Hey again! I'm finally back with the next chapter of A Gal's Life. Sorry for taking so long to update. Computer problems and real life have kept me pretty busy recently, but here I am again! So go ahead and read this latest section. I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: Come on. After six chapters, do you still have to ask?
Chapter 6: To Be or Not to Be a… Bum?
Key:
""- speech/dialogue
''- thoughts or an exaggerated phrase/word
"You with the waterworks," a police officer pointed to Yuuya and motioned for him to follow. "Yeah, you. You're up next."
With a weak nod and a whimper, Yuuya staggered to his feet and followed the man to the next room, crying all the way. Today just wasn't his day. After being nearly ripped apart by fans and frozen to death, he had to end up -of all places- in a police box for questioning!
He had been sitting for hours, waiting for his turn to be interrogated on the situation and to receive proper punishment. Now, it was finally his time to see if the future he had been working towards would crumble before his eyes. Would they put him in jail for life? Would they put him on death row? Would they sell him off as a slave to some third-world country? All he could do was imagine the horrors awaiting him, as he shuffled closer and closer to his demise.
"If you don't mind me asking, what is a guy like you doing in a place like this?" the policeman guiding him turned a curious eye to the depressed teen. "Don't shelters have a curfew earlier than this?"
"Shelters? What do you mean?"
"They've run out of room in the shelters! Oh, you poor boy!" the man gave a confused Yuuya a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "I thought that Shibuya had more funds for things like these. You must be having quite a hard time on the streets."
"What? What are you…"
Yuuya trailed off and took one look at his ripped shirt and shorts and ran his dirt-crusted hand through his completely disheveled hair. In a few seconds it came to him.
"I'M NOT A HOMELESS GUY! I'M JUST HAVING A REALLY SUCKY DAY!" The crazed blonde hollered at the top of his lungs almost directly into the officer's ear before slumping in a dejected heap onto the ground.
The man never lost the sympathy in his gaze and his handlebar mustache quivered slightly with emotion as he began to drag the 'bum' the rest of the way to the room.
"Poor soul," the officer shook his head. "He's too proud to accept help when he truly needs it."
Someone really hated him. He didn't know who it was, or why, but he knew they had turned the whole world against him in one night.
Yuuya could tell that anyone who knew anything about him would label him as the 'nice guy' type without a second glance. Even though having that type of reputation wasn't exactly a dream come true most of the time for him, it did have some benefits. Like, for instance, most people who he passed on the street didn't seem to have the urge to kill him, maim him, or tap dance on his bloody carcass.
After thinking about it for a moment, Yuuya had cut his mental list of people who might want his head on a platter down to two suspects. Rei and Monkey Boy.
He still didn't know what he had done to piss Rei off and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Even though the guy has been his best friend for who knows how long, Yuuya has come to realize that the mind of the winner of the High School Grand Prix often works in mysterious ways. Selfish one moment and inhumanly nice the next, with a poker face all the while, Rei was the type of guy Yuuya could never hope to understand at all. That was what makes being around him so interesting, he never really knew what to expect. He certainly wasn't expecting what he got tonight.
Then again, maybe he had yelled in Tatsukitchi's face one to many times. Maybe, the stupid monkey had finally recognized him as a rival for Ran.
Maybe, maybe, maybe…
Letting his head drop on the desk in front him, he watched as his tears formed a mini pond on the tabletop. He numbly wondered if he could literally drown himself in his tears if he cried enough of them.
Fortunately for the plotline of A Gal's Life, he didn't get the chance to find out.
"Excuse me sir, if you could just pull yourself together we could begin the questioning."
With a moan, Yuuya lifted his head in slow motion and found himself facing what could only be a miracle staring right back at him. In milliseconds, his zombie-like expression turned to one of sheer joy.
"Ran's Big Brother! You don't know how happy I am to see you! I'm so happy! I'm so happy! I'm so happy!"
Jumping over the table, a starry-eyed Yuuya attached himself to the wide-eyed police officer, causing them both to tumble to the floor.
"Who or what the hell are you!" Yamato Kotobuki was becoming quite terrified of the ragged parasite that had attached itself to his arm. "Get off me!"
Using all his strength, he managed to dislodge the 'creature' from his neck, only to have it bounce back and cling steadfastly to his shirt.
From his perch on Yamato's chest, Yuuya looked desperately into the eyes of his hope for survival, "You've got to remember me Ran's Big Brother Sir! I was at the beach and the Amusement Park at Odaiba and the rock wall -which I didn't know was illegal to climb at the time, just so you know- and the indoor snowboard place and-"
"Wait…" Yamato studied the whimpering thing on top of him for a moment. "You couldn't be… that Second Place guy?"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Yuuya nodded ecstatically, flecks of dirt raining off him like muddy rain with each shake of his head. "Yes, I'm the Second Place guy!"
"Now that you've identified yourself would you mind getting off of me?"
Eager to please, in hopes of winning some brownie points, Yuuya hopped off immediately and pleaded with Yamato, "You know I'm not a bad guy, so you gotta help me! None of what happened was my fault! Please, you just gotta help me!"
"No, I don't," Yamato got up quickly with an exhausted sigh and brushed off his uniform as he spoke. "I hardly even know you, so how do you expect me to know your character? My impression of you right now is that you're a bit unstable at the moment…"
"You've got it all wrong!" Yuuya got to his feet as well and shook the officer furiously by the shoulders. "I'm stable! I really am! I'm the stablest person that ever walked this Earth! I was the inspiration people needed to invent horse stables! I have great character too! You should have seen me yesterday! I was saving the world from that… thing! If I-"
"That thing?"
"Yeah! That thing!"
"Ah, of course. That thing…"
"You… you don't believe me do you!"
"Give me one reason why I should!"
Arms crossed defiantly over his chest, Yamato Kotobuki stared down the suspect with cold eyes. This policeman takes his duty quite seriously and if he has any ounce of suspicion that his charge is guilty he will not release them until justice is served!
Seeing the stern countenance that had overtaken his interrogator, Yuuya (for about the tenth time today…) crumpled to the floor with an endless supply of tears.
Between sobs and hiccups, he whined piteously to the surprised police officer that was not used to having criminals break down into tears after a stern word or two, "You're related to Ran so I thought that you of all people would have a kind heart! But I was wrong! Oh so wrong! You have a heart of iron! Cold, hard, merciless iron! That's what you have, Ran's Big Brother!"
Seeing that helpless, pathetic heap on the floor, Yamato couldn't help but let his parental instincts take over.
"Now, now Mr. Second Place," he kneeled down and put an arm around his shaking shoulder. "Everything's going to be okay."
"No it's not!" Yuuya stared right into the officer's eyes with his best pity-me-because-I'm-pitiful look. "My life will never be the same! I thought that the police officers of Shibuya were supposed to protect this town, not condemn its youth to bleak and hopeless futures!"
"Now you know that's not true!" Yamato turned the sobbing mass of human flesh to face him and deepened his own serious gaze. "The police of Shibuya are here to maintain the peace and to allow justice to reign supreme. That is the true goal of any honest officer and always will be!" Finally, his expression softened, "But since we have over two hundred troublemakers here for the same crime, making it a bit crowded around the station, I guess it wouldn't hurt to let just one person skip the whole procedure… You do seem like you might be a nice guy so-"
"You mean I'm free to go! I take back what I said! You have the most un-iron heart a policeman could have!"
Transforming from Mr. Gloomy to Mr. Sunshine in the time it takes to blink, Yuuya brought poor Yamato to the floor once again. This time, with a bone breaking hug that nearly sucked all the air out of the poor officer's lungs.
"Now, get out of here," Yamato managed to choke out, "before I change my mind!"
"Yes, Ran's Big Brother Sir!" With an enthusiastic salute Yuuya happily backed away to the exit.
"Good, and make sure that you never have to come back to this police box again because I won't be so soft on you next time!" the officer called out his last warning to the retreating figure, now quite a ways into the distance.
"Never again! I promise!"
A couple minutes later…
"Hi again Ran's Big Brother!"
"Oh, hello Mr. Second Place," Yamato nodded in greeting before going back to questioning his current suspect. "Wait a second…" He looked up from his work only moments later to stare at the raggedy dressed teen that was now relaxing in a chair near the back of the room. It only took a few moments more for him to explode. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING BACK HERE?"
"Calm down man. I was ju-"
The now enraged police officer never gave him a chance to finish. Storming over to Yuuya, he bent over and shoved his own watch in front of Yuuya's large, yellow eyes.
"YOU SEE THIS?" Roared Yamato as he brought the bulky wristwatch right up to Yuuya's eyelashes.
"Clear as crystal," Yuuya slowly nodded.
"Good! Than you know what this is, right?"
"A… watch?"
"Two in a row… we're on a roll here Mr. Second Place," the police officer smiled mirthlessly. "So now, one last question. When did I tell you to come back to this police box?"
"Never, but-"
"Ding! Ding! Ding! I think we have a winner," With a grin thinner than paper, the officer stiffly patted Yuuya on the shoulder, "So now that we're both on the same page, I just can't help but wonder where you learned that three minutes and twenty-two seconds is equivalent in time to never!"
"What happened in three minutes and twenty-two seconds?"
"That, my friend, was the time it took you to get back here!"
"Oh! I get it now!" Yuuya grinned and snapped his fingers. "That's what the whole watch-in-my-face thing was all about! Great idea, man!"
"Do not call me 'man'! By doing so you are undermining my authority!" Refusing to be placated, Yamato had gone past furious and straight to enraged. "I ignored it the first time, but I now I just can't excuse that improper term!"
"Well, Officer," Yuuya enunciated every syllable. "I don't mean to interrupt your lecture or anything, but I think you have a bit of a problem."
"What is it now?"
"Weren't you questioning someone when I came in?"
"Yes, why?"
"Well, I think that someone kinda… left."
"They… WHAT!" In a state of panic, Yamato dashed blindly around the police box, looking around desperately for the vanished suspect, and trashing the police box in the process. "This can't be happening! I'm going to get in major trouble with my boss for this! Two! I allowed two people to escape the law!"
"Calm down ma-" Yuuya winced. "I mean, um… Officer. It's not the end of the world."
"You don't seem to understand the gravity of this situation! I might get fired for this and it's all your fault!"
"Hey! What did I do?"
"EVERYTHING!"
"Hey, hey, calm down."
"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! I'M PERFECTLY CALM!" Yamato yelled with a vengeance as he looked hopelessly under his coffee mug for some sign of the escapee.
"If you say so…"
"YES, I SAY SO!"
"Excuse me," the officer with the handlebar mustache stared suspiciously at the two occupants of the room from the doorway. "Will someone tell me what in the world is going on here?"
A few minutes and miles away from the police box later…
"Well, it could have been worse…" Yuuya smiled sympathetically and forced one of his hands out of his pocket into the frosty chill of the midnight air so he could pat his companion softly on the shoulder.
A quick jerk of the shoulder to remove the hand was the only thanks the dejected cop gave as they walked side by side through the Shibuya streets.
With his head bent low, Yamato let out a long sigh, his breath visible in freezing cold air.
"Really, it turned out pretty well, if you ask me," said Yuuya, nodding in earnest.
"Well, nobody asked you!" Yamato finally snapped back. "This stupid mess of a night could never be described with the words 'pretty well,' unless pretty well suddenly meant utterly crappy. So take your stupid optimism and shove it where the sun don't shine!"
"Woah there, no need to get mad, Ran's Big Bro. I come in peace," Yuuya grinned, waving his hand in a submissive gesture. "Neither of us are behind bars or handcuffed to a pole or anything. We're still free men, so there's no need go all psycho on me."
"You weren't in enough trouble to get detained in the first place, so this is all fun and games for you, isn't it!"
"But, wasn't I being questioned to see whether or not I was going to jail or something?"
"Of course not," Yamato rolled his eyes in frustration up to the now star-filled night sky. "It wasn't a major offense you were involved in. You were only being questioned for information about the incident."
"You mean I begged and groveled for mercy from the law when the law wasn't even after me in the first place?"
Yuuya and Yamato sighed in unison, one with regret and the other still filled with annoyance.
"Well I might as well be arrested," Yamato muttered, "because tonight I just guaranteed myself a free ticket to the world of unemployment!"
"Hey, the dude didn't fire you, Ran's Big Brother. He just yelled and waved his arms a lot."
"As soon as I show up to work tomorrow I'm toast, you idiot! I turned my office into a pigsty, let a person leave in the middle of questioning, and, to top it all off, when Officer Shindo-"
Yuuya interrupted, "Was that the cop with the big mustache?"
"Yes," Yamato nodded impatiently. "When he came in and saw the mess… I guess I just panicked…"
"Yeah, you sure did," Yuuya chuckled to himself. "Your eyes were bugging out of your head and you looked whiter than I did when I drank Ran's Nasty Juice. It was a sight to see."
Ignoring the commentary, Yamato continued, "But panicking was no reason for me to dash off like that. I ran away from an officer, you understand? I committed a crime and fled! Ah hell, am I really turning bad?"
"Don't get so down on yourself, it's like instinct. 'Fight or flight,' you know. Just go back tomorrow and apologize. They're police officers, so they should be compassionate and stuff, aren't they?"
"Maybe your right," Yamato gave an attempt at a grin. "Everything always seems better in the morning doesn't it?"
"That's the spirit!" Yuuya slapped Yamato on the back before pocketing his hand away from the cold. "Tomorrow is a new day!"
"So just help me with one more thing, will you?"
"What's the problem, Ran's Big Brother?"
Slowing his brisk pace to a sudden halt, the soon-to-be-possibly-retired officer raised a quizzical eyebrow at the ragged looking blonde who, in turn, had stopped his upbeat strides and looked back at him to see what the hold-up was.
"Just answer me this," sighing, Yamato gritted his teeth in exasperation. "Mr. Second Place, why are you following me home in the middle of the night?"
"Ah, um… you caught me!" Laughing sheepishly, Yuuya waved his hand in mock surrender before continuing. "Well, you see, I tried to explain to you at the police box when I came back that second time, but you know how that went."
"Only too well…"
"Heh, yeah. Well, it all happened like this…Rei and I came here to Shibuya, and I set him up with Aya, and they left, and then Rei got mad or something and sent a mob after me, and then I was at the police box because of something I didn't do, and I thought I was going to go to jail, which wouldn't have been right, and then you came and I was so relieved…" After pausing to take a few gasping breaths to mark the estimated middle of one of the longest run-on sentences known to man, Yuuya continued. "And then you let me go, but I realized I can't leave because Rei was my only ride out of here, but I think he wants to kill me or something, so I couldn't call him, and I can't ride the train out of here, because one of the people in the crazy mob grabbed my wallet, so I'm broke, so I don't have anywhere to go and I didn't know what else to do but follow you, Ran's Big Brother."
"Where do you keep all that air?" asked Yamato with a small bit of respect as he watched the mile-long-sentence-stringer try to bring back some of his lung capacity. "Uh, never mind. Let me talk while you recover from your little, err… speech there. So you essentially have absolutely no way to get back to your home. That's what you're telling me right?"
Yuuya nodded weakly.
"Do you think you could find a way back to wherever you live tomorrow morning?"
"Hopefully… Rei will… be a little… nicer then," Yuuya managed to say between intakes of air.
After a short pause for thought, Yamato began to walk again and motioned for the panting teen to follow.
"I'm not cruel enough to have you wandering the streets of Shibuya looking the way you do right now, but I also don't approve of beggars, so I'm not giving you money for the train fair," Yamato stated matter-of-factly. "But for tonight, and tonight only, and only if the rest of the family approves… there is an extra futon you could possibly sleep on until the morning."
"Really!" Recovering immediately from his fatigue, Yuuya grinned with relief. "You really are the best Shibuya cop ever, you know that! I thought I might be shivering alone in a cardboard box somewhere for tonight, but you saved me!"
"You'll call your friend first thing in the morning, got it? I won't have you loafing around at the Kotobuki residence longer than necessary," Yamato used his lecturing tone as he gave the happily smirking Yuuya a warning look.
"Of course, Ran's Big Brother!"
"Yamato."
"Huh?"
"You can call me Yamato. I don't think I'd ever get used to being called Ran's Big Brother."
Giving his name was like an awkward attempt at a peace offering to end the war that had raged all night between the two exhausted combatants.
"Sure thing, Yamato. By the way, I'm Yuuya Asou. Call me Yuuya."
His gift was gladly accepted, with gusto.
Hey reviewers! It's your turn to feel loved!
imjuzakyd: Yea! My cooking skills are appreciated! EveryNever does her little victory dance. And as for Rei and his out-of-the-blue actions… It shall be revealed in later chapters, heehee, so stay tuned!
camille-lkx: Wow, such a compliment! I'm glad you liked chapter five so much. In a few more chapters there will be a bit more Aya/Rei moments to look forward to, so hold out until then!
shwainse: Thanks for the review! Hope you enjoyed the newest update. Nice penname change, by the way!
I can't be sure when will be the next time I'll have a chance to update, but even if you don't see me for a few months, be assured, I won't have given up on this fic. I'm really enjoying working on this project, so just be patient, EveryNever will get chapter seven up eventually! So wait and see what happens when the Kotobuki family gets an unexpected guest!
