Story - Love As Is
Author - Yours Truly, my dear readers.
Genre - Glass Mask, romance!
Preface - Hayami Masumi & Kitajima Maya, star-crossed lovers? Perhaps. It's been three years since Tsukikage-sama cut herself off from the world, since Masumi married, since Maya re-entered the acting industry to perfect her craft. But things are changing, an old love blossoming, and no one can help Maya and Masumi but themselves. Will they...or won't they?
Key - The triple x's represent a break in time. And the bold triple x's mean a change in perspective.
Author's Notes: I'm blending the anime, the manga, and the live-action a little bit. She does not have a brother in my story. My blending is really the extra Masumi/Maya scenes [i.e., the Anna Karenina date in the live action] and extra 'Shiori tries to ruin everyone' scenes. Thanks to Celeste - I agree, there is NOT enough of this fandom's fiction to peruse. I can count the decent ones on a single hand. But here...Enjoy.

Second Act

"Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable." - Jane Austen

Hayami Masumi had never been one to over-indulge in any vice but in the three days after his wife's appeal for divorce, he found himself deep in his cups. He hated it, hated giving in, but he was willing to give himself a full week to drinking himself into a stupor before he resumed business as usual. He hadn't left the house since the bomb had detonated on Monday. It was now Wednesday evening and he'd let himself go completely. If a man couldn't let himself go in the aftermath of his divorce, then when the hell was he supposed to do so? Masumi didn't plan on leaving his set of rooms for a little while unless it was to tell his butler to get him a few more handles of liqueur. Scotch, rum, whiskey, tequila, sake. Imported goodness and then nice old-fashioned Japanese stuff. He'd polished off this last handle in under seven hours. Record time, really. God, he was a business tycoon - reknown for reckless decisions and careless cruelty - and he was supposed to have it together in his personal life too. So much for that, he thought to himself as he pillowed his head in his arms. So much for that.

Truthfully, divorce had been a surprise.

It was such a terrible word. It sounded like 'shock', 'failure', and 'slap in the face' all rolled delightfully into one. Come to think of it, the word 'surprise' was rather like that too. He continued to wander if it would hurt as much if he didn't like her. He still couldn't understand how he could have seen it coming. He still felt like he was walking around half-stunned. Shiori had slammed him with the truth of his feelings then walked out of their study and into the world a liberated woman. Who deserved better than him. And who would surely find it, because any man would be better than the failure of a husband he'd been.

He thought back to the night three years ago where he'd tried to redirect the course of his life and do the right thing. The night that he'd decided that he and Maya were people on opposite sides of the track, with the light always red, had been the night he'd resolved to stop his obsession with the girl. Where the age-gap and her hatred of him hadn't discouraged him, her constant misunderstanding had done done the trick. The light would never turn green. He would never be able to successfully communicate the way he felt. He couldn't win.

It had been the first time in his adult life that he'd admitted defeat: bitter, slippery, unbearable.

He'd resolved to begin the process of weaning himself off of her, and for a while, he'd fooled himself into thinking he'd done a great job. Not. So clearly he hadn't. And now this? His wife, excuse the slip-up, his former wife had said little but confessed much. True, he'd suspected that Shiori had had a hand in Maya's destruction a few years ago but he'd buried them the day he made her his wife. To hear her so openly state it had shocked him. Hell, the entire conversation had shocked him. How could he pick out just one statement that had ruined him beyond the rest? To hear her say that he would always love Maya was probably a close second. Probably. Not definitely. When he drank, his mind tended to mix up the rankings and blow everything out of proportion.

For now, he thought blearily as he raised his head to down another shot , for now it's a close second. And third?

His first mistake had been not masking his feelings better and his second had been not turning towards her fully. Because he hadn't been strong enough to pick "either or"...either abandon the engagement and go to Kitajima Maya, or suck it up and forget about the one he'd left to love the one he was with.

He'd ruined Shiori. He knew that now. Here was this woman who was just as priceless as Maya - lovely and smart and genuinely witty when she put her heart into it, as she had in the last year of marriage - and he couldn't go to her. Masumi had tried to commit completely but clearly he'd fucked things up royally. Her instability, her sudden desire to learn everything about the business - she was more beautiful and more sophisticated than any other woman he'd ever known and yet he'd made her feel like none of that was worth a dime. Not a dime. If he'd only-

"Not going to dwell." He swayed in his seat...slid back to settle more comfortably in his study chair. The ceiling looked so very far away. "No d-dwelling."

Yes, well, he'd stop slurring his words and quit dwelling come Friday evening when he was due back in the office for a meeting with God-only-knew-who over heavens-knew-what. The company ran itself these days - his only sign of active involvement was to follow the handful of actors and actresses he considered topnotch in the form of appearing at their practices or silently cheering them on opening days. Key word: silent. He was still considered a heartless bastard by ninety percent of the field. Heaven only knew what nickname he would earn in light of his failed marriage. He would try and keep it from the press for as long as humanly possible but he didn't hold much hope for it being under wraps longer than two weeks.

What am I supposed to do now?

Nothing, he supposed. Perhaps wallowing was as much as he could do. Thank God his father was dead, and her family would be far more understanding of divorce than the old man could ever be. Shiori's mother, Kaori, had certainly suspected something afot from the get-go. No doubt that the woman would be pleased to see her daughter free of him, and free to be herself. Shiori's father would go to the ends of the earth for his only child, and his only child would make sure that everyone parted on good terms. God, but he really did care about her. The drink was switching up the rankings again.

Drumroll please, for the brand new winner of first place: Shiori was one of his closest friends, and he was going to lose her. Yes, that sounded about right. In the last year, they had finally made a move to become friends. Not just husband and wife, not just lovers who indulged in the physical and not the emotional, not just a man and woman who shared a bed and a name and a house to come home to. Masumi had noticed a change in her, approximately eleven months ago, and he could pin it to a single even in a single evening that made him open his eyes. He'd come home, expecting to see his wife at the dinner table as per usual, but instead she'd been reading a book in front of the fire.

Looking lovely in the light of the study. Said she hadn't cared for dinner but he would be welcome to his meal, if he'd still like. Masumi had been surprised - she'd appeared to be a creature of firm routine. Here she was - gazing at him coolly from across the room (had she expected him to challenge her declaration?) before turning back to her book when he'd told her he'd return downstairs. The change had been as clear as a ringing bell. The real Shiori - yes, the one who could be witty and funny and pleasantly surprising - had turned up for a guest appearance then settled in for a permanent stay. He'd felt honored to have the privilege of seeing the real Shiori, and in turn, had let Shiori in to see the real him. Maybe they'd slowly stopped the physical side of things in the last year - (actually, he couldn't recall the last time they'd had sex - which was probably a good thing) - but now she was as dear and as close to him at Hijari.

Who was probably going to storm in here the minute he found out about the divorce that Masumi had no intention of sharing with him.

A horrible word...divorce. Like 'shock', 'failure', 'slap in the face' all rolled delightfully into one...why on earth did that thought feel so familiar? And why was the ceiling so goddamned far away? The thing seemed to be moving beyond his peripherals, or perhaps had disappeared altogether so that he could get a clear view of the night. Which wasn't good at all because the night sky was so large that his mind would just continue to wander away until Shiori, and Maya, and the divorce, and perhaps even Masumi himself became small and meaningless in view of the endless expanse of stars and sky and-

His thought process halted.

God, he was tired.

He needed another bloody drink.

xXx

"She's right, completely right, but pardon me if I don't like it. In all actuality, I hate it."

Maya really hated this role, and that had been exactly why she had chosen it. Her job as an actress required her to exercise a great variety of emotions - and not just exercise but understand them. She hadn't met a role she couldn't wriggle inside of, a character's brain she couldn't deconstruct and pick her way through...until this one. She'd read the script, read the little tidbit of character background that had been offered with the script, and immediately had come to the conclusion that she would take the role. The girl was the most conniving, manipulative, evil little witch that Maya had ever fictitiously encountered and Maya was intrigued.

Intrigued.

"And it's the hating that makes me love it," Maya said firmly. She was looking over the script while she spoke into the phone, stroking the text's spine as she was wont to do. "The character is ugly and complex - not a little unlike Oligeld, but she's just so cruel that I can't wrap my head around her. Megumi could be Tsukikage-sensei's long lost daughter - I swear, Ayumi, she really could."

"Tsukikage-sensei always did say our roles need to be challenging," responded Ayumi, her voice sounding tinny and low-pitched over bad cellphone reception. "And Megumi is quite uncanny. I'm sure she brought it to your attention just because of that. I do wonder why they are sending you the script so early, especially since you're only halfway through filming for Hotelier. Who's funding it? And have you already accepted?"

"I will tomorrow morning, as soon as I let Seiriten know. And it's my first stage play in six months, imagine that. I can't remember who's funding it though. How's filming for KoiZora coming along?"

"Love." Ayumi sighed the word, as if it were the bane of her entire existence. "It's the single emotion I have yet to master - you know that."

"And?"

"And what? It's coming along very well, aside from the 'having never been in love' portion. The character is simple to grasp - the emotion, less so."

Maya dropped the script on her desk and laughed. Leave it to Princess Ayumi (a nickname that Ayumi rejected fiercely) to both belittle her own love life and maximize her skill in the same sentence. She had refused to become involved with anyone in the entirety of her teenage years. Now that she was twenty-four, she was finding that many of the roles she was offered included a need for the display of romantic love. Maya continued to think that it wasn't so much that she was extremely dedicated to work...it was more that Ayumi was too darn smart and more than twice sophisticated than ninety percent of the men she met. The ten percent left all fell prey to her impossibly high standards. The girl was high-maintenance and hadn't realized it yet.

"I keep telling you to be open to the possibility," Maya said half-heartedly. She really had repeated herself more times than she cared to count. "Love is going to come along and blindside you, and you won't like it one bit."

"Says you who can't seem to-" Maya went silent just as Ayumi cut her words off. Who can't seem to move on from the first one. Her best friend might as well have finished the sentence since the words hung in the air anyway. The smaller girl blinked at the silence and began to say something when her best friend plunged ahead again. "Never you mind. I'm of half a mind to listen right now."

"Give me the word and I'll let Rei know straight away."

"Don't you dare!"

Here was Maya's second suspicious. Ayumi didn't want anyone she already knew in the industry, and was waiting or someone random to come along. Heretofor unknown talent, mysterious background. A stranger. And perhaps her best friend didn't even know herself well enough to come to that conclusion on her own. Rei really did know most of the people in both the television entertainment and stage entertainment industries. Rei was the third branch of their trio, and so had tried countless times after an initial failed try to convince Ayumi to let her handle everything. But Ayumi either wormed her way out of a meeting with a pretty smile or cut things short prematurely. And Maya hated to say this but -

"You need to let it happen. And you might as well finish your last thought - we all know my issues with love but don't use me an example. You can find yours - the one I could have had is taken and accounted for."

An uncomfortable silence arose.

"I know you avoid talking about Hayami. I'm sorry."

"It's fine." It was. "I'm over it."

She wasn't.

"You aren't." Well, at least Ayumi had never claimed to be anything but blunt. "And that's far worse than my situation. But, since you're pushing this so hard, I'm going to be a big girl and act my age and ask Rei to work her magic for me."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." Ayumi sounded disgruntled now and Maya had to bite back a laugh. "Here is where I expect congratulations, or a token of thanks for accepting good advice."

"No one gets rewarded for accepting advice, Ayumi." This time Maya did laugh. "But I'm excited to see who Rei pulls out - and this time, you've got to give them a chance!"

Grumble, grumble, grumble.

"I'll take that as a 'Yes, Maya, I will againg gratefully accept more of your advice.' And on that note, we should turn in. Are we all still having lunch on Friday?"

"Yes, we are. Good night, and don't dream of telling Rei a moment before I do."

"I will not," Maya promised. "Good night to you too."

She clicked off and put down the phone, glanced at the time to see that it was already half past nine, then began to stroke the text of the play while her mind wandered. Maya had finally confided in Ayumi and Rei one night about a year ago about Hayami Masumi and the man who sent blue flowers. Granted, it had taken lots of liqueor, ice cream and yan yan to get her drunk enough to spill but spill she had. She wasn't an idiot - she'd suspected for a long time that Masumi had been the man behind the lovely flowers since he'd been dropping hints left and right, right before the tragedy with her mother. He'd been her knight in shining armor in the dark: saved her from harm, supported her in his strange caustic backhanded way, riled her up when she needed a motivation to act, protected her where he could. She hadn't let herself think it - it seemed blasphemy to do so - but she'd known for sure after the rainy night spent with him during the week in Plum Valley. It was him. And she was in love with him.

And had been in love with him, and the idea of him, ever since.

Rei and Ayumi had had very different reactions. The short-haired bishie beauty hadn't been surprised in the least - hadn't blinked an eye, hadn't screamed, hadn't done too much of anything. She'd rubbed Maya's back as the poor girl cried, then comforted her with an 'I told you so'. According to Rei, it had been obvious to anyone with eyes that he liked Maya well enough. Rei had suspected that the blue flowered fan would be someone rich and well-connected, but not someone they knew. But the fact that it was Masumi fit very well, and according to Rei, was further proof that he had cared about her all along. She'd refused to comment on the way things had fallen out with Mrs. Kitajima but had told the room at large that it would fix itself, that she wished for Maya's happiness more than anything.

Ayumi had blinked an eye, had screamed, and done much more besides. She was still represented by Daitou company, and had know Masumi much longer than the other two. She might have sat down heavily in shock (though Maya was pretty hazy on the details) after she'd finished with her screaming. She had never seen so much of a drop of what Rei claimed to see but she had always believed Maya wholeheartedly and wouldn't stop now. Maya thought that telling her this had changed Ayumi's whole perspective on life - a week later, Ayumi mentioned that she couldn't stop staring at the Executive President of Daitou Company because she wanted to see how well his public mask held up. Was he still in love with Maya, Ayumi had wanted to know.

No way to find out since Maya had long since transferred to Seiriten Productions. They never saw each other, accept for the public events that liked to bring actors, actresses, and the companies that presented them together for awards and the like. Even then, Maya tended to stay with Megumi and Rei because then she could discreetly indulge in a few moments (she never allowed herself longer than ten minutes total) of observing the man she'd fallen in love with.

Love.

Something that eluded Ayumi, something Rei recieved freely, something that Maya felt she could never forget.

I wish I could believe Rei when she says it will all work out for the best. Maya stood up and stretched. I'd like to forget and move on but I don't know how.

She didn't. And that was the problem.

xXx

"Good job, everyone." Friendly echoes of the last words of the day bounced around the room as crew and cast dispersed. Maya was far too thankful that Friday had come, and even more thankful that taping had been finished on time for next week's broadcast. She bowed again as the producer clapped her own the shoulders on his way out.

"Well, that was quick," said Megumi as she held out the knapsack. "Everything went well, I suppose?"

Maya nodded and grinned. "Perfectly! We even got some rehearsing in for next week's episode. Very productive, very good. Any word on the play?"

"No official word on whose funding it yet, though I hear they're been asking various companies. I'm sure we'll know by next week." Megumi smiled and patted the actress on the shoulder as they headed out the double doors of the building. Late rehearsals discouraged the reporters, thank heavens, but the company's bodyguards were always on alert. They flanked the two women immediately.

"You want to drive your car to Ayumi's place or use Seiri's?"

"Mine. I'm supposed to get Rei on my way there."

"Sounds good. ave a good weekend and if you need anything-"

"-you know to reach me. I know, I will if I do." With a last wave, Maya ducked back into the building and headed down to the parking lot where her small car was waiting.

She'd finally learned to drive right around the time that she'd started dating Saku-kun, at his prodding. He made her make time for private lessons and she'd qualified rather quickly. Imagine that, she took to driving as quickly as she'd taken to the stage all those years ago. It was an exceptionally good thing that Seiri Kagame, the Executive Producer of Seiriten, actually smiled upon Maya's having a car. As a woman in a field that was traditionally ruled by men, she smiled upon anything that looked even remotely like women sticking it to men. Maya had abandoned convincing the woman that it was at Saku's insistence, and meekly accepted the praise for her so-called initiative at such a young age.

Right.

She did take a moment to stroke the car, as she often did, when she finally got to her parking space. It was an 'obnoxious dark green', according to Ayumi, 'that didn't disguise the driver in the least'. What Ayumi really meant was that the day the public realized that her car was not a standard-issue black was the day Maya would have to 'employ a full-time regiment of bodyguards'. Rei's words, not hers.

Again, all Maya had to say to that was 'right'.

Until then, I'm keeping this. She got in, pulled out smoothly and headed for the exit-

Screech!

Fate, in the form of a white limousine, put the slap down on her. Maya hit the breaks fast enough to both avoid a collision and need a neck brace. Or at least that's what it felt like as she rubbed the side of her head and made sure the rest of her poor body was in working condition. Her head had hit the wheel hard, and she could feel the beginning of a killer headache coming on. She drew her hand up her face to feel around for a - yep, there was a tell-tale knot growing on her forehead. Damn it, she would need ice as soon as possible to keep that thing down.

"Oh God," she moaned aloud as she slowly pulled her had back up to see if the other person was all right. The sound of fast frenzied footsteps approached the car and

"Are you alright?" The man was yelling, and rapping on the car window heavily. She was hurt, not deaf, and she would be better if he would stop that. "Miss, can you hear me? Roll down your window!"

She obliged.

"Miss-"

Familiar, beloved - how the hell she hadn't recognized Hayami Masumi's voice before this was a bloody mystery. Literally. Maya stared at him, drinking up a sight she'd only allowed herself from afar, and watched the frantic way his lips formed words with interest. The thought had barely wormed its way through her head when she realized she couldn't quite hear him properly - shock, she supposed - but she abandoned it and gave in to staring. He was as striking as ever - intent dark gaze, powerful aura, a carelessly ruthless face. He was pale with worry though as he would rip the door open at any moment to get to her. His hair was longer than she remembered, thick and straight and touching the tips of his shoulders. She was thinking that she probably looked like the worst sort of idiot but she couldn't have cared less. Hayami was in front of her, and maybe she was going to bear a knot the size of Mount Fiji in a few hours, but he was here and she was here and she was going to look her fill.

"Maya!" The world turned its volume back up. "Maya, roll down the window before I break the door to get you."

She cracked the window a little bit, wincing when her arm twinged a little bit, then rolled it down the rest of the way. He immediately reached for the lock and popped it open. She barely had time to blink and stare at his speed in awe before he'd yanked the door open and was pulling her out of the car and into his arms.

"Jesus," he breathed and the breath was welcome to her face, "Jesus, your head. We need to get to a hospital, Maya."

As if. She could have stayed in his arms a few more hours, hospital forgotten. Alas, he was looking more and more anxious with each passing moment in which she did not speak, so she decided to alleviate his worry.

"It's really alright." She felt the knot on her head carefully - she needed that ice soon! - and managed a smile for him. "I don't want to go to the hospital. Just aspirin and ice and I'll feel better."

"No, you should really-"

"I'm not going to the hospital," Maya repeated stubbornly.

She pulled herself into a sitting position

"I don't feel comfortable about-"

"And, luckily, you don't have to," she interrupted. "Now will you please help me up?"

He dallied a moment longer, clearly wanting to toss her into her backseat and careen towards the nearest medical institution, but his good senses must have won. Maya was grateful for that - she didn't want their first reunion after such a long time to end in a fight. Masumi helped her up and she tried not to let the sudden slap of vertigo show on her face. Otherwise, he would certainly be dragging her off to the hospital with or without her permission.

"I hope you don't think I will permit you to drive," he said sharply. "You get into my car while I park yours nearby. I'll drop you off wherever it is that you need to go."

He was slipping into the driver's seat of her car before she could blink. And then carefully reversing, turning, going - gone. He was gone. To wherever it was that he planned on parking the car. Maya thought that she would probably have to ask him to tell her where he'd parked, otherwise she'd never find it in Seiriten's massive underground parking complex. Which brought her to another train of thought...what was the Executive President and owner of Daitou Productions doing here? She didn't think that Seiri-san was on particularly good terms with Hayami, nor was she overly eager to enter into cahoots with him. So why would he be here? Though she was happy he was, she had to confess.

"Why are you still standing out here?"

He was a stormcloud in waiting. Scratch that, he was going to emit thunder and lightning - she could just tell by the way he was glaring her down. Without much of a regard for her personal space, he pulled her with him into the dark confines of the car. The dark confines of the car...wait a minute, can we please turn a light on back here? Maya looked up for a switch, for a knob to hit, for anything that would literally shed some light on her situation. She was in the dark confines of Hayami Masumi's car (considered a fantasy come true, at any other point in time!) with a hand wrapped around her wrist, a growing knot on her head, and two best friends who were still waiting to see her in the near future.

And an uncomfortable silence that needed to be filled.

"So, where did you park the car?"

"Far left, B2." His hand tightened. Pulled. And now she was next to him. "Sit still. I want to feel this."

Maya made herself as still as she could, which was really quite still. She was at his disposal and her body had already decided to follow his command. Her eyes slipped shut, and she let his fingers probe the thing on her forehead, and breathed him in, and enjoyed his touch. To be so close to him after three full years of playing dumb and avoiding him at first opportunity? She was in heaven. Complete, unadulterated bliss. And now his fingers were drifting downwards, down and down and now he was cupping her cheek and she was breathing audibly and she felt as if the temperature in the car had just jumped upwards. His fingertips circling her cheeks, his breath fanning against her face as he continued to examine the bump...she had to do it. She had to open her eyes.

What she saw made her stop breathing. His face was as familiar and beloved as ever. The dark of night did nothing to blur her vision. His face was stern and serious, and Maya found herself marveling at the silver at his left temples, at the length of his hair, at the light worry lines above his eyes. She hadn't noticed it earlier but-

He looks hagard.

He looked terrible. As if he hadn't gotten enough sleep in the last week to fight off the dark circles that were hugging his eyes.

"Are you alright?"

His eyebrows shot up, then he released her and sank back into his seat.

"I'm perfectly fine. Why do you ask?"

"You look a little under the weather, Hayami." There was that arrogant arch of the eyebrow that she hadn't had the pleasure of seeing in a long time. Still, it didn't distract her from the fact that he needed rest. "But if you say that you're alright, then I'll believe you. Are you really 'perfectly fine'?"

Hayami's mask slipped for a moment and Maya's heart stopped. He wasn't just fatigued - he was anxious. No, that wasn't the correct word at all. He was desperate...or tortured...or something else. She stared. Too much emotion, too much intensity, not enough time. He turned away and addressed the window. A clear dismissal.

"I'm fine. Where do you need me to drop you off?"

Shaken, she automatically offered the address for Rei's workplace. And then proceeded to stare at him for the rest of the silent uncomfortable ride.