We Will Meet Again
Chapter 16
Yumiko Kaze
Miaka sighed happily as she watched Andy's car drive away. With what she knew was probably a geeky smile she sniffed the collar of the shirt she was wearing—one of Andy's—and was vividly reminded of his touch and soft voice. Memories of the night before danced through her mind and she squealed happily. That had been one of the best nights of her life. Hmn. If she was going to get that every night she was definitely going on tour!
Okay. So it wasn't all about the sex. But it was a nice bonus!
Giggling, Miaka turned and started up the stairs, taking care not to trip herself as she had also borrowed a pair of Andy's pants to wear home. Somehow, though wearing his cloths were slightly more incriminating, they were less noticeable than the dress she had inside the plastic bag she carried.
She knew that she was going to be several different shades of dead when her mother got home that night, but somehow, that seemed like a small price to pay in exchange for the incredible night she and Andy had just had.
As she skipped up the stairs, Miaka knew without a doubt that she loved Andy. She loved him with all her heart. So the fact that neither of them had actually said "I love you" to the other was starting to weigh heavily on her mind.
Did he not love her? Or was he simply waiting for her to say it first? Or maybe he hadn't thought he needed to say it because the fact should have been apparent enough in his actions?
Miaka shook her head as she entered her apartment and kicked the door closed with her foot. She immediately looked for a note from her mother near the door where she usually left one and groaned when she saw that her mother was definitely not happy with her. "We need to talk." Great. Andy won't need to worry about Kimoto not letting me go on the tour because mother's going to kill me and make sure that the pieces are so scattered that the police will never find them all!
She was just about to go and let Tasuki out of his kennel when someone cleared their throat. Miaka jumped, surprised, and turned to face the intruder.
Andy leaned back into the seat of the car as the driver headed back towards the hotel. After last night, he was about as relaxed as relaxed could be. He hadn't really wanted to leave Miaka all alone in her apartment, but Kimoto had insisted on seeing him sometime before lunch.
Even though he'd questioned security while Miaka was still sleeping and they hadn't found anyone or anything that seemed to present danger to Andy or Miaka, he still felt worried when he wasn't there to make sure that she was going to be okay.
A flash of teal and black caught his eye and Andy turned his head to see Taka walking towards Miaka's apartment with his hands in his pockets. Andy felt a strange surge of remorse when he saw Taka. Like he'd stolen his best friends girlfriend or something. He was overcome by the distinct feeling that he should apologize.
"Hey, stop the car." He told the driver. Before the car was entirely stopped, Andy had leaped out of the car and was trotting after Taka.
"Taka!"
The other man stopped, recognizing Andy's voice, and turned to look at him with some sort of cross between anger and sadness in his eyes.
"What do you want?" Taka muttered, turning to face Andy.
Andy stopped, noting that they were still fairly close to Miaka's apartment, before running a hand nervously through his hair and looking down. Unsure of what to say now that he had Taka's attention.
"Where're you going?" Andy asked, afterwards mentally slapping himself for asking such a stupid question.
Taka glared, "I was going to Miaka's. I wanted to talk to her about the last week. I wanted to try and patch things up between us."
"Erm." Andy paused, "Look. I don't really know how to say this, but… I'm sorry." He looked down and to the side, unwilling to meet Taka's eyes.
"For what?" Taka asked, not sure he was going to like the answer.
Andy sighed, "For… for taking Miaka away from you." He had just enough time to see Taka's body tense up in his peripheral vision to realize that he should be standing a little further away.
Andy's eyes widened and then snapped shut as Taka's fist suddenly blocked out the rest of the world. Pain exploded in his nose and eyes as he clamped a hand over his face and doubled over in pain from the blow that had caught him in the stomach. He hadn't even seen that one coming!
He sucked in air and straightened, taking his hand away from his face and saw that it was covered in blood. Andy glared, a sort of primal feeling sweeping all consciousness aside as he felt his body readying itself for a fight.
Taka stood there, looking half proud of himself for having drawn blood and half astounded that he had actually taken that first swing. He glanced at his knuckles which were stained with red.
Andy tried to wipe the blood away with the back of his hand. Taka was so going to pay for that…
"Ayame?" Miaka frowned. "What are you doing here?"
The other girl was leaning against the far wall of the apartment. Miaka wondered idly why she hadn't seen her when she first walked in. The other girl had changed out of the dress she had been wearing the night before into jeans and a black t-shirt.
Even though Miaka was normally on good terms with Ayame, something about the way that the other girl was positioned, something about her body language and expression, made Miaka's blood run cold.
"Ayame, are you feeling alright?" Miaka asked, even as she backed towards the door. Some deep set survival insistence was screaming at Miaka to run. Get the hell out of that apartment and run like hell.
However, Miaka also had the feeling that she shouldn't make any sudden moves. After all, you never ran from anything that had predator instincts, and everything about Ayame at the moment was screaming "predator." Miaka was amazed at how different she seemed from her normal self.
Ayame's eyes narrowed as Miaka neared the door, "And where do you think you're going?" she hissed. Faster than Miaka would have thought the other girl could move, Ayame had crossed half of the apartment and had produced a handgun. Miaka wondered idly where she had hidden it in the first place. Was the girl related to Heero Yuy?
Miaka halted instantly. After all, Ayame was the one with the gun and Miaka didn't want to provoke her into firing it. She could feel her heart beating harshly against her rib cage and had a hard time resisting the urge to run, or at least try to hide behind the couch. Something!
"So where were you last night?" Ayame asked casually, lowering the gun and leaning casually against the nearest wall.
Miaka froze. Ayame had been waiting for her here all night? The note!
"You sent me those notes?" Miaka half asked, half accused.
"Of course." Ayame's dark eyes narrowed and seemed to be shooting sparks, "Andy is mine! You wouldn't even have known who he was if it weren't for me! I've loved him ever since his first album came out. What gives you the right to just suddenly sweep in and try to steal him away?" Ayame's voice rose louder and louder and with it her actions grew more and more erratic. Miaka flinched every time she waved the hand that held the gun, afraid that it would go off at any second.
Miaka glanced around, for a moment worried that Ayame might have done something to her mother. Remembering that her mother had left her a note though, Miaka relaxed a bit. At least her mom was okay.
"Answer me!" Ayame hissed, pointing the gun at Miaka and taking off the safety, "What gives you the right to take him away from me?"
Miaka's mind raced and her heart seemed ready to pound its way right out of her chest. It was obvious that Ayame's state of mind was just a tad bit less than sane, and Miaka was unsure of how to handle the situation. Lie! Her mind screamed. Lie!
Swallowing, Miaka held a hand out in a friendly gesture, "I never wanted to take him away from you, Ayame." She tried to steady her breathing, she knew she wasn't qualified for talking down a mental case with a gun, but it wasn't like she had any other choice at the moment. "I knew you liked him. You talked about him all the time." Miaka swallowed nervously again. Suddenly her lips felt incredibly dry and she wet them, "I'm sorry, Ayame. I thought you were okay with it. You never said anything." Miaka looked at the other girl with wide eyes, hoping that she would buy it. After all, it was true.
Ayame's face twitched slightly, like she was having some sort of internal battle before her hand tightened on the gun and she took a step closer to Miaka, "That's a lie!" she shouted.
Miaka felt a wave of cold fear wash over her. If she didn't find a way out of this, she was going to die. Ayame was far enough away that it would be impossible, not to mention stupid to try and wrench the gun away from her. However, she was also close enough that Miaka decided she should continue with her attempt at talking Ayame into either putting the gun down, or handing it over to her.
Trying to appeal to Ayame as a non-threatening figure, as her friend, Miaka took a small step closer, noticing that her hand was shaking slightly. "Ayame. I'm your friend. As your friend if you had told me how you felt about Andy, I would have backed off." Green eyes stared into brown, willing the other girl to believe her.
Miaka saw Ayame's eyes water slightly. Thinking that she was getting somewhere, Miaka continued, "Ayame, just put the gun down and we can talk about this, okay?" Miaka kept her eyes on Ayame's, but in her peripheral vision could see that Ayame's hand was shaking. The gun's barrel wavered back and forth.
Ayame scowled, "No!" she gun raised up a bit higher, so that now it was pointed at Miaka's face. Miaka's eyes widened and she took a step back in surprise.
"You aren't my friend." Ayame growled, "You don't think of anybody but yourself!"
Miaka wondered for a moment what the other girl was talking about, but didn't have to wait long before Ayame's story came spilling out.
"You're just playing Andy. The only reason you want him is because he's famous. What do you even know about him? I know everything about him! I've read every magazine article, every book!" tears of anger were streaming down Ayame's face.
"You may act like a good two shoes, but I know that you'll only hurt Andy in the end." Ayame's eyes darkened, "Just like you hurt Taka."
Miaka couldn't stop herself, "How did I hurt Taka? What are you talking about?"
Ayame trembled, still keeping the barrel trained on Miaka, "I heard him talking to Shiko the other night in the coffee shop. Do you realize how much he loves you? How much you've hurt him? You'll only do the same thing to Andy, and I can't let that happen!" her fingers tightened on the trigger.
The gun fired.
Miaka screamed.
AN: Nyahahaha! Finally! I get to the actiony scenes! I so happy! First time in a great great while since my DBZ phase at writing action stuff. And that was with Ki blasts… so tell me how I did with this chapter. Nyahaha. Now, Off to right the next chappy! I COULD have just extended this chapter, but that wouldn't be any fun for me, now would it? This way I get agonized "Nuu! Not ANOTHER cliffhanger!" reviews!
