Variance

Chapter Four

-Birthday Break-

"I can't believe we've already been filming for a month." Kyo stated, looking around at his friends. Currently they were all sitting around in their chairs, waiting for everyone else to arrive for Minako's surprise birthday party. She was turning twenty-seven, and so Kakashi had told everyone that they weren't going to be filming today, instead they would celebrate her birthday. It was a welcome break, since they'd been filming nonstop since beginning.

"I know what you mean. A whole month and Natsumi still won't give me her number." Vincent sighed, crossing his arms in a pout.

"That's because you're a creep." Akito pointed out.

"So."

Akito just rolled his eyes. He and Natsumi still weren't getting along, though the number of their arguments had decreased. But Akito couldn't help it. He just loved the way her face flushed when she grew flustered or angry, and the spark of intelligence in her eyes when she snapped at him with a witty comeback. Sure, it wasn't exactly the best way to try and get her to like him more than she already did, but he was having fun with it. And it wasn't like he wanted her to like him that badly, he just wanted her to quit being so defensive against him all the time.

"I really think you should just give up on that Vincent. It's pretty obvious she's not interested. Not only does she not pay your character a lot of attention in the movie, but she pays you even less attention in real life." Kyo joked, punching the auburn haired man in the arm playfully.

"Seriously." Haru sighed, sipping his drink. "The most likely one she'd hook up with would either be Akito or Kyo. And I seriously doubt that'll happen. Though, I gotta say, it's hard to believe there's nothing there when you guys have your little fluff scenes." The brunette snickered, elbowing his friend.

Akito glared at him lightly. "Shut up. It's just like Kakashi says, we have an on-camera chemistry. But off-camera, there's nothing." He shook his head. "Nothing at all."

"Really?" Kyo asked, raising a brow. "Cause' it seems to me like you both are barely putting any effort into your acting, which means that the chemistry and feelings are already there."

"There's no feelings, and no chemistry." He denied, crossing his arms.

Haru glanced towards the door and smirked, pointing past his friends. "That might change, look, Natsumi's here."

They all looked over towards the door at the pink haired woman who walked in, holding a black clutch. She was dressed pretty nicely, in a skin tight black dress. It stopped mid-thigh, with decorated straps over her shoulders. The top cut down in a small V, revealing her perfect cleavage. Vincent gazed at her in lust and longing, not hiding it at all. Kyo actually uttered a soft 'wow', and Akito's eyes widened slightly as he sat forward in his chair.

"She looks stunning." The Uchiha actually said out loud, unable to take his eyes off of her.

Kyo's jaw dropped further, his eyes widening, when an identical woman with slightly harder features walked in. Her hair was the exact same shade of pink as Natsumi's, but it was put up into a French twist and hung over her shoulder, stopping past her bust. She had on a strapless white dress with a thick black ribbon tied around her waist. The dress stopped just above her knees and Toshiro came in after them, in a nice dress shirt today and some slacks.

The blonde made his way over to them, glad he had dressed up in some khaki colored slacks and a forest green button down shirt. He stopped before the woman, taking her hands in his own and kissing the backs of both of them. "Hello. My name is Kyo, and I just want to tell you that you are absolutely the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my entire life. I would be honored if you would grace me with your presence and allow me to take you out for drinks or something."

She blinked and looked to her sister, who was trying not to laugh. "Kyo, this is my sister, Satomi." She gestured to the woman beside her. "Satomi, this is Kyo. He's the one playing my boyfriend in the movie, and-"

"The drummer from Chaos Theory." Satomi stated, looking unimpressed. "Hi." She said, looking back at Kyo. "And sorry, but no. I don't drink."

"Oh I don't usually either, but I think it makes me sound more sophisticated." He smiled, unfazed. "We could just go for coffee, or on a walk or something, so long as I can get to know you better."

"Or we could not and you could release my hands." She suggested.

Kyo looked down and then back up at her. "Oh, sorry." He laughed a bit nervously, scratching the back of his head.

Akito walked over then, and actually smiled softly. "Hey Satomi." He greeted. "What a pleasant surprise to see you here for Minako's party. I thought you were super busy this month."

"Hi Akito." Satomi nodded, looking somewhat pleasant. "I was, but Dr. Gupta wanted to switch shifts, so I'm free tonight."

"Whoa!" Natsumi held her hand up and looked between the two. "What the heck is going on?" she asked, pointing back and forth to her sister and then Akito. "You guys know each other?"

"Of course." Satomi replied. "He's Toshiro's best friend and a patient of mine."

"I tell you Satomi was a godsend." Akito said, patting her shoulder. "My last doctor kept making shit up so that he could get more money out of me. Toshiro recommended Satomi to me a few years ago, so I thought, what the heck?" he shrugged. "And she's been seeing me ever since, on a professional level." He joked, a smile breaking out onto his face.

Kyo just looked at him in awe. Then he hit him in the arm. "You jerk! How could you not tell me that you knew the most gorgeous woman in the entire world?! What kind of friend are you?"

"The kind that would rather keep his doctor happy than annoy her with some hyper, chatty blonde." He replied.

"The fuck…" Natsumi stared off, wide eyed, still confused out of her mind.

"Natsumi you shouldn't curse so much, it doesn't suit you." Satomi scolded slightly and then focused back on Akito, walking off with him towards the refreshments, just chatting it up. Natsumi's jaw dropped. She and Kyo stood side by side, in shock.

"What just happened?" she asked the blonde.

"I feel like we both got dumped." He said, sounding devastated. "I mean…Akito hates doctors."

"Satomi hates people in general. Especially arrogant butt faces like that jerk. And no one dumps me!" she huffed, shaking her fist. "We should do something Kyo!"

"I think I'm going to try and woo your sister." Kyo said. "Cause' if she can put up with Akito's emo-ness, then I think she'll be able to put up with my sunshiny disposition." He smiled and nodded, his little pep talk working for his confidence.

She looked over at him and nodded. "I bet you can. She likes yellow roses and sweets. And she really enjoys children." She told him, trying to help him in his quest. She didn't know why she was so upset that Akito's attention had been diverted elsewhere. It didn't matter that he was a douche half the time, at least his douche-ness was aimed at her and he focused on her, mean or not. And she'd be damned if she let anyone steal her spotlight. Even her sister.

"Well Akito likes to work out, surf, and he gets up really early to watch the sunrise." Kyo told her. "For the most part, he likes things that help him get rid of his stress and think clearly."

"Damnit! I don't do any of that!" Natsumi cursed, crossing her arms in a pout, making her breasts push up. She glanced down at them and smirked evilly. "I don't need that, I'll use my womanly charm to rip him back." She snickered evilly, walking after the two and leaving Kyo behind.

Natsumi came up behind the two, pushed up her breasts, and cleared her throat. "Satomi, Toshiro just got a call from the hospital. He needs you."

The elder twin looked at her sister and nodded, telling Akito she had to handle this. She left then, and Natsumi gave him a sultry look and moved closer to him, resting her hand on his arm. "So, Akito…" She breathed out, trying to sound as alluring as possible. "What do you think about film making?"

He raised a brow and looked from her hand, to her cleavage, and then to Natsumi's face. "It's pretty fun." He said after a few seconds. "Why?"

"I was just wondering." She said, playing innocent, like she didn't understand his hesitation. "You know," she smiled, leaning closer. "It's been pretty fun for me to work with you. You have a lot of…talent."

"Really?" he crossed his arms, seeming interested in where this was going. "Do tell."

She inwardly cursed, but didn't allow it to show. "Well you know," she laughed, looking up at him. "Every time you and I do a scene together, we never have to retake and Kakashi always loves it. Plus, I kinda get shivers when you look at me like that." She admitted, and it was true. Sometimes she found herself actually feeling what she was faking. There was something about the doting look Seth gave Andy that made her knees feel weak. Though she assumed it was because he had some good acting skills.

"Well I'd look at you like that outside of filming if you weren't so…" he looked her up and down. "snooty. Cause' apparently, the chemistry we have on set is there."

Just then Kakashi came in and made a motion for everyone to stop talking. "Okay guys, Minako just pulled up in the parking lot, and she has no idea what's going on. We're going to turn off the lights in a second, and when I flip them on, yell surprise and whatnot." He instructed.

He did just that, turning off the lights as everyone became quiet. The door to the set opened, and a woman's silhouette appeared. "Hello?" Minako's voice called out, and everyone could see that she was looking around. Suddenly Kakashi flipped on the lights, and everyone yelled,

"SURPRISE!"

Which caused Minako's eyes to widen considerably in alarm as she placed a hand on her chest, right over her heart. Kakashi walked over to her, since he was the closest, and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Happy birthday Minako." He smiled, gesturing to the set, which was decorated for the occasion.

She smiled at the older man and hugged him. "Thank you Kakashi! This is so unexpected!" she said, looking at everyone that was there. Then her eyes widened when they landed on Satomi, and she ran over and hugged her friend. "Hi Satomi! I haven't seen you in forever!" she pulled away from the pink haired woman. "Thank you for coming."

"No problem. I had tonight off." She smiled slightly, holding up a present. "Here you go."

Minako gasped and ripped open the box, seeing a pair of beautiful diamond butterfly clips. "Oh, they're so lovely." She said softly, carefully touching the jeweled pieces. She looked back up at her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Natsumi came up then, hugging Minako tightly. "Happy birthday Minako!" she cheered excitedly.

"Thanks Natsumi." The ebony haired woman, laughed. "You guys look so nice, I feel underdressed." She joked, gesturing in her outfit of dark skinny jeans and a purple tank top, with matching heels.

Satomi waved off the wardrobe. "You forget this airhead over here is a supermodel." She said, pointing to her sister, who just beamed.

"Oh!" Natsumi fished in her clutch and pulled out a small wrapped box. "Happy birthday!"

Minako tore away the wrapper and went wide eyed at the large diamond earrings glistening in the stage lights. "Wow! Thank you so much! These are gorgeous."

"Mhm! No big. Even Toshiro got you something." The younger twin snickered, wagging her eyebrows at the dark haired girl. Minako blinked, and then turned to look at the redhead.

He happened to be speaking with one of the other managers, and glanced over, feeling her stare. He dismissed himself from the conversation and walked over. "Hello Minako, happy birthday. How does it feel to be twenty-seven?"

"The same as it did to feel twenty-six." She smiled slightly. "I might be able to tell you more about it when my twenty-eighth birthday comes around."

He smirked, appearing amused. "Well until then," he laughed, offering up the present in his hand. "I hope you like it."

This present she opened carefully, peeling back the wrapping paper as if it were the most delicate thing on earth. It revealed a large, navy blue velvet box, and when Minako opened it she gasped. Toshiro had gotten her a beautiful necklace made up of diamonds and white gold. She didn't know how many karats it was, but she knew that it had cost him a pretty penny. She looked back up at him and smiled brightly. "I love it, thank you so much." She reached up and hugged him around the neck, kissing his cheek before releasing him, a light blush on her cheeks. "It's absolutely beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it." he smiled, taking her hand and kissing it. "We all went shopping together."

Natsumi nodded. "We wanted you to glisten in every way possible!" she laughed. "Like a princess."

"Mhm." Satomi agreed.

"Well I will definitely wear all of these to the movie premiere." She told them. Kyo ran up to them then, smiling at Minako.

"Hey Minako, we all got you something too." He said, grabbing her hand and leading her over to a gigantic box that was wrapped in sparkly paper. It was so large, that it could probably fit two grown people in it.

"What is it?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"Just open it." Akito told her, smiling slightly.

She walked over and set down the three presents she had received from the Sabakus, before unwrapping the large box. And when she caught a glimmer of what was inside, she squealed, picking up the pace until a bunch of crate-like boxes were revealed, that held the best brand of ramen you could get, and also the ebony haired woman's favorite. "Oh my God!" she said, running over and hugging each of the members. "Thank you so much!"

"Well this is only part of the present." Vincent told her. "It's just a six month supply, so on your half birthday another shipment will arrive at your place."

"This is amazing." She breathed out, staring at the crates of ramen. Then she looked at everybody else. "Thank you guys so much, this is by far the best birthday I have ever had."

They spent the rest of the day celebrating Minako's birthday, eating cake and ice cream and pizza, as was usually done at parties. They even played a few games, and just chatted. Kakashi let everyone leave early, telling them that he would see them bright and early Monday, because they had a lot of filming to do to get back on schedule.