Le Disko

A soft breath fluttered over her ear. "Easy there..."

Her breath hitched in her chest, Hitomi shakily raised her eyes to meet dark brown ones. Vats of chocolate... Hiroshi? He was smiling gently. In response, Hitomi hiccupped and her eyes rolled into the back of her head, passing clean out.

A swirl of a pounding techno beat and a dizzying swirl of colors and flashing lights were circling around Hitomi's head. Definitely not the best thing for a hangover. With a groan, the girl clawed her way out of the dream. Reluctantly, the images receded, but, to her surprise, the music did not.

With another whimper of pain, Hitomi slid her heavy eyelids open. The light in the room stung and another wave of agony washed over brain. A hangover? What was going on? Bits and pieces of the previous night came back to her. The dance club, the guy in the red shirt, and the alcohol.

"Oh my god..." She muttered softly, her voice cracking painfully. How much had she drunk? The last thing she remembered was maybe her third glass... then everything was a bit of a blur. And Yukari knew that she couldn't hold her liquor...

Speaking of Yukari, where was that girl? And where was she, for that matter?

Blinking, Hitomi managed to drag herself into a bit of a sitting up position. Her head felt ten times heavier. As she took in what was around her, the soft music that she had woken up to filtered into her buzzing ears again.

"Last night I had a dream about you.
In this dream I'm dancing right beside you.
And it looked like everyone was having fun,
the kind of feeling I've waited so long..."

It seemed that someone had left the stereo on. She glanced over at it, then proceeded to look around and acquaint herself with her surroundings. The complete left side of the room was curtained off. Probably windows. The bed she was laying in had dark red sheets. In fact, the entire theme for the room was an obvious deep crimson. While the paint on the walls was white, the designer had decided to accent everything in the blood-like color.

Hitomi frowned. This was definitely not her room, nor was it Yukari's. If not for her dulled senses, she would probably have started panicking and perhaps screaming right away. As it was, all Hitomi could manage was a slightly annoyed sigh.

"Don't stop. Come a little closer.
As we jam, the rhythm gets stronger.
There's nothing wrong with just a little, little fun.
We were dancing all night long..."

Looking down at herself, she was relieved to see that she was at least still dressed in the clothes from the night before. Maybe she could just quietly sneak out...

There was a door directly across from the bed, and another to the right. She could try both. Determined to make her escape, Hitomi grunted and attempted to lift herself into an upright position. Her body protested, reminding the track runner that the hangover was still going strong. Feeling sluggish, weak, and a bit sick to her stomach, Hitomi decided that it was probably better to settle back for a little while.

Resigned to her fate, Hitomi ran a trembling hand through her messy hair and lay back against the soft pile of pillows that she had been sleeping in earlier. She suddenly felt tired.

"Wonder what time it is..." She thought to herself as her eyes fluttered shut. The song in the background continued to play softly, and this time, Hitomi listening, taking in the lyrics.

"The time is right to put my arms around you.
You're feeling right, you wrap your arms around too.
But suddenly I feel the shining sun.
Before I knew it, this dream was all gone."

Almost against her will, Hitomi's mind drifted off back to the previous night. The dancing. The kiss with ... well, whoever he was.

She could feel herself drifting off, and didn't bother fighting it. Sleeping off the hangover was probably her only option in this case, anyway.

Naturally, someone found it necessary to wake up before she fell asleep. The door softly opened and there was a sudden cheerful yell.

"HITOMI, YOU'RE AWAKE!"

The scream stabbed into her head. Hitomi let out a gasp of pain, opening one eye to see Yukari beaming at her from the doorway across from the bed. The red-head skipped forward to sit down at the edge of the bed.

"I was so worried! You looked like a mess, but it's lucky that you slept most of the booze off... how do you feel?" She beamed, not noticing Hitomi's repeated winces at the loud noises.

Awake now, Hitomi pulled herself up again. "I feel like I've been run over repeatedly by a truck, then had my head smashed in. Where are-"

A soft voice interrupted her from the doorway. "So, sleeping beauty finally woke up, huh?"

Hitomi stuttered to a halt before she could finish her sentence and froze, cautiously lifting her eyes to look past Yukari. She blinked once or twice just to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. She wasn't. He was smirking at her from the doorway that he was leaning against. There was no doubt about it. It was the guy from last night. Which meant that this was his place... and she was sitting in his bed...

"Ooh... I don't know what to do.
About this dream and you.
I wish this dream comes true..."

Her heart sped up and her breath caught so painfully in her chest that she almost choked. A gasp escaped her constricted lungs as she sat up, then she clapped a hand to her forehead in pain as the headache reared up in protest. Unfortunately, her hand came speeding up too fast because of her shock and nervousness. As her palm smacked into her face, another blast of white-hot throbbing pummeled her sore brain and she doubled over, cradling her head in both hands. Lovely.

"Ow ow ow..." She whimpered, wishing both the man and the headache away as her cheeks turned bright red in embarrassment.

"Hitomi, you klutz..." Yukari laughed softly, peering at her.

"Why don't you play the game?"

Meanwhile, the song in the background was winding down to the last few notes. The mystery boy softly crossed over to his stereo, shutting it off. The sudden absence of music made Hitomi peer up out of curiosity and the sight of the messy black hair and swirling brown eyes that were making their way over to her brought up another feeling, this time, in her stomach.

Nausea.

Hitomi's eyes widened in silent terror at the thought of throwing up all over the place, and Yukari seemed to catch it as well.

She pointed, looking alarmed now. "Bathroom's on your right."

Not needing any more persuasion, Hitomi bounded from the bed and sprinted to the door she had noticed before, sluggishness and hangover be damned.

The door had barely slammed behind her, but Hitomi was already retching and heaving into the toilet, grateful that her hair was short and she didn't need anyone to hold it back.

After the first attack had passed, Hitomi took in deep breaths, flushing in shame as she flushed the toilet. The thought of how the guy must be thinking about her right now, throwing up after chugging down enough alcohol to render her completely intoxicated... with a shudder, Hitomi gagged and heaved again, closing her eyes.

Finally, she was done. Feeling drained and disgusted with herself, Hitomi flushed the toilet a second time before shakily standing and heading over to the spotless sink. Not bothering to wait for the water to turn warm, she rinsed her mouth of the taste of vomit and also washed her face to completely wake herself up.

Not up to going back outside to face him, the track runner instead sat down by the doorway, wiping her face and hands on a nearby towel. Thinking back to how she had run out of the room, her cheeks turned bright with embarrassment as a knot wrenched in her stomach. She probably would have sat there longer, resisting the urge to throw up again, if the guy hadn't decided to talk to her through the door.

He didn't sound angry or disappointed, but amused. "Y'know, usually when someone drinks too much, they throw up before they get hung over. Looks like you didn't get so lucky. You feeling ok?"

Hitomi gulped. His voice brought back the images of them dancing together. Whatever had remained of her purged stomach dropped to her feet. "Y-yeah..."

"Good." The door next to her opened and the guy poked his head in, blinking down at her. "Let's get you back to bed. You look terrible."

Before Hitomi could even protest, he had lifted her up from the floor and began carrying her back to the bedroom. As hard as she tried, she couldn't ignore the firm arms tucked underneath her knees and the small of her back, or how close he was. Feeling another bout of nausea, the brunette could only groan and clench her eyes shut, fighting off the urge to gag. Breathing in deeply, she was surprised to find a comforting smell. He smelled strangely like green meadows and clear fields... Hitomi found it soothing as the scent imprinted itself into her mind.

As he set her down on the bed, he flashed her a small grin. The depths of his auburn eyes swirled around her own green eyes, capturing her. The bed sank slightly as he sat down next to Hitomi. "My name's Van."

Hitomi's heart stuttered to a stop. Van. His name was Van. It definitely matched his eyes... his hair... that rare smile of his...

Realizing that her mouth was hanging open in awe, she quickly gathered her wits about her, ignoring the constant pounding in her head and the gut-wrenching knot that was still dominant in her stomach. "I-I'm Hitomi. Hitomi Kanzaki."

He leaned in closer, his arms propping him up on either side of her. "Your friend Yukari's probably gone to make you same anti-hangover concoction." He murmured softly.

Hitomi nearly swooned as she watched an amused smile tug at the ends of his mouth. "Th-that's Yukari.. f-for you."

His warm breath fluttered gently across her cheek. Luckily, the nauseous feeling was gone now, replaced by a numb sort of feeling. Hitomi held her breath, a bright blush spreading across her cheeks. "Van?"

His face was inches from hers and any second now, his lips would collide. Any second... three... two... one...

"'TOMI!" Yukari cheerfully burst back into the room, then stopped dead as she registered what she was seeing. "Eh.. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

Almost lazily, Van pulled back from his perch atop Hitomi and stood, looking for all the world like he hadn't been interrupted from kissing the stunned girl on the bed. "No, nothing, Miss Yukari. Make yourselves at home, you two."

With a brief smile and a wave, he left, leaving Hitomi to splutter and, as soon as the door closed behind him, sprint back to the bathroom.

Phew. And I mean phew. I haven't updated in ever. Mostly because... well, I didn't feel like it. And I had swimming and school and I was sick and ... blah blah blah, but I finally decided to update. And nevar fear, it's still Suicidal Hitomi... just not.

I'm still torn on whether or not to make this a total AU with no Gaia involved whatsoever, or tie it in somehow. We'll see.

Props to Daft Punk and the song. I love "Digital Love". Squee. In case you haven't noticed, I'm gonna make lyrics and music references a lot in this story. S'all good.

Know what else I love? Reviews. They're delicious. -cough-

rukz- I'll work on not making it dramatic or complicated. I don't write dramas well, anyway.

Missing White Wings 15- Nu, Van is totally real. Hitomi was just a little bit drunk and thought he wasn't real. Alcohol can do that to you xDD

fzelda- Now you know where she woke up! Yay! Hiroshi is the name Hitomi made up for Van. She was well, one, drunk. And two, she didn't know what his real name was, and seeing as she didn't think he was real in the first place, she decided that naming him wouldn't do any harm. But he's real, so.. well, Hiroshi's gone. I'm sorry if that confused you xD And I will probably make Van older. Thanks for reviewing!

Aga- Really? WHATEVER I write? Haha, I wish. Thanks for reviewing, I'm glad you like my fic!

CapT. Black- ... Tokyo Pop? What? Ok. I'll see what I can do for that Van Helsing fic mmkay?

Also thanks to darkangel, boo, darkmist101, and EsCaFReaK101 for their reviews!