We Will Meet Again

Chapter Twelve: Maturity comes with Experience

Yumiko Kaze

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            Rubbing her hair furiously with a towel, Miaka made her way back to the living room, trying to decide what she was going to do for the rest of the night. Her brain hurt too much for her to really want to think too much about the decision she was going to have to make, although she knew she couldn't avoid it for long. Her pensive expression turned into a grin when she caught sight of the Tasuki puppy sprawled out on her jacket in the chair. He was sound asleep.

"He really is Tasuki…" she muttered to herself as she seated herself and tried to find something good on the television. She was flipping past the news channel when she froze.

"Hey! That's me!" she stared openmouthed as the speaker continued with a story of how quote, "Smash hit super star Andy Wong has recently been seen with Miaka Yuuki—" Miaka stared, how in the world had they gotten her name? As several pictures flashed across the scene Miaka's jaw got closer and closer to the floor. How had they gotten some of those pictures? There was one of them out front at the hotel, one of them at the dress shop, one of them with the middle-aged guys on the corner, one of them on the motorcycle, even one of them eating at the pizza place… And one of them in the park with Miaka wrapped in Andy's jacket.

What the hell had happened to the concept of privacy? She was surprised they didn't have a picture of Andy making a move on her in the hotel room!

Miaka changed the channel, irritated that the press had been so invasive and yet neither she nor Andy had known they were there. She scowled and flipped the channel until she found a nice bloody action movie that she could lose herself in for an hour or so. If she was lucky maybe one of the bullets would come flying out of the screen and take her of so that she wouldn't have to deal with anymore of the rabid fan girls.

It's like they think they own him, she thought in disgust. She grabbed a pillow and hugged it as she dozed. She was startled back into awareness not long after by a knock on the door. Shooting a look to make sure the dog was still asleep (she didn't need him darting out into the hallway) Miaka dove for the door thinking that it could be the person who had been leaving her threats. Expecting to see a twelve year old kid leaving something disgusting, she flung it open prepared to give a verbal beat down—

Only to realize it was Andy.

And she looked like shit.

I hate you, Fate.

Andy looked a little surprised at her rather strange method of opening doors, but didn't ask—assuming she had a reason for acting strange—and grinned and eyed her outfit. "I was going to ask if you wanted to go out to dinner, but you look more like you're ready to just go to sleep."

Pretending like being caught in her 'comfies' wasn't a big deal, Miaka smiled and stepped aside to let him enter, inwardly blushing at the way his eyes had lingered on her body before returning to her face. "S'okay." She shrugged, "You can come in for a while if you want." She said, hoping he would stay for a bit. She hadn't seen him all day. Truthfully, she had been too busy to really be able to miss him, but now that she had had some time to herself she realized how empty her day had been without seeing his smile or hearing his voice.

Andy blinked and felt his heart jump before he could calm himself. She was inviting him in while looking like that? He smirked inwardly at the way she self-consciously tugged at the shirt, he knew she thought she looked horrible, but in his eyes she just looked warm and comfy and…he really, really hoped there was some sort of a chaperone in the house or he wouldn't be able to keep his hands off of her.

Miaka answered his unasked question, "Mom's at work 'til late and Keisuke's on a date." She said going back to her place on the couch and motioning to the other chairs. "Come on in. How was your day?"

"Don't get me started…" he groaned. Miaka patted the spot next to her on the couch and Andy gratefully took up the offer, leaning into the pillows and sighing in contentment. He glanced at Miaka and grinned a bit, twining her fingers with his and kissing the back of her hand in one of his 'gentleman' type gestures. "Do you really want to hear me rant about my day?"

Miaka nodded, she could see him nearly bursting with the need for a good rant and decided that she might as well be the one to listen to it. Maybe she could get a better grasp on what being on tour with him would be like.

Andy sighed as he pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear, "Just remember, you asked for it." He warned as he searched his brain for what to rant about first—ah yes, the bane of his existence. Kimoto.

"I hate my boss…" was how he began. After he had exhausted the topic of Kimoto and his many evil doings, he moved on to the auditions that had been held.

"And more than half of them were horrible…it was like the preliminaries for that show, what's it called? Oh yeah. American Idol." He laughed and then remembered, "Hey, did you know that your friend Rae auditioned?" he looked at Miaka and she shook her head.

"Rae's pretty secretive about things like that. I think she's afraid she'll fail and end up being ridiculed for it. She's had kind of a tough family life." Miaka's eyes darkened, "Same with Hayai, both of their parents remind me of how you've described yours. You know, always criticizing, never giving praise. Arashi and Kieru don't say much about theirs. I think only Anwe and I have the truly supportive parents, although our lives aren't easy either."

Andy eyed Miaka interestedly. It seemed that he wasn't the only one who had been dumping their problems on this girl. Maybe this was the reason that Miaka seemed so mature; she not only had been through crap, but she had friends who had their fair share of it as well. "What about them?" he asked.

Miaka watched him closely as though trying to decided whether she should tell him or not and then spoke, "Well, Anwe's dad is military and so she's lived all over. It took a toll on her having to leave her friends behind every two or three years."

Andy nodded, that would suck. He himself was on the move a lot and so he could understand, though he'd never been in one place long enough to make very good friends with anyone. "So what about you?" Andy asked, "Where's your dad?" he looked around, realizing for the first time that there were absolutely no photographs of anyone resembling a father type figure. He'd been kind of wondering about that, he just hadn't gotten around to asking her about it yet.

"Me?" she paused, running a hand through her hair, "I consider myself pretty normal. I mean… a lot of kids parents these days get divorced." She bit her lip, and chewed on it a little.

Andy saw the nervous worry in her actions and took her hand, "That's right. It's not a fun process, I would imagine, but it's not like it's abnormal."

Miaka kind of half snorted as a strange smile appeared on her face. Something about that grin Andy really didn't like. It was like some darker part of the girl was beginning to emerge.

"Trust me. This isn't exactly a normal case."

Andy cocked his head in interest. He hadn't known Miaka for very long, but he was beginning to know her very well. And knowing that someone else besides himself had problems kind of helped, made the world feel more and less insane all at once. "What? Why?"

Miaka sighed in resignation, "You can't tell Keisuke I told you this. And you definitely can't mention it to my mother." Miaka stopped, unsure whether or not to continue. The only other people that knew about this her were Taka and Yui. Her telling Andy was something that she would never be able to take back. What if he was disgusted? Would he leave and never speak to her again? She sucked in a deep breath and just said it.

 "My dad's in jail."

Andy looked almost like he been slapped. He blinked twice. "What for?"

Miaka eyed him, "Rape." She drew back and watched for a reaction with guarded eyes.

Andy stared, looking more than a little dumbfounded.

What's he thinking? Wondered Miaka, Is he disgusted? Does he think I'm dirty now because I'm related to someone like that? She could feel the familiar tightness choking her and she swallowed.

"Andy?"

Andy wouldn't look at her. Instead he stared at his hands clenching into fists on his pant legs, "Did he ever touch you?" his voice had an edge of steel to it.

Miaka's hands flew up to wave frantically, "Oh no! No! He never touched me. I have no clue who the people he…did that to are. I don't even really remember when it happened. I was only two or so. Mom only told me a year or so ago. She figured I was old enough not to flip out about it. She was just gonna not tell me at all…" Miaka trailed off.

Andy sat there for a moment before slowly reaching over and wrapping Miaka in his arms—as though he were afraid he'd scare her if he moved too fast. He couldn't believe it. And yet it somehow made a weird kind of sense. Miaka never talked about her dad much so he'd assumed her parents might be divorces, but he'd never expected this…

He sighed into her hair as he felt her hug him back, "I'm sorry." He whispered.

Miaka made a sort of laughing noise, "It's alright. I told you, I don't remember him. So it's not like it matters…" she trailed off as he started stroking her back while she idly played with his hair. They stayed like that for a while, each taking comfort in the others presence.

Andy nuzzled Miaka's neck and breathed in her scent, how could someone so sweet be related to someone like that? He reveled in the warmth of her body and the touch of her skin. This was what he had been missing all day. A day without Miaka's presence had nearly killed him. He had been bored out of his mind, not to mention he had felt incredibly isolated.

Ever since he had met Miaka, it was like he had begun to develop a new sense of what friendship and relationships were supposed to be like. He had used to make idle chat with Shiko and the other back ups he worked with and had felt like he had friends, but after having met and talked with Miaka it was like he was seeing the world through completely new eyes.

Take Shiko for instance, he had used to find the girl mildly interesting, but now it was like he could see right through her and there was nothing there. It was like she was just a shell of a person with nothing of real value or worth to offer others and no respect for anything of worth that she might be given to learn. In any case, the entire day he had been forced to spend with Shiko and Kimoto had been sheer torture. He couldn't dump his problems on them, they wouldn't know how to deal with what he was feeling because they were too shallow and stupid to even begin to fathom what he might be going through. They were the ones causing his distress after all. After a day's worth of doing nothing but thinking, Andy had realized that he really had no one other than Miaka. She was the only one who cared enough about others to try and help him get through his problems, and she didn't mind if he complained or acted moody, because she understood.

Maybe it was because she had already faced more of what the world could throw at you than most people her age, but it was like nothing he told her could faze her or freak her out. Even when he got into ranting about his parents Miaka had simply nodded and listened, asking him to elaborate on certain things and giving him advice on how he could deal with some of it.

Even in the face of all her strangely childlike mannerisms, there seemed to be a deep maturity and a… an oldness that spoke volumes about what kind of a person she was. He realized vaguely that he was getting all poetic again and didn't really care. As he had ranted about his day with Kimoto it was like there was some sort of tangible aura surrounding her. The aura seemed to call to him. Sometimes Andy almost felt like he could reach out and touch it. As it was, he could feel himself being drawn closer and closer to her by it and he was powerless to stop it.

Like hell he would want to stop it.

"I stood up to Kimoto today." He said, breaking the silence.

Mika lifted her head, "Really?"

Andy blushed and added, "Well… kind of, but not really, I ended up apologizing in order to save my sorry rear…" he looked away in shame, thinking.

Miaka frowned, she wasn't sure how, but she could sense that he was hiding something. She supposed having known him in a former life gave her a slight advantage, but she could tell there was something he wasn't telling her. "What is it that you're not telling me?" she asked.

He snorted. Geez, he couldn't hide anything from her could he? "Kimoto made some crack about how since I've met you my attitude is becoming more and more disrespectful." He glared at the floor. "Said you were a bad influence."

An eyebrow rose, "Really? I think I'll take that as a compliment. And you know what? You have to give respect in order to get any back, and I don't think that Kimoto has really been respecting you very much as of late." She squeezed his hand and looked him in the eye, "Andy, you don't owe him anything."

A tiny voice in the back of his mind whispered, I owe you everything, and before he knew it he was leaning in to kiss her. He was almost there when…

Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark!

A high pitched round of yips nearly broke their ear drums. Miaka jerked back at the noise

Andy looked down. Tasuki growled and showed his teeth, standing and fluffing his fur to try and look bigger and more intimidating. Andy tried not to laugh; the dog weighed around seven pounds. "Is this you're little knight in shining armor?"

  "He thinks he's protecting me." Miaka laughed and then kissed Andy's cheek only to be rewarded with a barrage of yapping howls.

Andy watched the orange puff-ball dance back and forth on dainty paws, That thing looks like it'd be fun to punt across the living room, "You didn't tell me you had a dog."

Miaka grinned sheepishly, "Well, I didn't until tonight." She said, relaying to him the long and sad history of how the dog hadn't been bought even after six months. It was then that she frowned and raised a hand to his face, "Where did these come from?"

Andy winced, he had tried to cover them up with some stage make-up, but apparently it hadn't worked. He leaned his face into her hand and rolled his eyes, "Shiko had a little temper tantrum."

Tasuki barked furiously, not happy that his owner was paying more attention to this strange male than to him. Or maybe he just wanted Miaka all to himself. Finally, Tasuki leaped up, catlike, and settled himself in Miaka's lap, glaring at Andy and baring his tiny fangs.

Golden eyes flicked down in annoyance, "That dog has issues." Some evil part of his mind reminded him, Well, you wanted a chaperone. You got it.

"He's just not used to sharing." Miaka defended her new pet.

Neither am I, growled Andy mentally.

"Besides," Miaka added, "he's fun to cuddle with." She kissed Tasuki on the head and the dog wrinkled his nose as if to say 'Eww, cooties.'

Andy eyed the ball of fur that sported the oddly familiar looking pair of fangs. I swear, I know that dog… he thought to himself. Tasuki buried himself in Miaka's arms, making himself comfortable and pillowing his head on Miaka's chest, looking altogether too smug and content for Andy's liking.

The dog is mocking me. He thought incredulously. That's just wrong.

Andy smiled and propped his head up on a fist, "If you want something to cuddle, I know someone who'd be a very willing participant." He said, his voice lowered as he watched her through half lidded eyes.

Miaka blushed and looked away, though Andy could see the smile playing at the corners of her lips.

And that's when the door to the apartment banged open.

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AN: Okay, I forgot to do this in the last chapter, but I don't own the Lyrics to the song featured in eleven. They belong to Hanson. I thought the lyrics fit the chapter perfectly. Also… This story just gets longer and longer. The things I plan to be little scenes just take on a life of their own and…grow wild. Sheesh. Anyway, I liked the theory about Miaka's dad I threw in there, because you never really see or hear anything about her father and… I dunno, I kind of added a little bit of drama that I liked. And do not tell me that I screwed up on how someone would react after discovering that about someone because where I got the idea from my own life. So yeah. Don't think I don't know what I'm talking about. Also, I'm not really sure if the Tasuki puppy is supposed to be a reincarnate of Tasuki, or just a dog that looks like him. I like the reincarnate idea better. It makes the whole "That dog has issues and looks way too smug" thing make so much more sense.