could somehow hear his less than flattering thoughts. He nodded, a slight incline to acknowledge Kimoto's presence. I hate him. I really, really do.
"What happened to your face?
Andy reached up and ran a hand across the scratches Shiko had left on his cheek. They still stung. He opened his mouth, about to tell Mr. Kimoto exactly what had happened to his face, but, his better nature intruding, decided not to. Karma. She'll get hers… he told himself.
At least…he hoped so.
Or else Karma was going to have to deal with him, and it wasn't going to be pretty.
"Thank you for coming in this morning. Did you sleep well?" Mr. Kimoto waggled his eyebrows and Andy shuddered at the memory of the scantily clad Shiko nearly molesting him. Dear Lord. He had had to change his sheets.
It was then that Andy had to wonder at the suggestive tone in his manager's voice; did Kimoto set him up? Andy rubbed a hand over his chin thoughtfully; Shiko had mentioned that Kimoto had thought that they would make a good advertising couple.
That lousy son of a…
The phone rang and Kimoto answered it, giving Andy a chance to clamp down on the part of him that wanted to take off Kimoto's head. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Andy decided not to make a big deal about it and instead tried focusing on something pleasant.
He wondered what Miaka was doing right now. He checked the clock and sighed. Only nine ten. This was going to be a very, very long day.
Then he remembered.
Shiko had threatened Miaka the night before.
But…what could she do? Miaka was short, but Andy had a feeling that it pitted in a fight against his prissy backup singer that Miaka would kick some manicured ass. Besides, this was Shiko. He had known Shiko for a little over a year and he knew that though she was possibly the most spiteful bitch he knew, that she was probably bluffing.
He hoped she was bluffing.
Slumping like a bored high school student, Andy idly doodled on the piece of paper. When the phone call stretched on for more than five minutes, the idle doodles slowly began to form into pictures—not very well rendered, but recognizable—one of which resembled Miaka. He sighed. He had wanted to call her this morning to try and set up a time to see her, but had gotten too bogged down in work that Kimoto had given him. Now it looked like he wasn't going to be getting out of the office until late, especially if all of Kimoto's calls (of which he usually received quite a few) lasted even half this long.
Miaka…
He missed her.
He'd spent the Whole Long Night missing her.
Without paying much attention to what he was doing, he scribbled down a verse.
When I woke up this morning
And the night had been so long
It seems that I have had my mind on you
He checked the clock again. Nine thirteen. Good grief. He was sure that that had been at least an hour. At least, that's what it had felt like. He groaned and his head rolled back to rest against the wall. Suddenly, it seemed the words were flying through his head. Without thinking about it, Andy's hand began to move, scribbling the words down as they came to him:
Well the day
It has begun
And I can't get a minute
Can't get a minute without you
Oh… yeah…
You're always on my mind
You're always in my head
And I can't live another day without you
Well. That part was true enough. He doubted that he slept this badly in several consecutive days before he'd met Miaka. The girl was always in his thoughts—she was disrupting his sleep damnit! Although…he didn't think he'd mind that she'd done so if they had perhaps say…been keeping each other awake. But as it was, Andy felt like he was about to go insane if he didn't see her before the day was through.
More words slipped off the end of his pen as though it had developed a mind of its own, Andy tapped his foot impatiently as Kimoto's call dragged on and on and the second hand seemed to slow to a crawl as it passed the twelve.
Nine sixteen.
Cuz when the minutes seem like hours
And the hours seems like days
And then a week goes by
you know it takes my breath away
all the minutes in the world
could never take your place
there's 1,400 hours in my day
Andy wrote a few more verses, now so engrossed in his writing that he hadn't even noticed that there was a new presence in the room with them. The click of Kimoto hanging up the phone dragged him (reluctantly) back to reality and he twitched slightly when he realized that there was a new person standing right next to him in the doorway.
Well…Someone's legs at least. From his slouched position that was pretty much all he could see. Sitting up a little straighter, Andy realized that okay, this person was pretty dang tall. As his gaze jumped to see the person's face, Kimoto's voice boomed out, "Well hello! You must be one of the new hopefuls that I had scheduled for today!"
Andy froze, "Hopefuls?" he asked. Hopeful for what? Was he being replaced? Fear gripped his heart until Kimoto explained.
"Base guitar, correct?"
"Yup." A man's voice.
Base guitar. Okay. He wasn't here to replace him.
"Name?" asked Kimoto, pulling out a list.
"Ish."
Wait a second. Why did they need a need base guitar?
Mr. Kimoto must have seen the surprised look on Andy's face because he said, "Tsubasa was caught with some questionable substance the other night. He's in rehab. Hopefully someone who can actually play will turn up." He looked over at Ish. "Is there a last name that goes with that?"
"Nope. Just Ish."
A raised eyebrow, "Well. Let's see what you can do."
***
Three hours and many, many, many, varying levels of talent later…
God. Make it stop… Whimpered Andy's subconscious as the latest hopeful nearly killed his guitar with harsh notes and just all around horrible playing.
"Next!" called out Kimoto, he made little shooing motions with his hands as the boy with green hair and purple eyes glared at him.
"Yo man, you don't know talent when you see it!" the boy pointed at Kimoto as he left the room, shoving past the next hopeful who glared after him as he jogged down the hall.
"Punk." She muttered, balling a hand into a fist as though she would like to strangle the boy.
"Do tell." Muttered Andy in agreement.
"We'll do one more, and after this we're"
Andy leaned forward, Done? Please say done.
"taking a lunch break." Kimoto finished.
You suck.
"Name?"
"Rae Midori."
Andy paused at the familiar name and looked up. A girl with long brown hair and green eyes shuffled her feet nervously as she played with the edge of her t-shirt. "Hey! I know you!" he said, standing and extending a hand. He was happy beyond words to see someone other than Kimoto that looked familiar.
Kimoto looked back and forth, "You know her?"
Andy's grin widened, "Not really, but she works with Miaka, I sort of met her once." He glanced down at the instrument that Rae held and raised an eyebrow, "Miaka didn't mention any of her friends played instruments."
Rae shrugged and proceeded to get the guitar out of the case, "So what do you guys want me to do? Play scales? Play a song? What?"
Kimoto instructed the girl on what to do and as she began to play, it struck Andy that this might just be some sort of sign.
Wait. You were worried Miaka might feel lonely and resentful of leaving everyone behind right? Here's one of them now that would end up being on tour with you guys if she makes it! Not to mention she's freaking awesome! She's the best we've seen all day! It's a sign!
"Brilliant!" he said as Rae finished playing, standing and saying a silent thank you to the gods. It surprised him for a moment that she was at eye level with him. Whew. Girls have no right to be this tall! She's as tall as me!
"Good, yes." Agreed Kimoto, "Best we've seen all day. We'll give you a call." He said as they watched Rae gather he things and leave the room.
Yes! Andy silently cheered.
"But not good enough." Kimoto added once Rae was out of earshot.
"What?" Andy turned, scowling at Kimoto as the man crossed Rae's name off of the list. "What are you talking about? She was awesome!"
"We can discuss that later. For now we are going to go to lunch, come back, and sit through another three hours of auditions." Kimoto's voice was beginning to get an edge to it.
"No!" Andy slapped a hand on the desk. "That girl has to get the job. She was the best!"
"According to you. Besides, we haven't seen everyone yet." Kimoto said sensibly.
Okay. Fine. He has a point.
But Rae had to get this job! For the love of Pete! She had to!
Andy admitted that some of his reasoning was extremely biased. He wanted Rae to get the job so that Miaka wouldn't be so along on the tour, should she decide to go; however; he also truly believed that this girl was their best bet.
Maybe he could bluff…
He sucked in a breath. He had to be crazy. What did he think he was doing? "I won't sing unless you hire her."
Kimoto froze, his little beady eyes going blank as the threat registered. When the words sunk in, the black eyes darkened with anger and his face took on an unsightly purple color as he drew himself up to his full height and hissed over the desk. "Then you won't have a job."
****
Miaka sighed and wiped her sweaty forehead as she unlocked the door to her apartment. She had had an exhausting day at work and, to her despair, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of—or even heard from—Andy all day. She frowned as she realized just how much a part of her routine the man had already become in just a few short days.
"Well, we're home." She said, closing the door and setting a green plastic kennel on the floor and stooping to open the gate. When the lone occupant of the kennel didn't exit immediately, Miaka sighed and lay down next to the kennel, making a soft clucking noise in her throat.
A bright amber gaze burned into her from the depths of the miniature cave.
Rolling her eyes at the animals sudden show of shyness, Miaka reached in and grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and sitting up to cradle it in her arms.
"I can't believe no one's bought you yet." She muttered, hugging him to her chest and giggling as he licked her ear. The puppy had to be the cutest in the entire puppy room, and he'd been there for six months. Miaka had agonized for weeks over whether or not to bring the dog home with her.
Her mother was going to shoot her.
She held the dog away from her and eyed him; small, pointed fangs peered at her as he gave her a semi-wolfish grin. She narrowed her eyes as the sunlight coming in through the window caused the dogs eyes to shine a bright amber color, turning his golden orange coat into a beautiful flaming red.
"Tasuki."
The dog cocked his head.
"That's who you remind me of." She nodded to herself before kissing the dog's forehead again and hugging the animal. Noticing that it was kind of quiet in the house, Miaka set the pup on the floor and went to see if her mother or Keisuke had left a note. Luckily, her mother was working late tonight and now that her ears had finally stopped ringing from the incessant barking at the kennel, Miaka could hear that her brother was in the shower.
Grumbling that her brother had better get out of the shower soon, Miaka settled down in the living room and began flipping channels until she found a show that looked good. She vegged out and idly scratched Tasuki's head until she heard her brother enter the living room.
"You know, you sound like an elephant when you stomp around like that." She commented as she dodged her brothers attempt to steal the remote.
"And you smell like one." He retorted, making a second, more successful grab and changing the channel.
Miaka sniffed theatrically and then choked, "Eww! How much cologne did you put on?" she waved a hand to try and get the smell to go away.
"Enough so that by the time I pick up my date I'll only smell sexy." He said, deciding that he really didn't want the remote anyway and dropping it on the floor behind the couch where Miaka couldn't reach it.
"Jerk." She whined as she tried in vain to reach the remote without moving.
A sneeze from Tasuki caught Keisuke's attention.
"See? He thinks you stink too." Miaka said.
"What's wrong with him?" Keisuke knelt and scratched Tasuki under the chin. He knew that Miaka sometimes brought sick puppies home overnight, so he hadn't paid any mind to the fact that she'd been holding something small and fuzzy.
"Nothing's wrong with him." She said carefully, watching for a reaction. "He's the one I've been telling you about. The one that's been there for six months and no one wants him?"
"So you just brought him home?" he asked.
Miaka nodded.
"Without asking mom?"
Miaka nodded again.
"You are so dead."
Miaka ignored him and took note of his somewhat decent appearance, "Where're you going?"
Keisuke looked away, "Uhhh…"
Miaka's eyebrow's lifted, "You have a date? Who?" she laughed, excited that her brothers less than full love life might finally be going somewhere.
Maybe now he'd keep his nose out of hers…
"No one you'd know." He said, standing up and going to get his keys. "If I leave now I might be able to find her house on time."
"What? You don't know where she lives?" Miaka asked incredulously, "Have you ever heard of a map?"
Keisuke shook his head and sighed, "Miaka, Miaka, Miaka. Men don't need maps. We use The Force!" he struck a pose as he stood just outside the door to the apartment.
Miaka snorted and nearly fell off of the couch as Keisuke shut the door and left. The Force? No more Star Wars for Keisuke…
AN: Dude. This chapter didn't even exist in my outline until two days ago. The part I've been trying to write is still…not written. I think it didn't want to be written because I was trying to write the part that comes after this and it just kind of felt wrong because I had a time lapse of nearly a day which in a story that spans only seven days in kind of a large amount of time so yeah… I apologize for this taking so long and then for it being only a filler with no really action to it… I decided once I finally get this whole thing done I'm gonna go through and revamp and edit it because I get too excited about having a new chapter up to send it to a beta-reader and wait to get it edited… So I'll do that later. Hopefully my spelling and grammer isn't too bad.
