Disclaimer: All rights go to Hidekaz Himaruya. (You should know this by now)
A/N: Hello everyone, Kid O here with another update of Catalyst. Thanks to all who review, fave, and alert; it keeps me motivated to write. School will be out for me in a few weeks so that means more time to write! Also, please excuse any OOC-ness. In Iceland, in particular. I'm not used to writing him.
The next day was average. For both the orchestra and dance company, the day consisted of practice, practice, and even more practice. By the end of the day, all of the young performers were exhausted; except for Mei, of course. After practice let out, the Taiwanese girl skipped happily around the building, in contrast to the others who dragged along sluggishly. She was looking for Xiang; she had to talk to him.
On her mission, Mei was interrupted by Natalia, who had tapped her shoulder. Mei turned around and the fair haired Belarusian stood behind Mei with a tray in her hand.
"Oh, hey Natalia!"
"Hello, Mei." Natalia greeted with a polite nod of the head. "May I ask a favor of you?"
"Sure. Anything!" Mei beamed, she adored helping out.
"I usually fetch Mr. Honda a snack after work but for some reason my brother is here early and I cannot leave him waiting. Would you mind sending this to Mr. Honda's office?" Natalia held the tray up a little and Mei eyed the tea and Japanese treats on it.
"Um, okay. I will!" Mei smiled and took the tray out of Natalia's possession. Xiang can wait for now, she thought. Mei wanted to talk to her boss on a more relaxed level.
Natalia's mouth formed something that Mei assumed was a smile. "Thank you very much. I shall see you tomorrow then. Maybe we can hang in?"
Mei laughed. The Slavic teen was adorable. "Out." She corrected. "Ah, out, then" was Natalia's reply and Mei responded with a friendly nod. "I'd love to!"
"Good. I mustn't keep brother waiting any longer," Natalia said, "Good bye, Mei." Natalia waved and walked off. Mei did the same heading for Kiku's office.
"So what days did ya wanna practice, Xiang?" Emil said to his best friend. The two boys had a routine of practicing their parts together whenever they got new music. This has been a ritual of theirs since they joined the orchestra over five years ago.
Xiang made a face that indicated that he was thinking hard about it. He paused. "I don't know yet. I need to talk to Mei about it."
"The dance girl? How come?"
"I promised her I'll help her practice."
Emil's face contorted into one of disgust, irritation, or anger; maybe a combination of all three. Of all of the crazy shit he had heard come out of Xiang's mouth, this had to be the craziest. "Why? That's, like, so freaking stupid," he spat.
"I don't know," Xiang admitted with an embarrassed smile. It was true that he had offered to help the dancing prodigy and in return, Xiang would show her his music. He wouldn't tell Emil that though; even his best friend hadn't seen some of his work. But he honestly didn't know why he did it. Maybe Mei was a little like himself in some ways, except she still had that ambition burning deep within her.
"And it's not stupid, Emil," Xiang added. "In that case its stupid that we practice with each other all the time."
Emil rolled his eyes. He wasn't particularly upset that Xiang and the girl were helping each other out, he actually admired it. What really upset Emil was the fact that this random girl was stealing his best friend away from him. The Icelandic teen knew that Xiang was attracted to Mei, even if Xiang didn't admit it. I bet she isn't all that hot, he thought spitefully.
"Can we go?" Emil suggested. "This place is depressing me." He was eager to just drop the subject of this "Mei" girl and just go home. Xiang nodded and the two headed out.
Mei knocked softly on the door with a sign that had Japanese characters written on them. She assumed they spelt Mr. Honda's name. "Come in" was the reply from the soft spoken male from behind the door. Mei did what she was told and walked into the office, where her boss sat down at his desk.
Kiku looked up at the girl and an air of shock replaced his calm aura. "You're not Natalia," he pointed out.
"Ah, no. She had to leave early. I'm Mei Wang," Mei smiled nervously.
"I know exactly who you are," Kiku responded with a cheerful grin. His pleasant aura returned. "You can set that down." Mei walked over to Kiku's desk and set the tray down and began to walk away.
"You don't have to leave at this moment," Kiku called out and the girl stopped and walked back towards the man. She stood awkwardly beside his desk, waiting for him to say something.
She was nervous, and Kiku could sense that. "Please! Pardon my rudeness; have a seat! Drink some tea or eat some mochi." Mei pulled up a seat by his desk and sat down. She took a seat and poured herself a small cup of tea. She wasn't particularly fond of Japanese food but as she ate the mochi, Mei was reminded of a Chinese sweet she liked.
"And you are auditioning for the lead?" Kiku asked, pouring some tea for himself. Mei nodded silently.
"Ah, such talent you possess, Mei-chan!" Kiku exclaimed. "I'm sure the part will be yours."
"Thank you! That means a lot coming from you." She smiled sweetly and took a sip of her tea.
"You are equally talented as you are beautiful," Kiku remarked, causing Mei to blush somewhat. She wasn't used to complements from older guys, aside from her brother.
"That won't get you everywhere in life, however. You have to work to get what you want."
"How might I do that, Mr. Honda?" Mei inquired, eager to get business tips from her boss (who was very successful, after all).
A small smile appeared on the Japanese's face as he replied, "I know exactly how…" Mei was confused momentarily. Until she felt something cold rub against her knee and up her skirt, caressing her bare thigh. The girl was shocked to see that it was her boss. "K-kiku…? Why?"
"You have to put out to get in this business," Kiku whispered as he stood up and hovered over Mei. She felt so small at that moment, so helpless. He leaned in and forced his lips onto the girl's lips and his wet, warm tongue into her mouth. Mei began to struggle under the man and annoyed by this, Kiku held onto her wrists tightly.
Mei knew exactly where this was going. Her mind began to race of all the horrible things her own boss could do to her at this moment. She wasn't going to cry. She was going to fight. Kiku's weight was pressed against her and his eyes were closed and one of his hands had traveled down to his trousers to begin unbuttoning them. Damn. Time was of the essence so Mei had to do this while she could.
Mei bit down onto Kiku's tongue. Hard. So hard, that she could taste the saltiness of his blood in her mouth. The pain stupefied Kiku for a brief moment, he was vulnerable as he screamed out in pain and stuck out his tongue to analyze the severity of the wound. Mei seized the moment and kicked Kiku in the stomach, sending him crashing into the wall. She scrambled to get up and ran out of the room as fast as she could.
Xiang and Emil walked hand in hand around the building. They were just wasting time, laughing and joking around until Emil's brother came to pick him up. Xiang had his motorcycle so he had no need to wait around of Arthur. The two had made their way to the dance company's wing. Xiang was hoping to catch a glimpse of Mei, if she was still there. He didn't want to tell Emil. Xiang had a feeling he didn't like her.
As if on cue, Xiang saw Mei walking towards them and the teen's face brightened considerably. When she approached, Xiang noticed something was off with the girl's disposition. She seemed nervous, troubled and not bright and cheery as usual. In addition to that, her face was red and slightly damp from sweat, her hair was a mess, and her clothes looked no better. Xiang assumed she had a bad day.
"Hey, Mei!" he greeted. "You look terrible. Did something happen?"
She smiled tightly and shook her head. "No. I…I'll be alright," she lied.
"That's good." Xiang was completely oblivious. "Why are you here so late?"
"Just a favor for Mr. Honda," her voice lowered considerably and she looked away from Xiang and the mysterious white haired boy he was with.
"Hm, I see. Well, this is my best friend, Emil," Xiang said, gesturing towards the boy. "He's a cellist, too."
Emil gave Mei a faux smile and waved at her. Damn, he thought. If she was this pretty on a bad day, I hate to see her on a good one. No wonder Xiang likes her.
"And this is Mei."
"The Mei?" Emil questioned with a teasing smirk.
Xiang blushed slightly and averted his eyes towards the ground. "Yes. The Mei."
"It's a pleasure," Emil took the girl's hand and shook it.
"Same here! Quite a best friend you got here~"
Emil nodded and wrapped his arms around Xiang's shoulder, possessively. "Yup. He's all mine." The handsome Icelandic teen said 'all mine' with a big emphasis and he eyed her in the process. Maybe Xiang was stupid enough to believe that Mei had come back from doing just a "favor" but Emil knew.
Mei laughed, oblivious to the message Emil was sending her. "Well…I have to go soon. Xiang?" she turned towards her friend. "I'll be able to practice. But starting next week."
Xiang beamed in response, causing Mei to blush. How she loved his smile. "Great! I'll see you then."
Mei stepped back and began to walk off. She waved to the boys. "See you later, guys!" The two friends waved in return but Emil rolled his eyes.
Xiang was elated. Everything was going according to his plans. He wanted to write. He needed to write. But not just any old song. Something beautiful. Something for Mei.