We Will Meet Again
Chapter 19: The Origin of Love
Yumiko Kaze
"Miaka, are you hungry?" Yui asked, craning her neck to look at the brunette who was sprawled at the other end of the couch. The police were still investigating the Yuuki's apartment as a crime scene and so Miaka and Yui had quickly rescued Tasuki (who had been safe in his kennel the entire time) and gone to Yui's apartment. After informing Keisuke and Mrs. Yuuki via cell phone about what had happened, Miaka and Yui had collapsed on the couch in Yui's living room.
Miaka wrinkled her nose and muttered something as she stared blankly across the room. Now that the adrenaline rush from the morning had worn off, Miaka's body was making it known exactly how exhausted it was. Not to mention that Miaka's brain was still having a hard time wrapping itself around the whole concept of what had happened over the last week.
I can't believe that it was Ayame. The other girl had always been friendly to her. They'd joked and hung out around the kennel since the younger girl had started not too long ago. Although… Miaka had always thought that the other girl's obsession with Andy Wong was just a little bit annoying. Not to mention that Ayame had seemed to be able to convince herself extremely quickly that she was in love with said star.
The other girls that they worked with had seemed to be equally annoyed with Ayame about that. Only talking to her if it was necessary or they felt they needed to be polite. Miaka had felt pretty much the same way, but at the same time she felt that she needed to be nice to Ayame because no one else was.
The police had discovered that Ayame had stolen her father's gun (that he kept for protection purposes) and entered the Yuuki's apartment by climbing up the fire escape and breaking in through a window in the living room. They had also suggested that Ayame was suffering from psychological problems, though they could not specify what exactly. Yumiko had suggested obsessive compulsive disorder.
Miaka absently stroked Tasuki's fur as he curled up on her stomach. She had left the hospital semi-willingly only because she had already been formulating a plan to see Andy before he left Tokyo. Unfortunately, her plan was soon derailed when she discovered that the tickets for the show were all sold out.
Sighing, Miaka rolled her head to the side to face Yui and finally answered, albeit not in her usual perky voice. If one were to ask Yui, she would have said that Miaka sounded downright depressed. "Sorry Yui. I'm not hungry."
"Miaka. You haven't eaten since last night. You have to be hungry. You're always hungry." Yui pointed out as she forced herself to get up off the couch and start rummaging around the apartment looking for something that resembled food.
She couldn't believe that she had just mentioned food and Miaka had barely moved.
That was definitely cause to worry.
Miaka never refused food.
Why hasn't she called me yet? Andy wondered as he watched the doctor sign the release forms. Kimoto had told him that Miaka would call him later at around eleven that morning. Well. It was later. Andy glanced at the clock on the wall and frowned. It was already three in the afternoon.
Well. If she hadn't called by now, then he should probably call her. Quickly dialing her home number and putting the cell to his ear, Andy fidgeted nervously, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he waited for her to answer. It occurred to him that the police might possibly still have the apartment closed as a crime scene, but he had no other way to reach Miaka.
Come on. Pick up. He begged as the phone range for the fifth time. He waited two more rings before finally giving up. Sighing, Andy wracked his brain for somewhere else that he might be able to reach Miaka.
"So, she never called you?" asked Kimoto as he strolled up to the check out desk.
Andy frowned slightly, "No. And I can't get a hold of her either."
"You know, maybe it's best that she hasn't called. She probably feels guilty for what happened to you. She seems like to type to lament that it's all her fault. Perhaps she thinks that she should keep her distance from now on. It's probably better for everyone that she does. I mean look at all the trouble that she started! If she did go on tour with you something even worse might happen, and I'm sure that she wouldn't want anything else to happen to you."
Andy nodded in understanding. Miaka did tend to blame herself for things like that. He also remember that she had tried several times to put some distance between herself and Tamahome for the good of the mission to summon Suzaku. Hopefully she wasn't going to try to distance herself from him in the same way.
Maybe it was a little possessive, but now that he had her he was never going to let go. He finally had the girl of his dreams and nothing and nobody was going to come between them. A niggling feeling in the back of his mind said, What about Houki? He really didn't know. He and Houki had had a son together. What would he do if he ever saw her again?
He knew that it was cowardly, but he really didn't want to think about that at the moment. He had just had a major memory download and it was going to take a long time for him to sort through all of the issues that came with it. But now was definitely not the time. He couldn't afford to waste time thinking about that when he had less than a day to find Miaka and sort things out with her first.
And his only problem was…
He didn't know where to look.
Where would she go if she couldn't go home? The first thought that came to mind was Taka's house, but Miaka had told him that Taka had no permanent residence in Tokyo anymore since he'd accepted his internship.
And then there was that friend of hers…
Of course!
Yui!
She'd go and stay with Yui!
Err… What was her last name? Hono? Hobo? Hong…Kong?
Hongo!
"Excuse me, Doctor, but do you have a phone book?"
Miaka sighed heavily as she picked at her food and nervously tugged at an errant stand of hair that refused to stay behind her ear. Staring downwards at the burger and fries that Yui had literally dragged her out of the apartment to go and buy, Miaka decided that she had to be sick. She'd only chewed several of her French fries in half and taken a single bite of her cheeseburger. Well, then again, she'd been so worried about Andy that she could hardly sit still and supposed that the reason she couldn't eat much was because of nerves.
She wrinkled her nose at the food and glanced up to see Yui glaring at her from underneath her blonde bangs. "What?" she asked, and glanced down to see that Yui had finished her food already, "Did you want some more fries?" Miaka offered Yui the carton of fries.
"NO!" Yui snarled and slammed her hands on the table—earning odd looks from the other customers—"Miaka you have to eat something! Someone with as hyped up a metabolism as you is going to wither and die within a day if you don't get some food into you now!" Yui huffed and glared for all she was worth, looking very much like an angry cat.
"I know… but I just don't feel hungry. I'm too worried about Andy."
"I don't care if the world ends tomorrow! Eat or I kill you now!" Yui even went so far as to reach over the table and attempt to stuff at least three French fries into Miaka's mouth at once.
"Hey-oomph! Mwuueeeee!" Miaka wailed as she grudgingly chewed the food and swallowed. "That was mean!"
Yui held another fry under Miaka's nose and waved it threateningly.
"Oh, alright! Bossy…" she muttered as she began to eat with a little more enthusiasm than she had been.
Her work done, Yui folded her arms and nodded in self-satisfaction.
After a few moments of silence, Miaka asked, "So what would be the best way to sneak back into the hospital? I'm sure Kimoto has guards posted all over the place by now."
Yui rubbed her chin in thought—giving a very nice impression of an evil genius as she did so, "I think we've been thinking about the situation in too small of a scope. Perhaps instead of trying to get in to see him we should wait for him to come out to see us. The sidewalk outside the building is public domain. We could just stand there and wait for him to walk out himself."
Miaka's green eyes lit up, "Yui that's brilliant!" somehow having regained her appetite, Miaka finished her food in seconds before grabbing Yui by the wrist and heading out the door.
As they headed towards the hospital Miaka glanced at her watch. "You don't think he's left yet, do you? I mean, he does have a fairly serious wound, right? They'd keep him for a while, right? They wouldn't just let him go after a few hours, right?"
Seeing as she had no choice but to be dragged along by her friend, Yui rolled her eyes as she jogged to keep up, "Right!"
When they came to a busy intersection, they stopped; as much to catch their breath as to wait for the light to change. Yui, slumped against the nearest wall. She felt like her heart was going to mutiny pretty soon if she had to keep up this sort of pace. Then…
"I can't believe they released him already!"
"Me neither! And did you hear? He's still planning on doing the farewell show tonight! Can you believe that?"
"No! Really!"
"Yes, really! Oh look! Here it is again on the news!"
Yui blinked and then glanced behind herself. She was leaning against one of those windows that hade, like, ten TV's in it, all tuned to different channels.
Three of which were all tuned to news channels airing the same story.
"Miaka! Look!"
Miaka turned and nearly threw herself against the glass. No Andy! Don't leave yet! I haven't told you how I feel about you!
A woman standing nearby snorted and said, "Yeah, honey. You and half the female population of Tokyo."
Miaka blinked and turned to Yui. "Did I say that out loud?"
Yui nodded and then shook her head. (Making herself look kind of confused) "You really are a dingus, you know? We shouldn't even bother now. That report was shot at least an hour ago."
Miaka visibly deflated. It seemed the life had gone out of her. The hope that had been keeping her moving thus far was beginning to fail.
Well. Yui thought. I'm just going to have to breathe some more life and hope into you now aren't I? After all, you've done it for me enough times…
"Don't worry, Miaka. We won't let him leave until you can confess your love! I'm surprised it took you this long to do it, but I'll make sure it happens!" Yui felt the sudden urge to smack her head against the wall for saying something so cheesy, but refrained when she saw how much better it had made Miaka feel.
"Really, Yui? You mean it?"
"Am I your best friend or not?" Yui smiled and wrapped an arm around Miaka's shoulders. "Don't worry. I have just the idea."
Andy ran his hands through his hair nervously as he paced back and forth backstage. He'd called Yui's apartment at least fifteen times in hopes that Miaka and Yui would have gone there, but he had had no such luck. Around the tenth time Yui's mother was home and by number thirteen she was getting quite annoyed with him calling.
Biting his lip in a way that would make any fangirl swoon, Andy double-checked things that he knew were already in tiptop shape and periodically peeked out onto the stage in the hopes that he might see Miaka's face in the sea of screaming fans. However, he had had no suck luck as of yet.
Miaka's absence had made him increasingly nervous and doubtful throughout the day. The cynical part of him that was used to being rejected and played with by others was telling him that she wasn't coming and that he'd been a fool to think that anything with her ever could have lasted.
However, the seishi part of him was simply nervous that Miaka was not there yet. Could she have been hurt? Where was she? Andy knew, he knew with all his heart, that Miaka was not the type to desert and abandon someone. It was his brain that needed convincing.
He ran his hands through his hair again as Kimoto walked by.
"Oi! Son, I'll just be stepping out for a few moments, you'll have to start the show without me. I have a couple of errands to run before we leave later tonight." He started to walk away and then turned to add over his shoulder, "And stop pulling your hair. We don't want it all to fall out now, do we?"
Andy made a face and muttered under his breath as Kimoto walked away and ran his hands through his hair again just to spit the old man. He sighed and rotated his shoulder again to test it out. The motion was fine as long as he kept himself on just the right amount of pain medication that he could still think clearly. At the hospital they'd had him on a slightly higher dosage than he should have been and now that he thought about it was probably why he'd fallen for Kimoto's oh-so transparent lie about Miaka planning to call him later.
His cell phone was still in the limo, and Miaka didn't have any other way to contact him.
Andy thought for a moment that he ought to go out and find Miaka. With his newly resurfaced seishi abilities he should be able to find her fairly easily. It wasn't long though before something else told him that he and Miaka had a habit of running into each other. He had a feeling that she would be there before the end of the night, and something was telling him to trust that feeling.
Besides, if he was wrong then he would simply refuse to get on the plane. He was an Emperor after all and certainly in charge of himself.
Andy shook his head a bit. How long was it going to take his past and present memories to integrate themselves with each other? He wasn't Emperor anymore, although, he had noticed since he'd regained his memories that he carried himself a little differently now and was certainly more… well. Different in small ways. He didn't quite know how he was different, but he most definitely was. s
Of course, he could chalk that up to just having remembered a whole other lifetime.
He felt almost like kicking himself for having had to learn the same things from Miaka all over again. She had already taught him how to be himself in the book world, and now she had had to do it all over again. He now understood all of the subtle hints that he had noticed along the way that made him feel like he should have known her, and known everything that she was telling him.
A techie chose that moment to run by and tell him that it was five minutes to curtain.
Where was she?
"Just our luck that the tickets were sold out." Muttered Yui as she and Miaka settled into a sedate pace back to where they could more easily hail a cab.
"That is so it." Growled Miaka. "We've run around today like chickens with our heads cut off and so far what do we have to show for it? Nothing!"
"So, you're saying what?" asked Yui, brushing her blonde hair behind her ear. "That we should give up?"
"Absolutely not!" Miaka barked, her hands fisting inside her pockets. "We're going to sneak in."
Yui blinked, "We? As in both of us?"
"Of course both of us. It'll be harder to catch two of us than one. And if we run fast enough we'll be able to find Andy and he can make sure we don't get in trouble." Miaka cracked her knuckles in anticipation, "See? I've got it all worked out. No need to worry."
It didn't take long to hail a cab, but as soon as they turned towards the auditorium where the concert was being held, things slowed up considerably. The girls cursed their luck and sat back to wait out the long ride they had ahead of them.
The taxi driver hadn't bothered to speak to them other than to get the gist of where they wanted to go, but now he turned the radio up a bit so that the girls could hear it clearly from where they were in the back seat.
"And there's a five car pileup on 13th Street." The DJ announced, then he laughed, "You know, I feel bad for all those poor sould who're going to the Andy Wong concert. That crash is just right in the way and is causing a major backup in traffic that could cost some fans the entire show of they don't find an alternate route."
Miaka closed her eyes and groaned, letting her head fall back against the cracked leather seats of the taxi. "Damnit." It just so happened that they were right in the middle of the traffic buildup. Normally, even with Tokyo traffic as thick as usual, it would take forty-five minutes to make the distance by car. If one where to try and walk that distance it would take two, three, maybe even four times as long. The DJ came on again and noted that cleanup for the accident might take about an hour or so and then they can get traffic moving again.
Miaka glanced at her watch as she had been doing obsessively for the last hour or so and noted that Andy's show had started about half an hour ago. Miaka mentally calculated that the most time efficient thing would be to just wait for traffic to get moving again, but at the same time it was driving her absolutely crazy to just sit still and wait.
So she got out of the cab.
Yui made a startled noise and grabbed onto Miaka's arm, "Wait! Won't it take longer to walk than it will just to wait this out?"
Miaka turned and fixed Yui with her 'look,' the one that clearly stated that she was dead serious in whatever she was about to do and if you were in her way you had best get yourself out of it.
"I can't just sit around and do nothing anymore. At least if I'm moving I'll feel better."
Yui's logical minded brain just couldn't understand Miaka's reasoning, but nonetheless, she paid the cab driver and followed her best friend into the crowded streets of Tokyo, hoping to any god that would listen that she knew what she was doing.
Andy scanned the crowd as he sang. Most people probably didn't notice, but his heart just wasn't in what he was singing. His finger played effortlessly over the strings on the guitar and he had to wonder exactly what kind of pain medication it was that they had given him. If he didn't know better it was almost like he'd never even been shot.
The audience sang along loudly—and badly if Andy had anything to say about it—and moved to the beat of the music as though they were one huge single body. Andy thought it was almost magical to see all those people being so affected by the music.
However, there was one fact he had been searching for all night that he had thus far not been able to find.
Every time he scanned the crowd and she wasn't there Andy felt himself becoming a little bit more disheartened. Even so, he could not bring himself to completely give up hope that she would be there. And even if she didn't show up for one reason or another, he wanted her and the whole world to know exactly how he felt about her. No strings attached and no questions asked.
Time was short. Andy was scheduled to leave not long after the end of the concert.
As in, there was a private mini-jet waiting just outside the backdoor.
Meaning that if a certain Miko didn't haul ass, she was going to miss telling the love of her life how she felt about him.
Miaka grunted slightly as she squeezed between two people that, for appearing to be total strangers, were entirely too close together on the sidewalk.
Not to mention that they were blocking her road.
"Come on, Yui!" Miaka called as she tugged her best friend through the mass of people after her.
She knew she was being exceptionally rude, but she needed to get somewhere fast and there were just so many gosh-darned people that had decided to be in her way! "Excuse me. Yeah. Pardon me. Coming through!" she said as she squeezed by a woman that she supposed she could call overweight, but even in her rush, Miaka would have liked to think of her as "well-rounded" and curvy.
Though, she thought, I'd swear I heard an audible 'pop' when I pulled myself through…
At the next corner the girls paused to catch their breath. They had high-tailed it all the way from their cab, to where they were now, which was less than a block away from the auditorium that was their destination.
Thank Suzaku. I'm not in shape enough for this… Miaka mentally wheezed as she and Yui, hand in hand, ran full-tilt for the brightly lit building. Now that they were so close, all politeness and courtesy seemed to have been forgotten, they both earned many a disgruntled and angry look as they went on their way.
Miaka reached the counter first, Yui not far behind, and panted, "Sir! Did we make it? Has the show ended yet?"
The man at the door jerked up from reading his paper and peered at Miaka over his glasses, "Well, yes and no. You see, it's the last song of the night. Mr. Wong will be leaving in not but a few minutes."
Miaka, perhaps too honest for her own good, bowed her head to the man and pleaded, "Please, Sir, we don't have tickets, but we ran all the way just to be here, and I think I'm gonna keel over and die if it was all for nothing…"
The man, who had to be in his sixties or seventies, blinked a few times, apparently astonished at her blatent honesty and the absurdity of her request. He adjusted his glasses, "Well…"
Yui, seeing that he did look like a very nice and sympathetic old man also bowed her head and pleaded, "Please? You said yourself it was the last song of the night."
The girls crossed their fingers and toes.
"I supposed. Since it is the last song of the night. Just don't tell anyone." He said and winked before going back to reading his paper and pretending as though he hadn't seen them.
"Thank you, Sir! We love you!" Miaka leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before taking off through the double doors, leaving the old man smiling and rubbing where she'd kissed him.
Once the girls entered the auditorium, the entire audience was on their feet cheering and waving wildly at the stage where Andy, from Miaka and Yui's point of view, looked no bigger than an action figure.
Andy and the rest of the band were all on their feet at the edge of the stage, waving goodbye to Tokyo and announcing the end of the show.
Miaka's eyes went wide and she bolted down the stairs as fast as she could, watching as Andy walked off stage. She managed to make it halfway there before people began filing out of their seats and heading for the exit.
No! She mentally screamed as the random people not only blocked her path, but were actually pushing her back towards where she'd come from. She cursed her genes for her small stature and continued trying to push her way through the torrent of people. It wasn't long before she started yelling Andy's name, not caring if the people around her thought she was a lunatic or whatever.
"Andy! Wait! Don't leave yet!" I'm right here! Andy!" Miaka yelled, not noticing the brilliant glow that had begun to radiate from her skin.
Andy paused as he stooped to put away his guitar. "Miaka?" He could have sworn he'd heard her voice. He shook his head. He'd probably just been imagining things. But somehow… he felt an unexplainable, undeniable urge to go back out on the stage.
He glanced around for Kimoto and saw him motoring away on his cell phone. When Kimoto realized Andy was watching him, he waved and then turned and continued talking. Andy frowned. What was he doing?
Why was he letting that guy run his life?
What kind of life was it to travel constantly, living out of a suitcase, never make any friends and never see your family?
Miaka was right.
He was going to have to start answering to himself and those he loved.
Without a word, Andy picked up his guitar and headed back towards the stage—hoping that the line of security guards was still there as he didn't relish the thought of being mauled by rabid fan girls.
He blinked as he walked out under the hot stage lights and purposefully made his way to the microphone.
Some of the audience paused, seeing Andy walk out onto the stage. Others continued to leave, not realizing that the pop star had one last surprise for them that night.
"Excuse me." He began, and slowly the milling of the audience halted and everyone turned to look at him. Andy swallowed, for the first time in a great while feeling nervous with all of these sets of eyes glued onto him. He wiped a bead of sweat that had formed on his forehead and continued, "I would like for all of you to please go back to your seats and sit down. I have once last song for you all tonight."
Andy glanced over his shoulder and saw that Kimoto had paused in his conversation and was looking at him out of the corner of his eye. "It's a new song. One that none of you have ever heard before—in fact, I just wrote it this last week." He smiled and scanned the faces in the crowd, "You see, while I was here in Tokyo, I met a girl. She's one of the best people that I have ever known, or could ever hope to meet. From the moment I met her, we had a connection. Something that I just couldn't explain. And even though I've only known her for a little while, it feels like I've always known her. Like we knew each other in another life or something."
He paused as out of the corner of his eye he could see Kimoto hopping around like an insane flea just offstage, motioning for Andy to stop what he was doing and boy was he going to be in trouble once Kimoto got a hold of him.
But right now, Andy didn't care.
He had to do this.
For himself, as well as a way to let Miaka and the whole world know how he felt about her.
"I wrote this song especially for her. I don't know if she's here tonight or not. It seems the last day or so we've had trouble getting hold of one another, but I thought that singing this tonight would be a good way to let everyone know how I feel."
With that, Andy closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and began to play. After the first few chords, he began to sing and the whole auditorium witnessed what their beloved pop star could really do.
"Maybe its intuition, but some things you just don't question," Andy's heart was beating so hard, he felt he was going to faint. He opened his eyes just wide enough to peek at the audience and then closed them again. At least they hadn't started throwing tomatoes at him yet.
"Like in your eyes I see my future in an instant, and there it goes, I think I found my best friend." Andy swallowed in the short amount of time he had before the next line and then took a breath, knowing that once he walked off the stage he was most definitely out of a job.
"I know that it might sound more than a little crazy, but I believe…" Well, he thought, if I'm going to lose my job, I might as well go out in style. Might as well make the most of this… He opened his eyes and nearly cut off in mid-chord, because right there, at the foot of the stage just beyond the line of security gaurds, was Miaka.
She was standing there, her hands over her mouth and those beautiful green eyes of hers were gleaming with happiness and something that Andy found he could not quite describe. He shot her a winning grin and belted out the chorus. "I knew I loved you before I met you, I think I dreamed you into life, I knew I loved you before I met you, I have been waiting all my life…"
Miaka could hardly contain herself as she watched Andy from the edge of the stage. Those were his lyrics! He was finally singing his own songs!
And from the sound of it, this one was about her!
Well. She'd never thought of herself as a muse, but this song wasn't half bad. In fact, it was so beautiful that Miaka found herself wanting to cry again for the umpteenth time that week.
Miaka held back until Andy came to the end of the song. Then she launched herself past the line of security guards, up onto the stage, and into Andy's arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his unhurt shoulder.
"Andy! I so glad I caught you! I was so worried that you'd leave before I had a chance to tell you." Miaka's fingers automatically dug themselves into the silken curtain of hair that was at present bound up in a low, loose ponytail. As his warm arms encircled her, Miaka doubted that she could remember being so happy.
"Tell me what?" Andy asked, pressing his face into Miaka's hair, disheveled and slightly tangled as it was.
Miaka looked up, her nose mere millimeters from Andy's own, "That I love you." She said honestly, touching her nose to his gently. "I think I've held back long enough. I will go on tour with you."
Never mind that he was probably fired by now. They could talk about that later. "I also have something to tell you." Andy placed a kiss on Miaka's temple and rocked her slowly from side to side as he held her. Softly he whispered into her hair, "I remember."
Miaka jerked back, her eyes going wide and her heart skipping a beat, "Y-you, remember? Me? The book? Everything?"
He nodded and whispered, "Everything."
Before Miaka had a chance to say anything more, Andy captured her lips and kissed her thoroughly. Surprisingly, instead of materializing pitchforks and torches, the crowd cheered like crazy at the spectacle.
Hearing the crowd going wild, Andy smiled against Miaka's lips and pulled away slowly, leaving Miaka dazed and depending on his strength to hold her upright. His hand finding hers, Andy threaded his fingers through hers and lowered his face so that his lips were right next to Miaka's ear. She shivered as his warm breath tickled her.
"Miaka, will you be my Empress?"
Miaka blinked, startled at the wording of his proposal. When her hazy mind finally dissected what it was that he meant, her smile widened and her eyes sparkled, because of course, he already knew the answer to that.
And so, she simply kissed him.
The End (Finally)
With the exception of the Epilogue. Damn.
AN1: Okay. Something about how I broke up the scenes here bothers me. They seems too short, but they seemed detailed enough to me in their own right. I guess it seems weird because I was trying to make it seem like scenes from a movie or something.
AN2: Okay. I have another question! I just realized that I've read a lot of FY self-insert-replace-Miaka-as-Miko fics and have bitched about them being Mary-Sue's and unoriginal. And since I've never tried it, that makes me a hypocrite. So. I've decided to challenge myself to writing a self-insert fic with as many elements of a typical Mary-Sue that I dare to put in (you guys can even suggest some in a review for this chapter if you want) and see if I can actually create a non-Mary-Sue fic. I'm beginning to wonder if it's even possible. Thus, I am going to need as many of you that know and hate Mary-Sue's as possible to read and review that fic in order to let me know how I'm doing.
So… review here and suggest stuff for me to throw in there that are typical to a Mary Sue. Like falling in love with a seishi for example. (Make me stick myself with Hotohori so I don't have to feel guilty about choosing to do so myself!) So, go ahead. Suggest away!
