01/02/2006 05:49:00
AN: OK, this is getting really interesting… Right, now I must cater the needs of both ends of the fan-girl spectrum. I've found that most of my readers are obsessive-compulsive Yuki lovers, whereas another lot belong to the Kyo worship clan. So therefore… I don't know what to do? But, I have a plan! (Raises finger into air in a triumphant yet moronic glee) I have the best ever strategy! Just call meJezebel the ever knowing! (No , having you call me that is not my plan.) Well then…
The next chap after this one is sure to produce a lot of aaaaawwwws from both fan-girl varieties… I hope… If not, PLEASE DON'T CRUSH ME! Especially Momo and Yoshiru, they are scary!
And I would like to apologise for the first few chapters of this fic, as they are a bit random to the story as of where it's going now. Honestly I had no idea where this was going to go when I started it so the beginning must seem a little odd when reading back over it. But if you'll excuse that, I am still well prepared for all that I plan to do with the rest of this fic, and am still enjoying spontaneously writing about two chapters a day for you people.
Anyhoo, let the fiction commence! (On with the fic)
--
Up on the seventh floor, the candles were slowly burning out. Wax dripped onto the floorboard, and the Phantom's masterpiece slowly began to deteriorate.
Kyo lay curled up on the floor, hugging himself. The scene kept playing through his head, every time more extravagant and exaggerated, until the voices in his head began to deafen him and he started screaming at them to stop.
They were kissing in front of him. They hadn't even thought of him at all. He had been touching her face. Him. Yuki. He wasn't allowed. It wasn't his right.
How could she? How could she have done this to him?
He wrapped himself in the cloak and tried to focus on the things that were important to him. But all that he could think of was getting his task completed.
"What's… Happening to me?"
Kyo closed his other eye and the scene started to become clear. His purpose was in his mind. He would have to do it. Then she would have nowhere to run, but back to him.
And he was going to enjoy it.
--
The four remaining actors were up again, and Haru and Momiji were blinking in the soft light that Tohru had brought with her in candle form. (She had gone back up to the foot of the third staircase and taken a couple of candles to fix the light issue, hoping Kyo wouldn't notice.)
Yuki lay on the chaisse-longue, his hand on his temple with a splitting headache.
"So, let me get this straight. Kyo burnt his own face, and is upset about it." Said Haru, finishing the remainder of Yuki's abandoned sandwich. "And why did he do this?"
"He said he didn't know." Said Tohru, putting a comforting hand on top of Yuki's bumped head. "It was like there were two of him. The old Kyo was in there somewhere, but it was like the part of him that's taking over, wouldn't let him be himself."
"He's definitely becoming unhinged…" Haru mused to Tohru, ruffling Momiji's hair as he slept. "I bet he thinks he's got everything figured out."
"But the fact that he changed so fast without us noticing… How did we not notice?" Said Yuki, turning his head to look at Haru and then groaning at the throb that followed.
"What's the time Yuki-kun?" Tohru said, yawning.
"Um… 2:00 am." Said Yuki, holding his wrist above his head. "I'm exhausted."
"Yeah, and we have a performance tomorrow night." Said Haru, sitting on the pile of clothes again. "about that, what are we gonna do about Kyo? He can't perform like this. Did he say anything about it Honda-san?"
"Uh… Yes. I think he wants to do it." Tohru said, looking at the floor worriedly. Then I'll kill myself...
"Well, it's his rep on the line but whatever." Haru said, and immediately fell asleep gripping Momiji's hair for no apparent reason.
Tohru sighed. She sat on the chaisse-longue next to where Yuki was lying and started subconsciously fiddling with his hair.
"Yuki-kun, I think you should be careful."
Yuki blinked, and looked up at her through blurry eyes. "Why? Is something wrong?"
She smoothed a piece of hair off of his forehead. "Just… Don't stay by yourself for too long. And try not to go past the third floor."
Yuki probably would have understood properly if his head hadn't been so befuddled, but he simply nodded, cursed, sighed and clutched his head.
Tohru would have smiled, but she was far too worried to think straight.
--
"Hey, when did they get here?"
"I don't know, but it must have been a while for them to be asleep."
"But Shinji only just opened the theatre."
"hey! Hey wake up!" Yuki felt himself being shaken on the shoulder.
"Wha?"
"Morning." Ichigo looked down on him with the big smile once again. Yuki found himself surrounded by a large number of crewmembers.
"W-Where… Are the others?"
"Rehearsals already." Said Ichigo. They're warming up. Tohru said you weren't up to it yet."
"Oh."
"And so, by request of our director I have brought you a variety of assistants."
"What?"
"See you." Ichigo left the room, leaving a horrified Yuki alone with a group of blushing girls. Damned director…
--
Haru and Tohru decided they should stay together during rehearsals. They felt bad enough having to leave Momiji to fend for himself, but he couldn't stay with them because he was a crewmember.
"Isn't it weird how we're suddenly terrified?" Haru said ponderingly. "We never used to take Kyo seriously and now he's capable of making us wet or pants."
"Well, not literally."
"Oh… Yeah of… Course…" Haru said, his eyes going shifty.
--
Shinji was acting as if the world was about to fall on his head and crush him. Which in his point of view it was.
The rehearsals were in full swing, and everyone was down in the theatre, Except Kyo, Yuki and his assistants.
"This is ridiculous! What do you mean he's not coming to rehearsals? He's the lead for God's sake? I need him now!" Shinji flailed her hands in Tohru's face.
"H-he, will be performing though." Said Tohru quietly.
Shinji looked down at her and dropped his arms. "I'm sorry Tohru-san. OK, where is he?"
"Um… I think on the seventh floor."
"Thank you Tohru." Shinji turned and headed towards the stairwell.
"Wait, Shinji-san, where are you going?"
"I'm going to talk some sense into him. There's no reason for him to skip rehearsals. Especially not now."
"Shinji-san please, don't go up there. You have to trust me." Tohru held onto his sleeve in urgency, and he sighed.
"If you're absolutely certain that I shouldn't then I won't, but I want an explanation soon."
"OK Shinji-san." Tohru let out a breath. This day was going to be extremely challenging.
--
When Yuki's watch told him it was 7:00PM, he had already been in costume for about an hour. Shinji was literally going to explode, Kitto had demanded that he kiss her three times, Tohru was praying, Haru was on his fifth sandwich, Uo had disappeared to practice, Momiji was running around doing things every three seconds, and Kyo was… Well he didn't know or want to think about what Kyo was doing.
--
The performance was going to start at nine, and everyone was getting nervous even though there were still two hours to go.
Yuki was bracing himself. He had checked the list of who was coming to the first performance. There were one hundred and three people. "There won't be hundreds."
Ha. Thought Yuki. You lied to me Haru.
Yuki just hoped that in that audience there wasn't going to be anyone he knew.
--
"Gure-san, hurry up! It's nearly 9:00 already!"
"Relax Aaya. We've still got 15 minutes." Shigure put his hand on Hatori's shoulder and whispered to him. "He's getting very over-excited."
"You could say that every second of every day and it would never be a lie." Said the Doctor, tossing his cigarette in a nearby trash can.
As the three men walked into the packed theatre, Ayame's eyes were glittering with the afore-mentioned excitement. They sat quite close to the back, Ayame in the middle, and Hatori and Shigure on either side. Hatori rolled his eyes.
"Do I have to sit with you? Can't I just go?"
"No Haa-san! You have to watch! Why would you want to go? Tohru-kun's wearing a dress in it, you know." Ayame raised his eyebrows at Hatori, who flicked him on the forehead.
"Aaya, you know Hatori gets embarrassed watching musicals." Shigure smirked at the dragon who fidgeted in his seat.
"I just don't like it when they spontaneously burst into song."
--
The theatre lights dimmed. Shinji was about to cry. "Where is he…? Before he had a chance to postpone the production until Kyo was found, the actors of the prologue were already on stage. Shinji practically had a heart attack.
Luckily the Orchestra were ready, and so was everyone else. Tohru and Kitto were ready with the other ballet girls for they're entrance, as were the managers on the opposite side of the stage. Yuki reluctantly stood in the wings, and was relieved to have his hand met with another.
"Are you scared?"
Yuki looked Tohru in the eye and whispered, "A little."
She held onto his arm. "You'll do fine." She herself was getting very nervous herself when the Phantom's overture started to play, but the slight reluctance turned to terror, as she saw the eye. In the wings above, on top of the mezzanine, was obviously Kyo. Tohru felt as if he was watching her. Which of course, he was.
Yuki wondered why she had suddenly started shaking, but he had no time to ask her if she was all right, because without a word, she had seen her cue and rushed onto the stage with the other dancers.
It was Uo now. The big moment. Uo stepped into the centre stage, her head bedecked with every possible jewel and flower it could ever sport, and her face plastered with the expensive make-up Ichigo had insisted on using. Everything was silent. And then, Uo opened her mouth. She took in a breath, smiled, and out of her mouth came the most fantastic wave of delectable Italian the theatre had ever encountered. About one hundred and seventy mouths hit the floor. She was incredible. The other dancers eventually joined in, singing in a state of shock. Yuki couldn't help smiling. It was one of those features in someone you just can't imagine them having.
Yuki looked up to the ceiling, and took in a breath. It was almost his cue. As his gaze fell back down to the stage. He caught a glimpse of something on the mezzanine. It was the same glowing cat's-eye he had witnessed just yesternight. Once again he froze. But his cue was just about there, and someone prodded him in the back, luckily sending him out of his momentary trance.
As he walked on stage in character, about 50 infatuated sighs could be heard throughout the theatre. Shinji's strategy had been on the mark. Yuki attracted the masses.
Ayame suppressed an excited squeal as Yuki came on. Instead he just whispered to Shigure, "That's my little brother Gure-san!"
"Yes, I know." Said Shigure softly. "He lives with me Aaya. "
"But he looks so cute!"
"Um, excuse me?" A girl in the row ahead who was wearing the school's uniform whispered to the three men behind her. "Are you three related to the Sohmas?"
"Yes we are." Replied Hatori, quietly but firmly, as usual.
The girl turned to Ayame and whispered, "Are you related to the prince, Yuki Sohma-kun?"
Aaya smiled broadly at the word prince, and replied, "I'm his brother."
The girl couldn't suppress her tiny squeal, and started whispering to her friends, an air of hyperactivity spreading across the row and the one ahead, and a little down the row Ayame was actually sitting in.
"You hear that Haa-san? I'm related to royalty." Said Ayame, sitting in his chair with a smug face. Shigure and Hatori both rolled their eyes.
--
The owner of the horrifying eye stood silently among the beams and rafters, holding something in his hand. He twisted it round his fingers, and the let it drop a little, and then repeated the process. He smiled at himself as he played with the rope and waited for his cue. "Are you sure you're all ready?" He whispered almost silently to the audience, "For the music of the night?"
--
AN: More lovey-dovey next chapter, I promise. Plus this is really short, so please forgive me my wonderful readers. (Bows) I am so SORRY! I didn't like writing this chap much, it took ages to work out… I will try to update again tomoz! PS: Gerry Butler (Phantom in movie) Is Scottish! Hahahahah! No offence to Scots, I just find it funny.
