The American Band
"I don't suppose anyone here knows why I called this meeting, do you?" Seguchi asked, leaning his head on his hands casually.
"Ooh! I know, I know!" Ryuichi flailed his arm wildly through the air.
"Care to explain to the others then, Ryuichi?" Tohma asked.
"We're here to party!" he grinned.
"Not quite," Tohma tried to maintain a serious demeanor though an awkward drop of sweat rolled down his cheek, "though I did intend to invite you all out after this."
"So then why are we here, Seguchi-san?" Fujisaki asked.
"Colleen, you and the others can come in now," Tohma called.
In strolled the blond teen and her two companions. "Hai, Seguchi-san?"
"Everyone, this is Aoi Honou. The band comes highly recommended from America. I called this meeting to introduce you all to Colleen, Dan, and Gil."
"I'm Gil; he's Dan," Gil explained pointing first to himself and then to Dan.
"Colleen! Come sit by me!" Ryu whined. Colleen smiled awkwardly.
"Hai, Ryuichi-chan," she nodded and hurried over to sit beside him. Shuichi blinked.
"Do you two know each other?" Shuichi asked.
"Ryuichi is one of my best friends," Colleen nodded.
"And Colleen is one of my best friends!" Ryuichi returned happily. "Ooh! Speaking of which, Shuichi, this is Colleen Koran; Colleen, this is Shuichi Shindo!"
"Koran… That's spelled with a K, isn't it?" Hiro asked, eyes drifting up to a certain manager who was twitching awkwardly.
"Colleen is K-san's daughter!" Ryuichi declared.
"You're what?" Shuichi stared.
"I'm K's daughter. And before you ask, yes, I carry a weapon - a derringer," Colleen responded.
"Oh," Shuichi gave a sigh of relief. "Well that's not so bad."
"Colleen-san, allow me to introduce myself. I am Suguru Fujisaki," Fujisaki reached his hand over the table and Colleen shook it amiably.
"Nice to meet you Suguru-san."
"And I'm Hiroshi Nakano," Hiro waved. "Me, Shuichi, and Fujisaki make up the band Bad Luck."
"Ah, I knew I recognized you. Ryuichi-chan sent me a copy of your first CD. You guys are good but I must say Nittle Grasper is still the best group around because they have Ryu-chan."
"Speaking of Nittle Grasper, I don't believe we've ever met or even spoken. I'm Noriko, the third member of Nittle Grasper," Noriko winked and flashed the peace sign in Colleen's direction.
"A pleasure to meet you," Colleen smiled.
"I'm sure introductions are not necessary after all our conversations over the phone," Tohma said, "but just as a formality, I am Tohma Seguchi. Welcome to N-G Records."
"Arigato gozaimass, Seguchi-san. Um, is he okay?" Colleen asked nervously, motioning toward Sakano, who had had a panic attack upon the revelation of Colleen's identity and had since passed out.
"Don't worry about him. This is normal. So, Colleen, how old are you? I'm guessing sixteen like Fujisaki?" Hiro queried.
"Actually, you're close but no. I am fifteen years old," Colleen answered.
"Fifteen? I'm impressed," Shuichi nodded thoughtfully.
"Anyway," Tohma interrupted. "I got a nightclub - my personal favorite actually - to close down for tonight so that we could go. Is anyone interested?"
"Yeah! Nightclub! Nightclub!" Ryuichi cheered.
"I'm up for it," Hiro agreed.
"Great. So, we'll pile into a few cars, stop to pick up Mika and her brothers, and then we'll go," Tohma rose and headed for the door. Everyone followed, though K wasn't fond of the idea of letting his daughter go to a nightclub, even if it was only people he knew there.
Regardless, the group squeezed into the elevator and then into three cars, which were driven by K, Tohma, and Hiro. Tohma had Suguru and Noriko in his car, Hiro was driving - in a car which was borrowed from N-G - Shuichi, Ryuichi, and Colleen, and K drove Sakano, who was still unconscious, Dan, and Gil.
"Are we sure this guy isn't dead?" Dan asked.
"He's fine. Trust me," K said.
"K-san, are you still angry about all this?" Gil worried.
"Not at all," K flashed an assuring smile. "I wish you all the best."
Gil gave a sigh of relief and Dan would have joined him if he weren't so preoccupied with poking Sakano.
"Isn't there any way to wake him up?" Dan prodded Sakano curiously.
"Here, splash him with this," K threw back a bottle of water. Dan caught it, opened it up, and splashed Sakano.
Sakano jumped up in a mad coughing fit, with his eyes wide. "Where am I? What happened? Where are you taking me?"
"We're going to Tohma's favorite nightclub to welcome Aoi Honou to N-G," K responded.
"K-san… Colleen… is she really…?" Sakano asked nervously.
"My darling daughter?" K grinned evilly. "Yes indeed."
"So who are we picking up now?" Dan asked.
"Tohma's wife and her brothers, Eiri and Tatsuha."
When everyone had been retrieved, there was some debate as to which car would take Eiri. Naturally, Shuichi had claimed him as had Tohma. Shuichi insisted that Tohma already had enough people in it. Tohma then pointed out that there were the same amount of people in Shuichi's car. After some debating, Eiri put his own two cents in.
"I'll go with the psychopathic American with the sniper rifle - will THAT shut you two up?" Yuki crawled into the backseat of K-san's car.
This compromise didn't exactly agree with Tohma or Shuichi but both were satisfied with the fact that the other wouldn't be able to touch him if he was in K's car. The whole thing made Tatsuha ecstatic though, because this agreement meant he ended up in the same car as his beloved Ryuichi Sakuma.
Now that the seating arrangements were all settled, it was time to move. They left Eiri's house and headed off to the club.
The club being empty had very little effect on the sheer volume of the place. Music blared through every speaker in the building at extreme decibels. Colleen promptly took a seat at the bar and ordered a soda. As she had naturally picked up from her father, Colleen had automatically found herself a good vantage point and rested herself there to watch and study the others. She was barely aware of it anymore. It was becoming pure instinct.
As Eiri and Shuichi walked through the door, Fujisaki came rushing up beside them. She could tell right away that Fujisaki also had an interest in the blond novelist.
"Eiri-san! How are you?" Fujisaki smiled, his cheeks an adorable red. It made Eiri want to vomit.
Shuichi glared at Fujisaki for a second and then dragged Eiri away. Eiri almost murmured a thank-you under his breath but decided that was too much of a violation of his character.
Fujisaki sank into a seat at a nearby table and let his eyes well up with tears. At least Tohma could get close to Eiri without scaring him off. It seemed to Fujisaki that any time he got close to Eiri, the blond turned tail and ran.
This was pathetic. Colleen turned her gaze toward the door again. Tohma was standing against the wall beside the door, watching Shuichi and Eiri from a distance. Even with the thirty or so feet between them, Colleen could detect a sizeable vein popping out of Tohma's forehead.
On the other side of the doorway was her father. He was just standing there, leaning against the wall, probably just sitting back and observing like she was. Observing someone observing someone else wasn't entirely thrilling to Colleen so she turned her attention again.
A few tables away, in the opposite direction of Fujisaki, Colleen found Dan and Gil sitting with Noriko. She was flirting with the two jokingly but they both seemed to be taking her seriously. Colleen couldn't help laughing a bit.
"Would one of you be a darling and get me a strawberry milkshake?" Noriko asked. Both boys jumped up and ran to the counter.
"Heh. You guys are sad. You do realize she's twenty-eight, don't you?" Colleen shook her head.
"Hey, if a girl seems interested in me, I don't care if she's fifteen or thirty-five," Dan responded.
"Older women are hot. Particularly that little tamale," Gil grinned.
"You two are beyond pathetic. Fetch that damn strawberry milkshake and get out of here. I'm disgraced just being in your presence," Colleen said jokingly.
Dan and Gil grabbed the freshly-prepared strawberry milkshakes from the barkeep and rushed back to the table.
"I wonder if she'll drink both of them or if she'll pick one of the guys over the other by just drinking one."
Colleen's eyes had no choice but to drift again as she was toppled out of her chair.
"COLLEEN!" Ryuichi squeaked. They both fell to the floor with a thud… and in a fairly awkward position. Tatsuha was ready to hang himself but joined Fujisaki at the "Broken Hearts Table" instead. "Oops, sorry Colleen-chan," Ryuichi jumped up.
Colleen got up, up-righted her chair, and dusted herself off. "It's fine, Ryu-chan. No harm done. See?"
Her eyes were focused on Sakano for a second. He was the only one out on the dance floor and he really couldn't dance. It was highly amusing.
"Oh," Colleen snapped her gaze off of the dancing buffoon in the still-soaked suit. "Ryuichi-chan, is there something you wanted?"
Nodding furiously, Ryuichi looked at her as seriously as he could and made his request, "Would you dance with me, Colleen-chan?"
She smiled and almost accepted before she glanced at Tatsuha again. One look at him and Colleen could tell his heart was breaking. "Actually, Ryuichi-chan, I don't feel like dancing right now. Why don't you take him out for a spin?" Colleen motioned toward Tatsuha.
"Uh," Ryuichi looked awkwardly back and forth between Tatsuha and Colleen. "Okay. Hi I'm Ryuichi Sakuma… and you are?"
"T-Tatsuha, Tatsuha Uesugi," Tatsuha responded shakily.
"Wanna dance?" Ryuichi asked him. Tatsuha grinned, jumping at the chance. Ryu took his hand, Tatsuha blushed, and the two made their way out to the dance floor.
Colleen smiled at Ryu and Tatsuha as they began dancing. However, her eyes were quickly drawn back to Fujisaki, who was all alone again. She sighed and turned to the barkeep, "Another soda please."
The barkeep got her a second soda and she took it and her own half-finished glass and walked over to Fujisaki's table. She placed the full glass directly in front of him. He stared up at her.
"Not one for nightclubs, eh?" she smiled affably and slid into the seat beside him. "Well, I know nothing about you, so I went on a hunch and got you an orange soda. Is that good or should I keep that one for myself and get you another?"
"Oh no. I love orange soda," Fujisaki gulped down nearly half the glass and then slammed it on the table.
"You don't seem like you love it. You seem like you wanna kill it," she teased, "which is particularly sad since a soda is inanimate and therefore incapable of being killed."
"Why does Shuichi get to have Eiri-san all to himself?" Fujisaki sniffled.
"Well, I may be new here, but it seems to me that Shuichi gets to have him all to himself because they're lovers. Stop being such a child about it. He's too old for you anyway," Colleen rationalized.
"You're hardly one to talk. You're a year younger than me and you've got a crush on a thirty-one-year-old," Fujisaki glared.
"I really don't like Ryu-chan that way," Colleen responded calmly. "If I did, do you think I would've sent him out there to dance with that cutie who looks like he's been dying to sleep with Ryu since before he even heard of him?"
"Sorry, I'm not in a good mood," Fujisaki chugged soda again, smacking the now-empty glass to the table with an ear-shattering bang. "Eiri was my one and only love and I just came to the realization that he's never going to like me."
"Well, I'm sure you'll find someone else. Ever think of going straight? I'm sure you have a couple million rabid fangirls out there who want you more than the air they need to live."
"I suppose but that's obsession not love," Fujisaki objected, a slight blush arising on his cheeks.
"And things are different between you and Mr. Novelist?" Colleen asked him jokingly.
"I suppose not. But… what is love?"
"All I know about love is what I learned from American movies and Ryuichi-chan's songs, so don't ask me," Colleen chuckled.
"Though the glasses are both half-empty, I'd like to propose a toast," Fujisaki said seriously, clearing his throat.
"Yes?" Colleen waited patiently for him to continue.
"To screwing the whole love versus obsession thing in its entirety," Fujisaki raised his glass.
"Amen," Colleen promptly smacked her drink against his with a clank and inhaled a flood of orange soda.
A/N: I've been thinking about it but I haven't come to a definate conclusion - so I leave it to the readers: Should Fujisaki and Colleen get together?
