Chapter 8

It had been several weeks since her first appearance on Kimagure Rock and her encounter with Sho and Ren. The encounter with the first? Horrific. The second? More or, less confusing. Her encounter with Ren confusing for the fact that he wasn't what he seemed. It pained her to think that he was a lot like Deimos. He put up a front of being a certain way, but deep down when he was in private showed a whole different side of himself. He was professional, aloof and seemed friendly to everyone on the outside, but on the inside he seemed insecure, quick to admit that he was wrong and apologize, and he clearly didn't like her. She wasn't sure why this bothered her, him not liking her, but it did. It pained her immensely.

She had managed to avoid him since her encounter in the stairwell with him. Perhaps she shouldn't have flipped him off and called him an asshole. She winced at the thought. She had only even done that to one other in her lifetime and the fact that it had been her former lover made things that much worse. There were just so many similarities and it was making the guilt in her heart pile up. She shook off the comparative thoughts.

She wondered, as she walked through the halls of TBM after the show, if perhaps she should voice her concerns to Phobos. Would he understand or, would he think less of her if he discovered how her thoughts were running away from her around Ren? She decided that this was something best kept to herself. She didn't want to turn his brother against her or, make him think that she had feelings for anyone other than his own brother, when she didn't.

As she was NOT pondering her comparisons between Deimos and Ren and she was NOT so completely distracted by said comparisons that she hadn't noticed said brothers walking down the very hall that she also occupied. She didn't notice the whispers, murmurs and giggles of various women that were trying to get the attention of the handsome actor. Their eyes met as she looked up and thus their game of cat and mouse began or, should she say lion and bunny?

The tiny animal looked up from her meager repast of thoughts and noticed in the distance a familiar, large, predatorial feline. She startled as their eyes met and her food for though tumbled from her tiny mouth to the ground as she realized her precarious position. She froze and then immediately assessed her situation and calculated her closest escape route that would lead to a local burrow. She slowly turned so as not to alert the beast of her panicked escape. Don't look back... Don't look back... Was the tiny creature's mental mantra. She turned to evaluate his progress. NO! I said not to look back! Aoidḗ, you baka! His legs were so long and hers, while they were long for her body type and height, they were too short to make it to her destination before he caught up to her.

SLAM!

The handle to the Ladies Room door slipped from her fingers and prevented her escape. The heat from his large body and his scent surrounded her. She shook in fear. Not really fear of him, just fear of something intangible. Was it fear of rejection, harsh words, that overly friendly false smile or, fear of the unknown? She wasn't quite sure and she was pretty certain that she didn't wish to find out at the moment.

"Hey... It's been awhile." He murmured into her ear and she shivered at his warm breath on her sensitive lobe. "Don't you think it was kind of rude to not greet me? I am your senior in the company after all." Her reaction to him was priceless.

"How do you..." The training the Fuwa Okami kicked in and she bowed toward the Restroom door.

He caught himself before he chuckled. "Over here..." He smirked inwardly. This was the most fun he had, had in quite some time. Although he didn't notice it while he was teasing her, he was behaving like a mischievous little boy and it was definitely something that his manager/brother noticed.

She turned while still bowing, not wanting to look at that misleading smile of his. "How do you do?" She mumbled nervously.

"What? No middle finger today?" And then even more teasing began. By the time he was caught by Yashiro, she was almost in tears.

{"Brother... You do realize that if you keep teasing her like that, she may just call you on it and turn the tables on you one day." Phobos scolded his brother for teasing the little goddess of music.

Deimos chuckled at the thought. "What is she going to do as punishment? Inspire me to sing?"

"Deimos... She's a daughter of Zeus. There is truly no limit to what she could do to you. You should watch yourself." Phobos warned him.

Deimos sighed in resignation. "Fine, I'll take it under advisement." Not... He smirked inwardly.}

Ren silently pondered the images as Yashiro scolded him for his reckless behavior near the Ladies Room and warned him to never do as such again.

After they had dropped Kyoko off at her final destination, he had to listen to the further extension of said lecture from his Brother? He shook the thought away. Why did the word brother pop into his mind when he looked at his manager? He furrowed his brow in deep thought. Where were these thoughts and the dreams coming from for the past few weeks? "Phobos..." He whispered to himself.

Yashiro turned to him in shock. With wide eyes and a mischievous smirk across his lips, the teasing began. "Well, you would think my own twin would know me. I mean really... I thought I was going to have to sing to you to get you to recognize me."

Ren's eyes went wide as they parked in the parking garage of their next destination and memories came flooding back. He snorted a laugh. "What? You thought making my ears bleed would bring my memory back?"

"I resent that Deimos! My voice is not that atrocious." He told him indignantly.

Deimos smirked. "You resemble that?"

Phobos rolled his eyes. "You haven't changed a bit." He patted him on the shoulder.

"Nor you, Brother. Have you found Aoidḗ?" He asked with hope.

Phobos looked at him mischievously. "She is someone you will have to seek out on your own. Just as I will have to seek out Mnḗmē." He could feel the disappointment rolling off his brother. "Not to worry Brother, I'm certain they are very close. Besides, the chase is the best part of it all. Don't you think?"

Deimos smiled. "I suppose you're right." He did have a feeling that she was close by and the excitement of rediscovery was palpable.

Every nerve in her body was on a razor's edge. Tomorrow would be her first real audition. Did she have what it took to be a modern talent? She had already laid out her wardrobe for tomorrow, meditated as her sister Melétē once taught her, to attempt to calm her nerves enough to get a good night's sleep and checked and rechecked the contents of her purse to make sure she had everything she needed to make it to the audition on time the next day.

As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was off to her dreamland; however, it was different tonight. Instead of seeking out her love, he had met her there. She smiled in relief as he carefully approached her and raised his hand to stroke her hair.

He sighed deeply and quickly pulled her into his arms then kissed her gently. "I missed you so very much, my love."

She snuggled into him. "I missed you too."

"I will find you, I promise." He vowed to her.

"I swear I will wait for you, Deimos." She hugged him tightly and relished in a feeling that she hadn't truly had in many years.

"I love you Aoidḗ. Don't ever forget." He told her softly.

She nodded. "I love you too." She smiled brightly and began to sing his favorite song to him. One that hadn't passed her lips since they parted.