Disclaimer: I don't own HYD, or BOF. This story is just for amusement.
RECAP: Akira found out about the kidnapping and is planning a rescue mission. Tsukasa is still in the virtual professor module learning about how Akira met his wife.
Chapter 3 Paris in the SpringTime
Paris, France Two years earlier
Soujiroh and Akira walked into a posh hotel with a bar and headed toward the sign that read "Art Auction, Today 4 p.m." Soujiroh stopped and glared at Akira.
"I thought this was one of our usual playboy jaunts where we spend money on wine and women, where we experience the finest that Paris has to offer. What are we doing here?" Soujiroh had a dark tone to his voice.
"We are. This is one of Paris' finest, an art auction, and after that we can go carousing and boozing." Akira replied smiling.
"What are you playing at? You know I'm finished with the art world for good. I'm going to become one of the pilot trainers of Eitoku Space Flight Academy and also one of the defensive pilots on its maiden space voyage. I – I have nothing more to offer this world." Soujiroh began to walk away.
Akira blocked him with his arm. "How do you know you don't? You haven't even tried. The Nishikado I know never runs away from a challenge without trying." Akira countered.
Soujiroh pulled him up by his collar. "What do you know? Do you know anything about art? Do you know what it is like for someone to tell you that you have the hand of God or you are touched by God? And then, do you know what it is like to have all of that taken away from you?"
Akira pushed him off and then backed him into a wall and pulled him up by the collar. "If you valued your precious hand so much why did you injure it getting into some stupid drunken bar brawl because you were distraught over your first love marrying your brother when you had Makino's innocent little friend waiting on the side for you to just look at her, huh? So what you had the "hand of God?" So what you got injured? Don't be so full of yourself." Akira let him go.
"No she isn't." Soujiroh said quietly.
"What?" Akira asked.
"I said no she isn't. Makino's friend." Soujiroh replied.
"She is waiting for you. Even though she moved to Canada with her family and attends school there, she is waiting for you." Akira replied.
"No, that's not what I meant. I meant that she is not so innocent any more. The night before she left to go to Canada, I gave her a little going away present. Or is it, she gave me a going away present?" Soujiroh recalled and smirked.
Akira pulled him by the back of the collar as a dog would a puppy. "Come on. The auction starts soon. Then after the auction you can decide if you are totally through with the art world. Then we can do all of the carousing and boozing you want."
Soujiroh smiled and they walked into the hall. No sooner had they sat down than the auction began.
"Monsieurs and Madamoiselles, thank you all for coming to our art auction today. We promise to delight all of your senses and intrigue you with our magnificent pieces from well-known artists to up and coming artists. We have quite a few fine pieces so without further adieu let us get started."
The bidding began as they auctioned off 25 fine art pieces, among them paintings, sculptures and the like. Although Soujiroh watched and showed minimal interest throughout the auction waiting for it to be over to began his schmoozing, when the last three pieces were displayed he showed keen interest.
"And now for the piece de resistance, the art pieces that you have been waiting for and have heard about. The art by a foreign artist, but who has been trained here, I give you the first piece in our new science art technology genre, Omniscient Eye." He revealed a piece that resembled a clear acrylic cube with eyes all over it. The eyes seemed to follow you wherever you went and could be seen from every side and every angle.
Soujiroh looked at it skeptically. "I don't see the big deal. It is just a piece of plastic with a bunch of eyes encased." He spoke to Akira.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, what's the big deal you may ask. Well, I'm going to tell you. It may look like it is a simple plastic cube with eyes all over it, but it is not. It is actually a glass with one eye in the center." Akira noted that the crowd seemed to inhale and begin to murmur at once and some even gasped.
Soujiroh sat up right at that and looked closer and with keener interest. "How is that possible?" He asked out loud.
"You may wonder how this is possible. Well, inside the glass is filled with all types of reflective surfaces at various angles to make it seem that the eye is watching you and following your every move from every side." The emcee stated.
Akira again heard a collective "Ah," and noted that Soujiroh was paying keen attention. He smiled.
"The artist calls this one "The Omniscient Eye" for several reasons. One is a good connotation, and the other is not so good. For conspiracy theorists this confirms that someone is watching you, and there are eyes all around. That also means, for those of you who live their lives with reckless abandon that you have to be careful because you never know who is watching you. So if you are doing something you wish others would not know about you better watch out. Finally, it means that there is always someone looking after you, perhaps a higher power, or someone always watching over you. They will be there to give you that care that you need at the opportune moment. It is to represent that you are never all alone."
"Ohhhh." Everyone smiled and felt a bit of comfort at that final connotation.
"With that, let the bidding begin at 10,000 Euros." The auctioneer stated.
Soujiroh followed the auction with keen interest and even placed a few bids himself. The auctioneer finally closed the bid at 100,000 Euros.
A young girl in the back wearing dark glasses gasped in delight and inwardly smiled. "It may be enough after all to fulfill my needs."
"Okay, our next piece by the same talented up and coming new artist is called "The Light House." He revealed what looked to be like a crystal light house. "At first glance, it is pretty but nothing special correct?" Everyone nodded. Soujiroh waited in anticipation. "But again this is by the same artist, so there is a catch. If you would please dim the lights." Once the lights were dimmed, you could see a faint glow from the statue. The darker, it got the lighter it glowed. "That's right, it is not only sensitive to light, but it is also sensitive to motion." He motioned to an assistant who walked by it. It seemed to glow brighter as the person walked by. "Furthermore, it is meant to be placed in an area of sunlight. Watch the walls as the sun sets or rises."
He shined light from a solar lamp through it. Everyone looked at the wall and saw a shadowed image move, grow and then filter out as the sun set. The opposite was true when it rose. The crowd clapped and "ooohed" and "aaahed." "But there is one more feature ladies and gentlemen, behold. If you shine regular light sources through it, …" He turned just the front lights on and shown them directly on the sculpture. The light was diffused and then reflected throughout the room from all sides, top and bottom of the sculpture, like a true light house shining a beacon for ships at night. However, the light was shining from all areas at once. That garnered a second round of applause from the crowd. They turned the regular house lights up. The artist wanted you to know the reason behind this title also. It is called "The Light House" because as you see it can provide a source of light by itself, or it can reflect a light source and make it into a more powerful source. The point is that there is a light or some type of energy within all of us, and we should reflect that light or use that energy to provide greater illumination to the world. Finally, the image that we used to reflect that light is up to us. Shall we start the bidding for this sculpture at 20,000 Euros."
Many paddles went up and people nodded. When the auction was over, the piece sold for 250,000 Euros. Again the same young lady gasped in delight. At that point another young lady, and an older gentleman came over to congratulate her.
"Our final piece is by far our most unique piece. It is called Darkness from Light." He lifted the cover to reveal an onyx obelisk shaped sculpture. "This is by the same artist. I'm sure that you have learned your lesson about judging without fully understanding the sculpture. Let's highlight the features. It is made of a thin sheet of onyx." The crowed Ahhed and got in closer. It is also light sensitive and will refract light if a light source is placed on it. No sooner did he say this, than they shined a light through it and saw an array of colors shine from the sculpture. Each side reflected a different color. He then touched another button. It made it rotate, and as it rotated, many of the colors overlapped making another color by the combination.
"The artist would like you to know that the meaning of this one has to do with the negative connotation associated with darkness. Most people associate darkness and black with something bad or evil. However, black absorbs all light. Therefore, if different colors of light are shown on it, it will also show various colors of light as you can see. What is really unique about this sculpture that most people can't see is that the onyx is actually transparent. It is as thin as glass."
Everyone ahhed at that. "So shall we start the bidding at …"
"100,000 Euros." Soujiroh stood up and offered. They all looked at him and gasped. The young lady in the back with the glasses was so overjoyed that she gave ways to tears. The man next to her gave her a handkerchief and put his arm around her. When the bidding was over, it sold for 650,000 Euros.
The auctioneer banged his gavel. "With that, ladies and gentleman the auction is over. Thank you for your overwhelming support. The results are clear. The overall top seller for tonight's auction is the independent artist, Wren J, who is responsible for the last three sculptures. As an added bonus, the artist has agreed to …"
"Just a moment mon ami. That is not true." A tall handsome man with blonde hair graying at the temples, blue eyes, and wearing 19th century French aristocratic clothing walking with a cherry wood cane with a gold top strode to the front.
The audience began to gasp, "Monsieur Gaston," "The House of Gaston." "Mon Dieu."
"But Monsieur Gaston, even though you represent many of the artists here, it is true that the artist Wren J is the top seller for tonight if you add the value for the three pieces together."
"That. I am not disputing that. It is that she is independent that I dispute. The artiste Wren J is represented by none other than moi, the house of Gaston." He said dramatically, pulled out a handkerchief and bowed.
Everyone gasped. The auctioneer shook his head. "But there must be some mistake. In the register that I have here, it doesn't show that she is represented by you or anyone for that matter."
"That is true. That was purposely done. Since this is a new genre of art, and it is not the usual style of art that the House of Gaston represents, we did not want it to be judged on the basis of our name and be accepted with bias. We wanted to make sure that this genre was accepted on its own merit, and we wanted to not discourage our traditional artists." He explained.
"He means he wasn't sure that this art would be popular. So he didn't want to associate it with his name unless it would sell." The older man behind that was with the young lady wearing glasses commented.
The young lady was visibly upset as she shook her head. "No. No. This isn't right."
"Calm down, I'm sure we can work this out. Let's just let this go for today, and we'll sort it out privately. If you protest publicly tonight, they want believe you."
"No, it's too late." She said.
"Well, then I guess as usual, the House of Gaston is the auction winner tonight and has surpassed our expectations with this new genre. As I said, the artist of the last three sculptures would like those who bought the sculptures to meet privately and ask any questions. When you get your sculpture, you will get contact information to meet with the artist tomorrow at breakfast, lunch and dinner."
"This … everything is ruined. What do I do now?" The young lady ran off. She ran outside, quickly held a cab and left.
The older man spoke to another woman. "Give the information to auctioneer and then go to the hotel. I have to go after her and find her." The young lady nodded.
He ran off. Akira and Soujiroh listened to all of that. "I wonder." Soujiroh spoke aloud. "Well, let me pick up my two purchases and make sure that I get the information to meet the artist tomorrow. It's a shame that I didn't get the third sculpture. I think that was the artist's best work by far. And that way I could have had all three meals with the artist and spent more time with him. His artwork is phenomenal. It's inspiring. I'd give my right arm to work with him."
Akira. "That's what I wanted to hear. So you still think this auction was a waste of time?"
Soujiroh smiled and shook his head. "No, it was an unexpectedly nice distraction. Now, I'm looking forward to the other distractions that you have prepared for me. If the way this one turned out is any indication of what you have planned, I can't wait for the other distractions." He went over retrieved his purchases, and the information, and left. Akira had made a few phone calls, and met with Soujiroh as they hailed a cab.
(A/N) Okay, we will primarily interrupt the Sci-fi portion of this fan fic for a jaunt into shoujo. However, we will weave some sci-fi in and out of the Shoujo, then we will return to the sci-fi. Hope you enjoy and don't get too confused.