So…this is not edited…ha…big surprise right? Well, I can't help that I'm lazy, I just come that way. Anyway, even though it's summer and that normally means I have time to update, I don't. I swear I'm doing more school in summer than I did all year in actual school. It's ridiculous. sighs oh well, I shouldn't be complaining. I hope that I got this chapter up so that all of you don't hate me for being so slow and lazy . Soon my dearests, soon you'll get your fluff, I promise.
Chapter Twelve: Stop Twenty-Eight, Washington D.C., United States
"Dead?" Takuto shook his head unbelievingly, "But how? Everyone would know; they would find out, see."
"No," Mitsuki's hair whipped around her shoulders when she spoke, "No one knows, they replaced her with me and that was that. Anyone who cared enough could find she was gone, I'm sorry."
Takuto sunk onto the bed, mouth agape, all this time he had thought it was her, that she had a dark past she was hiding and…None of it made sense, yet- Full Moon was in his mind, and then, that little girl with Mitsuki's eyes was Mitsuki. His head told him the riddle was finally solved, but his heart told him there was more.
Mitsuki put a trembling hand on his shoulder and inched forward to look into his sea colored eyes, "I wish I could tell you differently. I understand you'll want to be alone now."
He shook his head and turned to meet her eyes, "I already told you, I don't care who the girl in my mind is; I just want you."
Mitsuki barely stifled a gasp when he smiled and kissed her forehead gently, "I love you Mitsuki; you're the only girl in my life."
"Takuto," her words never made it out because Takuto leaned forward and kissed her passionately, all the emotion he'd contained flowing out of him into one single action. Mitsuki kissed him back with just as much fire, pulling herself into his lap and running her fingers through his thick navy hair. It'd been so long since she'd been this close to him, but it still felt the same.
The two broke away only for an instant before Takuto was showering his lover with soft, delicate kisses that wound their way down her neck.
Mitsuki closed her eyes and savored every motion, every embrace that had been stolen by time but never dulled.
Takuto would have never left her embrace except that images from the past began to stir and what he now wished he could forget started to reemerge.
Her golden hair flew behind her, and he snapped and wings burst from behind her, feathers exploding all around her while she poured her heart out to her audience. She was a real angel; she was the love of his life. Even now, he could feel the love burning beneath any temporal desires, "I…"
Mitsuki's mind cleared when Takuto's voice called to her; his whole body had stiffened, and her face paled. The lie she had created for him was too good, and she knew it. She pulled back and touched his cheek gently, but he wouldn't meet her eyes, a dangerous thing.
"We have to be up early; I'll see you tomorrow," he rose with the roughness of a machine, not even turning toward her. "It's nothing you've…" he tried to explain, but how could he when he couldn't explain it to himself?
"Go," she whispered, "but don't search for answers, please; it will only hurt you in the end."
He didn't turn or respond, just kept his back to her and left as silently as he'd come.
"Takuto, are you coming?" Mitsuki growled anxiously on their second day in Washington D.C. The two had made an unspoken agreement that they would simply forget the strange night in Philadelphia. Takuto still had the thirst for knowledge in his eyes, but Mitsuki's stubborn spirit had sunk in, and they both knew they would get nowhere with their questions, only make themselves more miserable. Instead, they chose the easy way out- pretending nothing had happened, and so far it was working beautifully. But, this morning Takuto was not in the mood to pretend nothing had happened.
"Yeah," he responded and walked out, shutting his door behind him and smiling silently to himself.
"What is that smirk for?" Mitsuki asked suspiciously, and he laughed and pinched her nose teasingly.
"Oh nothing," he winked, and Mitsuki's eyes narrowed, but she didn't question. Questions were dangerous, and the fragile peace they'd made was as easily shattered as the thinnest slice of glass.
Even through his smile Takuto's thoughts were running; he'd made plans with Ooshige to steal Mitsuki away for a shopping spree at lunch, and then he would be able to get away for a few hours and search for his answers. After they left D.C., their tour would be leading them down south to places where Takuto would be shut off from all technology, and technology was what he needed more than ever to find the answers he was searching for.
"But Ooshige, I thought…" Mitsuki began, glancing back at Takuto nervously. He laughed gently and shook his head, knowing that she didn't want to leave him alone, but also knowing that the offer for a shopping spree in Washington D.C. was too much for a teenage girl to pass up, even one as mature as Mitsuki.
"It's okay Mitsuki-chan, go and have fun, I'll find some way to amuse myself and see you back at the hotel later tonight; we'll go get dinner," he assured her, and she gave him one last glance to make sure before she grinned and headed off with Ooshige.
"Finally," Takuto mumbled to himself and grabbed a taxi headed in the direction of the Library of Congress.
Izumi watched him go, interested, "I wonder where he's headed off to," he mumbled to himself.
"Boss," Jonathan materialized before Izumi and smiled crookedly. "You've been slacking, that girl could have ruined everything. Where were you?"
Izumi tried not to act nervous or guilty, simply shrugged, "I was thinking, and besides, she didn't ruin everything. Why don't you follow her now, and I'll follow him, and we'll find out just what is going on around here?"
Jonathan's eyes narrowed, but he nodded and headed in the direction that Mitsuki and Ooshige had disappeared.
"You cannot let Jonathan find out," Meroko's voice whispered near his ear, and he nodded.
"I know," he grumbled unhappily, "but that is easier said than done. He's a lot smarter than he looks, and it's not like I'm working really hard at trying to keep them apart or anything."
"You must keep them safe until he remembers everything," Meroko coached, and Izumi turned around to find her. She materialized in front of him, and he smiled, the fear receding, and his confidence returning in just her presence.
"I will do whatever I can my love," he took her hand in his and kissed her cheek gently.
She smiled and blushed softly, the only reward he needed, "Takuto will be headed to the Library in search of answers I'm sure; he isn't one that will give up that easily, especially when his gut is telling him something isn't right."
"Well, maybe we should make sure he finds the right sources in that massive building," Izumi grinned, but it was a smile that was missing its usual maliciousness, and it made Meroko sigh a sigh of great relief, finally, finally her Izumi was back, the man that she knew he would someday turn out to be. And, she thought privately, one less obstacle in the way of those two. Now all we have to worry about is his Shinigami partner.
She nodded in agreement, and the two flew off together to find out just what exactly Takuto was searching for.
Takuto drank in the wonders of the huge library silently before he picked a computer and sat down to begin his search.
His first search began with pictures, hoping that images of Full Moon would bring back some of those strange memories of her, but unfortunately when he typed in Full Moon all he got was pictures of nighttime skyscapes. He sighed angrily and was about to turn back when one image appeared, of the girl in question. And as easily as that, there came the memories.
She stopped singing, her microphone almost hit the ground her hands were so weak as she stared into a growing black formation in the night sky, "Meroko!" she screamed, and a girl with short cotton-candy pink hair turned back to her and smiled weakly, despite the obvious strain in her face, "Keep singing till the end, Mitsuki!"
Mitsuki? Takuto jumped back from the memory and closed his eyes, trying to make more come, but nothing did, there was only blackness. Frantically he searched the internet with key words such as "Who was Full Moon?" or "Full Moon's first name" but there was nothing. He found countless articles on the mystery behind the singer, the inability to find anything about her home or her social life, countless interviews and meetings in which she kept a mysterious discretion about anything personal. Who was she? She couldn't have been a ghost, then who? And who were the others?
He slammed his fist against the table, making a few people near him jump up in surprise. Whispering a hasty "sorry", he turned back to his search and found something that made his heart jump in surprise. He skimmed the article and found it to be just like all the others, except for the last sentence, scathing and critical, "So just who is Full Moon? Well, perhaps we'll never know because it seems the two who know aren't saying anything." Two? His mind reeled. Who could the second person be? Who else would know about Full Moon.
Her manager, a voice in the back of his mind coaxed, and he nodded to himself, of course… With fingers that were almost numb in anticipation, he typed in "Full Moon's Manager" and his stomach fell into his throat. The first hit revealed something he was not expecting – Ooshige. He sat back to let his mind absorb what he'd just read. So, Ooshige was Full Moon's manager, as well as Mitsuki's. Then she must know, and she would have known Mitsuki too. She could solve everything, but he knew it was going to take tact to make her talk. She wouldn't just come out and spill everything that she'd been hiding for years, not even to him. He was going to have to be subtle, but how? He chewed his lower lip in thought. Maybe it's time I have an overdo phone call with Wakouji. He grinned and stood, heading toward the payphone outside.
When he had typed in all the numbers on the card and the international number for Japan and then Wakouji's number, he was rewarded with his old friend's surprised voice.
"Takuto? I didn't expect to hear you, where are you?"
"Washington D.C.," he replied, grinning from ear to ear. If anyone knew how to crack Ooshige, Wakouji did.
"How's the tour going?"
"Well, it's going," Takuto joked and quickly summed up everything that had happened.
"That sounds…interesting," Wakouji's voice had drastically darkened, and the tone made the hair on Takuto's neck rise. What did Wakouji know that he didn't? Could it be something to do with Full Moon? He ran through the articles he'd looked for and an image popped into his head that he didn't think he'd seen, but must have skimmed over it. A man by the name Wakouji had been Full Moon's producer for Eternal Snow. Then, no, it couldn't be the same man; Wakouji would never have gone back into the singing business. He was too hurt by the death of Mitsuki's parents.
"You wouldn't know anything about Full Moon, would you Wakouji? I mean, she would have had to have come to you for permission to use Eternal Snow at least. Who is she? Ooshige was her manager; you two must have…" then it dawned on him, that was how Wakouji and Ooshige had met.
Takuto glared fiercely at the girl with cotton candy pink hair as she tried to disguise herself as Mitsuki to confuse the doctor and the manager who were sitting in a room together, staring at one another blankly. Neither had any idea what Meroko was capable of, and Meroko didn't sound anything like Mitsuki anyway! What were the two thinking? Mitsuki smiled a warm smile at him and promised him with her eyes that everything would turn out all right.
"You were Full Moon's producer, weren't you? Then who was Mitsuki in all this?" Takuto spoke without tact, without anything but a thirst for knowledge that had been denied him. Why didn't these things add up? Why couldn't he remember? And why could that girl make herself look so much like Mitsuki! She was taller, more figured, and she had pink hair! There was no way without magic…Magic?
"For Eternal Snow, but that was a long time ago Takuto, you should let it drop. Just enjoy your own tour, don't worry about it."
"I'll be damned if I'm not going to worry about it!" Takuto snapped. "Mitsuki told me that I loved Full Moon, and I need to know what happened to her! I need to know who she is Wakouji, or I'll never be able to get her out of my head!" And I'll never be able to fully commit myself to Mitsuki-chan, he added silently to himself.
"You loved her…" Wakouji's voice was flat on the other line. "You loved her, but she's not who you think. She and Mitsuki have…well; I suppose it would be called a history. Takuto are you sure you're alone? I mean, nothing weird has happened to you while we've been talking has it?"
"No, why would you ask something like that?" Takuto inquired, all anger driven out of him by Wakouji's tone.
"Just…it's part of the story, you're sure? No one has tried to stop you from talking to me?" Wakouji seemed strained with worry, and Takuto had no explanation for the somber words.
"No…"
"Good, now, I suppose it all started with the accident…"
"Please insert one dollar, to continue this call," a voice interrupted Wakouji.
"And we lost you there for a minute…"
"Please insert one dollar to continue this call,"
"Wakouji, hold on," Takuto searched his pockets for change and when he couldn't find any, cursed Americans and their phone cards that didn't help him, ready to scream in frustration, and then the phone went dead, and he hung it up, resigned and tired.
Maybe Mitsuki and I just weren't meant to be together, he thought sadly and looked up at the sun that was just beginning to set. I mean, every time I get close to her something pushes me away, maybe I should just give it up so we can both move on. But as much as he said it, he didn't want to give up. He loved her; he was sure of that, he just didn't know if she was the only love he'd had. He just didn't know anything about himself, and he couldn't give anything to her if he didn't know what he had to give.
"Well that's no way to think, acting as if you know something about the confines of destiny when you've broken the rules so many times," Takuto turned to locate the voice and found a man standing there, taller than he by a few inches with dirty blond hair that cascaded down into his eyes, shading them so Takuto couldn't tell their color let alone their intention. He wore a beret that seemed familiar, and his clothes were a blinding combination of yellow and black stripes that reminded Takuto of a bee, or a person long forgotten. His slacks were casual and of good quality, but there seemed to be something missing from his figure, wings perhaps?
Well, that's a strange thought, Takuto laughed at himself and took another look at the man. Certainly he was just a common everyday man that just happened to speak Japanese and read people's thoughts. Wait, Takuto stood stock still, how does he know what I was thinking? I wasn't talking aloud, I know I wasn't.
"Very good, you're starting to understand," the man answered his thoughts, and Takuto's jaw slacked. "Now, I can't come right out and tell you, because I would be in more trouble then than I'm going to be now, but I can tell you this. There are people looking out for you and Mitsuki Takuto, and you need to find the solution to this problem. What she told you was a lie, not full and complete, but a lie nonetheless. No, don't get angry, she's just trying to protect you from me, but know this; I'm on your side. She doesn't know it, and you don't have to tell her, but we're looking out for you."
And just like that, he was gone, but Takuto could swear he caught a glow of pink and yellow rising into the clouds. And the name stuck in his mind, Izumi. Yes, he had been in at least one of his memories, but he was a different man than this one. The Izumi from his memories was his mortal enemy; he wanted to take Mitsuki and Meroko from him, and he didn't mean to do it in a kind and gentle manner like this man. None of this made sense!
He wanted to curl up in a ball and die; he didn't want to go on. But he'd promised Mitsuki dinner, and it was getting late and she would worry. He had things to chew on, but he had fans to please as well, and a few bumps in the road wouldn't make him desert them, not anymore.